Love In Action's blog

A people rich in faith

2012-01-30T21:20:00.000-06:00

Love In Action Pastor Ken Tuck (left) is with Pastor Bhoy Baguinda and Pastor Mario Montero. These are two of many mighty men of God doing amazing work to reach the lost in the Philippines.

"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?" - James 2:5 (KJV)

I have read that verse and heard it quoted many times, but I never really grasped what it was saying until I traveled to the Philippines with wife and mom last week.

On the Philippine island of Mindanoa live some of the most precious people in the world. It is an island of 23 million people and a place many westerners will not visit because of the Muslim influence. They are missing out on a life-changing experience.

The Christian pastors and indigenous missionaries we met were gracious, loving, caring, and full of faith. We already knew some of them before traveling to the other side of the world. This past year we have had the honor of helping them reach this island for Jesus Christ. But after meeting all of them, we fell completely in love. I am honored to call them my friends and my brothers and sisters in the Lord.

We spoke at their first pastors/missionary workers conference, and what a blessing that was for all involved. Then we preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ and saw 127 people make decisions for Jesus. Praise God! In the Cebuano language, praise God is spelled, Dalaygon ang Diyos!

By American standards, they are extremely poor. Many people live on an average wage of about $2 a day. That is hard for most Americans to understand. Even our poor are rich by those standards. While the people are poor financially, they are the richest people spiritually I have ever met. I would dare say they are among the most spiritually rich people in the world. They are "rich in faith."

I didn't hear any grumbling about not having enough. They live off the land. Many of the people raise their own fruits and vegetables and animals. They share with one another. One church received an offering of pigs and chickens from people who live in the mountains. They don't have money, so they gave their best and their best was animals.

They put their lives on the line to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They put God first, no matter the struggles. If I had to choose between being rich financially and rich spiritually, I'll take spiritually rich. Money cannot buy the faith witnessed in our friends in the Philippines.

Most of the pastors live with their families in a room at their churches. Usually it's a room in the very back or to the side. It's not uncommon for multiple families to live there. That's home and church. For some it's also school. They like to call their churches "multipurpose" buildings, and they are.

These pastors are reaching the lost daily. One told me he baptizes people every day. They do a phenomenal job of training people to go out and be missionaries in different parts of Mindanao. And they do all of this with hardly any money.

The only thing keeping a full fledged revival from happening is resources. They need KJV Bibles, hymnals, Sunday school lessons, etc., all in English. They need finances to purchase land and construct churches. Imagine having 5,000 people but only room for about 80 in a rented building. That's the case for one church in Punta.

A church in Ozamiz has rented the same building for 15 years and the need for expansion is great. A church in Sindangan has the opportunity to purchase their land and then construct a new building, but has no money to do so.

The buildings they have are very modest. Many are made out of bamboo with thatch roofs. One has a creek running under it. Actually, the pastor and his family live in a room under the small building and the creek runs under their room. They say when the heavy rains come they have a "water bed."

Land and buildings are not expensive. For example, we can construct one church for $1,300; buy a nice size lot for another church for $6,000, build a parsonage for $1,300, and another lot for $4,000. Land and buildings for two churches in larger cities would run close to $500,000 each, but that is still a great deal. For the price we spend on just one church building here in the U.S., we could build many churches in the Philippines. In some cases that would mean hundreds of churches.

Still, these great people of faith don't complain. They don't even ask. They pray and believe God will provide. God has used Love In Action to answer some of those prayers. We were able to purchase a lot for a church last year and help expand another one. In all, that cost about $2,500. We stood on that lot last week. It's a beautiful piece of land.

Together, we could be the answer to many of their prayers. I believe God blessed us in the U.S. to help spread His Word throughout the world. Never have I seen such strong faith. Never have I seen so many people open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Never have I seen an opportunity this great to see thousands, even millions won to Jesus.

Will you join us and help us help our brothers and sisters in the Philippines reach their nation for Christ? There are approximately 65 million people there who have never heard of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Wow! What an incredible opportunity!

I will post more in the next week on how you can get involved and store up treasure in Heaven in the Philippines. This is the most exciting opportunity to win the lost I've ever been a part of. Please join us, and please pray for our brothers and sisters in the Philippines.

Salamat (thank you).

Coming home

2012-01-27T15:10:00.002-06:00

Our wonderful friends in the Philippines took us to the airport in Dipolog City and stayed until our plane took off.

This day arrived too quickly. In about three hours we will board a plane and fly back to "Sweet Home" Alabama.

