Urban Outreach

2008 Annual Report

2009-01-15T15:27:00.007-05:00

Finances

2008 General Giving was about $66,682
Designated giving was about $47,500
Financial assistance was also received from the North Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Bishop's Annual Children's offering
Three Grants received from North Indiana Conference totaling $3,338
Family Services Association provided a grant for Baby College
Sponsors gave $20,000 to the Buddy Bag program

Volunteers

Hosted numbers Adult and church your groups from Howard County and throughout the state
Hosted three work teams this summer
To date over 2,500 youth and adults have volunteered and assisted with: organizing food drives, washing dishes, donating food, sorting and packing food, donating household goods and clothing, sorting clothing, as well as gutting and rebuilding the trailer at Riley Modern Estates
Monthly newsletters are sent to 657 families by email and 30 by regular mail.
Provided community service house for volunteers and neighbors

Administration and Community Service

purchased a new computer software fiance package
Fax Machine provided by Grace UMC has assisted numerous residents in having welfare benefits restored
Additional five hours per week for the Administrative Assistant bringing her to 25 hours per week
The ministry of KUO has been shared at 5 mission fairs
Pastor Jeff and Staff has spoke at 52 functions in 2008
Pastor Jeff won a national award through the United Nations arm of Church Women United
Pastor Jeff serves as the chair of a faith based group that is helping the community with its vision to strengthen families

Crisis Child Care Center

Closed due to lack of use. We appreciated the leadership of Lia Sawyer, Renee' Roberts and the nearly 40 volunteers who keep the center running for over a year. Special thanks to Grace United Methodist Church for allowing us to use their space.

Project E.A.T.(Everyone Ate Today)

Buddy Bags 34,020 meals
Food Pantries 22,500
Eat-in and Cook-outs 28,000 meals
Thanksgiving Dinner 840 meals
Christmas day Blitz 1000 meals

Grand total of 86,360 meals or 7,000 meals per month average

Received food from Kroger, Kroger, Kroger, Olive Garden, Park 100, Society of St. Andrews, Marsh and a number of local churches
Rescue Mission periodically help us with special events
We are a member of Food Finders in Lafayette and the Fun Food Program at Gordon's Food Service

Outreach Programing

Added the following Outreach Sites: Vinton Woods, Zion, Parr UMC, Riley Modern Estates, Briarwick
Opened three new food pantries
Began a family mentoring program as well as a Mothers Morning Out program at GS
Starting a Girl and Boy Scout Troop at GS
Secret Santa Store at GS, PV and Riley
Easter Basket workshop providing 400 baskets
Valentines provided for all children at PV and GS
Backpacks with hygiene supplies given at PV and GS
Distributed numerous hats, gloves, mittens and coats to those in need
Continued Sewing Class at GS while participating at three community sales
Began Adult Computer Classes
Held a community concert at two locations at the conclusion of Summer Cookouts
Summer cookouts held each week in 4 locations
A full bag of socks were given to every child who attend our Thanksgiving Dinners at PV, GS and Riley Modern
Assisted several new families moving in from homelessness at GS
Had a booth at the Howard County Fair, "Shining a Light on Hunger"
Children were blessed in numerous other ways by community organizations an volunteers
Summer Kindergarten Readiness Class held a GS

Sidewalk Sunday School

Conducted weekly for children at 4 locations with a fifth that started on January 5th.
Held Easter Egg Hunts, a fall party and a winter Carnival
Partnered with the United Methodist Church Cluster to provide a week long VBS program for the community
IN the past three years KUO has reached 300 different children with at least half receiving Christ

Board of Directors

Stephanie Bergoff was elected Board Chair
New Board Members include: Jim Clark, Madelyn Stanforth, John Rudy, Walt Doering and Lori Collins

Christmas Day

2008-12-25T21:22:00.003-05:00

Wow what a day. Thanks to an article in the newspaper we had 146 volunteers make 1000 sack lunches in 35 minutes. We knocked on 800 doors and distributed 800 sack lunches to those who were home. The numbers went like this they are all approx. 300 at Trailer Parks, 300 Garden Square, 200 at Pine Valley. The 200 left-overs were taken to the Favor's Christmas party. I later learned that they were running out of food and the left-overs saved the day. We also found about 20 families whose Christmas wasn't going so well. There was a family with a 3 and 4 year old and an infant without presents. One man who was alone said he hadn't received a Christmas gift in years. He got a whole bunch this year. Another woman had just lost her family to death(children and husband, I believe) she was alone in a trailer with no food and no furniture except for a TV. I realize that I am very blessed and I thank God for all of those who stepped forward to help. Below is the news article that caused so many people to volunteer it was published on Christmas Eve in the Kokomo Tribune, by writer Othello Bach.

True Christmas Giving

By Othello Bach

One frigid Christmas Eve when I was six, my mother had no choice but to take her seven children to the Salvation Army. Bundled up in practically every stitch we owned, and with gunny sacks tied around feet to trudge through the snow, we walked from our shack outside the city limits to a small church where the Salvation Army Santa was supposed to hand out gifts.

My sisters and I had prayed for rubber dolls for weeks. Maybe our prayer would be answered.

I have no idea how far we walked but it seemed like miles, and once there, a crowd jammed the door. Mother kept saying, “I have children here. Please, let us in.” My three older brothers ran around the church and entered through another door. They wanted to get up front, hoping for a better gift.

When we finally wiggled our way inside and squeezed onto a pew, the stifling heat and stench of wet wool coats made me nauseous. We heard Santa “ho-ho-ho-ing” in the front of the room but couldn’t see him. Then we were told to hold up our hands so a lady could bring us presents.

We held our arms as high as we could, but after a while, our elbows sagged. “Keep you hands up!” mother whispered franticly. “Keep them up so you’ll get present.”

We tried. But she had to tell us several times. It was so crowded we just couldn’t be seen. My little sisters began to cry. “Please!” mother called repeatedly. “Over here! I have small children!” When she was finally noticed, a smiling lady handed her three gifts. Instantly our hopes for a doll vanished. The gifts were far too small.

My sisters and I received little rubber trucks.

However, the walk home wasn’t too bad; one of my brothers received a pair of stilts and entertained us stumbling about in the snow. The others received a baseball and bat—plus, our unwanted rubber trucks.

Last night, at Trinity Methodist Church, I watched Pastor Jeff Newton hand out gifts to children whose parents are also experiencing difficult times. One little boy, five or six years old, began to cry because he thought he had been forgotten. But even after he received a gift, he continued to cry. A few minutes later I learned he didn’t like his gift.

That’s when my memory returned like a bolt of lightening, and I suddenly had to blink back tears.

It may appear that a child is selfish and ungrateful to cry in such a circumstance, but when situations seem particularly hopeless, one more disappointment can be unbearable. Then today, I learned that after the program ended, the boy received the gift he longed for: a toy truck! Decades ago, I cried because I got one; last night, he cried because he didn’t!

I hope everyone reading this will consider helping Pastor Jeff Newton fulfill his incredible mission. He established the Kokomo Urban Outreach three years ago, and that year served approximately 50 families. This year, he has served 25,000 meals... so far.

Kokomo Urban Outreach has two locations where 300 dinners are served each week, and in three other locations there are food pantries that provide food to neighborhood families. Pastor Newton and his generous volunteer staff will distribute 1000 Christmas Day sack lunches, but he still needs help packing and delivering on Christmas Day. Packing will begin at 10 AM Christmas Day and deliveries will be made between 11 and 12. If you can help for even one hour, your assistance will be deeply and sincerely appreciated.

As the economy weakens, the number in need will increase each week. Hunger and need do not end after

Christmas. Pastor Jeff constantly needs help keeping the pantries full and continuing to do the work of Kokomo

Urban Outreach. His phone number is: 461-9618. You’ll never regret lending a hand.

Christmas Miracles

2008-12-20T22:27:00.004-05:00

After the miracle of serving 840 people Thanksgiving at 5 locations the following miracles occurred:

Bags and Bags of clothing etc were given to the Outreach. The mound reached the ceiling in our clothing room. A group from Chapel Hill came and sorted it all.
Wasn't sure how we would secure volunteers for Christmas break lunches received a call from a volunteer named Monica from Delphi, she asked to be put on staff because she recruited help for every day. I gave her a staff T shirt.
Food has been provided out of nowhere for daily Christmas vacation meals at Pine Valley and Trinity.
Milk came on just before our first day for meals. Fifty- one gallons.
The food pantry gets used to the max each week. Yet God continues to keep it full.
Needed 1000 pieces of fruit for sack lunches, was just about ready to put out an email plea and a local orchard called and donated 1200 apples.
The Bishop of the United Methodist Church visited and preached at Trinity on the 14th. He oversees 1200 churches in Indiana and usually only goes to churches that invite him for special occasions. He called me to come here. That visit was wonderful and the bishop has been talking about us to various groups. We received a nice check from someone he spoke to. Let's say it will provide thousands of meals.
Another fine man brought a large check to us out of the blue.
We received a $1400.00 grant to start food service at two new sites.
We have received 100's of hats, gloves, and socks. I did say hundreds.
We added a Secret Santa Site. We needed 600 presents for children to give to their parents. We have more than enough.
Christmas gifts keep pouring in and we think by the time all is said and done every Sidewalk Sunday School Child will have a gift.
We have had some awesome new volunteers join our more experienced volunteers
A brand new stove has been given to the trailer site by a Sunday School Class at Russiaville UMC.
Two freezer have been given to the Outreach one is for the trailer.
Money has been provided to buy kitchen appliances at two of our sites.
Roasters are are being provided to new site.
My family sorted and packed all of the Secret Santa Stuff
Wasn't sure how we were going to pass out 400 fliers in the trailer park to tell them about Secret Santa, Darren and his group, said no problem we have got it covered. Wow.
We are confident that the new Riley Modern site will open the first of January.
The first Cycle of Baby College is fully funded(almost $3,000)
Buddy Bag Sponsor need just completed.

All of the above happened during the last 23 days. Praise God!!!!

New Trailer Project

2008-11-12T17:40:00.001-05:00

Click here to see pictures of our Outreach Trailer at Riley Estates.

Blessings so far this year

2008-11-12T09:01:00.004-05:00

At Kokomo Urban Outreach we have been blessed by:

Chapel Hill Dishwashers
All the great youth groups that have volunteered about 20 different groups
Society of St. Andrews Potato Drops
Cowboy Church and Pastor Steve Sherwood
Giving businesses especially Kim at Kroger
Support from civic groups
My Tuesday Morning Covenant Group
Father Richard Lightsey and St. Andrew Episcopal church
The Board of Directors of Kokomo Urban Outreach

Stephanie Berghoff Board President
Ron Harper Secretary/ Treasurer
Travis Taflinger
Gloria Strickland
Grant Poynter
April Mozingo
Deanna Ancil
Chris Roberts
Walt Doering
Madelyn Stanforth
John Rudy
Lori Collins

Awesome Volunteers over 2000 strong
A strong relationship with nearly 50 area churches
Lifesaving Administrative Assistant
Expansion of Project EAT with a new volunteer coordinator
Lots of food drives
A strong connection with other non-profits
Tons of food given to be distributed
Wonderful cooks and servers
Faithful givers
A vision of the future

This list is incomplete, I have just scratched the surface.

Trunk or Trick

2008-11-11T22:57:00.001-05:00

Food Pantry Run and the goodness of God

2008-09-29T06:30:00.002-04:00

This past week was interesting. Early in the week there was a front page article in the paper with big bold print that said Out of Stock Salvation Army Food Pantry shuts down. Apparently, it was on the radio and TV. From my understanding, the Salvation Army has a yearly budget to buy food from Food Finders in Lafayette. Their budget year starts on October 1, meaning Sept is the last month of their year. When the food ran out last week they closed until October 1 when a new load would be delivered. However, people that depend on the food pantries, panicked on Wednesday there was a run on all the pantries in town. At the end of the day Wednesday most were without food. Our shelves contained 60 jars of peanut butter, 12 cans of soup and 24 cans of green beans. We could not open with that on Monday. However, God is good and God is big and by Friday Night we were completely restocked with our shelves filled to overflowing. Thanks be to God. Thanks for the prayers we really appreciate it. Jeff

Reily Outreach

2008-09-07T07:07:00.010-04:00

This summer Mary Ingle went around town asking managers of Apartments/Mobile Home Parks to see if they would be open to us coming in and setting up an Outreach site. Generally, we use community centers. She went to Riley Modern Estates on North Washington St. The manager was not only open to having us in the park, she gave us a trailer with free lot rent. The trailer is junk and had to be gutted. Yesterday was the United Way's Day of Caring. A group from Delphi and a group of students came and helped with the inside demolition. In about two hours the whole trailer was gutted. Kitchen, Living Room, three bedrooms and a bath and a half. Here are the pictures. We will be running Sidewalk School, a food/clothing closet and will be listening to neighbors to see what else we might need. Keep praying!!!

KUO Video

2008-08-11T17:01:00.001-04:00

US Poverty Tour

2008-06-20T22:37:00.001-04:00

Watch this powerful video.

2008-06-20T22:30:00.002-04:00

Click on picture to go to Project EAT website.

Project E.A.T. 's goal is to be sure everyone eats everyday. Kokomo Urban Outreach with the help of churches and organizations are providing food to the food insecure all across Kokomo. Our focus is on childhood hunger. KUO disburses food in a variety of ways---weekend backpacks full of food to weekly meals. This blog is designed to provide hunger awareness and to be a resource of appropriate ways to respond to it.

The logo on this page was designed by some children we serve. I asked them to draw a picture of a city with the sun going down to remind us that no one should go to bed without eating.

Open Letter to Everyone especially United Methodist

2008-06-20T22:27:00.001-04:00

Friends,

All across Indiana hunger is quietly on the rise. Hunger is found in every city, town, and county in Indiana. Hunger hits children and senior citizens, hardest. Everyday people in our state and in your community go to bed hungry. It appears that local hunger is not being addressed in many churches. I have had opportunities to speak throughout the state and have learned that few in the church understand the causes, ramifications, and proper response to hunger. While I don't pretend to be an expert, I do see hunger everyday and hear first hand stories about present challenges, as I work with the under-resourced throughout Kokomo. Presently, we are experiencing a crisis in our community that is headed toward or has already arrived in yours.

In October 2007, the State of Indiana rolled-out a new program known as, "The Modernization of the Welfare System". In a 1.6 billion dollar agreement between the State and IBM, the Welfare System was partially privatized, with the new system placed in twelve central Indiana counties including my county--- Howard. In March of 2008, the state added 27 counties in southern and western Indiana, such as Clark, Floyd and Vigo. While we were at Conference, in May of 2008, 20 more counties came on-line: Allen, Adams, DeKalb, Huntington, Jay, Kosciusko, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitley in northeast Indiana and Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Pike, Perry, Posey, Spencer, Warrick and Vanderburgh in southwest Indiana. Within a few weeks "The Region" will come on board followed by Indianapolis.

It has now been the nine months since the first counties were rolled out and from my experience it has been a difficult transition. There are no more face to face interviews to apply or reapply for welfare benefits which include: Food Stamps, Medicaid and TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families formally known as welfare cash). Applications for benefits are to be submitted by phone, on-line, or fax. The problem is that few under-resource families have access to phones, computers or fax machines. Many families in my neighborhood have lost their stamps for improperly filling out a form sometimes it is as simple as not putting in zip code or as big as not submitting proper records. When an application is rejected, a letter of denial is sent, families then must reapply from scratch with benefits taking up to 90 days to be restored. While many are successful in securing benefits, others with little education, mental issues, or other life uncertainties, find it difficult to maneuver through the system, resulting in benefit loss.

