News Archives: December, 2010Saturday, December 25th The CARE Team Suprise
Monday, December 20th was our first Care Team event. Members of the Local Out-Team had spent Sunday evening stuffing decorative goodie bags with lotions and socks to be distributed at the Jonesboro Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center.
 In excitement the members of the CARE Team arrived at the nursing home at the appointed time, toting in the goodies in anticipation of witnessing the reactions of the residents as the gifts were handed out and maybe having the chance to share the gospel with a few. But tonight would not be that night.Although the event was scheduled weeks in advance and confirmed the day of the event, it seems there was an error in communication among the staff and we arrived unexpected by the evening staff. During the busy Christmas season this is easy to happen, so it was decided to leave the goodie bags with the staff to distribute to the residents the next day. This was a big disappointment to the CARE Team but not a discouraging one. In ministry, these type of things sometimes happen. Their next event is scheduled for January and we suspect it will come-off without a hitch. Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:
Barnabas on 2010-12-25 @ 04:10 PM EST [link]  The Fellowship Dinner
It was time for the Local Out-Team's Christmas Fellowship again. This year's Christmas Fellowship was a pot-luck dinner with a twist... the volunteers are also put to work.
The next evening the CARE Team had an event planned at the Jonesboro Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and needed goodie bags stuffed. At the same time Community Bible Church's Angel Tree program was coming to a close and all of the gifts had to be sorted. After dinner those in attendance split up to handle the necessary tasks. Some remained in the atrium, placing lotions and socks in decorative bags for the CARE team while others went to the gym to sort out all of the toys. Due to financial constraints the Angel Tree program was smaller than it was last year, but there was still a lot of toys and clothes which took hours to sort. The Local Out-Team would like to thank everyone who attended the event. We failed to take names of those who attended, but know that your efforts made a huge contribution to the happiness of a lot of people this Christmas. Thank you! Barnabas on 2010-12-25 @ 08:58 AM EST [link] Their Refrigerator was Empty
In a neighboring community, a man and his daughter were running of out food. Hearing about the man, Doc Casper with The Crusaders for Christ HUG Crusade group from the County Estates Mobile Home Park in Rex decided to do something to help.
Gathering some extra food from his home and combining it with that from another Local Out-Team volunteer, they were able to gather up enough supplies to last the couple a while while they secured other sources of help. Delivering the food one early evening they discovered the story was not quite as they had heard it. It was not two people living in the household, the residents included the man's wife and some relatives who had lost their home and moved in with the family. The head of the household was self-employed and he recently ran out of work. Believing that he would get some work in they had survived off their savings until it ran out. Now, their refrigerator was empty and they needed some help. Even in their current financial situation, the family had been blessed. Earlier this year the man had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He and his wife entered almost constant prayer and when arriving for his next doctor's visit found the cancer had gone into remission without ever taking the first treatment for his cancer or undergoing surgery. After placing the food on his kitchen counter, Doc directed them to this web site, encouraging them to download the community resource lists in our library which list all of the places in Clayton County and Henry County where one can go for assistance. This was only a small gesture on the part of the Crusaders for Christ HUG Crusade group, but this group's response to this need is a great demonstration of a HUG Crusade group functioning as intended. Barnabas on 2010-12-25 @ 08:29 AM EST [link] Friday, December 24th Simon Says You Are Loved
It was our first Birthday HUG Club event and it was being held at The Garden, a homeless shelter for women and children in Smyrna. We arrived to find about 15 children waiting for us, of which four who had birthdays in November and December were being honored.
