The last two years things have been really tough to communicate. God has been stretching me and teaching me a lot of things and nothing felt concrete because I was attempting to do a lot of things that I knew nothing about.
In recent months however God has brought much together and has given much clearer directions. We have decided to strengthen the residential recovery program, (the House of Adonai) under it's own 501 c (3) by developing a brand new board, a new vision and and new structure. We have some awesome people on that board who are in love with Jesus and passionate about this area of ministry. I foresee good things coming in the future.
With that occurring we are waiting for that to strengthen financially so we can open up the Redemption House, which will house 6 women right here on the Cornerstone Campus. I am learning how to not try to do everything but bring in and use others and their strengths to best maximize ministry.
With that being done I now have more time to focus on discipleship
with men, bible studies through the week, and my biggest thing going on
which is to develop a stronger better organized work ministry called
Productive Lives. Pastor Joe and I have been working on all these
details for quite some time and finally feel to have nailed down a few
things.
"Productive Lives as a part of Cornerstone Community Church
is here to shepherd and teach God's people in the area of working and taking care of daily necessities. We do this by identifying skills, defining boundaries, training and teaching through biblical principles in order to equip them to enter the work field."
Recently, a formal written proposal was given to the elders here at Cornerstone. Since then, they have approved it and they decided to develop the ministry under Cornerstone Community Church. We have a few legal matters to work out but things are looking good. I am really excited about all of this and even more excited that I can now see what these past two years have really been about. I realize that I still don't see the final picture but at least I have a little understanding of what is going on.
On a final note God, I have wrestled for years to go back to school
but I never quite knew why. Over the summer I feel God really spoke
to me and gave me direction to what that was to look like. I love
working and discipling guys one on one. Much of my week is spent
doing that very thing but I have realized that many of the people I work
with have many deep rooted struggles that I just don't feel equipped
to help them with. God has given me clear direction to go back to school and work on getting my masters in counseling. I have been accepted in the degree completion program at Philadelphia Biblical University where I will first get my bachelors in Bible with a professional track in counseling. So, if I can get all my finances figured out I will start school one day a week for the next 22 months starting Feb 23, yup-next month!
As I write all of this, I realize that I'm covering quite a bit of time but maybe it will shed some light on my head being an absolute mess and just spending a lot of time in careful prayer and planning.
Thank you for being patient with my sporadic updates about the recovery ministry, I hope that with this new clear direction it will be easier to share specific updates more regularly in the future. Thanks for walking beside of us and this ministry God has laid before us.
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