The State thought that most would apply on-line not by phone. A recent update on the roll-out shows that Hoosiers so far are favoring the call centers over the Internet, with 800,000 calls versus 22,000 online applications (Welfare shift debuts under fire By Niki Kelly, Published: May 22, 2008 The Journal Gazette, Ft. Wayne, IN). The volume of calls has overwhelmed the call centers causing great frustration for applicants. In Kokomo, we help our neighbors fax information, yet, most have to be faxed late at night or on the weekend as the call centers fax machines can't handle the load.

What are the ramifications of the "Modernized of the Welfare System"?

Hunger is on the upswing, especially since school is out with few communities offering a summer lunch program.

A great deal of pressure has been put on local food pantries trying to keep up with increased demand. The pantry at Kokomo Urban Outreach was providing food once a month to an average of 40 families. In May and June we served over 200 families. Every pantry in town is being taxed to its limits.

The local economy has been affected, grocery stores derives a significant portion of their income from food stamps. According to one grocery manager, in Kokomo, people will soon be losing jobs.

It has put stress on low-income families. Many families were barely getting by but without food stamps it has become a day to day worry of how to feed the children.

The loss of Medicaid has made it hard for children to secure medicines. Many of the children we work with have moderate to severe mental disabilities, the lack of medicine caused several children not to be able to function at school.

Just this week emergency Food Stamps became available to flood victims in southern Indiana. It is a wonderful thing to offer flood victims emergency Food Stamps, it is my prayer that they will actually get them in a timely fashion.

Loss of TANF(cash benefits averaging about $200.00 per month) have caused evictions, sanitary issues (food stamps is only for food not soap, laundry soap, toothpaste, shampoo or toilet tissue with no cash to secure needed items families do without) and transportation problems(no money for gas, taxi, bus etc).

The whole scenario is putting a strain on families (domestic violence is on the rise); crime in our area is on the rise, as well as homelessness.

Once food stamps are secure the rising cost of food makes it very difficult for families to stretch food dollars. Lack of transportation, whether due to no car or no gas, keeps families from using their food stamp dollars, prudently. Not being able to go to larger groceries with the better prices, forces many to shop at neighborhood convenience stores.

According to the USDA website, the average Food Stamp benefit per person in the State of Indiana is $3.13 per day. A family of four would receive $12.52 daily. I wonder what would happen if every United Methodist took a week and spent $3.13 a day on food. Would it be possible to organize a "Food Stamp Challenge" and journal our experiences? Is it even possible to live on $3.13 per day? Maybe for an extra challenge we would have to secure our food without the benefit of transportation. Just a thought.

This email is far too long and I heard we are not to link to other sites. If you email me I will send you resources and ideas that will put your Church in a position to respond to hunger in your community. I will, also, send you links of recent local news articles dealing with the "Modernization of the Welfare System".

Peace,

Jeff Newton

" I was hungry and you gave me something to eat...."

- Jesus

Note: While this sounds like I am against government "privatization" I am really not for or against anything. I just want everyone to eat and to become self-sufficient. I contacted my State Representative and he visited us on a Sunday night where we serving a meal to 183 people(we only seat about 100 in our fellowship hall). He gave me an 800 number to call to complain about the system, we made copies of it and passed it out to all who were having trouble. Every adult in the room asked for the number. I do think it is hard to take the "human" out of human services. JN

Lowell Work Team

2008-06-11T22:24:00.002-04:00

Today a 24 person work team from Lowell Indiana came to town to help us out. They completed about 132 hours of work translating into a gift to KUO and the church of $2640.00. WOW!!!! They:

Remodeled two restrooms
Cleaned Kitchen including 2 refrigerators and defrosted a freezer
Put away about 500 items of food in the food pantry
Cleaned, primed and painted the food pantry room
Put together about 100 craft projects for VBS
Installed an Air conditioner in the Sanctuary
Sorted a large amount of clothing
Did exploratory surgery on a water fountain :)
Donated 5 computer monitors
Donated Several bags of groceries
Left through volunteers about $150.00 in cash
Brought a smile and some joy to about 25 children---- which is priceless

Thanks Lowell friends. Jeff

Cook-Outs

2008-06-06T22:16:00.000-04:00

Cook Outs are now being held in four locations Garden Square, Pine Valley, Briarwick and Parr UMC on any given Sunday about 450-500 people are being served. The Parr/Oakbrook partnership seems to be working well. Hot dogs are pouring in but buns are a bit harder to come by. We are making it. Keep us in your prayers. Jeff

Annual Conference

2008-05-31T22:11:00.001-04:00

Chris and I attended our last Annual Conference of the North Indiana Church at Purdue. For 24 years we would trek to Purdue for the Conference. This year the North and South Conference voted to unify. Now we are one. Next year's Conference will be held at Ball State in Muncie. The highlight of this year's conference was when our great volunteer Jim Williams received the bread and basin award for all of his work in his church and the outreach. In other business Oakwood Park will be sold for the second time, Epworth Forest will be remodeled for about 20 million dollars and we voted to have every North Indiana Conference Church start a new faith community. Not sure how that will work since NIC is now gone.

Oakbrook and Parr

2008-05-25T22:09:00.001-04:00

Parr UMC is getting ready to do cook-outs for the neighbors around their church. Parr is a small church with few resources. They needed help. Meanwhile Oakbrook Community Church(mega-church located just out of town) called me as asked how they could help in the city. I suggested they partner with Parr they are with the first cookout days away we shall see how it goes.

Cowboy Church

2008-05-17T22:02:00.002-04:00

I spoke at "Cowboy Church" this week. Cowboy Church is held at Fairview Baptist Church once a month in two services. It is a service of bluegrass, country and comedy. Sort of a Christian Hee-Haw. Good clean fun. The offering went to the outreach and about 1400.00 was raised.

Yea-Haw

Thanks Pastor Steve Sherwood!!!!!

Food Back Packs

2008-05-05T21:59:00.003-04:00

We are beginning to deliver backpacks full of food to 230 students at a local elementary school. The backpacks are delivered on Friday and returned on Monday and refilled on Friday. It takes a great deal of volunteers and a lot of food. We secured another location to do the pilot program which will be the last four weeks of school.

Crisis Child Care Center

2008-05-01T21:57:00.001-04:00

This week Renee Roberts became our interim director of the Crisis Child Care Center. We welcome Renee as we figure out what our next step is in this outreach.

OH MY I am very sorry

2008-04-19T19:24:00.001-04:00

I thought I have been publishing posts all year long. I just realized I was saving posts but not publishing them. It appears I have been silent for a long time. Sorry about that. I think I have everything published now. Thanks Jeff

more speaking engagements

2008-04-19T19:17:00.002-04:00

This week I spoke at the Sunday night service at the Free Methodist Church. I have never seen a crowd that large on a Sunday night. I had a great time preaching about Outreach. Today I was invited to share with the Carver Center Board of Directors. For those of you who are not from Kokomo, Carver Center was started during the time of segregation. Black folks were not allowed in the Y. Carver Center is like the Y in many regards, however, in recent years many white kids have played in the basketball leagues and of course the Y welcomes all people. Both black and white kids go to school together and young adults have little prejudice, thus producing may bi-racial children. Finally, it appears that in Kokomo race is mattering less and less. The only place that is really racially divided in town is our churches and that is sad :( . I know there is hope and I believe that KUO and Carver Center will be able to partner in various projects to create a better community.

Tomorrow I speak to a rural church in Tipton County. I will update that later. thanks Jeff

Whew!! I am tired.

2008-04-11T21:00:00.002-04:00

This was Spring Break week. In order to provide relief of the food problem in the area, we provided lunches at two locations each day of Spring break. We served about 150 mostly kids each day. We also provided 250 breakfast bags. We had great volunteers, again, Chapel Hill came through in big ways. It was funny, we had the 1000 pounds of potatoes and I had 4 or 5 retired guys break down the large bags and make smaller bags(about 7 pounds). It usually takes two people about 2 hours. It took them about 15 minutes. Wow!!!!

Potato Drop

2008-04-05T21:10:00.000-04:00

One thousand pounds of potatoes were dropped off today. The United Methodist Men of the Kokomo District picked-up and delivered the potatoes. They are greatly needed. God is providing food everyday. We have never helped so many nor have we ever had so much food. Thanks for the prayers.....Jeff

Hunger

2008-03-29T19:05:00.002-04:00

Today we had our last Saturday of the month breakfast we usually serve about 30 today, when I couldn't be there nearly 100 was served. It appears that people all over are losing food stamps, medicad and welfare due to privatization. There no longer is a welfare office in Kokomo, to apply and reapply you must go to Marion(35 miles away), phone, go on-line or fax. Few of those in poverty have those resources. We are working to help. Grace UMC purchased a fax machine so that we can help neighbors re-apply. We helped nearly 200 families in food pantry this month, usually we help about 60. Things are looking dire. But God is bigger. I hope we can help. Keep us in your prayers. Jeff

Leadership Kokomo Part 2

2008-03-25T18:55:00.000-04:00

I meet with a team from leadership Kokomo, last year's team provided us with a trailer for the cookouts. This year's team is providing us with laptops. In a recent study, preschoolers that do not have a computer in their home are behind when they get to school. Leadership Kokomo will provide computers, curriculum and training so we can teach pre-school computer classes. Wow!!!

Wouldn't it be cool if we could take the class to other under- served neighborhoods in some fashion?

I can see it now. The Computer-mobile :) Thanks for the prayers

Good Friday

2008-03-21T18:35:00.000-04:00

Participated with 6 other pastors in a Good Friday Service from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM. Each of us had ten minutes to expound upon the last seven words of Jesus. This service is one I will not soon forget as it was mostly African-Americans. The service was very emotional and intense. There was a great deal of shouting and encouragement from other pastors. It was a very, very good service and one that I will not soon forget.

Easter Basket Workshop

2008-03-20T22:30:00.000-04:00

Today was our Easter Basket workshop our third. On Tuesday St. Luke's UM youth carried from the third floor to the basement, hundreds of pound of candy, 600 baskets, grass, toys, animal etc. On Wednesday the Prime Timers from Chapel Hill Christian Church set it up. On Thursday they returned and passed it out. Thank you Chapel Hill and St. Luke's . It was great time for all. At night was our Maundy Thursday Service, we moved through the church remembering the last week of Jesus' life. It sure is tiring to come back from vacation on Holy Week :).

Returning from Vacation

2008-03-16T19:20:00.008-04:00

Just returned yesterday from a week long cruise. We went to Mexico, Belize and the Bahamas. We enjoyed the food, hospitality and had a great time. One of the highlights was seeing a Mayan Temple in Belize. Chris and I climbed to the top---breath taking. We also enjoyed the towel animals each night. This vacation was a first---first with no children along, first cruise, first vacation since returning to Kokomo. We were celebrating 30 years of marriage, my 50th birthday, and a successful raising of three boys to adulthood. Here are some pictures of the ship, our room, the ruins, and the towel animal.

Serving with Cassville

2008-03-05T18:02:00.002-05:00

Cassville serves lunch at the Rescue Mission on the first and third Wednesday of the month. I have been there nearly a year and had no idea they did that. I went today and helped serve lunch. I had a great time. I really enjoy serving in the community with the church I pastor. Cassville also has a dinner after church every third Sunday, other church folk attend. This little church provides the Outreach with a great deal of food for the pantry and is willing to provide whatever we need. Thanks Cassville!

Last Night

2008-02-26T17:00:00.001-05:00

Led a workshop at Sunnycrest United Methodist Church in Marion. The church wanted to come to the Saturday workshop I lead earlier in the month but could not. The discussion was lively and people were attentive. One thing they did some years ago was to build a gym hoping to attract young people. It didn't work. Many churches added family life centers or gyms in the 90's to attract folk. Some work better than others. We focused on how to go out. They came up with some ideas. I hope they are able to move from a more attractional mindset to a missional mindset. Keep all of us in your prayers. Thanks Jeff

Lent

2008-02-25T20:59:00.000-05:00

We are in the season of Lent. Several churches in the outlying areas are have a combined Sunday Night Lenten Service, all the offerings collected with go to KUO. Unfortunately, it is difficult for me to attend the services as they start at 6:30 PM and I really do not finish until 6:15 PM. I will try to make it to the ones that are nearby.

Speaking

2008-02-09T21:48:00.002-05:00

I had two speaking engagements this week. The first was with the United Methodist Men of Greentown(although there were several women there). I was able to share about neighborhood outreach. They shared of the wonderful things they were doing in a mobile home park in Greentown. At the end of the presentation I was asked, how could they help us in Kokomo, I encouraged them to focus on Greentown and to get other churches involved in what they are already doing.

I also spoke to the Kokomo Ministerial Association at the Kokomo Rescue Mission. Things went well there and I have been invited to speak in a couple of churches. Thanks for the prayers.

Workshop

2008-02-02T17:39:00.002-05:00

Had a great day today leading a workshop entitled, "becoming a Missional Church". There were folks from Hammond, South Bend, and Kokomo. We talked about the life-cycle of a church, how to reach into the community, Sidewalk Sunday School and reaching people living in poverty. The day ended with particpants delivering cookies door to door in the apartment complex, showing God's love in a real way.

So blessed in 2007

2008-01-21T18:03:00.001-05:00

KOKOMO URBAN OUTREACH
2007 Annual Report
By: Jeff Newton, Ex. Director

FINANCES

· 2007 General Giving was about $68,000, up $22,000 from 2006
· Designated giving was about $10,000.
· Giving entities increased from 90 in 2006 to 105 in 2007
· Giving entities included 27 churches or Sunday School Groups and 10 organizations and businesses
· Financial assistance was also received from the North Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Bishop’s Christmas Children’s Offering

VOLUNTEERS

· Leadership Kokomo Team provided numerous hours of volunteer service as well as:
A trailer equipped with a table, sound system, gas grill, coolers, etc.; Shelves in the food pantry; Paper products
· A team of volunteers from Kohl’s provided service
· KUO was been blessed with a Summer Intern and a student volunteer
· Hosted numerous Adult and Church youth groups from Howard County and throughout Indiana
· First-time volunteers this year included 468 youth and adults for a total of over 800 volunteers
· Regular email newsletters are sent to 400 individuals

OFFICE and ADMINISTRATION

· Attended Community Foundation sponsored classes
· Have been working with a Consultant provided as a result of those classes
· Have made changes in the detail of the donations received
· 501(c)3 Application has been filed and accepted
· An Administrative Assistant has been working 10+ hours a week
· The Ministry of KUO has been shared at 5 church mission fairs and denominational
· Pastor Jeff and Staff has been the main speaker at 33 functions throughout the year (23 Churches, 10 Organizations)
· Sponsored the Call To Action, which has resulted in a working relationship between KUO, Bridges and the Kokomo Center School District
· Met one-on-one with 9 Pastors to discuss KUO

CRISIS CHILD CARE CENTER
· Opened the Crisis Child Care Center in July, with gifts from Grace UMC and St. Andrew’s Church
· Hired a Child Care Director
· Hours have been extended and Referral Forms revised in hopes of attracting more users

MEALS (over 15,000 meals served in 2007)
· Served an average of 215 at GS and 125 at PV at Summer Cookouts
· Served an average of 100 at GS and 80 at PV with inside Sunday evening meals
· Served Thanksgiving Dinner to appx. 185 at GS and 140 at PV
· Served Spring Break lunches to an average of 83 at GS (5 days)
· Served Summer lunches to an average of 95 at GS (17 days)

· Began serving Breakfast on the last Sat of the Month in July, to an average of 55 each month
· 400 Sack lunches were delivered on Christmas Day
· Served Christmas Break lunches to an average of 60 at PV (8 days)
· Alto UMC has assumed the responsibility for preparing the Sunday evening meals at PV

