Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! After experiencing and expressing such a dire need for food to give to our guests, supporting churches have stepped up to the plate. It is an awesome thing to witness God's people reaching out to those in need purely in the name of our Lord Jesus. A special shout out to Eastmont Baptist RA's who collected and delivered 225 large bags of food to Forest Park on October 8 and to Heritage Baptist Women who hosted the first ever Layette Baby Shower, supplying ample infant basics and fun things, too, for the babies being born to the moms who visit our center. They also expanded their month of food collection for the center into six weeks as an answer to the call for additional food. Other churches such as Highland Ave Baptist, Lakeview Baptist, Cloverdale, Memorial Heights, Ridgecrest and Thorington Road have contributed this month - Thank you! There have been over 400 families assisted so far since August 1 of this year through Forest Park Ministry Center, representing 1,000 family members fed and ministered to. As the ministries of Forest Park expand beyond the walls of the center into the neighborhood, I am encouraged and impassioned to believe more than ever that God is in the midst of all the details of this ministry and of our lives. To Him alone be all the glory!

Rolling into the fall.....

August and September so far have been record months, seeing extraordinary numbers of people with dire needs. While each need is met, we at the center are keenly aware of the dire need for more food supply so that we can continue to meet the needs adequately. I urge you as you read this to pray about how you can help meet the food needs through food donations. Our sponsor churches do a great job, but the need is so very great now; perhaps you could sponsor a special drive within your class at church, to help offset the current shortage. Or perhaps your family would like to make a missions grocery shopping trip, shopping as a family for the food pantry. What a great life lesson to teach your children, and a fun family missions project, too! The food bank has been slim lately, too, but we are hoping and praying for that to improve as we move into the season when more people think about their blessings and as they desire to give to others as a thank you to God for those blessings. Another exciting thing is that the city of Montgomery has given us a permit to enclose the carport area at the center. This will create much needed storage and multi purpose space. We have a list of needed building supplies; will your church or organization step up to pledge to fund the purchase of some of these supplies? Call me at the center, 269-5726, or email me at forestparkministry@yahoo.com, if you will be a part of this great project. As always, we covet your prayers for the guests who come to Forest Park to have basic needs met, and for the volunteers who give their time and talents to be the hands of Jesus in our community.

Open House at Forest Park Ministry Center

Wow - I am awed daily by what our God does through His servants and blessed immensely by the people with whom we work daily. Thank you to all who made the open house a great success, and to the volunteers who so faithfully carry out the purpose and commission of the center. As we reopened the center in August, it has been with a renewed sense of purpose to greet and treat each guest in the center with the dignity and love due each and every one created by God. The first week we saw 92 guests, twice as many as we had been seeing on average. This may have been partly due to our being closed during July, but each person was treated with dignity and respect, and several of our guests remarked on the friendly atmosphere. All credit to God, who enables His servants, our volunteers, to be His hands to our neighbors! We had lots of fun at the open house, saw old friends, and met new ones. Thanks to all for coming. Hope you enjoy some of the pictures.