A Year of discipleship, a lifetime of Hope
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” John 14:1-2n
About 6 months ago, God placed a vision in our hearts. As we have prayed and thought through this vision we can clearly see how God has prepared us, even as a young couple working and living in a group home years ago! God was training and is always equipping me for the things that lie ahead! We truly believe that!
Phil. 2:13 keeps being repeated over and over through scripture reading and through different moments in our devotional time with the Lord. He is using it mightily in our lives right now!
“God is working in you to give you the power and the desire to do what pleases him.
We want our personal lives to always reflect the Lord! And we want this non profit to always reflect the heart of God!
“God’s desires” for this ministry is truly what we desire for this ministry! We don’t ever want what we want and what God wants to look different! And yet sad to say sometimes they do.
This is why Philippians 2:13 is so meaningful; because we know that God is working in us and giving us the power and the desire to do what pleases Him.nnGod knows it won’t just come naturally for us to do what pleases him so He provides the Holy Spirit to be our helper, our guide! We are so thankful for that ……Thankful that we don’t have to rely on our own abilities, our own visions, our own strength or capability but can trust knowing he is the author and perfector and will direct His Kingdom work. He provides it all and we have the simple, yet HARD decision to be obedient to His will, or not.nnThe vision that God placed on our hearts and minds is a LARGE one! It’s a vision that would involve a lot of people saying YES to the Lord’s prompting!
It would take a lot of Godly, willing people and alot of money to see this vision move forward effectively. But we serve a mighty God!
We discussed this vision as a OMOLP staff and then felt led to share with our home church so they could be praying! THAT is when God started really showing us that He was working! He has been moving and working in specific areas ever since! Our church has always been behind our ministry and supporting us from the very beginning! We are so grateful to Hope Community Church and the way they have poured into our family over the years, as well as One More One Less Project! It’s cool to no longer be on staff there but to still be partnered with them in ministry and so closely connected! God is good like that!
After sending an email to the lead staff about this vision we just know they began to pray along with us!
God used all of our prayers and allowed us to start seeing action take place on this vision!
When God 1st placed this vision in our hearts, it was to build 12 tiny homes to house and disciple teens aging out of foster care! God walked, talked, loved, poured into, broke bread with and taught 12 disciples and we don’t believe 12 was a coincidence because God is not a God of coincidence! He is a God of order and detail! But why 12 aged out teens? Are there even that many teens out there aging out of the system with nowhere to go?n
We answer that question with a confident YES! There are probably WAY more than that! We have been drawn to this need for some time now! The thought of youth aging out of the system and just being thrown into society with no guidance or direction is heartbreaking! We CAN do better for these children! Please don’t misunderstand… social workers are helping these kids as much as they can! And there are people out there who have helped and who are helping in this area! But so much more is needed! We felt we COULD do more! God laid down His life for us, why are we not laying down our lives for these children? They have been in situations they haven’t wanted to be in, some, for their whole lives! It’s time we step up, wrap around them, love them BIG, help them BIG and ultimately, show them the BIG love of Jesus!
“One More One Less Project” it’s all about loving ONE, finding ONE, serving ONE! Our obedience to love ONE more, to do what we can for ONE more, to show Jesus to ONE more, to wrap around ONE more will lead to one LESS child continuing to live in this world feeling alone and without a family! WE, as the church, can be their family! WE, as individuals can be the Jesus that they see in this world! WE, as men can mentor and show them a Fatherly love so they get a good picture of our perfect Heavenly Father even when they haven’t been shown that throughout their lives. WE, as women can wrap around them and nurture them to healing so they can thrive and grow and live more freely! I know that WE, all of us working together through the power of God, can do more and be more for these kids so there can ultimately be one less child left by a broken system!
God has placed an opportunity in front of us for ONE house. Through Hope Community Church, God is providing for us…. little by little, to be able to love on and disciple our twelve! And then our twelve more, and twelve more and twelve more, etc. We don’t have every single detail figured out but we know and believe 100% that God is going to continue to provide!
We have prayed about whether to make this information public but we believe now is the time! Now is the time for us to lay out this vision, share what is GOING to happen, through God’s provision!! We are excited to watch Him work even more and more through many of you reading this!
I want to communicate that this vision is NOT a group home, this IS a God given vision that will be a 12 month discipleship program for aged out youth in foster care! There will be a GREAT need for mentorship, for volunteers to provide hospitality opportunities, for on site staff members, for counseling and therapy, etc. There will also be a GREAT need for financial support to make this possible!
God has provided one house and while it is NOT a tiny home, it’s a 3 bedroom home and we are believing God to provide more homes within this community as well to see this vision grow to it’s full potential!
God gives visions with the intention to use His people!! We know he is using and will use Hope Community Church as well as Cleveland County and other churches in this county to see this GREAT need be met! And even further than needs being met we are going to wrap around these kids with all the love and strength we can all the while praying they see the hands and feet of Jesus and want more of Him.
Our HOPE is that they would graduate from this program and not only be able to take care and provide for themselves but that they would truly KNOW Jesus and accept Him as Savior! We pray they would leave feeling confident in the life ahead of them because they have the HOPE of Jesus in their lives and the Church as their forever family!
So we confidently ask….
What is your part in this? How can you help? Is God stirring in your heart for more? Could God use you in a BIG way in the life of a teenager? Could you be a financial partner? Can you commit to praying alongside of us as we plan, develop and work to make this vision a reality?
Please reach out! We would love to hear from you and we are very excited to see God show up! Because He ALWAYS does!