FOOD PANTRY
· Provided bags of food to all children attending Sunday evening SWSS & Cookouts each week
· Delivered 500 bags of food and 40 loaves of bread as an Outreach project
· Provided 43 breakfast bags and 25 snack bags to children during the summer
· Collected tons of food during a 4th of July food drive
· Distributed 25 lbs of green beans and 20 doz. ears of corn plus other fresh vegetables from the Community Garden
· Served an average of 35 families per month with food from the pantry (Sept—Dec)
· Distributed 600 lbs of potatoes from the Society of St. Andrews

OUTREACH

· Secret Santa Shop for children of GS and PV
· Easter Basket Workshop provided 600 baskets
· Valentines provided to all children at GS (80)
· Valentine gifts to mothers at GS (80)
· Backpacks provided to all children at GS and PV (180)
· Held a clothing give away at GS and PV
· Began weekly sewing classes
· Volunteers distributed 100's of children's books in the summer and fall
· Gave away about 60 bikes to those needing transportation to job
· Bike Repair
· Held a community concert and meal at the conclusion of VBS (325)
· Smoking Cessation classes had 10 individuals participating
· Socks were given to all who attended the Thanksgiving Meals at GS and PV
· Assisted many new families moving into GS from homelessness
· Numerous families at GS and PV were adopted at Christmas by individuals, church and scout groups
· Partnered with Kokomo Auto World who hosted a Christmas party for appx. 30 children, with each receiving a toy from their “wish list”
· Provided games to each child attending SWSS at PV
· Christmas Eve service held at the PV Community Room blessed 60 individuals

SIDEWALK SUNDAY SCHOOL

· Conducted weekly programs for an average of 40 children at GS and 20 children at PV; teaching about the Fruits of the Spirit, Easter and Advent, reaching a total of 180 children
· Held a mid-week summer class for an average of 10 children from GS and 15 from PV; teaching the Beatitudes
· Held Easter Egg Hunts, a Fall Party, Winter Carnival, and a Birthday Party for Jesus
· Partnered with Grace UMC in order to provide a week long VBS program to the children of Grace UMC and GS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

· 3 new Directors were appointed with a Board of ten members

100 Things I’m Grateful For

2007-12-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

Recently, I found a website that suggested you can solve problems by listing one hundred ways to do it. There were also suggestions to spur on other kinds of thinking. So here are the 100 things I am grateful for:

God loves me no matter what
My wife who stands by my side no matter what
My children
My extended family
My friends
Trinity UMC
Cassville UMC
The Outreach
Supportive Board of Directors
Volunteers
Those supporting us in the outreach
Those praying for us in the outreach
Transportation
Food to eat
A place to live
Clothing
A Job
A paycheck
Health
My neighbors
Churches that I am privileged to work with
Clergy friends
Beauty of the earth
Children we work with
Children in the churches
Youth I know
Community leaders
Bridges Outreach
United Way
Kokomo Rescue Mission
Domestic Violence Shelter
C.A.M.
Open Arms
YMCA
Carver Center
The Huddle
Food Pantries
Web friends
Medicine to keep me healthy
Encouraging words
The Bible
Prayer
Spiritual Disciplines
Worship
People catching on to Missional Living
Sight
Love
Peace that passes all understanding
Second, third and fourth chances
Full stomachs
Sidewalk Sunday School and staff
Casual Clothes
Casual Clothes
Casual Clothes (It is getting harder here)
Lowell UMC
Attica UMC
Faith UMC
Hillsdale UMC
Ingalls Indiana
My education
Having everything I need
Focused Vision
New ideas
Opportunities to meet new people
Opportunities to speak to groups
Community transformation
New Christians
Growing Christians
Churches who move outside the walls
My computer
Daylight savings time
Running water
Hot shower
Clean clothes washer/dryer
Music
Books
Healing
Wholeness
Memories
Making memories
Adventure
Journey
Seashores
Compassion
Forgiveness
New Life
Trust
Hope
Restoration
Salvation
Experience(s)
Quiet Times
Solitude
Fun
Laughter
Joy
Being satisfied with what I have
Giving
Receiving
Smiling faces

Toooooo looooong

2007-11-13T19:16:00.000-05:00

It's been way too long since I have published a post. I am sorry. I think blogging runs in seasons. I can keep up for a long time and then I just don't take the time to write anything. I think it has to do with the sun. The days are shorter. I am used to going to be about an hour after sundown which through the summer was about 11:00 PM. Now I want to go to bed at about 6:30 PM it has been dark for a while. Lets play catch-up:

Sunday Nights are still going strong with Meals and Sidewalk Sunday School. We are now in two locations feeding about 225 each week and having nearly 100 kids in Sidewalk Sunday School
Sidewalk Sunday School kids from Garden Square sang at a combined worship service with all the UM churches in Kokomo
We now have a facebook page you do need to sign up to see it. It is free and no spam.
smoking classes went well and we are about to start a second set
The Call to Action Conference went well. We are going to start a church/school partnership. Thirteen schools will be served by churches throughout the city.
We are preparing for the Thanksgiving dinners which will be the night before Thanksgiving, this year in two locations we expect to serve somewhere between 350-400 people.
Dave Mullens and I still are doing weekly podcasts, Two Middle Aged Pastors talking about stuff. The website is twomiddleagedpastors.com
A new choir has formed and has sang. It is the first choir in a long long time at Trinity. It consisted of nine middle aged women and an 81 year woman led by a soulful African American man, they did great. We shall soon have a Sister Act situation on our hands.
In other news: Fairview Baptist Church has joined us on Sunday Night as well as three men in their mid twenties that are taking on some leadership roles.
Things are going well please keep praying.

Thanks Jeff

Smoking Cessation Classes

2007-10-03T10:43:00.000-04:00

Ten people went through the Smoking Cessation Classes. All were successful in cutting back or quitting. Three have quit completely, while the rest are down to less than 10 per day. Cindi Meyers did a great job organizing the classes and Howard Regional administered the classes. Thanks to both. Dr. Nuss from Russiaville, was able to prescribe Clanix a new stop smoking . Ten people sponsored a smoker with $100.00 and prayer. Some of those in class will receive maintenance meds to help them for one more month. Thanks for all who helped this group defeat an addiction that is very hard to stop.

In other news:

Nearly 100 meals were served at Garden Square with about 70 served at Pine Valley
Sewing classes continue
Crisis Childcare is going
Call to Action Conference being planned

First Sunday Back In

2007-09-24T05:36:00.000-04:00

Last Night we had our first Sunday back inside. We were not sure how many would show up. There was a youth group from Shiloh UMC (14 people) . We put a couple at each table and prepare ourselves for a group. We had more than a group, or a crowd, we had a huge crowd. More and more people came, until we had to discreetly pull the youth group out of the room so there would be seating for more. We seat about 90 we served 125. We had around fifty or so kids that stayed for Sidewalk Sunday School. Everything went very well. Our unofficial theme is "Better and better, in every way, better and better everyday, better and better the Jesus way". Keep us in prayer. Also pray for the team that will be at Pine Valley. They are going to attempt to do a meal and Sidewalk Sunday School at the same time we are. They are having some issues with the facility. Tables have been taken by the housing authority to be repaired. Hopefully they will be returned soon.

Call to Action Conference

2007-09-14T16:31:00.000-04:00

A coalition of prominent community organizations, commissioned a 2007 Community Needs Assessment to stimulate conversation and guide planning to create sustainable improvements in the quality of life for all of Howard County. The assessment indicated that the Church in Kokomo is the strongest institution out of 26. I believe that puts the Church in a position of leadership and now is the time for the Church to come together and respond. There are several community concerns the church could and should address. Some of the issues include: food insecurity, family homelessness, services to single fathers, transportation, concerns of children and youth, as well as some of the educational issues. Please Mark your calendars, begin to pray and plan to attend!!

October 14, 2007

2:00 PM

Creative Financial Design

2700 S. Goyer Road

Kokomo, IN

Bulletin Insert link is here

First Smoking Cessation Class

2007-09-12T07:45:00.000-04:00

Last night was our first smoking cessation class. There were nine people in the class. It was really cool how God put all of it together. We had a local hospital come and teach the class and we began to recruit sponsors to pay for patches, gum etc. In the midst of the planning, a Dr. how volunteers for us stepped forward and offered to make each person her temporary patient and prescribe a new drug Clantix. The drug has a huge success rate. The cost of the drug is being paid for by sponsors. Sponsors will also receive names of those trying to quit to pray for them. Please pray that all are successful. My only disappointment is that not more people signed up. No One can smoke in their apartment after Jan 1 '08. All residents were offered a once in a lifetime opportunity. They could be free of the smoking addiction with no cost for them. To me that is amazing.

In other updates Andrew is doing well in college so far. He sings in the Glee Club and seems to like it. Jonathan is working in Lafayette for a moving company and is pursing music. He has written a couple of songs and actually sings them, you can hear them here. Patric and Laura lives in Bloomington where she manages a "Things Remembered" store in the mall and Patric works for a church camp near Brown County State Park. Chris is still caring for a 93 year old woman each morning. Chris' sisters and her are preparing for a rummage sale this weekend at their mother's house in Greentown, trying to rid the house of extra stuff so the house can be sold. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Crisis Child Care Center

2007-08-30T07:43:00.000-04:00

It has been a year in the making. Finally, the Crisis Child Care Center has opened. The idea for the center came from a group of downtown leaders, all of the social service agencies and some churches. I called the group together and asked what is the greatest need downtown. The answer was loud and clear a Crisis Childcare Center. I had no idea how much work would be involved in starting such an endeavor. We started with a Mission Statement:

Our mission is to provide quality, short-term, emergency childcare service to families in need, enabling parents to go to job interviews, healthcare appointments, and other essential appointments.

Then came the policies, procedures, forms, forms, forms that had to be developed. A location was easily secured, Grace United Methodist is where the center is housed. Next came issues of funding as we felt there had to be a paid director. In July funding was finalized and then a job description was generated and distributed throughout the community. Applications were received, applicants interviewed and someone hired. We hired Lisa Sawyer who not only had experience in child care but also has started not for profit organizations. After the director was hired we had to secure volunteers and go to social service agencies and explain the program and the referral policies. We are still doing some of that. The center is open on Mon, Wed, and Thur from 8-12(noon).

The goal is that in the future the center will become its own entity, with its own board of directors etc. For now they are under the umbrella of KUO. Please Pray for this new outreach. Jeff

Back Pack Fever

2007-08-18T19:05:00.001-04:00

Thanks to everyone who gave back packs. It was a good first day at school. Don't you think pictures speak louder than words?

Update

2007-07-26T07:14:00.000-04:00

God is Good!!!!!! God is surely at work here. Last week we had VBS with Grace United Methodist Church they brought their kids to our church. We had around 60 kids each night. On Friday we had a picnic/concert in the apartment complex. We served about 340 people and the music was great.

That same week we had three mission teams come to help us. St. Luke's Middle School Youth group helped us set up for VBS and bagged 300 bags of Groceries. On Wednesday, Bridges Outreach and a group from Kolhs came and helped us prepare for the Friday Picnic and then went door to door with groceries. They delivered to families at Garden Square and Pine Valley. On Sunday night a mission team came from Lowell UMC to help us at the cook-out, it was great to see some good friends.

It appears we will be beginning a new Sidewalk Sunday School at Stoney Creek Mobile home Park(across from Sewage Plant on Markland).

The school has been providing lunches in the apartment complex from the time school was out until last Friday(July 20). We picked up where they left off. On Monday when we opened up we had 66 diners, on Tuesday 88 and on Wednesday 99. God is blessing us with food and volunteers. On Saturday we are having a pancake breakfast. Honestly, I have never would have thought so many families would have so little food. In the past three weeks we have given out about 700 rolls of toilet tissue.

A group of girls from KUO went to church camp this week. Please pray for them and their leader. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Food Glorious Food

2007-07-16T09:08:00.000-04:00

We have had two awesome weeks in the Outreach. We received hundreds of cans of food on the Fourth of July with the "Give for the Good" food drive. We are beginning to collect backpacks and hygiene supplies for back to school gifts. Yesterday we had parish nurses take blood pressure at cook out. They were busy the entire time. Tonight we begin Vacation Bible School, we had many kids sign up yesterday at the cookout. Next Monday we begin Kid's Cafe, will be serving lunches to anyone who wants to eat, weekdays until school starts. I was unsure how we were going to provide the lunches. We received many large cans of fruit and vegetables from the food drive, but the fresh food was going to be an issue. Friday I received a check from the Bishop of the UMC. At Christmas time most churches collect an offering for children in poverty. I did not apply as I did not know I could. I was surprised to receive a check for $1,400.00. We will be sending food home with the children on Friday to help over the weekend. No one should go to bed hungry and hopefully no one in our neighborhood will in the next few weeks before school starts.

Good News Needed (click pictures to enlarge)

2007-07-02T08:23:00.001-04:00

It has been a difficult week in the neighborhood! (read story here)
There was a major drug raid with several of our Sidewalk Sunday School Kids parent's arrested. There were dogs, many police cars and a helicopter. All were all arrested for selling cocaine . It has been hard on the children who saw it and even harder on the children whose parent's were arrested. Living missionally can be kind of messy.

In the midst of the difficult time which in my opinion was really a good thing(I just feel bad for the kids, we are picking up the pieces). There have been many good things happening. Leadership Kokomo provided us with a new trailer equipped with new grills, tables, coolers, a shelving unit and even a stereo system.

They also provided us with lots of sidewalk toys---bubbles, chalk, balls, jump ropes etc. Leadership Kokomo Team 3 also volunteered one Sunday Night. That night we served about 230 people.

We know that God is in the business of
restoration and we are seeing,
hope and joy being restored
in the neighborhood.

Tug of War being played by small children.

When I saw them tugging I thought,
"this is their life".

NO SMOKING SECTION

2007-06-18T08:58:00.000-04:00

Our neighbors as well as all public housing tenants received word last week that they would not be able to smoke in their apartments or even outside of their apartments. They have to be fifty feet from their front door which is in our yard or the church yard. :) Anger is not a strong enough word to describe the emotion. At a meeting where the new policy was explained, residents asked why a new rule was being added when other rules are being ignored. The next day a flier went out reminding residents of all the rules and the day after the evictions started, mostly for having live- ins(people not on the lease). Let's just say the mood right now is tense. To make a difficult week even worse a ten year old neighbor was hit by a car. He was life-lined to Indy where he was put back together. They did not think he would make it but it appears that while out of the woods he will have a long recovery. The no smoking rule goes into place on new leases. Everyone signing a lease today will agree to the no smoking policy. Present residents sign new lease in January. We are hoping to offer some smoking cessation classes once things calm down. Please pray for our neighborhood.

Last week at the cookout we had a group bring hygiene packs(toothpaste, toothbrush, hand sanitizer and band-aids). They had a four question quiz about tooth brushing and hand washing. Kids that got the answer right got a star on their paper and those that missed were given right answers everyone got the hygiene pack. Very cool way to educate.

Last night we had local parish nurses do blood pressure checks. They were busy the whole time only checking adults. It was a great night.

Tonight there is a VBS meeting to make final plans. Grace UMC is bringing their kids to Trinity to join neighborhood kids. This is going to be cool.

Mary and I are meeting with representatives from a church in Logansport next Monday to talk about bringing Sidewalk Sunday School to Logansport. Looking forward to that.

We attending a wedding at Hillsdale in their garden(outside worship area) it was great. The garden area was purchased and planted when we were there back in the early 90's. We also saw some old friends from our first church.