We look forward to seeing our family and friends, but part of our hearts will remain here in the Philippines, specially on the island of Mindanoa.

This trip turned out better than we ever could have imagined. We saw at least 127 people accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and pastors, missionaries and other Christians encouraged and given hope to keep spreading the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To say we received a great blessing would be an understatement. As we poured ourselves out, God filled us back up with so much love through our wonderful Filipino friends.

The excitement of how open people are to the Gospel of Jesus Christ strengthened us and drew us even closer to our brothers and sisters who are reaching this nation for Jesus.

The hospitality and love we received was beyond measure. Until you experience it, it's really hard to describe. In Alabama, we have good old southern hospitality, and we do a good job of making people feel welcome. These precious people go way beyond.

We thank all of our awesome volunteers back in Dothan, Ala., for keeping all of the ministries running smoothly while we have been on the other side of the world. We have the best volunteers ever, and once again all of you proved it.

There has been a lot of prayers for us on this trip, and we cannot thank all of you enough. We felt the prayers as God gave us strength and kept energizing us.

It's pretty cool seeing God use Love In Action at the same time in different parts of the world. That was a prayer of ours 12 years ago when this ministry began, and to see it come to fruition is outstanding, and to God be all the glory.

We will arrive back home Saturday evening (Sunday morning for the Philippines). It will take a couple of days to recover, so we will be back up and going on Tuesday. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Celebrate Recovery Inside.

We have a lot of work for the Lord to do in Dothan and the Philippines, and we thank God for blessing us with all of these opportunities. There are many people to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in both the U.S. and the Philippines, and with all of us working together as the Body of Christ, through the power of God, we can do it.

Salamat (thank you) to all of our Filipino family. We love you all and look forward to seeing you again in 2013. To all of our American family, we love you and will see you soon.

127 saved in the Philippines!

2012-01-25T19:01:00.002-06:00

A group photo with the 5th Infantry Battalion in Labangan, Zamboanga del Sur.

I won't bury the lead to this blog. This week we have seen 127 people in the Philippines accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and we have seen pastors, missionaries and their wives encouraged. This trip has been the most incredible, beautiful and awesome experience of our lives.

Today will be my last day of preaching on this trip as we visit Punta, Philippines, to preach at Pastor Mario Montero's church. It will be my 13th sermon in five days. I've never preached that much, but I have loved every moment of it. I can't wait to do it again.

The people here are so hungry for and open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have even seen seven Muslims accept Jesus. Do you realize how huge that is? That is an incredible decision on their part, and we praise God. We have seen 93 Philippine soldiers accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, including a colonel. God has given us great favor with the Philippine Army as we have preached at four different Army camps.

It was so cool how we did it. Pastor Jun Begafria is a pastor of Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Ozamiz City, and he is very well respected by the military as he has led Bible studies and been a counselor for them. We drove up to the Army camps, he showed them his ID and they let us in. Then Martha and Mama shared their testimonies. The soldiers were amazed at the joy they had, and couldn't believe Mama was 76 years old traveling all the way to the Philippines to tell them about Jesus. People don't live that long over here.

I preached, and then Pastor Jun would recap and share some more and then lead the soldiers in a prayer of repentance.

Martha said something that caused a high-ranking military official to accept Christ. She said, "If you have never accepted Jesus, give him a try." Those words "give Jesus a try" is what touched his heart. Pastor Jun received a text later in the day that the high-ranking official called his wife and told her that he gave Jesus a try and it works! He noticed a peace He never felt before. Praise God! Imagine how many people God will use that man to reach. To God be all the glory!

Then we did the same format in Ozamiz City at a restaurant where students from the university met us. The place was packed. A couple of the professors go to Pastor Jun's church and they invited the students to come here the Americans.

Glory be to God, 31 young people gave their lives to Jesus! Praise God! The students who were already Christians immediately sat down with the new believers to share scripture and answer questions. Discipleship began immediately.

We saw that Monday night as well at the evangelistic service at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan. I was excited Pastor Greg Begafria asked me to preach that service. It was a great time with beautiful singing from the church choir and the congregation. Ten people gave their hearts to Jesus that night, and immediately people sat down with the new believers to share scripture and answer questions.

Pastor Greg and his precious wife Lilia were so excited that the next door neighbor to the church accepted Jesus that night. They had invited her to church a number of times, but that was the first service she attended. To God be the glory.