The event was a simple event, but extraordinarily fun for adults and children alike. The children  were divided by size and each group took turns playing Twister and Simon Says. With one group of kids crawling all over each other playing Twister at the same time the other group was dancing around playing Simon Says, it was a wild time at The Garden!Dewaye and Ebuni were great at leading the kids in their activities. Faith, Shelly and Reanna assisted with serving the birthday cake and ice cream while Doc and Ronnie managed the gift table. As the children sat down for the cake and ice cream, Dewaye told them about the birth of Jesus in a way they could easily understand, asking the children questions as he went along with the story. They then sung Happy Birthday to the birthday children. Each child received a small gift of their own selection form the gift table, with the birthday children being given first choice. All of the gifts were dollar store/party store items. But, to these kids the cost did not matter. The most popular toys were actually the least expensive; those which promoted group play. It was interesting to see the relationships which developed between the children and adults. Some children quickly became attached to individual adults, spending almost the entire event in their arms or hanging on to their pants leg. In the end, the Birthday HUG Club is a great experience for all involved. The children had a couple of hours of quality fun while the adults got their hearts warmed by the joy of the children. If you want your day to be brightened, the Birthday HUG Club is for you! Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:
Barnabas on 2010-12-24 @ 11:14 PM EST [link] Full Bellies and Warm Feet It was the Urban HUG Team's night to feed the homeless in Atlanta. As usual we arrived at Community Bible Church at 7:30 PM to load up tables and make the trip to Atlanta. We walk into the building to find the table storage room empty. Moving on to the atrium we found the tables all nicely decorated for the next day's Breakfast with Santa. This is one of the hazards of us trying to conserve money by not buying our own tables. Sometimes others have plans for them.The thought of un-decorating the seven we needed, using them for a couple of hours, bringing them back and redecorating them was discussed. However, once hearing of the idea one of the maintenance guys at the church strongly discouraged it. Instead he introduced us to the old, heavy wooden tables stored on the second floor and even helped bring them down to the truck. The table issue being resolved, we loaded up and headed to Atlanta. It was a cold night, but not as cold as we had anticipated. As usual, the homeless was lined up waiting when we arrived. As Stacy, Bill, Mike, Vivian, Christa and Dezsiray set-up the tables and boxed the food (hamburgers and sides) one of the volunteers gave a short message to the crowd and Jimmy said the blessing. When the Urban HUG Team started serving, Vivian, Christa and Dezsiray of the Happy Feet Sock Ministry set-up their socks at the end of the line and gave them out to each person that passed. Christian and Dezsiray, being children, did a great job of handing out the socks and talking with the homeless. They were a blessing to watch. There were no real problems on the site that night. It seems that in the cold the homeless are more concerned with staying warm than starting trouble. Tonight the blessing was received by the ministries. The Urhan HUG Team had a great success and their was some personal growth among some of the team members. The Happy Feet Sock Ministry pulled off its first event with flying colors, also giving some children a real experience in sharing God's grace. Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:
Barnabas on 2010-12-24 @ 08:46 PM EST [link] The Early Christmas Gift
"I am a desperate mother from Chile whose son Gerardo was arrested at airport and taken to Clayton Co. jail. He was on way to spend Xmas with us. All I have is an inmate # XX-0000000. I read Ron Driver's story on his visit to offer religious support and I though of Gerardo’s needs. We are catholic but God is only one.
Pls, can you help me or direct me to some other group that can ? Thank you and God bless you.” This was an unusual message. (We changed the name to protect his identity.)We often receive emails from overseas. They are often scams asking for money to be sent to support a non-existent ministry. But this was different, there was no plea for money, only a plea for “religious support”. Forwarding the message to Ron who heads up our Jailhouse HUG Team, we responded to the email letting the mother know Ron would be in touch with her. Ron contacted the mother and the Clayton County Jail, scheduling a visit for the following Friday morning, December 24th. At the jail Ron asked Gerardo about his situation and his needs. It turned out that Gerardo is wanted on a Felony drug charge in Florida. He was arrested at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in route to Chile to visit his mother for Christmas. Then Ron asked him about his relationship with Christ. Gerardo was not a Christian. So, Ron shared the Gospel message with him, sharing a little bit of his own life experiences. Sitting there in the visitation area and surrounded by other inmates, Gerardo, with tears streaming down his face but with no hesitation or embarrassment, accepted Christ as his savior. Florida has ten days to pick Gerardo up from the jail. Should they fail to do so, Gerardo will be released. If that should happen, he now plans on returning to Florida to take care of the charges. Regardless of the outcome, Ron left him with this contact information so they could follow up with each other and additional support can be provided. One interesting note: Gerardo was visited by another minister this week. Amazingly, while asking Gerardo how he was doing and what needs he has, the minister never once broached the subject of Gerardo’s relationship with Christ or offered to pray for him. The opportunity lost by this minister is astounding... it was nothing less than the opportunity to change someone's eternal future and maybe that of some of his friends and family. While that minister will report to Gerardo’s mother that her son is doing as well as can be expected Ron will be reporting that her son may have some hard times to come in this life, but he will be spending eternity in the arms of Christ. Gerardo’s parting comment to Ron sort of sums of this chain of events: “I believe God allowed this to happen so that we could meet.” Today, the day before Christmas, gifts were delivered early. Gerardo received the gift of eternal salvation and Ron received the gift of having the Holy Spirit lead yet another to Christ through him. Barnabas on 2010-12-24 @ 12:13 PM EST [link] The Cookie Monster