Tomorrow my friend David will be here. We work together(long distance) doing podcasts each week (TwoMiddleAgedPastors.com). We will be working on updating a new(old) website called umsource.net at that site mostly Dave but sometimes I chime in as we discuss Missional United Methodist. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

It's Monday time to blog

2007-06-04T07:21:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it is Monday already. It has been a roller coaster week. Last week was our Annual Church Conference at Purdue. Lots of interesting debate there. In the midst of that I received a call that a friend died. The friend's name was Chuck, he was the pastor of the church before me. We met every Tuesday with a some other guys for coffee and conversation. He went into the hospital for routine heart surgery. Due to doctor error he died. When they inserted a drain tube they inserted it directly into his intestine and when it was removed poison spewed throughout his body. He was on life support for about 15 days and died. I will be attending his funeral today, I have the privilege of reading the scripture. We were unable to attend all of the Conference because our youngest son Andrew graduated from high school. The graduation was a joy and a sorrow all at once. It was a week of ups and downs.

However, in the Cassville Church the new Church I pastor along with Trinity, I met a four year old girl for the first time. Her name is Madison. She is very, very bright and as cute as a button. During children's time she was great. The sermon was based on Acts 2 where Peter quotes Joel and the gist of the message was that God is pouring his Spirit on all people young and old, male and female, rich and poor. At the end of the sermon we had communion. For some reason I felt led to invite Madison to help me. I held the cup, she held the bread. I instructed here that as people broke off the bread she should say, "This is the body of Jesus". I had the cup and I was saying "the blood of Jesus given for you". She did a great job, but I think she thought her line was too short, after I said a longer line she changed her line to "the is the blood of Jesus, he loves you". She talked loud and clear and with confidence. There was not a dry eye in the house. Thanks for your prayers. Jeff

Week in review

2007-05-23T12:01:00.000-04:00

If you like you may listen to this blog post click in blue box on the right below.

Two cookouts
Serving about 260 people with 55 volunteers
Podcast
Sewing classes on Tuesday
Neighbor in Hospital (Pastor Gloria)

Finally

2007-05-10T07:36:00.000-04:00

After a 30 page application that took several weeks to complete, a phone call or two to the IRS, making sure every t was crossed and every i was dotted, we received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service stating that as of January 13, 2006 we are an official not- for- profit 501 (c) 3 organization. I am very excited that is over. Everything is retroactive to the day of incorporation in 2006. YEA!!!!!

In other news:

We are having what I am calling extreme cookouts. Large crowds, extremely good volunteers and lots of fun. God is up to something big.
Folks are responding to our need for hotdogs etc. God is Good.
Two wonderful ladies from Russiaville held their first sewing class, seven neighbors attended and made some beautiful pillows. The sewing ladies consider themselves missionaries. By the end of class they knew each 'student" by name and something about them. Several of the women attending had never used a sewing machine before. Everyone left feeling good about themselves. It was a great day of accomplishment. God is stirring hearts.
One neighbor woman called me over and put a handful of money into my hand and asked me to buy a pop up canopy so that we would never have to cook out in the rain again. I took her seventy dollars and purchased a canopy. I know she had been saving up a long time to give that gift. God is generous.

Please keep us in your prayers. Thanks Jeff

A Note from Director of Children's Outreach Mary Ingle

2007-05-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

Family and friends,

This is just a write up about our first night at doing the cookouts. Yo should have been there to see, live, and experience it!!!!!!!! What an incredible, amazing, and God-thing it was. And it was ONLY our first Sunday night!!!!! Pastor Jeff and many AWESOME volunteers are handling Garden Square and yours truly and another group of AWESOME volunteers are handling Pine Valley. I was SOOOOOO excited about the turnout. We helped several families with food afterwards. All of our leftovers went home with families. They were so appreciative. We heard many "thank yous", "Can't believe you guys are doing this". You guys are really special." You guys really are doing this EVERY Sunday night." These were only a few comments we heard. I pulled up at Trinity to pack groceries for a family and I met Pastor Jeff and Chris(wife) and I was so full of joy. I said "tonite was SWEET!!!!"
God truly blessed our first cookout. I was praising Him all the way home. During the night, I heard a voice that said, "Hear my voice". Well, I did hear His voice a couple of months ago that said, "Cookouts at Pine Valley." Well, we did and oh my goodness, we were very blessed.

We could use more volunteers at Pine Valley. We need around 6 to serve. An I would love to have another group of 4+ to play games with the kids. I have games planned to play. So, if your family, women's or men's cell (bible ) groups, youth groups, would like to help us, please email me maryingle@yahoo.com or call me @ 868-3151. Cookouts are EVERY Sunday from 5-6. Dave Kilty is our griller and he starts grilling at 4:15. You would need to be there by 4:15. After we get things set up, we ways have prayer before we start serving. We are usally done by 5:45. People start coming at 4:45 to eat and we begin to serve then. Please pray about being a part of this wonderful journey and being used as Jesus hands and feet. God spoke to me during the cookout and said, these people just not only needs to build a relationship with You and me, but with one another. Pretty cool, hu????

Well, I could go on and on, but I think you all get the overview picture. May God continue to bless all of you as you are blessing Him.

Serving 4-Him,
Mary

Round UP

2007-04-19T19:25:00.000-04:00

It appears that I haven't posted anything for a while. Let's circle the wagons and catch up.

We are still inside on Sunday Nights with meal and Sidewalk Sunday School. On Easter Sunday we had a smaller crowd than expected. We had hundreds of Easter Eggs to find in an Easter egg hunt after dinner on Easter Sunday. We had eggs in four areas and divided children into age group. Our yard was covered for older elementary. Only three were hunting in that area. After a bit that group got tired and asked if they had to pick them all up. We turned younger kids in behind them to finish cleaning up the yard. Kids went home with completely full bags of plastic eggs with candy inside.

The next week we were back to normal numbers. :)

I spoke at the Marion District's mission rally that was called, "raise the roof with the Bishop" . The district was putting a roof on a school in Africa. I spoke about neighborhood outreach and the bishop spoke about mission trips that had impacted his life.

One day last week I attended a Prevent Child Abuse Conference to do an opening and closing prayer. Little did I know I was receiving an award for the work we do with children. My name was on the plaque but God and the many volunteers did everything, I mostly stand and watch in awe.

I met with a potential new board member. Our board is losing several folk due to moves, we are working at replacing and building the board's capacity. I am stressing the need to be highly committed and the expectations that I desire for a board member. I don't want Kokomo Urban Outreach to be thought of as just a "good" organization but as an organization that strives for excellence.

Leadership Kokomo is working on providing us with a cargo trailer and all the trimmings. We will be able to pull into neighborhoods to do mission work. WOW!!!

Today I met with two very nice women who will be offering sewing classes. They are going to begin with a pillow making project and go from there. They desperately want to be Jesus to someone else.

I am fast learning it is hard for long time church members to be the hands and feet to the unchurched as they spend a great deal of time with Christians in church.

Please pray for D.J. a 3 yr old boy we work with he is having surgery tomorrow. All of his teeth are rotten and they all have to be capped. I will be visiting him to tomorrow in the hospital.

Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

New Podcast

2007-04-06T16:20:00.000-04:00

Dave Mullens and I just finished a new podcast. A podcast is a type of Radio show. We found a new way of producing them using our cell phones and web page called, "Talk Shoe". What is cool about this format is that people can call in and join the conversation. Our podcast will be every Tuesday at 10:15 PM. Just go to talk shoe and you will see all our shows and the schedule. Click us on and listen. If you want to join in you must register on-line. If you want to just listen at your convenience you can click the play button on the right.

500 Easters Baskets Made

2007-03-31T07:04:00.000-04:00

It was like the 12 disciples feeding the 5000. Twelve KUO volunteers helped an endless sea of people put together over 500 Easter baskets. The event began at 11:00 AM, at 9:50 the line began to form, by 10:30 the line was all the way down the sidewalk and had turned down the side-street. Last year we served everyone in about 50 minutes this year it took an hour and a half. By 12:15 everyone was inside the building......finally.

The crowd was orderly, patient and appreciative. The volunteers were awesome. We did run out of actual baskets for about the last 30 or so, but we had enough stuff to fill a basket. Just like the disciples we gathered the left overs at the end and realized that we have enough stuff to fill about 100 more. Thanks for your support and Prayers. God is Good!!!!

Click picture to enlarge to read caption.

Kokomo Tribune News Article

2007-03-30T08:01:00.000-04:00

Church offers Easter baskets Friday

By TOM CAREY
Tribune community news editor

Hundreds of chocolate rabbits “hopped” into Trinity United Methodist Church this week.

The “bunny brigade” is part of a Kokomo Urban Outreach campaign to connect youngsters with Easter baskets.

Trinity Pastor and Kokomo Urban Outreach Executive Director Jeff Newton said the bunnies will find homes among the 300 Easter baskets currently in his 1701 S. Locke St. church.

Step into a storage room in the church basement and you’ll find a veritable chest of toys, yo-yos, puzzles, pencils, miniature footballs and basketballs, necklaces, bracelets, and sunglasses.

Even the most demanding sweet tooth would find something pleasant in the 1,000 candy bars, 150 pounds of foil-wrapped chocolate eggs and scores of suckers and lollypops.

There are also other sundry items, such as hair clips and about 500 stuffed animals. Several local churches, Currens Zapfe Paper & Notion Company Inc., and an anonymous donor — who, among other items, provided 300 bags of Easter grass — donated to the cause.

From 11 a.m. to noon Friday, parents are welcomed to drop by the church, and gather up goodies to make baskets for their children.

Newton estimates the Outreach Project will have enough materials to create 400 baskets at the church, located adjacent to Garden Square. Last year, 110 families — making 300 baskets — were represented at a similar endeavor.

He also said enough “goodies” were gathered and given to Coordinated Assistance Ministries Executive Director the Rev. Ruth Lawson to distribute to her clients. CAM, an ecumenical ministry to the homeless, operates a drop-in shelter at 210 N. Market St.

Newton said the project was simply part of Kokomo Urban Outreach’s goal to spread the word of God and “to help people have a normal life.”

“It may seem like a very small thing, but it’s a very important ministry,” Lawson said.

Faced with rent, and utility and food costs, she said there is often little left over for luxuries, such as Easter baskets.

The Boy who didn't know Jesus

2007-03-27T05:44:00.000-04:00

Sunday Night we had an 11 yr old boy in Sidewalk Sunday School who, as I was talking about Jesus, blurted out....."who is Jesus?" He didn't understand or had heard about Jesus. I briefly filled him in. His response was, " it is scientifically impossible to come back to life". My response was, "your right, but for God all things are possible". As always we broke into small groups for prayer, the boy was happy to pray but asked, "which goddess will be praying to". I explained we would be praying to the one true God. He joined a group with a local pastor and they prayed together. Afterwards the boy asked the music leader if what we said about Jesus was true....she respond with a great big "yes". I did check with the adult that brought him and was assured that the boy really did not know anything about Christianity. Please pray for this boy.

In other news..... the seven project came to Kokomo last week. The group spoke about choices at all the middle and high schools in Howard County(about 6000 students). On Saturday there was a big rally at the gym where the Gospel was presented to 3000 students with about 2000 encountering God for the first time. It was incredible to be there and see hundreds of kids on their knees covering the gym floor. There were so many, that the gym floor was filled as well as all the ramps leading to it. Every student making a commitment filled out a card and most were connect to a youth group that very night. We had one girl in our neighborhood show up at our church on Sunday night for the first time because of what happened to her the previous night. This event was planned by youth pastors and leaders from all over Kokomo. For the first time in memory, churches from all persuasions worked together to accomplish something for the Kingdom.

God is up to something in Kokomo and it appears to be big!!!!!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

2007-03-18T21:10:00.000-04:00

Today was an interesting day. He is homeless and moves from apartment to apartment living with this friend and then that one. He has shared with me many times. In his younger years he felt called to preach. He knows the scriptures backwards and forwards. He is an awesome guy. The problem is he drinks all the time. He is a drunk that loves everyone. He hangs on me etc. he is not an angry drunk. He would not hurt anyone. He has told me over and over that he is Jonah running and living in the belly of a big fish. He says he can't get out. I have been building a relationship with him for almost a year. Today he came to church. I was talking about the "sign of Jonah" found in Luke 11. As I was retelling the story of Jonah, when he walked in. He sat through the service and wept. At the end he came forward and we prayed for him. I will continue to work with him. Please pray that he can say no to alcohol. He is going to AA.

Just before dinner tonight the police were called to the neighborhood. There was a yelling fight going on. It was ugly. The group I knew the best said they would not come to church to eat because of the tension. I thought we may not have very many people there. We served about 100. Sidewalk Sunday School went very well too. Every missed Jim(read previous post).
We only had 11 volunteers all regular, we are just to have 30-40. We did it without problems but everyone had to do double/triple duty, no one complained. I really appreciate our volunteers.

Please continue to pray for us as we take back territory from the enemy. Jeff

Sad Day

2007-03-17T17:48:00.000-04:00

Today has been a day filled with a great deal of bad news:

A pastor that I was ordained with(Brian Ton) passed away after a fight with cancer.
One of our every Sunday Night volunteers emailed telling me his health has caused him to have to slow down and he won't be able to be here on Sunday Nights. Jim ran our dinning room and really supports the outreach in countless ways.
Another friend Ben had a massive stroke and the medicine that they gave him to thin his blood did the opposite. He is in bad shape. Ben and his wife Olivia were early financial supporters of the Outreach and have been faithful every month. Ben was recently here after a big snow storm and he and a friend built a backdrop for the Sidewalk Sunday School Room.

Yet I know that God is alive and well and working in every situation. Please pray for my friends and thank you for your prayers. Jeff

Can't wait

2007-03-14T19:36:00.000-04:00

Everyday is an adventure. I never know what is going to happen next. Each night when I go to sleep I can hardly wait for the next day. When I get up I am ready to go. Of course, there are times when I am ready for the day to end. It is a privilege to what I get to do. The past couple of weeks I have been doing a great deal of speaking. I enjoy that. I have had more interaction with the neighbors since the weather is allowing them to move out onto their porches. Two families across the street borrowed my rake and hose to clean up their yard and scrub their porches. They also came over and raked half of our yard. That was a blessing. Easter basket items are pouring in as we prepare for the workshop. We are gearing up to do the "Let's Do Lunch Club" during spring break. Tomorrow I am meeting with the downtown group to put the finishing touches on the Crisis Child Care Center that should open in the next couple of weeks.

I am taking classes on Thursday afternoon that deals with issues for non-profits and am learning a great deal. When I finish the classes I will qualify for 50 hours of a personal professional non-profit coach. I hope to build a strong board of directors as there will soon be a turn over due to transfers.

Church is going well. We are averaging over 40 each week and we finished 2006 with $1000.00 left in the General Fund. Sunday nights and Saturday Afternoon Sidewalk Sunday School continue to thrive.

Andrew is Horton in the school musical "Suessical" . Horton is the main character. Andrew came out of nowhere when he auditioned as he has never been in play in Kokomo. He is at practice every night. Jonathan is gravitating now toward West Lafayette and hopes to go to Purdue in the fall. He and Andrew will be there together. Jonathan has been attending the Orthodox Church he enjoys the rituals, incense etc. Patric is still plugging away at school and working.

Chris continues to care for a 92 yr old woman and spends a great bit of time with her mother and sisters. Almost every Sunday we all gather at the church after church for a big family lunch. Like I said, "life is good and God is good". Please continue to pray for us.