The Pastors/Missionary Workers conference was wonderful. The theme was John 4:35, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." I shared on that topic and on the topic of discipleship. But the biggest message I wanted to get across to them was encouragement, to lift them up and show them the great men and women of faith they are. And they are amazing as they live day-by-day with no assurance of any provision of any kind - food, money, clothing, etc. - except what God provides on a daily basis. That's faith.

I give God all the praise as I've already heard about two pastors who were on the verge of quitting because of frustration, burdens of financial, physical, and mental stress that depleted them spiritually as well. But at the end of the conference they were refreshed, refocused and excited to be in the ministry. Praise God!

Martha and Mama, or as they call her here, "Mama Susie," taught the women at the conference and did a great job. The women were really encouraged and inspired. One of the young women told Mama that she really inspires the young people.

God is doing a great work here in the Philippines. It's an amazing work as the people are hungry for and open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ like I've never seen before. The pastors and indigenous missionaries are doing a great work, and we are gong to continue to support them and be involved.

Busy schedule, please pray

2012-01-23T16:51:00.000-06:00

Please keep praying for the conference and for Martha, Mamaand me. Pray for safe travels, strength, endurance and for God to give us thewords to say as we serve Jesus here in the Philippines.

Our schedule is about to get even busier. Today (Tuesday),Martha and Mama will both speak to the pastors and missionaries wives and Iwill speak twice. Then we will travel five hours to Ozmas City and spend thenight. That is where Pastor Jun Begafria’s church is located. He is the seniorpastor of the group of churches that make up the Shiloh Bible Baptist Churchfamily.

Early Wednesday morning, I will preach there, then we willdrive about six hours to Salug where I will preach an afternoon service at PastorClemente’s church. There we will also get to see the land Love In Action helpedpurchase for Pastor Clemente’s church to build a church building. They do nothave the funds yet, at least they have the land. That’s a great start.

Then we will travel back to Sindangan and spend the night.Thursday morning we will drive two hours to Punta, which is just outside ofDipolog City.I will preach that afternoon at Pastor Mario Montero’s church. Wewill spend the night in Dipolog City Thursday night, and fly to Manila fromDipolog to begin our journey back home Friday morning.

We will spend the night in Manila on Friday, so pray for agood night’s rest as we begin our 18 hours in the air trip back to AtlantaSaturday morning . We will have a 2.5 hour layover in Tokyo, Japan. Once inAtlanta it will be just a 3.5 hour drive back to Sweet Home Alabama.

Though we will be glad to be back home with family andfriends, we are going to miss the Philippines. We have totally fallen in lovewith the people here. We are thankful for our new brothers, sisters, andfriends, and we are thankful that we have already begun planning for our nexttrip here in 2013. Praise God!

Salvation + encouragement = Great first day of conference

2012-01-23T15:59:00.003-06:00

Ken prays for a pastor during the first day of the Pastors/Missionary Workers Conference in Sindangan, Phillipines.

The first day for the Pastors/Missionary Workers Conferenceat Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines, was a great success.As the pastors say here, “Jesus won the victory Monday.”

The pastors and missionaries, 35 in all, traveled from acrossthe province of Mindanao and other provinces of the Philippines. Some more weretraveling Monday night to be here for the second and final day of theconference.

What an honor and a joy to meet all of these great men of God.I told them they were special and unique people for they have sacrificedeverything for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. None of them have mega churches likethere are in the U.S. None of them have wealthy church members who can makelarge donations to help give them a nice building and a salary where they canlive comfortable or even semi-comfortable lives. They struggle financiallyday-by-day trusting God for provision. They are great men of faith, though attimes they don’t see that in themselves. I assured them that they are.

I was originally scheduled to be the second speaker onMonday, but they asked if I would mind being the first. Of course that was finewith me. I told Pastor Greg Begafria and Jun Begafria, senior pastor of theSBBC family of churches, that I was there to serve.

The theme of the conference is John 4:35, “Lift up youreyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” That’s whatI preached on and encouraged and exhorted them to keep fighting the good fightno matter how tough it gets, because great is their reward in Heaven. PastorGreg told me to preach as long as the Holy Spirit led, and I ended up preachingfor 1.5 hours.

Many of the pastors and missionaries came up front forprayer at the end of the service. It was emotional seeing these men and womenpressing in to ask God for even more of Him in their lives and to work evenharder to advance His kingdom.

I asked Pastor Jun, how could they work even harder? To me,they are the hardest working pastors and missionaries I know. They work nonstoptelling people in their villages, towns and cities about Jesus and ministeringto the needs of the people in their churches. Martha, Mama and I have said wedon’t think they ever sleep. Of course they do, but they are nonstop in theirservice of the Lord.