Thousands of Cookies! That is what nine-year old Markus and his helpers baked up for his Bags of Love cookie sale held in the atrium of Community Bible Church on December 5th. Some were
 chocolate flavored, some were pumpkin, and there were even some cinnamon rolls! Whatever there was, they were all good!Bags of Love raised a little over $1,000 that day. The money is to be used to help send goodie bags to some of the children at our overseas missions as well as to some of our troops stationed overseas. While there were some cookies left over, they did not go to waste. They were taken to the Helping in His Name food bank on December 7th and given away to those picking up food. Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:
Barnabas on 2010-12-24 @ 10:04 AM EST [link] Tuesday, December 7th Meet the Caspers Meet Doc (Ken), Cathy and Sara Casper along with their friend Dale (on the right). Doc is leading our first HUG Crusade Bible study group. Dubbed "Crusaders for Christ", Doc's group meets each Tuesday evening at 6:00 PM in the Country Estates mobile home community off US Highway 42 in Rex.HUG Crusade groups serve their neighborhoods in more ways than just Bible studies. They also perform occasional outreach events in their neighborhoods such as cookouts and used clothes giveaways. At the time this picture was taken the Caspers were about to set-out delivering free loaf-bread to all of within their neighborhood who wanted it. The Local Out-Team is on a mission to set up HUG Crusade groups in neighborhoods across south metro Atlanta and beyond. If you have ever considered attending a home church or home based small group you should consider establishing a HUG Crusade Bible study group in your neighborhood, please click here let us know or visit the HUG Crusade web site. Barnabas on 2010-12-07 @ 08:06 PM EST [link] Friday, December 3rd Stockbridge Holiday Festival
It was planned to be a great event. Even Santa's reindeer would be in attendance in the parking lot. But, as my wife might said: "We did not have reindeer. We had rain, dear."
Because of the rain, the Stockbridge Holiday Festival was moved indoors, inside the Merle Manders Conference Center. The Local Out-Team/Celebrate Recovery ministry accommodations was relocated from it's spacious outdoor location to a single table in Meeting Room No. 4 in the basement. Although attendance was way off because off the rain, all was not lost. Luckily, they put us next to the face painters. Since our target audience was children we were able to draw from their line. At times, we had as many as 15 or more children standing around our table waiting on cross necklaces or salvation bracelets.  Brande and Ronnie made the cross necklaces for the children while Markus helped set-up before he explored the event. A fourth volunteer made the salvation bracelets, giving the gospel to every child wanting a bracelet. It was interesting to note the number of children who did not know what sin is, but most knew at least a little bit about Jesus. Many had already accepted Christ into their hearts and helped remind the volunteer of the meaning of each colored bead.Salvation bracelets are very easy to make and it takes only a few repetitions of the script to memorize the meaning of each bead. We recommend that any ministry wishing to attract children consider using them in their efforts. We have posted salvation bracelet instructions in our library section. Look for them there. Considering the weather and the resulting low turnout, the Stockbridge Holiday Festival was a great event. We are looking forward to participating again next year. Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:
Barnabas on 2010-12-03 @ 12:21 AM EST [link] Wednesday, December 1st Not One Left Hungry
It was the Friday night after the Celebrate Recovery / Local Out-Team Thanksgiving Celebration. We had planned on taking any leftovers from the celebration to Atlanta to feed the homeless and tonight was the night to do it. This night was not one of our regularly scheduled nights to feed, but Stacy had made special arrangements with Salem Baptist Church to provide the food for tonight.
There was plenty of food, but we soon realized that there was not the over-abundance that we had anticipated. After the message and the blessing the crowd was told “tonight you can eat all you want and come back as many times as you want”; so they did! Normally to insure there is enough food to go around we limit the amount of food any one person can get until after everyone is served. Then, they can go back through the line a second time if they wish. We have even run out of food before making it completely through the line once. Tonight was different, the guests were allowed to eat to their hearts content.  Since Salem Baptist was handing the food distribution Stacy and Mike brought up some tables and recycled clothing to set up a clothing sale. Yes, this was Black Friday and the way the guests ravaged the tables was reminiscent of being in a Wal-Mart at 5:00 AM this morning with the big sales started. It was a cold night and the guests were needing warm clothes.Jimmy handled the distribution of Christian tracts and witnessing to all of the guests who would listen, planting seeds as he could. This was our first visit which there was not a single violent or semi-violent incident. One factor was they it was certain that we had enough of food so there was no need for breaking in line to insure a guest was going to be fed. Tonight was possible only by the generosity of those who provided food for the Celebration Recovery/Local Out-Team joint Thanksgiving Celebration at Community. We thank you. Volunteers participating in the preparation and/or execution of this event includes:
Major Sponsors for this event includes:
Barnabas on 2010-12-01 @ 07:17 AM EST [link] Copyright 2009-2010, Community Bible Church
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