Praise Reports and a Video
It has been a wonderful season of ministry here this summer; there is so much to thank God for! I want to share four beautiful developments with you as well as a video that the Brethren in Christ Church produced about our ministry here. (Don’t miss that video! The link for it is toward the bottom of this newsletter.)
Praise #1 - Manna Raining Down
Jesus said that whenever we clothe a person who needs it, or feed a person who is hungry, we are really serving him. There are MANY people here who need clothing and food and other basic necessities. Sometimes the need seems overwhelming. But God keeps providing to meet those needs! On our busiest Fridays, we have a crowd waiting to get in (like the one you see above), and somehow, we always have enough to meet the needs of those who come!
In August we kept track of some of our service ministries. We saw…
2140 lunches served on site by Food for the Journey Project
255 Households helped with clothing
294 Households helped with food at the garage pantry
92 Sunday breakfasts served
A bunch of new racks and new dividers purchased with donated funds to greatly improve the organization of the clothing closet.
Not only did God provide all the material for this ministry, he keeps providing an incredible community of volunteers to do all this work!
Praise # 2 - Garage Pantry Progress
After the last newsletter one of you stepped forward with an incredibly generous donation which enabled us to complete the electrical upgrades needed to power all the fridges and freezers in our garage pantry. Since that time, we’ve hung more wall panels, moved shelving back into place and the garage pantry is operating much more smoothly and at a higher capacity. We have funds available (or coming soon) to get AC/Heat in the building, install a security bay door and a new regular door and paint the place up proper. Thank God for all those who have donated their money, their labor, and their prayers to get this project where it is today!
Praise # 3 - Homeless No More!
I have a friend I’ll call “Bob.” Bob is 35 years old and has been homeless since he was a teenager. He has never, in all that time, had a place to call his home… until now! In August he moved into a subsidized apartment thanks to the work of Miami Valley Housing Opportunities! Shortly after he moved in, six of us drove over to his place bearing housewarming gifts: a bus pass to help with transportation, a car-load of household goods, some food, and a ton of love! We circled up in his living room and prayed blessing upon the place. We sang songs of praise together with loud and happy voices. We laid hands on Bob and prayed for him as he wept tears of joy.
The sound of our praises was so loud that, when I left, the clerk at the check-in counter in the lobby down the hall complimented me on our singing and told me how deeply moved she was by it.
Praise God with us for this progress in Bob’s life and join us in praying for him. He is still struggling with addiction and the newfound stability of place has, in some ways, made his addiction worse. Now less of his time is spent scraping to get by, leaving more time for certain kinds of trouble. Please pray for him to seek and accept the help he needs to achieve sobriety. Pray for the Holy Spirit to break the bonds of addiction holding this dear friend back from the fullness of life God has for him in Christ!
Praise #4 - New Members
I often tell people that we are a small church with the ministries of a much larger one. For that reason, I am always praying that God would send more workers into these harvest fields. We need more Jesus-followers to join our fellowship and work beside us here.
God is providing in this area too! This month we will be receiving 6 new people into membership. They’re a diverse crew along multiple dimensions, representing the strange and wonderful ways God likes to connect people. Some men we first connected to during their stay in a sober living house across the street, a neighborhood friend whose grown closer and closer to the church, a former missionary on a theological journey with his family, a pastoral couple resettled here from Nigeria… a really beautiful bunch! Thank God for these dear people! And please join in praying for them as they take this step into closer fellowship with us.
A Video
A media team from the Brethren in Christ visited us on a couple of occasions earlier this year and have produced a video about the Kingdom work going on here. We wanted to share this 5 minute look at our ministries because we think it does a good job of capturing where are hearts and heads are as we do the work God has given us to do here. Thank you to our brothers and sisters who made this video possible!
Kingdom Seeds on East Dayton Soil (youtube.com)
Hope you enjoy!
How You Can Help
First, we have received grant monies and designated donations over the last two months that have helped us move certain projects forward. Our general operating fund, however, is lower than we’d like to see. (About $4000 in that fund currently.) We’re pretty used to operating on the manna principle and are not worried! But I would like to ask you to pray for provision for our general fund (that’s how we pay for all our day-to-day operations, utility bills, building maintenance, payroll, etc.). And, if the Spirit moves you to give, consider giving in an undesignated way just toward the general fund.
Second, I ask you to pray for more workers in these harvest fields. More people, for instance, to work and dream and pray with Chi about how to do development work here. People who could lead us in worship music (we’ve had no one in that specific role for quite a while). People to partner with our amazing lead volunteers at the pantry and the clothing closet. And, maybe most important of all, people who would be willing to simply visit with, talk to, pray with, get to know, and love neighbors and guests here. We want our neighbors and friends to get to know Jesus, and the main way that happens is for them to form deep relationships with people who already know our Lord and who deeply embody his character. If you (or someone you know) might want to come and join in the work here… please reach out!
You can help in both areas by simply forwarding this newsletter to others or sharing it on social media. Thank you all so much for the wonderful support you’ve shown us over the years… we are excited to see what’s next!
Blessings,
Zach
Our website: East Dayton Fellowship
Our giving page: East Dayton Fellowship - Giving