Then Pastor Jun preached. What a great man of God he is, anda tremendous leader. He preached about the blessing God is sending to those wholay it all on the line for Jesus. His main scripture was out of Genesischapters 43 and 45 when Joseph blessed Benjamin.

Then the evening service was an evangelistic service wherePastor Greg, his wife Lilia, and others in their congregation invited peoplefrom the community to church. I was very honored to preach that service. Ipreached the simple message of Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead.And, I also encouraged the believers to share Jesus with others through actionsand words.

I asked Pastor Greg to give the altar call for salvation,and to God be all the glory, seven to 10 people accepted Jesus as their Lordand Savior, including a woman who lives next door to the church. Pastor Gregand Lilia were so excited. He said they had invited the woman to church manytimes, but she never came until last night. God answered their prayers for her.Now she is saved and I pray will be a faithful church member.

Throughout the conference we have enjoyed beautiful singing.The choir here in Sindangan has such beautiful voices. There was a guest choiralso from Ozamiz City where Pastor Jun serves, and they were amazing as well.We also enjoyed a musical special as two young people played the violin,another a guitar and a flute.

It was a wonderful first day of the conference. Theservices, the food and the fellowship were excellent. These pastors are hungryfor teaching. They greatly desire to see true revival start in their communitiesand country. I believe God will use this first-ever pastors/missionariesconference to provide the spark for that revival.

Please continue praying for the conference, and especiallythe pastors, missionaries and their families.

Sweet Sunday services

2012-01-22T06:42:00.000-06:00

Ken preaching the Sunday morning service at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines.

Today marked the first time I’ve ever preached in a countryoutside of the United States of America, and I will never forget it.

What an honor and privilege it was to preach two servicestoday at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines. It was awonderful day with great music and fellowship.

One thing I want you to understand is people here do nothave the resources that we are blessed with in the U.S. These precious peopleare very poor, but they are very rich spiritually. What they have, they give tothe Lord. We have much to learn from our Filipino brothers and sisters. Theytruly understand that when God is all you have, then you have everything youneed.

Some of the members of the church live in the mountains andhave to travel through the forest and across a river to make it to church. Theydon’t have cars and trucks like we have in America. It’s not a matter ofconvenience. It’s the fact they want to be in church worshiping Jesus andlearning His Word.

We sang hymns like many churches in the U.S. do. Then PastorGreg Begafaria’s brother, Raffy Begafaria, taught Sunday School. While Icouldn’t understand everything he said, I understood enough to get a lot out ofit. Here in the Philippines, there are many different dialects, so from regionto region a different language is spoken. However, they mix English with theirwords. Bro. Raffy is a very good teacher.

The church service began with more hymns and then theirchoir sang a special, “Thank You for Giving to the Lord.” Martha, Mama and Icried throughout their singing. They have such beautiful voices, singing fromtheir hearts.

Then I preached the morning service. I talked about Jesusand how it is of the utmost importance that we place all of our trust in Him,and then discussed some ways that God instructs us how to live. When PastorGreg gave the altar, call people flocked to the front and got on their kneesand prayed. I could hear some literally crying out to God. My prayer was forGod to hear their cries, and I know He did.

Then we had lunch and fellowship at church. People bringfood and they eat and fellowship together each Sunday. If you had to walk ortravel from the mountains and other places to get to church, you would reallyappreciate being able to stay afterward for a good meal.

All of the food was delicious. I can’t pronounce or spellhardly any of it, but I sure could eat it. We haven’t had anything that wasn’tdelicious over here.

Then we had time to play with some of the children, whichwas fun. Most of them speak in their native language, but one thing thattranslates into any language is laughter, and they laughed and laughed as weplayed with them.

Instead of night services on Sunday, they have an afternoonservice, so people can make it back to their homes before night and before itrains.

In the afternoon I preached on the subject of faith and reallyencouraged them to have total faith in God that He would provide the money topurchase the land their church sits on and to build a new building. I told themthat we understand renting buildings, and then told them how we rented abuilding and it was sold and we lost our rent. But, the good news was Godprovided a better building and one that is ours now.

A big difference about their rent compared to ours is PastorGreg and his family live at the church. There is a bedroom in the back of thechurch and that is their home. If they lost their rent like we did, not onlywould they lose their church, but Pastor Greg and his family would be homeless.

