Building A Ministry

If you had told me one year ago I would be in the midst of beginning a new ministry I would have not believed you. Last October I began a serious study of missions and as I began to study articles, read books, and talk to missionaries, God began to deal with me about something special He wanted me to do.

I was very happy at the homeless shelter working with the homeless teaching and counseling. About February of this year Anna and I took a trip to work in Swaziland a small country in southern Africa. While there I began to compare our work in NC to that of the ministries we were seeing in Africa. A common thread began to emerge. The need for food is the same as is the need for God.

I continued my studies and began to seriously consider an opportunity that had presented itself to serve as a missionary in eastern NC. The task is to develop a ministry to the homeless and relate to poverty issues. Now, much is already being done but the workers are few and I began to see how I might be able to assist churches to work together to provide for needs and ultimately present the Gospel message "to the least of these."

I accepted the call of God to leave the homeless shelter, step out in faith, to begin a new work with Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. We are three months into the work and I am pleased to report that:
1. A Bible Study has been organized.
2. A successful community garden helped provide food this summer.
3. A network of churches, organizations, partners, individuals, and small businesses has been organized. We call it The Eastern NC Poverty Network.
4. Some funds have been raised for the budget of the new work.
5. New ideas are surfacing through networking.
6. Short-term mission groups are agreeing to serve in northeastern NC this spring and summer.

You are invited to participate in any of the ways listed above. If you are reading this and you are anticipating a mission project for your group this coming Spring or Summer I hope you will get in touch: www.missionpartner.net
Mission Partner can help you with planning and all the background logistics. I would encourage only experienced teams come to northeastern NC. This new work will challenge and will be very inconvenient. The word "flexible" will be stretched just a bit more on a mission project to our mission field.

We are especially excited to have senior adults and youth mission groups come to work in eastern NC. I am excited about those who have already signed up.

If you would like to talk about missions for your adult group or your youth group I invite you to see our web site: www.missionpartner.net for details. I will also be glad to talk to you. Give me a call at 877-826-0008.
Email: lacount@missionpartner.net.