Jeff

The weather about the weather

2007-02-26T06:32:00.000-05:00

When bad weather comes I am never sure what to do. I don't know weather or not to cancel events or to move forward. Last weekend the snow forced a group that was coming on a mission trip to Kokomo to cancel. However, we did not cancel the large event we had planned. We invited all the neighbors to a winter dinner and carnival. At the dinner we had barbecued pork, mac and cheese, greens, corn bread and banana pudding with vanilla wafers. We served 141 meals and had about 70 kids come to the carnival. The problem we faced before the event was that we needed about 25 volunteers to make it happen and there was only about 5 parking spaces as most of the street etc had huge snow drifts along them. I put out an email to some key people and we had 45 volunteers come to our aide. It was a great night.

Yesterday (Sunday) we had to cancel church due to ice. However, by midday the ice had all melted. Last night we had a large group of first time volunteers. We had a confirmation class from a local church(about 12) and we had a small group (Bible Study) of about 15 plus our regular awesome volunteers. Again we had a great night.

On Saturday I was blessed to share at an Evangelism Conference. Chris and I led a workshop, called, "Becoming the church next door" . We did it twice and was able to talk about what it means for a church to have a missional attitude.

I was to go to Anderson after church yesterday to share with a church there, however, the weather forced us to cancel.

Next week I am speaking at all three services at the Episcopalian Church in town. Please pray for that. Also, pray for the Crisis Child Care Center that will be opening soon. Thanks Jeff

PS: I want to thank my friends Ben and John for traveling a great distance through the snow to build a back drop for our Sidewalk Sunday School Stage :)

Outreach to the Under-resourced

2007-02-13T14:37:00.001-05:00

Kokomo Urban Outreach is a network of churches, organizations and individuals that have a heart for hometown missions. Our goal is to help churches think and act "Missionally". The church that I led is moving in that direction. The church building is located in the midst of a large number of "under-resourced" families. Under-resourced families not only lack finances but also systems of support (family, church, community). Over the past couple of years I have learned a great deal about reaching out to the under-resourced and have seen a great transformation-----in me.

Outreach to the under-resourced is not simply doing my good deed for the day, nor does it exist to give me something to pat myself on the back about. It is not the impersonal distribution of my leftovers. It is about sharing Christ… His provisions…..love, compassion, kindness and warmth with the hurting, the broken, the hard living and rough edged. It is about being light and salt in places of darkness and hopelessness.

Outreach to the under-resourced is not reaching from our high position down to their low position. It is rather our reaching out as peers. It is about my coming to terms with my brokenness—reaching out to other broken individuals. It is about… dignity and respect… looking into the eyes of another human being… being real and building relationships… sharing my meals, my home and my life. It is about reconnecting the disconnected, as well as connecting with the disconnected.

Outreach to the under-resourced is about seeing people and the neighborhood through the eyes of Jesus. It is seeing more similarities than differences, yet dealing with the differences appropriately.

Outreach to the under-resourced is less about ethnicity or race, and more about geography, population density, and culture. It is about a culture of poverty. Not simply economic poverty, but a poverty of spirit and attitude.

Outreach to the under-resourced is not just teaching, but being taught. It is listening and learning—discovering some of the flaws in my culture as well as the honorable things in theirs.

Outreach to the under-resource is not about the rich folks coming down to help the poor folks because they feel sorry for them. It is about building partnerships and cooperation. It is about working together for renewal—spiritual renewal, community renewal, family renewal, and personal renewal----not just for them but for us.

WOW!!!

2007-02-12T09:01:00.000-05:00

Last night was great. We had a big crowd about 65 were served a meal. We had the youth group from St. Andrews Episcopal Church with us. They are great. We had about 40 kids in Sidewalk Sunday school and the girls youth group had a wonderful time making valentines. There were many new families and kids. It is like starting over but it is good. We did have a group of kids come who moved to the other side of town. It was all good. This weekend we have a mission team coming from northern Indiana. We have a lot planned and are looking forward to being with them. Keep up the prayers. God is at work. Thanks Jeff

Change

2007-02-07T14:48:00.000-05:00

The neighborhood is changing everyday. Families are moving into houses which is good. When moms and/or dads get a job and keeps it for a certain period of time are eligible to move into a house with continued rent assistance. Others are being evicted, lots of them. So far not a lot of families moving in, it takes awhile to get an apartment ready for a new family. We in turn must be ready for new families. Many volunteers are sadden when a family moves. It is difficult to keep up with families that move away. However there is a new excitement of reaching new groups of people. It almost feels like we are starting over. New kids, new families, new stories and new opportunities. please keep us in prayer as new people are being reached. Please keep praying for us. Jeff

Check it out

2007-01-30T20:42:00.000-05:00

In 1993,my friend David put up one of the first United Methodist websites. It was called the "Unofficial United Methodist Church Website". Once the official website came on-line a few years later(he also put the official site up)he changed the name to umsource.net. He recently invited me to be a contributor to the site. Today I put my first post up. It can be found here.

In other news, Andrew (who I wrote about in "Life on The Porch" you may read about him here ) allowed me to pray with him tonight for the first time, it was actually the first time I asked. He is way open to God and is searching. He has been attending church, which is a good thing. By the way I am taking Andrew to take a test and enroll in GED Classes.

Please pray for Scott,(he too was in the devotional here) he is the "bling, bling" single father. He and his 2 1/2 year old were evicted yesterday. He could not pay his rent. I was worried that he would be on the street with his son, as there is no place in town that will help a father and child. When I saw him two days ago I asked him how he was. His response, "I am blessed." How can you lose your home and be blessed? He is moving in with a friend in Greentown, he feels it would be a better place to raise his son. Yesterday the housing authority pulled up to his apartment in a dump truck and carried all the stuff left in his apartment and piled it in the truck. On the very top was his son's red wagon. All last summer he pulled his son around in it. Scott literally lost it all. It makes me realize how blessed I am. Thanks for all the prayers. Jeff

New for 2007

2007-01-24T07:30:00.000-05:00

For me, 2007 has started off with a bang. On New Years Eve and woman who I had never met came to the church to ask me what we needed for the Outreach. I told her diapers, toilet tissue etc. She then asked if we could go to my office to talk. She then told me that what I needed was a copy machine. Suddenly, my mind raced back to the previous Wednesday as I was yet again sitting in another church waiting for Sidewalk Sunday School fliers to be copied (the church's copy machine died just a couple weeks after I arrived, with no money to fix it let alone replace it). I told her we did need a copier she wrote a check for it and I purchased it. Her gift was generous enough that we also will be able to maintain and be able to purchase the toner etc for the next five years. Praise God!!!!

I have had the opportunity to lead a round table conversation with a group of Episcopalian pastors and their bishop about church re-starts, thinking Missionally and community outreach. It was a great morning to share.

At our first KUO board meeting of the year, the board of directors approved a $50,000
budget for 2007 and voted to pay me full time. No more teaching at the Academy. Praise God!!!!!

I was presented a check for $3,250 from a young leaders club for the Outreach and had a chance to share with them what we have been doing.

We are going deeper with the children, instead of just singing to be singing they are learning that singing is praising God. They are learning about prayer as they form small prayer groups to pray for each other. They are learning to read scripture and are memorizing short verses. The next step probably in the fall is to help them to think Missionally.

Our Sidewalk Sunday School room is being covered with murals, carpet has been installed and a just the right size sound system has been donated.

Last week there was a Ladies Only clothing giveaway organized by the neighbors themselves. Hundreds of items were given away. The coolest thing was someone brought in about 100 lotion, shower gel etc packs and each women received a treat bag.

New volunteers are appearing on a regular basis. When the evening is over most volunteers have an ephinany they have just been helping Jesus in the Kingdom. Most leave with a new sense of mission.

We are collecting soup for February since it is the month of Super (Souper) Bowl. Feb is also black history month and we hope to have a "Soul Food" dinner soon. We are also collecting valentine packs so children can fully participate in valentine's parties at school. There is no doubt that God's people will come through.

Mary Ingle spoke to a Lutheran church last Sunday and hundreds of personal hygiene items, food, new clothing and a lot of other items came pouring in later in the afternoon.

I am leading a workshop in Feb. at an Evangelism Conference in Lafayette called, "Becoming the Church Next Door" and will be sharing at a Mission Banquet in Anderson in April.

Please keep praying that churches all over will open themselves up to the idea that they are to be a mission base in their neighborhood and that every person in their church will live Missionally. Thanks Jeff

A Christmas Day Story

2006-12-27T13:39:00.001-05:00

While a team of engineers built sandwiches in the kitchen, cookie packers prepared packages of cookies, as assembly-line leaders formed their assembly-line team. The receiving department had spent the previous week receiving items to be assembled and stocked was double checked for quality and quanity. The shipping department waited with baited breathe for the first finished products to come off the end of the line to be packed in boxes for delivery. When the starting whistle blew the action began. Sandwiches came out of the kitchen at break-neck speed, the cookie packers piled bags of cookies on trays to be delivered to assembly line workers. The THREE assembly lines were kept stocked with "parts" as assembly-line workers put together the final product--- a sack lunch. Each lunch consisted of a can of soda, a piece of fruit (orange, apple or banana), a sandwich (turkey, ham or bologna ) a bag of chips, a pack of cookies and a napkin. When the lunches were completed they were placed in boxes to be delivered to neighborhood residents. On Christmas Day in the course of 30 minutes about 600 sack lunches were assembled by more than 40 volunteers. A prayer of blessing was offered over the lunches for the workers and the receivers and part-two began.

Dock workers loaded trucks, vans and cars with the lunches. Two hundred doors of apartments at Garden Square were knocked on and a sack lunch was given to each person in the apartment. Mid-way through delivering the lunches, the "delivery people" began to find families in need of Christmas gifts, food and general household supplies all of which were called into the "special need center" set up in the church. Elves in the church began putting together the need items, wrapping presents, gathering food etc. Items were, then, delivered to the apartments that had the need.

Meanwhile delivery teams began to return with left over lunches as many people were not home (just as on the day that Jesus fed the multitude, there was much left over). On Christmas afternoon in the pouring down rain, five brave souls went door to door at Pine Valley Apartments (A Sidewalk Sunday School location) and knocked on an additional 100 doors, distributing nearly 200 sack lunches. By mid afternoon, 300 apartments were called on and nearly 600 sack lunches were delivered.

Thank you to all who made this story possible. You have been a blessing to our family and the neighborhoods served.

Secret Santa and other Christmas fun

2006-12-15T10:19:00.000-05:00

This has been the Christmas week. On Monday, we spent the day setting up a Secret Santa Shop where children in the neighborhood could come and go shopping for items for their parents. When I was leaving the church a little boy across the street called out to me. I went over to talk with him, he was wearing a tie. I told him he looked nice and asked him why he was dressed up. He told me he was going to be in a Christmas program and asked me to come and see him. I went. I saw so many of the children in the neighborhood that night. I didn't realize it was only the younger grades that night so I also, went on Tuesday night to see the older kids. On Wednesday night was our secret Santa night. The children visited Santa, entered a coloring contest and shopped for parents. We even helped wrap all the presents. Nearly 125 kids came through. We had about 75 volunteers(50 from the Student Council of Northwestern Elementary School).

On Thursday we went to son Andrew's Christmas program it was our 21st year of attending our children's Christmas programs, this will be our last as Andrew graduates this year. Wow! It is hard to believe.

Tonight(Friday) we are attending a church 's play. Then on Saturday a Birthday Party for Jesus at Pine Valley and on Sunday our regular outreach night. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Missional Church

2006-12-09T07:25:00.000-05:00

One of the stated goals of Kokomo Urban Outreach is to help churches see themselves as a mission center in their neighborhood and to help every person think of themselves as a missionary. I have had several people ask me what a missional church could look like. I think a missional church, is more of a mindset. In order for a church to become a missional church it has to think differently, much differently. This shift in thinking is expressed by Ed Stetzer and David Putman in their book, "Breaking the Missional Code" (Broadman & Holman, 2006) :

From programs to processes

From demographics to discernment

From models to missions

From attractional to incarnational

From uniformity to diversity

From professional to passionate

From seating to sending

From decisions to disciples

From additional to exponential

From monuments to movements

After a change of thinking comes action, the following has been gleaned from many sources, and think it best describes the actions of a missional church.

Missional Churches

are exploring and discovering what it means to be Jesus' sent people everywhere they go,(jobs, shopping, sporting events etc).

are individuals willing and ready to be Christ's people in their own situation and place.

are engaged with the culture without being absorbed by the culture. They are intentionally indigenous.

understand God is already present in the culture. The secular and sacred are blurred. Therefore, a missional church doesn't view its purpose as bringing God into the culture or taking individuals out of the culture to a sacred space.

are evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; service is as important as what we say.

aligns all their activities around the the mission and Kingdom of God.

seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.

practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.

understands themselves as a community on a mission together.

are communities where everyone is involved in learning "the way of Jesus." Spiritual development, through a variety of Spiritual disciplines are expected.

gathers for worship, encouragement, teaching, training, and to seek God's presence. The purpose of gathering is to be filled, healed, equiped, and empowered to be Christ's Representatives wherever they find themselves.

A Missional church is

not a dispenser of religious goods and services or a place where people come for their weekly spiritual fix.

not a place where mature Christians come to be fed and have their needs met.

not a place where "professionals" are hired to do all the work of the church.

not a church with a "good missions program." The people are the missions program.

not about a new strategy for evangelism.

not about big programs and organizations to accomplish God's missionary purpose. This does not imply no program or organization, but that they will not drive mission. They will be used in support of people on mission.

not labeled "liberal" or "conservative" perhaps there are elements of both.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-25T07:09:00.000-05:00

The Wednesday night Thanksgiving Dinner was a success. We served 190 neighbors and 70 volunteers a great dinner. It was hard to believe that the total was over 250. If you have been to our fellowship hall you would know we experienced a miracle. That night every child went home with a package of new socks and a toy. Adults went home with a doorprize(TV, Mircowave, knick-knacks, socks etc). Twenty some winter coats were distributed, along with blankets. We were blessed to have over 80 volunteers from who knows how many different churches. We used real plates and silverware, keeping every very busy.

On Thursday, Chris' family met at her mom's new house (right next door to us) for dinner. There were 29 present. Patric and Laura were not there as they went to be with her family. It was a great time.

On Friday, I subbed at the Academy which is always interesting, that day was no different. Of course our weekly load of bread was delivered and several coats along with a bike.

Today I am preparing to attend a church craft bazaar in which the proceeds will come to the outreach. Tomorrow I am looking forward to church, hanging of the greens in church at 1:00, having the children's dinner at 5:00 and a concert at 7:00 where a freewill offering will be collected for the Outreach.