That’s a constant worry to many of the pastors here, andsome landlords hold that over their heads. But I know the work they do for theLord and have witnessed it firsthand. I know God will touch someone’s or somepeople’s hearts to give the $6,000 U.S. dollars to purchase the land to keepPastor Greg and his family and church safe and secure.

One of my prayers was that the people could understand me,that God would give them hears to hear and understand what I said. He answeredthat prayer. I could tell they understood, and many shouted “Amen!” If I saw apuzzled look, I would further explain what I was saying. Yes, I explained what“y’all” meant too.

I could see some crying at times as the Holy Ghost touchedtheir hearts. They let me know that the messages encouraged them. I believethat is one of my main tasks here. They need great encouragement. These pastorsand missionaries are truly on the frontlines, and they have sacrificedeverything to tell others about Jesus. And those they serve literally liveday-to-day. But they love God, and I know He is going to do even greater thingshere in Sindangan and throughout the Philippines.

It was indeed a great honor to preach in Pastor Greg’spulpit. Now it’s time for the conference. Pastors and missionaries are arrivingtonight. It’s going to be a great two days. Praise God!

God bless the children

2012-01-21T08:29:00.000-06:00

Mama Tuck reading the Bible story about Zacchaeus to more than 160 children today in Sindangan, Philippines.

It felt like we are at home in Dothan today ministering topeople as we served with our friends at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church inSindangan, Philippines, to minister to the spiritual and physical needs ofpeople in an extremely poor area.

Our first day of ministering in the Philippines was a hugesuccess as we ministered to more than 160 children. Pastor Greg and LiliaBegafria started ministering to children in these extremely impoverished areasof Sindangan a number of years ago. At that time it was just the two of them.Today, many members of their church are following their example and ministeringthe love of Jesus Christ to the children.

It is easy to see they are doing a great work with thechildren. We listened to them sing songs to the Lord and recite 10 Bible versesthey have memorized. The Begafrias and their church members are wonderfulpeople doing amazing ministry in Sindangan.

Mama Tuck was in her element today as she read a Bible storyabout Zacchaeus to all of the children, and then she led them in singing.Sister Lilia translated and they all sang in Filipino. It was awesome! It wasso neat watching the Holy Spirit at work.

The children were all seated around the ministry area. Themore Mama read, the more children came forward to get closer to her so theycould hear every word.

I thank God for my Mom. Tears filled my eyes as I watchedher read to the children. She is such an awesome woman of God who touches morelives than she will ever know. From the Philippines to Dothan, Alabama,everyone loves Mama Tuck.

The children’s laughter filled the air all day long. It wasone of the most beautiful sounds I’ve ever heard. You have to understand, thisis a Third World nation, and these are among the poorest of the poor. But bythe smiles on the people’s faces you would think they are among the richest.And they are, spiritually. “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyesof the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised thosewho love him?” – James 2:5 (NIV)

We helped serve the delicious lunch the church prepared forthe children. The extra blessing about that is Love In Action sends $140 amonth to help feed all of these children, so to be here to help serve thechildren was wonderful. We need more donations for this need. There are a lotmore children we need to help Pastor Greg and Sis. Lilia reach. Remember, thisIs a very poor area of the Philippines, and therefore the people of this churchare very poor with very limited resources. Hundreds of children are acceptingJesus as their Lord and Savior, so it is a great investment.

It was an extra special day for the children as presentswere given to each one. Oh, to see them playing afterward with their gifts wasso much fun. It was like Christmas in January.

Yes, it was an amazing day. Words and photos cannot accuratelydescribe it. We thank God for the awesome work He is doing here in Sindangan,and it is such an honor and so humbling to be part of it.

Happy Birthday Martha!

2012-01-21T08:14:00.001-06:00

Martha with her beautiful birthday plaque and flowers given to her by Pastor Greg and Lilia Begafria and Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Sindangan, Philippines.

I prayed this morning that God would give Martha the bestbirthday ever. He answered that prayer.

Martha’s birthday was today, Saturday, Jan. 21, and she saidshe couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than ministering to children atthe church’s Children’s Fair here in Sindangan, Philippines. I thank God for mygodly, sweet and beautiful wife. I am very proud of her and love hertremendously.

I had emailed Pastor Greg Begafria, who is our host pastorfor this week of ministry here in the Philippines, and mentioned that Marthawas looking forward to spending her birthday ministering to the children. He showedhis wife, Lilia, that email and they planned several surprises for Martha.

