he workers who I got to know while helping a homeless girl, Vanessa. She asked me if I wanted to hear a "wild story." I said sure. She then told me that her dad's boss had won a 58" plasma in a raffle. The boss had the tv delivered as a gift to their family.It's great to get to know the people in our community and to be able to share life with them.
I'm drinking a London Fog Tazo tea latte. My second time to order it. Its pretty good. And the Starbucks workers gave me an upgrade to a Grande from a Tall for free. How nice! I am always so impressed with the quality of young adults that work at Starbucks. Either they are a great generation, or the company trains them really well.
Do you have any hangouts where people from the community recognize you and talk to you? How often do you frequent these hangouts?
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2 comments:
Dear James,
Thank you for the inspiration to use our daily opportunities to share Christ's love with others in the community.
My name is Jennie Keeran, I usually live in Vancouver, BC. I have a google alert for- "church of Christ" + homeless -so your blog came up. It's very encouraging to hear about church members everywhere who have a heart to help community.
I wanted to let you know about a project we've been doing for the last 4 years and invite you to participate too:
This is an invitation for your congregation to participate in a project to help homeless people in your community while bringing close fellowship between members of your group with a lasting, powerful spiritual experience enacting God’s love for the poor. For the last 4 years, churches of Christ in several cities have been undertaking this project, leading the way for the community to make direct personal donations to individual homeless people.
It costs nothing and results in maximum encouragement for the church, the community, local shelters and the homeless. Thousands of gifts have been collected for the homeless and it’s a great encouragement for Christians to see their church members on TV and in the newspapers, showing the community a safe and effective way to help the poor. And best of all, God gets the glory. The project makes a statement to the community that His church is “doing” God’s love – “They will know we are Christians by our love.”
We encourage you to please consider taking on this project in your congregation.
This is a basic description of the project:
1. Working with a local shelter, church members interview the homeless or leave interview forms for the homeless to fill out, at the shelter.
2. Then church members type those interviews on to the website: www.homelesspartners.com – access to the website is free of charge
3. Then the church sends out press releases to local news outlets and/or holds press conferences so that the media willl cover it as a news story. The project’s spokesperson, from the congregation, conducts interviews with newspaper, TV and radio for the purpose of driving traffic to the website. Community members read the stories and bond with their personal stories.
4. Then they deliver the personalized gifts directly to the shelters, who distribute them personally to the homeless people.
Please feel free to go to www.homelesspartners.com and read some of the stories from last year and be sure to look at the “thank yous” from the recipients- they’re really an inspiration. Community members can also get information about your congregation’s programs at the website. High School classes will often accept a presenter from the church to talk about the project, bringing God's love to the classroom by invitation.
Even elementary and Sunday school children can be involved by drawing personal cards and letters to individuals on the website – they’re real heart-melters.
To get more information on the project you can also go to www.youtube and use the search terms “homeless partners” to see a 2 minute video. We can also send you additional materials including a manual that covers details of the project.
If there is a particular group or person in your congregation who have this special interest, please pass this on to them.
And please let me know if your group is interested. We will be praying for your decision.
Peace and Grace,
Jennie Keeran
ps you can also see a video that was aired on national Canadian tv this last year: (the guy is my husband, Dan)
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/latest-homeless-for-the-holidays-canada-am-daniel-keeran-homelesspartnercom-on-helping-the-homeless-during-the-holidays/3182893732/?icid=VIDURVNWS08
Hi Jennie. I will check out your website and ministry. Yes, some of our members have taken in those who are homeless and helped them get back on their feet. They really are some wonderful stories. God bless you for you and your ministry!
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