I am seriously thinking about taking Monday off. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

John

2006-11-20T09:35:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a great day in church. John showed up. John is a 25 year old neighbor that lives with Jamie. I have known John since we have moved in. He is a very angry guy. He struggles with , has been a meth user. John and I have developed a friendship over the past year. He is nice enough, but can't keep a job and is under-educated. As I said, John showed up yesterday. The scripture was from Luke 8:26- 39. It was the story of Jesus and the guy who had legions of demons in him, living in a cemetery. The sermon center around who possesses you, God or other things. I named other things like , greed, , etc. At the end of the sermon we sang, Precious Lord take my Hand, and asked if anyone need to take the Lord's hand to be lifted out of the graveyards or dark places. Two people came forward, one was John. John accepted Christ and then asked if he could be baptized right now. Chris had a bottle of water and we baptized him on the spot. As I was baptizing him I was thinking of how Phillip baptized the eunuch on the spot, just found some water and did it. That's what we did too. I can't explain how God is moving here. I have never, ever seen anything like it. Please keep praying.....Jeff

Scott

2006-11-13T17:11:00.000-05:00

I have just finished an Advent devotional that will be sent to all supporters and to anyone else that would like to have one. It is a collection of stories about people in our neighborhood, along with a few insights of how poverty effects families. All the stories have been read to the people they are about and they have given permission for me to use them. One is the story of a single father named Scott, here it is:

The shiny large cross necklaces hung around his neck. It seemed so big for such a little guy. He was being held by his father, who by the way had on the same necklace. Scott is a single dad raising a nearly two year old boy. They both look alike, dark crew cut hair, same eyes, nose and sheepish grin. Scott also has a daughter. His daughter lives with his wife and his son lives with him. Scott’s tattooed arms, goatee, the bling of his jewelry, and his black clothing makes it obvious that he is not a “Ward Cleaver” kind of Dad. Those that don’t know him might never guess it, but he did more than father a child, he is a dad. One of the best I have seen. He pulls his son in a red wagon all over the neighborhood. Scott is a quiet man, sticking near his apartment, full of wisdom and seems to be making good decisions. He holds his son with pride, he loves him unconditionally, he strives to do what is right, he protects him from the harsh realities of life that sometimes surfaces in the neighborhood. He spends all of his spare time with his son. He is the kind of dad that every child longs for, a dad who building a child who will grow into a man who will respect others and be a man of integrity.

Last night Scott asked to speak to me after the children's outreach. He has never attended church in his life, he knows nothing about religion(his words). He just asked me why we were so nice to him. We have taken him food, clothing even though he has never asked for anything. He couldn't believe that I would include him in the booklet, he could not figure out why we care for people in the neighborhood that no one else cares about. He wondered why we help people that we know are doing or a host of things he didn't think Christians like. He was taken back by the kindness he has received. I told him we were just trying to show him the love of Jesus. He asked about Jesus, he knew nothing about him. I told him that Jesus offers peace. He explained that peace for him was like a word on the wall, he had no idea what that was like. One thing led to another and when Scott left, he was a changed man, he said he experienced peace, a peace that he said he couldn't explain. Maybe that is what the Bible meant when it talks about the peace that passes understanding. Please keep up the prayers. Things are rapidly moving from meetphysicalscal needs but also spiritual needs. ----Jeff

Tooo long

2006-11-01T07:40:00.000-05:00

I just realized I haven't posted anything for a long time. It has been kind of busy. Chris's mom bought the house next door to ours and moved from the edge of Greentown to the middle of Kokomo. Her new house is smaller, easier to heat, needs little work, and a smaller yard. She drives to Kokomo about everyday, now she is here. She is 5 minutes from the bowling alley and 5 minutes from the senior citizens center. She is near her doctors and the hospital. So far she likes it. We also had a big 80th birthday party for her, that was a lot of fun.

As far as the outreach we have around 20 kids coming to sidewalk Sunday school at Pine Valley and between 60-70 kids coming to Trinity. This past weekend we had a carnival at both places. The children were well behaved and won lots of prizes.
The children's space that we are trying to create at Trinity is going slowly, but surely. We have an artist that will be covering the walls with murals and carpet is coming for the area as a gift from a local church.
We are still collecting coats, hats, gloves and socks for children. However the coats are slow coming.
Our meals on Sunday Night are now being provided by a local business owner.
I just received word that we will be receiving a $5000.00 grant for our Annual Conference.
I resigned from the Kokomo Academy as a substitute teacher. They wanted me to work two extra hours a day for the same amount of pay. I decided I did not want to work for free. I would not get home until about 4:00 PM before the schedule change I was getting home at about 2:10PM.
I am just about finished with Advent devotional. It will be completed this week and should be printed in various locations next week and then be distributed to supporters and local churches.
I am making presentations for KUO at 4 church board meetings Lutheran, Episcopalian, congregation, and Church of God) hoping to garner support for the outreach and/or opportunities to work with the churches to reach into their neighborhood.
I will be speaking at St. Luke's UMC on Nov. 12 for all three services. It is their mission Sunday, I am looking forward to it.
We are planning for a Thanksgiving Eve dinner at the church. The food will be provided by the Kokomo Rescue Mission. We are presently recruiting volunteers we need about 70 we have about 50.
St. Andrews Episcopalian church is having a craft bazaar to support the outreach (Nov.25).
The KUO board of directors are putting together a Christian Concert to support KUO (Nov. 26).

Back on Track

2006-10-16T21:14:00.000-04:00

It has been a couple of weeks. Working at the Academy took its toll. It was a long stretch working every school day from 8:30-4:00 and then catching up at night on all the other stuff I needed to do. However, that is over, so now I can get back to business. Sunday's are getting very exciting. We are having neighbors showing up in the morning and we are seeing God working like I haven't seen in a while. Lives are being transformed that is for sure. We have added an Bible study on Sunday night and have been serving about 70 people each week. Tomorrow I head to the Conference Office to be interviewed by the Mission Group so that we can become a Conference Advance Special we are already a District Advance. On Thursday I am meeting with downtown pastors and community leaders to begin a process to discern what issues we might work on together. This weekend my mother in law is moving into the house next door to ours. She will be moving from Greentown where she has lived for 50 years. The following weekend there will be a mission team coming from the Goshen area. Andrew has completed marching band and is looking forward to the prom which, here, is in the fall not the spring. I am also working on a devotional called, "Life on the Porch" that will be used by supporters and area churches during advent. I have three more to write, most have gone to an editor to be fixed up and corrected, I am very excited about the project. I can't wait to have it all done. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Sidetracked

2006-10-04T06:19:00.000-04:00

This week I feel kind of side tracked. I am substitute teaching at the Kokomo Academy, for 9 days replacing a teacher that is on vacation. School runs year round, so teachers rotate out on vacation. I hadn't worked there for about 6 weeks and when I was called back, the schedule had been changed. Previously I was in school from 7:30 AM-2:00 PM which for me was great, now I go from 8:00-3:30 which is not so great. I don't have as much time in the afternoon to work on church and outreach stuff. I made the nine day commitment so I will complete it, my time ends next Tuesday, five days to go. After that I doubt if I will return. This past Sunday we had some good friends visit us and work in the Outreach we served about 70 people dinner, had about 44 kids in Sidewalk Sunday School, 3 in youth group and two in a new Bible Study. We had our largest Sunday Morning crowd yet....47. I am working on an advent devotional and I am trying to get a newsletter out. Next week I am meeting with a Lutheran pastor to talk about supporting the outreach, we are planning a concert that will be a fundraiser, and I soon will be meeting with downtown pastors and leaders to discern issues that need to be addressed in the downtown. Things are really going, please keep me in your prayers. Jeff

Catch up

2006-09-25T18:46:00.000-04:00

I spoke too soon, in previous posts I have talked about how it has been kind of slow. I need to learn when times are slower, that is God giving me a rest. Life has been so full that I have not had time at all to blog. While I can't fill you in on everything. Too much has happened. Here are the highlights:

Bikes still coming in and going out
700 pounds of gleaned potatoes passed out
Sidewalk Sunday School started at Pine Valley in the last two weeks we have reached about 30 children
Sidewalk Sunday School and dinner on Sunday Night have been a huge success. The first week there were about 70 dinners and 44 children in Sidewalk Sunday School and 9 in youth group
Last night we served closer to 90 dinner with about 48 in sidewalk Sunday school and 18 in youth group(some older boys left but they started out in the group)
Grace United Methodist Church is purchasing carpet for the new children's area so the children will not have to sit on the floor
The new children's area has opened with a fresh coat of paint and colorful decorations provided by Mary Ingle
I am writing an Advent devotional that is called, "Life on the Porch", they are stories about those in the neighborhood who spend a great deal of time on their porches
We have been averaging over 40 in church and since Mary Ingle started teaching Sunday school our children's Sunday School has gone from 3 or 4 to 8 or 9.
Mary and I visit every child that attends sidewalk Sunday school at both locations. We called on about 30 families
I have had two funerals and after this Saturday two weddings in the past 2 weeks
Then there have been meetings, lunches, Bible studies, sermons to prepare and a whole bunch of other stuff

I am thankful for:

my wife and family who are supportive
the many, many volunteers
volunteers helping me during the week keeping the church building open and entering data in the computer
God for answering prayers and giving strength
for the church I serve that is soooo supportive

Current Prayer Concerns:

Pray for a volunteer to work with middle school boys. It would be great to have an African-American Male to work with this sports minded group of African-American boys. I fear if we don't get them now they will get in major trouble, they already cause minor trouble through the neighborhood. However, they show up at the church to eat and to see if have someone to do something with them. We have a great worker that is willing to work with the 8-10 middle school s but 18 or more teens are too much for one person.
Pray for food(cans of food) we are very, very low(we have zero)
Pray for continued volunteers on Saturday and Sunday nights
Pray for people that we be good at weekly visitation

That's it for now. I will try to update more often.

Week in Review

2006-09-08T08:46:00.000-04:00

Saturday(Sept. 2) - Spent much of the day mowing grass. It had rained for days. A neighbor mowed my yard while a church member and myself spent about 4 hours caring for the church yard. In the midst of that I was able to spend the morning with my friend David who was here from North Judson, as well a friend from Lowell in the evening. At noon I picked up the first bike. It was given to a guy who just got a job and had no transportation.

Sunday(Sept. 3) - Worship went well. We had more kids than usual. Mary Ingle our new Volunteer Director of Children's Outreach, for KUO, had her first Sunday in church with us, she is now our Sunday School Teacher. She left her church to become a missionary here. A noon we had a family meal with my brother and sister's in law. Of course we had our cookout, our last hotdog cookout for the season. This Sunday a church is providing a fried chicken picnic. On the 17th we bring the children back in. After the cookout we went to a birthday party for a great friend and spent the evening relaxing and laughing with friends.

Monday(Sept. 4) - Patric and Laura spent Labor Day with us. Took the day off.

Tuesday ( Sept. 5) Went to my weekly breakfast meeting at Panera Bread. Spoke at "Added Grace" the senior age group from Grace UMC at noon and got caught up on some office work.

Wednesday (Sept. 6) Went to "Youth Workers Cafe" a place where those who work with youth gather to share ideas and to network. It was an eclectic group: School Superintendent, mental health workers, social workers, police officer, non profit folk like me, about 30 people. At night led our regular Bible Study group we had 12 there a very good group.

Thursday (Sept. 7) More bikes came in we are up to 12 with more on the way. Produce came from the Community Garden and about everything is gone except some squash and some beets. I spent the morning working on a story for a devotional booklet that I hope to have completed for Advent. It will be called Life on the Porch. The booklet will be made up of positive stories of people that live in the apartments that are being the hands and feet of Jesus. There are more stories than one would think. Mowed our yard again.

Friday (Sept. 8) Today's agenda: mow church yard, meet with accountability partner, attend a noon prayer meeting, praying for those who suffer, writing some thank you notes, have a meeting at 4:00, unloading bread that arrives this afternoon and finishing bulletin an sermon for Sunday. This Friday not nearly as slow as last Friday.

Thanks for the prayers Jeff

Slooooooooow Friday

2006-08-25T17:06:00.000-04:00

The children were yelling, "Hey pastor Jeff, watch me!!", as they flipped backwards out of the swing at the playground in the Apartment Complex.

Two more children came running up asking excitedly, "Is it church day yet"?

"Sorry not today", was my response.

Talking with various people on their porches I learned that things are kind of tense, as money is scarce, food supplies are running low, and drinking is on the rise. Alcohol and drug abuse always increases when things get tough. There was plenty of yelling and frustration. Yet at the same time, it seemed quieter than normal. Not as many children out.

Today I did not have a lot do. I met with an accountability partner at 11:00, went to my every Friday prayer for those who suffer service at the Episcopalian church. After that nothing. Sure there are many things I could do. After all as a former restaurant manager, I could hear myself saying, "If you have time to lean you have time to clean", but nothing demanding my time. It made the afternoon go verrrrrry sloooooooooooooooow. I can't imagine not really have anything to do the majority of time. Yet many of the residents ask me if I have anything for them to do, as they too have little to do. They are fast becoming a committed volunteer pool for the outreach. Since most have little to do during the day, I can recruit them for last minute stuff, which is a blessing. I got a taste of the life that many of my neighbors live everyday. Little money to do something fun, no where in particular to go, feeling bored. If they do have a job, there is worry about how they will get there tomorrow and then doing the same thing over and over for $5.25 an hour, as the meter ticks on childcare and as their rent raises. Thinking about all of that made me go for a walk and on the walk I encountered people-- which in turn gave me new energy. I had an Ephinany a as I was walking through the neighborhood, I realized that on Sunday I get a paycheck and will have some cash, tomorrow I will be busier than I want to be, and I will engage in some sort of entertainment even later tonight, even if it is just watching TV or surfing the Internet. My neighbors will experience more of the same---tomorrow and the next day after that. I did not realize how hard is to break free from the grip of poverty. Poverty is not just about not having money, it is about not have any resources (education, family, church, jobs, cars, or hope). I know that most of the 300 families that KUO works with, struggle everyday and feel forsaken by God. I am beginning to wonder if they are God forsaken or church forsaken? Please continue to pray that as we work in the mission field we will be able to create a culture of hope. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Went to Indy

2006-08-22T21:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we went to Indy, as we moved Patric and Laura to their new apartment on the campus of Christian Theological Seminary which is located on the Butler Campus. We also visited Jonathan who moved to Indy while we were in New York. He lives on the third floor of an old building on 16th and Delaware in downtown Indy. He starts at IUPUI tomorrow. I worked on administrative stuff which is not my favorite thing to do, but I got stuff off my desk, that had been there for a long time. God is really moving....we are having more and more people in church on Sunday Morning, we are having new volunteers almost every Sunday Night, hotdogs are pouring in as well as chips, cookies and drinks. We are preparing to bring the children back in in about three weeks and expanding to new areas. Thank you for the prayers. Jeff

Back Pack Update

2006-08-16T08:05:00.000-04:00

Last Tuesday we distributed 150 filled backpacks!!!! One volunteer looked out the window and saw a mass of kids with parents returning home with colorful backpacks on their backs. We did have a snag in the plan, we had to turn 33 kids away. We took their names and addresses and told them we would have their backpacks to them soon. I quickly put out an email and by Sunday we had all the orders filled with about 10 left over. God is working through his people!!!!
Last Wednesday we left for a mini vacation, we attended a wedding of a friend in a town near New York City. Chris and I took a train into New York on Friday, we went early and saw the Good Morning America Friday concert, featuring Carri Underwood. We also saw Diane Sawyer, Robin Roberts and whoever the weatherman is. We experienced Times Square, the Empire State Building, Macy's Department Store and Madison Square Gardens. The wedding was very nice with lots of food. Returning home we are catching up on sleep, chores and phone calls. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Bookbag blessings!!!!

