We're on Home Ministry Assignment now, until the end of July. Here's and update on something I've been doing here in the Philadelphia area.
Our home church, Crossing Community Church, has had a close relationship with Cornerstone church in Kensington, a rough section of Philadelphia. One of the para-church ministries that Cornerstone refers addicts to is called Adonai House. They help addicts recover through a three-level Bible-based program and have had good success. Tim Smith, the pastor of Crossing Community Church has been leading a Bible study for these men for a few months and invited me to meet them. Afterwards, he asked me to lead the study for two weeks while he was away on a trip to Israel and again when he was out of town to conduct a funeral.
So I shared my life story with them one week, and what I do in Haiti the second week. Through sharing my story I found out that I have a lot in common with most of the guys: My Dad was murdered when I was 11, I was raised by my Mother who remarried when I was 16, I struggled with depression and low self-esteem, and have faced death several times in my life.
It turns out that one of the guys named Bob has coached soccer for many years and was very interested in our ministry in Haiti. I had some work to do at one of my Mother’s rental properties, so I spent a day working with Bob and Rich who are both in the second level of the program and have been clean for 6 months. We got a lot done, and had some good conversations during the day.
Although their life stories are tragic in many ways (Bob’s son was killed by a drunk driver), God’s grace has brought them safe thus far, and by God’s grace they will go on and help others who are suffering from addictions, with a little help from Pastors like Tim!
We plant the seed, and God makes it grow!
No comments:
Post a Comment