2006-08-06T20:14:00.000-04:00

This morning was awesome!!!! All the bookbags, that were generously given by so many, were piled in front of the altar in our sanctuary. Enough was kept out so each attender received a bookbag. During the service there was time when we prayed for the children that would receive the bags. The neat part was that we had one child in church today that will be receiving a bag(she was the only child in church). I called her up for children's time, and asked her if she would help me pray. She agreed. I asked her to put her hand on the pile. She knelt down beside the pile and put her hand on the bookbags. The rest of the congregation got out their bag and we prayed for the children that were going to receive the bag, asking that each child, would grow up to be Godly women and men. Seeing the little first grader, in her pink dress, kneeling beside the bags was a sight that few will forget. We will be passing out the bags this Tuesday at 6:00. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Full week

2006-08-04T17:45:00.000-04:00

It has been a good week, very full but good. Sack lunches were served Mon-Fri volunteers arrived at about 11:00 AM and left at about 12:40 PM. About 70 childrenwere served per day. I had an opportunity to speak to a Kiwanis group on Tuesday Morning. In the midst of this there were groups that were sorting through hundreds and hundreds of items of clothing, some working in the morning others at night. At the same time another, group was sorting and stocking items for personal hygiene packs that will be passed out next Tuesday. I got to go shopping for backpacks and talked with a woman as we waited in line at a store, she told me about a miracle healing in her daughter, as she told her story she began to weep, I never met her before, but right in the middle of family dollar she shared her "Jesus" Story with me. Mary Ingle and I were interviewed for an article that is to appear in the weekly paper about Sidewalk Sunday School. The community garden gave us produce everyday this week and it was distributed through a produce stand sat up in our driveway. We estimate that nearly 1200 pounds of produce was distributed this week. On Tuesday Night the apartment complex had "August Night Out" there was a dunk tank, a moon jump and pedal cars on a track. The police provided the fun and Target provided the food. In the midst of this event, I was presented with a Thank You card signed by most of the residents and a plaque that expressed their appreciation. I shared with them that without the scores and scores of volunteers the things that we do would not be done. I wanted them to know that what happens around here is by far, not a one man show. I only share about the plaque to let everyone know that all the things you do are appreciated.

Today nearly 200 garbage bags full of clothing left the church in the arms of happy parents and kids. They were hauled home in red wagons or strollers. Clothes will go out again tomorrow. Today we received food left from a funeral dinner, more clothing, hundreds of packs of colored pencils and markers, along with 6 cases of hotdogs with 120 in each case, more bread and cans and cans of food and about 20 more backpacks, did I fail to mention more clothes?

I sense that God is up to something, just not sure what it is. Need to get outside and get the grass mowed. Thank you so much for all the prayers. Jeff

Kick Start Back Packs

2006-08-01T09:25:00.000-04:00

Wow!!! We are so close in completing our KICK Start Backpack Project. KICK stands for Kids Individual Care Kit to give them a kick start to good hygiene as school begins. A KICK Start Backpack is a backpack filled with shampoo, soap, toilet tissue, toothpaste and brush, and a comb, pick or brush with deodorant for teens. With the help of the local Kiwanis and churches we have almost everything we need for 150 backpacks. We still need about 70 backpacks which we know will receive. Thanks to all who made this worthwhile project a success.

Cook-Out Buffet

2006-07-31T07:21:00.000-04:00

Last night was the biggest night we have had outside. We served an estimated 175-200 people. Our menu was large as we had some great last minute donations. We had hotdogs, corn on the cob(200 plus ears), mac and cheese, cloe slaw, potato salad, pork and beans, a veggie tray, banana's, apples, grapes and cookies. Unbelievably we did not run out of any food except the fruit near the end. In the over 90 plus heat we had 39 volunteers. We had the senior citizen class and the youth group from Grace UMC join us. It was our first intergenerational group. The Older folks served the food, the youth played with the kids, helped them with their plates, walked them home, and even fed some little ones. Along with the two groups from Grace church(21) we had folks there from McGrawsville UMC(5), Russiaville UMC(1), FaithUMC(1), Crossroads Community(3), Abundant Life(2), St. Lukes UMC(3) and Trinity UMC(3).

We were also blessed with produce from the community garden we gave away zucchini, cabbage and cucumbers- the Crossroads group brought fresh green beans which was gone in a flash. Along with our regular bags of food(cereal, juice, peanut butter, pasta, sunflower seeds, and jello), we gave away about 75 loaves of bread and 125 bags of assorted chips.

It is amazing what God is doing outside the church walls as many churches come together to be missionaries in their own community. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Updates

2006-07-27T07:51:00.000-04:00

Just an update on the K.I.C.K. Starters (see article below dated 7/17) we have received most of the items for the pack. Mike the pastor of St. Lukes UMC emailed and asked about book bags. I am not aware of anyone in town giving away book bags, so after exchanging email thoughts we decided we would try to collect 150 book bags and place the hygiene items in it. An email went out to local churches yesterday morning by afternoon we had 20 bags delivered. God is so good. In our neighborhood the month of July is a bit too long. We have been blessed to help neighbors with what we have in the way of food but we have little. We are giving away cheese that was left from VBS, peanut butter, cranberry juice, a couple of cans of vegetables and a bag of chips. Bread does not come until tomorrow and food stamps start coming next Tuesday, depending on where you fall in the alphabet, food stamps are disturbed from the 1st-10th of each month. Some folks have about two weeks to wait.

Each day, we are distributing sack lunches to children under the age of 18. The school system was providing lunches with their program ending last Friday. We picked it up on Monday. The lunches are catered and are funded by IUK. When the school provided lunch the largest group ever served was 50 kids the average was 30. We received 50 lunches on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We served 49 on Monday, 51 on Tuesday and had to turn 10 kids away and lock the door early on Wednesday. We upped the order to 70 starting today (Thursday). A stereotype of people living in government housing is that those folks don't work. That is untrue. Many do work. The welfare to work program provides mothers with two years of benefits and then helps them find jobs or mothers are required to work for local agencies to continue to receive government aid. Several of our neighbors have jobs in a meat processing plant in Logansport (about 30 miles away). Problem---gasoline is over $3.00 a gallon. It is becoming difficult to get back and forth to work. The Outreach nor the church has the funds to help with any kind of gas assistance and local agencies are running out of resources. Carpools are being organized and gas sharing is happening, pop cans are being collected to get people to work, those working in Logansport are becoming a community. That's cool.

Other mothers without cars walk to work, we are seeing a need for bikes. Several bikes have been donated and they are given to people with jobs who need them to get to work. Working bikes are scarce so we can only give bikes to those who need transportation to work. We have several broken bikes, that do us little good as we have no one right now who knows how to fix them nor the resources to purchase the parts. Enough rambling. Please keep everyone here in your prayers.

59 cent mission trip

2006-07-20T04:50:00.000-04:00

They came pouring in at about 11:15 as the U haul was being loaded with bags and bags of food (the truck was being filled by some of the young adult guys next door). They huddled downstairs making a plan ready to divide and conquer. Two of them blind, most of them girls which the one guy didn't seem to mind and then there was their leader(a board member and a regular volunteer). The "they" were some youth from Crossroads Community Church who had volunteered to join the other 6 of us go door to door for "Groceries and Prayer". After a time of prayer we left to church to begin the work. At first a bit neverous , the youth's confidence increased as bag after bag of food was taken from the truck and brought to the door. It became evident that the youth could sense they were being used by God, as they became louder and louder as they knocked on the doors and yelled, "Groceries and Prayer from Kokomo Urban Outreach." Residents would come to the door to accept food and many took them up on the prayer offer too. It blessed me when I saw one of the blind girls praying for an older neighbor who has trouble walking, and the neighbor praying for the blind girl. There was church going on, on the steps of the apartments. We also found some families that were desperate for help. Like the woman who had a miscarriage the day before and had no toilet paper or soap in her home or the father and son who has had to borrow food for the past five days. We prayed with the sick, the despised, the addicted, the confused and the hopeless. By the time we were finished we had a group of children following us and "helping" us carry the groceries. After we visited the nearly 200 apartments in Garden Square we moved on to Pine Valley where 100 more families received bags of food. Believe it or not each youth only paid 59 cents for this mission trip to buy a coke at BP as they traveled to the second apartment complex, however, I believe even the 59 cents became a gift from their leader, making this "mission trip" a freebie. Thank you youth from Crossroads for helping to create a culture of hope in a seemingly hopeless place. Thank you Kokomo Rescue Mission for donating the food that we distributed to nearly 300 families. I would also like to St. Luke's UMC for donating the money to pay for the U-Haul Truck through their leftover gifts to our VBS. Thank you to our friends at Russiaville UMC for helping us sack groceries the day before we delivered. A special thanks to the residents who came across the street to help us bag groceries and load the truck. And of course, thanks to all the "regular" volunteers who give time to the "Outreach" event after event. Thanks to all of you for the prayers. Jeff

VBS and other assorted items

2006-07-17T18:51:00.000-04:00

VBS went well. We didn't have huge numbers but the 20 plus children that came had a great time. We had the best of the best from every church. It was a good time. I hope to have some pictures. I took my camera to vbs and took quite a few pictures. There was some sort of writing on the screen, however, I could not see it without my glasses. I later learned it said, "No memory Card". So much for my carefully planned pictures. I presided over some very good friends daughter's wedding on Saturday, which I enjoyed. On Sunday we had a nice crowd in church and we had a good cookout. Today I spoke at the Kiwanis Club and was very well received. They are helping put together some personal hygiene kits to give to the children before school starts. The kits are to give kids a K.I.C.K.(Kids Individual Care Kits) Start to caring for themselves. It will contain toothpaste and toothbrush, a comb, shampoo, a bar of soap, and toilet paper. We want to have 150 ready to go. Before I left I had commitments of all the toothpaste, toothbrushes and soap. Someone brought us about 40 packages of toilet paper. We are well on our way. Thanks for the prayers especially as we pack food tomorrow and pass it out on Wednesday door to door.

Thank you note to St. Lukes UMC

2006-07-15T09:40:00.000-04:00

Wow!! What a great few days in VBS. We had so many wonderful volunteers from churches like Crossroads and Abundant Life(boy did we need them) and we received items from Grace UMC. The folks at St. Lukes UMC approached me about doing VBS and working with us to plan and to provide the resources to make VBS happen. St. Lukes sent many volunteers, provided the food, the decorations and the finances needed to make the VBS successful. We had a great song leader from Crossroads Karen Malone, also from Crossroads was Stephanie who brought her usual band of wonderful helpers and of course our Children's Outreach Director Mary Ingle was present along with Intern Patric Newton. The Storyteller, the Registration coordinator, the kitchen crew(including youth from St. Lukes) and the actor in the skit were all from St. Lukes. We also appreciated the Children's Bibles donated by Bebe Doris from the Kokomo Rescue Mission. Following is a letter sent to St. Lukes Church:

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of 25 children at our VBS outreach. I wish you could have met the children that were so touched. Few of them attend any church and for some it was the first time they heard about Jesus. It has been neat to walk through the apartment complex a week afterwards hearing the children singing the songs they learned in Bible School. It has been a blessing to work more one on one with the children than we are able to do in a large cookout setting. Thank you for providing workers, cookies, food, decorations, finances and prayers. I want you all to know that the neighborhood has been buzzing since VBS asking when we are going to do it again!!! You have been salt and light to a community that needs both. I also wanted you to know that your gifts not only helped the children at VBS, as the leftover food was used at Sunday's cookout. Leftover money was used to rent a U Haul truck($25.00) to deliver groceries to 300 families in two apartment complexes and will be used to purchase much needed shelving($40.00) to hold food until it can be distributed, our little plastic book shelves that surrounded our distribution room walls collapsed under the weight of the food. I would especially like to thank Jean Tarner for organizing and preparing VBS for us so it ran well even though she was called away.

Thanks again.

Jeff Newton Director of Kokomo Urban Outreach

VBS

2006-07-12T07:04:00.000-04:00

Today is our first day of VBS. We are doing a mini version, three days for 1.5 hours. As usual we are blazing new trails into unknown parts. Please pray for us as all our volunteers are arriving at about 12:30 it starts at 1:00. We have to organize them and move them where we need them. We do have the five main areas story, games, crafts, music and food covered with the best of the best leaders. I not sure I have ever seen so much talent in each area. What is interesting is that they are all from different churches. The primary church helping is St. Lukes which has supplied a great deal of materials. I hope to get some pictures today and will post as I get them. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

A Nice Weekend (Part Two)

2006-07-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

Wow!!! This week flew by. I thought I would have part 2 of last weekend up long ago. But, alas, time slips by. Last Sunday we had several nice visitors in the church, we had folks from South Carolina, Texas, and Florida. The cook out was nice because it only rained for 15 minutes instead of the usual whole time we are out there. It has rained on us every week for about 5 weeks. It was nice to have enough volunteers and we even had some missionaries from Guatemala.

A couple of weeks ago I had been in conversation with a 23 year old man who is living with his 26 year old girlfriend with their three children, about marriage(he wondered how important it really was). I explained about commitment, the example being set for the children, the importance of promising to stay true to one person, honoring the children's mother etc. He asked if the time came would I do the service. I told him I would. I have had many conversations with him and her and see them everyday as they live across from us. Their children participate in our outreach. He and his girlfriend are very nice. Thursday I heard a knocking at the door when I opened it he was on the porch with a license in hand, saying lets do it now. I agreed. However, his wife to be felt she could not get married in a t-shirt and blue jeans which is all she had. They found some money and she went to buy a new outfit. He too found his best clothes and they dressed the children up the best they could. Two of their neighbors got dressed up to be witnesses. While they were getting ready I went out and bought a cake and got some sodas on ice. A friend, Steph. had just the day before brought some plastic silverware wrapped in napkins tied with a ribbon and a tablecloth to the church. At 8:30 the two were married, he was very excited, and they both had a good feeling, like they made something right. They crossed the street and went home. Patric and I quickly picked up the cake, drinks, table, plates etc and we set up a reception in their front yard. It was the exact spot where a gunshot rang out a few months ago, the space was being redeemed with a wholesome party. All the neighbors came out to congratulate them and to grab a piece of cake, meanwhile Patric and I slipped away into the shadows. From my picture window I would occasionally glance across the street to see how things were going, it went well. The party went on for about an hour and for the first time I saw a community come together, without drinking, screaming, fighting just friends having a great time. The children were playing and dancing and at least on this night life was good.

Tonight we are going to a Pastor's family picnic, unbelievably I think all three sons are going with us. Tomorrow I speak at New Waverly United Methodist Church which is just west of 31 off of 24. Patric will be speaking at Trinity as part of his internship. Tomorrow night the children will be treated to some Gospel magic.

Next week, I am not teaching at all. I taught 3 days this past week(the Academy boys go year round). I will be focusing on VBS. If you received our newsletter, you read that we were looking for some Bibles to give at VBS. We got them. If you are not getting the newsletter and would like to, you may subscribe to it by typing your email into the box at the top right hand side of this page.

Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

A Nice Weekend (Part One)

2006-07-03T06:54:00.000-04:00

This weekend was a nice weekend. It was nice because I was able to hang out with some very nice people. On Saturday afternoon we had a baby shower for a young woman in the apartments. She is due at the end of the month and had nothing for her child. We collected clothing, diapers, lotion, a car seat, play pen, toys, everything she needed, she did have a bed. We also bought a cake, made punch, had peanuts and mints. Then there was the card table with a baby shower table cloth, with matching napkins and cups and we had some folding chairs. We set all of that outside of her apartment under the shade of a large tree and knocked on the door. The woman was surprised!!! I don't think she ever has been to a shower, and surely didn't expect one. She was very nice, humble, and appreciative. She opened each package very slowly and looked at each item. She would comment about the softness of the material, the stitching in the bibs and the practicality of the diapers. She didn't want to eat the cake(the cake was important to her, not sure she has had many just for her) because it was so beautiful. She savored every bite. We helped her carry her things into her apartment and noticed she had no furniture, none!!! There were plastic grocery bags of clothes around the walls. We asked her about the furniture, she said she was going to rent some after the baby was born. We told her not to, that we would be on the lookout for some. She needs everything but beds.

At the shower we met two very nice boys on bikes one was 6 the other 5. The five year old stopped at the shower as we were setting up. He was quiet, kind, polite. We we put the peanuts on the table he asked if he could please have some, we said sure. He grabbed handfuls and began to quickly eat. He obviously had not had anything to eat for a while. His brother joined us, these two little guys ate two pieces of cake, two glasses of juice, a bunch of peanuts and a couple of mints. It may not have been the healthiest meal, but they went away with food in their stomach.

On Saturday night I visited a parishioner who is having surgery today. They have only been coming to the church for a few months. Very nice folks. I arrived at dinner time and they set down a plate....good food. Our whole family spent the rest of the evening at the home of some good friends, laughing and watching our six adult children play together. It was strange as our kids live everywhere and really haven't been together for years. As we watched them play a game called "Ladder Ball", it seemed as if we were looking at them as if they were in elementary school again when we gathered our two families together often.

This post is getting kind of lengthly and I have to be going to teach at the academy(they go to school year round). We will just call this "A nice weekend pt. 1". Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

A Ton of Food to Distribute

2006-06-30T21:23:00.000-04:00

We received more than a ton of food today. We plan on passing it out in the middle of the month when things start to get tight. I am looking forward to passing out groceries and praying with folks that we serve. Today we received:

350 pounds of salmon
200 pounds of instant potatoes
300 pounds of rice
500 pounds of individual cups of chocolate and vanilla pudding
120 pounds of pasta
600 cans of fruit
450 packages of Raman noodles
420 pounds of peanut butter
48 cans of black beans
24 jars of pickle relish
300 pounds of table salt
42 bottles of juice
24 boxes of cereral
52 loaves of bread
68 bags of corn chips
32 cans of black olives

Tomorrow at 2:00 we will be having a surprise baby shower for one of the women in the apartments she is due at the end of July and has nothing. We have gathered stuff together and we're taking a card table, a table cloth, a cake and some punch setting it all up in the yard in front of her apartment. I think it will be a surprise. People say we're crazy, but I think Jesus would through a party for a single mom that has no support or resources and that is just what we are going to do. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Did you want your burger wet or well...

2006-06-26T09:28:00.000-04:00

This picture is not us, but it looked like us last night. I carefully watched the weather yesterday afternoon and knew that rain was headed our way, big time. At 4:15 it was not raining, we(me and a small group of volunteers )decided we would start the picnic early as rain was on the way. We quickly loaded everything up, drove to the picnic site and started unloading....it began to sprinkle. By the time everything was unloaded and set up it began to rain. We were under a canopy of trees so it really wasn't too bad. We knew that this was an important week as it is the last of the month, not much food available right now. So we thought the rain would blow over quickly and we could serve the needed food. There were children already in line waiting for either a pork burger or a hotdog to get done. It began to rain harder, volunteers went to cars and retrieved umbrellas. The situation became worse as the harder in rained, the longer the line became. The long line was something we were used to, however, this time children and parents were asking for 4 or 5 sandwiches so they could take them home to their families. The serving table was getting wetter and wetter. One volunteer had a tarp in her car we got it and covered the table, trying to keep meat, buns and chips dry. Dee one of our main stay volunteers was working hard under the tarp as two of us tried to hold it up high enough for her to prepare the meals and keep the food and her dry(she was the only one on the serving line, usually there are 5 or 6). People came out with broken umbrellas, plastic trash bags, and even towels over their heads, many had nothing just stood in the pouring rain, drenched and shivering. People were patient as they waited at times up to 10 minutes for their food, as our pork burgers took a bit of time to cook. We were thanked over and over for serving in the rain. It seemed like the rain nor the line would ever let up. Finally, after an hour and 45 minutes the line disappeared along with 100 pork burgers, 60 hotdogs, 20 large bags of potato chips, 200 cups of chocolate pudding and 150 juice bottles. As we began to load up the rain stopped and the sun returned. The children began to fill the grounds, playing and jumping in the mudpuddles. We left wet and tired, yet sensing that we were used by God. Last night was a defining moment in my life as I am quite sure I would never wait in the pouring rain to get a free hotdog and a handful of chips.....but then again I have never really been hungry either. Thanks for the prayers. Special thanks to our "all wet" volunteers that went well beyond the call of duty. They were Gary and Dee Hostetler, Boyd and Dan Mozingo(all from McGrawsville UMC), Jim Williams from Grace UMC, Cindy Myers from St. Lukes UMC, and Pastor Mike Tarner from Russiaville UMC. Jeff

New Podcast

2006-06-21T21:53:00.000-04:00

Dave and I just finished a new podcast. We have a great time doing these radio like shows, it is kind of our hobby. We are not sure how many listen to our 20 minute shows with no commercials. In this episode we chat about church shopping, cable TV, American culture, church success, secret agents and oh yea, we also talk about the book called, "Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America" by by Darrell L. Guder (Editor), Lois Barrett (Editor).

The show is here.

News Article from Grace United Methodist Church

2006-06-17T10:43:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check out the picture link Jeff

Allelon, The Sunday School Class,
Lends A Helping Hand To
Urban Outreach's Sunday Cookout.

Delegation and coaching won out. The gang mastered assembly-line bagging of give away food. And you would have enjoyed seeing them rise to the challenge of fast food service - - scrunched buns, splattered ketchup, crushed chips and all.

Seriously, the team worked well together. But what's an activity without a few glitches?

As they arrived the rain drops started. The sky darkened. It was touch-and-go for awhile. The group feared the gloomy, chilly weather might ruin the picnic. It didn't. The families knocked down 80 hot dogs.

Shirley Hoy, master "condimentier" enticed the kids to smile as they picked up their meals.

Jeff Newton brought 30 comfortable plastic chairs. That way people could sit down as they ate.

Rob Pinto and Ralph Cory took pictures. Go here to check them out:

http://kokomograce.org/images/ralph/20 06_ur ban_outreach/

The extra help freed up the teachers to play with the kids. The kids crowded the teacher as she blew up and tied the baloons. Then they seemed everywhere as they scurried about trying to keep them in the air.

Paul Zimmerman proved a soft-touch for seconds at the cookie station.

Karin Pinto proved masterful at "packing and arranging". She missed her real calling.

Karen Zimmerman developed true expertise in the fine art of "bunmanship". And Leanna Zimmerman created a strong support station for her mother as she slapped the dogs into the buns.

Suddenly it was time to clean up. One little boy asked Jeff,"Pastor Jeff, do you have to go?" Jeff said, "I'll be back next week."

As the group walked back to Trinity UMC, 3 of the children tagged along. They played with their teacher - - and hi fived it with the rest.

You can help these kids. Each week it's a struggle to find enough sodas. It'd be great to switch them out for juices sometimes. But that seems a dream. I think Jeff would "beg, borrow, or steal" to get some of your home baked cookies. It gives the kids a special treat.

You can even leave them at GRACE UMC and Urban Outreach will pick them up. Just let Jeff know. You can reach Jeff at 765-461-9618.

Remember, there's nothing like the love and trust of a child.

Feeling better? sort of

2006-06-15T08:24:00.000-04:00

I am starting to feel better, it has been two weeks since I started feeling bad. I have too much to do to stay in bed, which is what I have been doing most of the time. I did do all my Sunday stuff last week. We had a neighbor come to church, it was very exciting to me. On Sunday Night we had our cookout in-- off and on rain. We still served 100. We were blessed to have a Sunday School Class from Grace UMC helping. Patric and others played games with the children. It was a great night. We saw the Kingdom of God!!!

Please pray for Jim he is 22 with a 6 year old daughter that he has raised totally by himself since birth. He works in Logansport at Tysons(about 15-20 miles from here). He got a raise and they raised his rent and then he got his hours cut(no hogs right now). He went to housing to talk about not being able to pay all the rent right now and they told him his car was a luxury and he needed to sell it to pay the rent. Of course, if he does that he can't keep his job. He collects cans at our cookouts to buy gasoline to get back and forth to work. He also has some dental issues that he needs addressed but has no insurance and no way to pay. Please pray for him in his difficult time. Oh yes, as we have been praying for Jim a volunteer on Sunday Night has befriended him and is walking with him and is being sure this month's rent is paid --which Jim and his daughter will not be evicted(becoming homeles) and his car does not have to be sold. Jim is experiencing the Kingdom of God.

We've been praying for Shar who is expecting a baby in July. She is living with her sister in the apartments which is against the rules, if caught she will be homeless. She has nothing for the new baby. However, God has provided everything she needs. We are going to throw a surprise shower for her on her doorstep in a couple of weeks. We are bringing a baby bed filled with gifts and we are setting up a card table with a cake and punch. The Kingdom of God is Near!!

Jane is a single mother of three who is really a great mother. However, the stress of life, has been almost too great. Her children went to her ex husband's house for a couple of weeks and somehow he was able to gain temporary custody of the children. As I and several others worked with Jane we were able to get her to legal aid who assures her, that the children will be back with her soon. The Kingdom of God is Near!!

The other night my son Jon was up late and heard yelling and a gunshot. The neighbors called police, no one was hurt. The Kingdom of God is Near!!

It is exciting that God is using KUO to make a difference in the lives of so many. Without your prayers and your support, many folks we are working with would never see the Kingdom. Everytime God's will is done on earth as it is in Heaven, we see the Kingdom of God. God is at work with his people to make things right. We are seeing God's Kingdom come in a little 4 block area of Kokomo that needs to experience the Good News of the Kingdom. What is really neat is that so many of our volunteers are seeing what the Kingdom of God is like as they work with us.

Thank you in advance as you continue to pray for us and that we will be effective builders of God's Kingdom in Kokomo. Jeff

Names have been changed to protect privacy but all are true stories.

Down sick

2006-06-06T21:11:00.000-04:00

Please pray for me as I went to the doctor, yesterday, and found out I have pneumonia. I have not felt this bad for a long time. Looking forward to feeling better. Have barely got out of bed. Hope to update everything soon. Jeff

Reading, Meetings and Grease Fires

2006-05-31T07:39:00.000-04:00

Again, the past week has been incredible. Last week I subbed 3 days at Kokomo Academy(PE, science and social studies. I am rereading NT Wright's book, Simply Christian and have met with no less than 5 community leaders discussing various community issues and KUO events. We are planning a VBS in July with the help of several churches. Last Sunday night we were short on volunteers due to holiday weekend. We only had 8 volunteers usually 15-25, plus it was the end of the month lots of hungry folk. We feed well over 125 people. They ate 1oo hamburgers, 100 hotdogs, 20 pounds of fresh carrots, bags and bags of chips, and who knows how many cookies. We also made nearly 100 bags of food to be given away that include bread, granola bars, toilet tissue or Kleenex, soup, popcorn, chips, cookies, gravy mix, and little treat bag.

Because we received a huge about of hamburger buns I decided to have hamburgers and hotdogs. I went to Walmart looking for some inexpensive hamburger, BINGO, I found 20 quarter pound hamburgers in a box for $4.93, I purchased 5 boxes. When the cook began grilling the hamburgers, there were so much grease in them that it started a grease fire in the grill that would not go out. We just shut the gas off and cooked all the hamburgers and hotdogs on the grease fire . It was a good thing, since we felt like we might run out of gas before we were done cooking.

Late Sunday night Oldest son, Patric, arrived to stay with us for 10 weeks as he completes an internship that will satisfy the last of his college requirements. His wife will be here two days a week and will keep her job near Chicago while staying with her sister. The plan right now is that in August he and his wife will move to Indianapolis where he will attend seminary working toward a masters degree in Christian Education/urban ministry. Thanks for the prayers. Jeff

Thought

2006-05-24T14:23:00.000-04:00

"Is it about God's plan for my life, or my life for God's plan?" What do you think?

Reading

2006-05-23T18:53:00.000-04:00

I have been spending some time reading. The two books most recently read include: Simply Christian, by N.T. Wright, it is one of the best books I have ever read and it is a must read for the serious Christian. Finally, a writer with balance that gives a glimpse at the top of the puzzle box enabling us to see what God is having us put together. You can read more about it here.

The second book is by Brian McLaren called, The Secret Message of Jesus : Uncovering the Truth that Could Change Everything. Read more about it here. Again another eyeopener. McLaren sent me two free copies I guess, because I have a blog that discusses emerging church issues(but I am not sure) that blog is found here. McLaren referred to NT Wright several times especially in the footnotes, which caused me to want to read Wright too. Caution: These two books will challenge you and cause you to think, they might even cause some late night discussion with your friends. They spoke in huge ways to my twenty year old son Jonathan.

As for the cookouts the first one we served 140 people, the second week it rained and we served about 40 kids in the church with class time etc. and this past Sunday we served about 110 outside it was kind of chilly, I wonder what will happen when it is hot. We could always use drinks and cookies and help. Most of all we need prayers as we are meeting the parent of the children we are working with. Thanks Jeff

Another tribune article

2006-05-13T07:55:00.000-04:00

Garden residents eat up Outreach fun

Editor’s note: The Kokomo Tribune publishes the “Good News, Good People” column. Tom Carey, community news editor, pens the articles, which spotlight local do-gooders and inspirational news. Carey may be contacted in care of the Tribune at 300 N. Union St., Kokomo, IN 46901.
Submissions may be dropped by the office or e-mailed to Carey at tom.carey@kokomotribune.com. He may also be contacted at (765) 454- 8560 or toll free at (800) 382-0696,Ext. 8560.

A plate laden with chips, cookies and a mustard slathe dog in one hand, a frosty can of pop in the other, the youngster ever so carefully walked toward friends at Garden Square. Right before ally dumping the food. The Rev. Jeff Newton quickly and calmly hovered over him, assuring the youngster someone else would clean up. He then told the boy to go get some more munchies.

Meanwhile, other youngsters faced serious decisions. Would it be the root beer, they mused, standing over a tub of iced cans; maybe a cola or a red pop? Assembling food, parents and their children settled around the area, enjoying the repast, neighbors’ company and maybe some games.

Newton, pastor of nearby Trinity U.M. Church, also is executive director of Kokomo Urban Outreach. The group is an interdenominational network of churches, faith-based organizations and individuals who have a heart for hometown missions.

Sunday was the premiere barbecue/block party Outreach presented at the south side apartment complex. Such free events will begin at 5 p.m. each Sunday through August. Newton said about 140 folks were served Sunday night. Many were parents joined by their children and that pleased the pastor, who said the summer events will provide nights of family togetherness. Dean Bousom, resident coordinator at Garden Square, said parents were joining their children at the barbecue site, then visiting with neighbors.

“We had whole families out,which was good,” Newton said. After dining, some of the children
drew chalk figures; Outreach personnel chatted with the kids, then distributed food for them to take home.

Any kind of canned soda would be appreciated from donors, Newton said. He also said the ministry could use items, including:
• Cases of water
• Cookies
• Charcoal
• Flying discs, Hula Hoops, playground balls, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and other game items.
Those wanting to donate or get more info on the Outreach may call (765) 461-9618.

Cookouts and other amazing things

2006-05-09T16:12:00.000-04:00

Sunday Night we had our first Cookout. We had twenty volunteers and served 140 people. Children drew on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk and huddles of families sat on the ground and had a picnic. On Saturday morning we had a clothing/rummage giveaway. I wasn't there as Patric graduated from College. Hundreds of items were given away, however, like the loaves and fishes, everything multiplied. An interesting thing happened. Those who took the clothing, went home and brought over things they were using to share. We ended up with about 50 percent more items than we started with. Is this called community transformation? All the items left were given back to "Mustard seed Ministries"( a group that gives away clothes). They actually brought all the clothes in the first place. Last night there was a board of directors meeting for KUO, thanks to many of you reading this, our checking account is growing. For the first month of KUO's existence I worked for free, in the second month I was given 50 percent of my approved salary and last night I was given a raise to 75 percent of approved salary. God is blessing us!!!
I will now not have to yes every time I am called to sub at the school. Thanks for the prayers and your support.

Jeff