It started first thing this morning when they arrived withroses and flowers for Martha, and with a decorative plaque that says “HappyBirthday Martha.” Some of the women of the church also wrote Bible scriptureand signed it. It is beautiful … all handmade, including the frame it is in.

Then more surprises came at lunch as all of the childrensang Happy Birthday to Martha. There were more than 160 children at theChildren’s Fair this morning, plus adults, and everyone was singing. It wasbeautiful, and of course, Martha cried. The children had been practicing thesong, because they wanted to give their best to Martha.

As the song ended, Sister Lilia presented Martha with abeautiful birthday cake. I might add that it was delicious as well.

God answered my prayer and gave my precious wife the bestbirthday. I thank God and the wonderful people here in Sindangan for makingthis such a special day for her.

An incredible welcome

2012-01-20T18:25:00.004-06:00

To say we were totally blown away by the welcome we receivedin Dipolog City, Philippines, would be an understatement. Wow, from the secondwe stepped off the plane we knew we were welcome.

Pastor Greg Begafria, his wife and children and many otherpastors and missionaries and family members from the family of churches calledShiloh Bible Baptist Church were standing there waving and smiling holding asign that read “Welcome Love In Action Ministries/Children’s Fair.”

Then was received many hugs and handshakes. The childrentook our hands and placed the back of our hands on their foreheads. That’s howthey show respect to their elders.

It was a grand welcome and one we have been looking forwardto. We loved these precious people before we met them. Love In Action has beenable to do a lot of work in the Philippines by supporting the work of theseindigenous pastors and missionaries. Now, to finally meet them face-to-face isincredible.

They would not let us pick up our bags and suitcases. Theystarted serving us immediately, which is very humbling. Then after photos andsome talking, we all piled in vehicles and drove two hours to Sindangan wherePastor Greg, his wife and children and church are hosting the conference andchildren’s fair they invited us to speak at.

Once at the church, they showed us around and then broughtout the food. They grilled fish and served it with rice and wonderful freshlypicked fruit.

They knew we were exhausted, so after talking some more theytook us to our hotel and showed us to our room. After a few minutes we noticedthe a/c wasn’t working very well, so I talked with the hotel folks and theycame to check on it. They couldn’t fix it, so they moved us to another roomwhere the a/c works very well.

I called Pastor Greg to let him know we changed rooms. Aboutfive minutes later there was a knock on our door. It was Pastor Greg and hiswife making sure everything was OK. Wow! We consider ourselves pretty goodservants of the Lord, but these precious people have already shown us we have along ways to go to become as humble and wonderful servants as they are. Theytruly take Jesus at His word when he says the greatest among us are those whoserve.

By His description, these Filipinos are great, and we definitelyagree with our Savior.

Then this morning Pastor Greg and his wife and another ladyfrom church came to bring Martha roses, flowers and a beautiful plaque theymade themselves for her birthday. They even made the picture frame it is in. Ofcourse Martha had tears in her eyes as she graciously accepted their gifts.They said the children were practicing singing happy birthday to Martha, sothey can sing it to her later this morning.

It is such a privilege and very humbling to be here inSindangan serving Jesus with our Filipino brothers and sister.

A divine encounter

2012-01-20T17:07:00.005-06:00

Have you ever met someone and afterward realized it wasn’tby chance, but God set it all up? That happened to me about 35,000 feet in theair on our way to Tokyo, en route to the Philippines.

I had gotten up to walk around and stretch out and walked tothe back of the plan. There I met a man named Jim. We asked the normalquestions: Where are you from? Where are you going? Jim lives in South Carolinawith his wife of 44 years. He and his wife have moved 42 times over those yearsas he served in the U.S. military. Now retired, he and his wife were travelingto China to visit their daughter and her family.

I told him about our mission trip to the Philippines. He wasexcited about that as he too is a Christians. As he talked, I knew God wasspeaking through him to encourage me, confirm and reaffirm why we were on thistrip.

Jim asked if we build churches in the Philippines. I saidnot yet, but that was one of our prayers and goals. We want to help theindigenous pastors and missionaries plant churches and support their work.

He then gave me this wonderful analogy. Jim asked, does ababy have anything to do with being born? Martha, Mom and I all said, no. Hesaid right, a seed is planted and a baby is conceived. Then the baby is bornand the parents nurture the child. Then he looked me in the eyes and said,“That’s all you have to do.”

Jim said just preach the simple, but powerful message ofJesus Christ crucified and raised again from the dead for the forgiveness ofsins and eternal life. Tell the people about Jesus (plant the seed) and let theHoly Ghost do the rest. He said plant churches in the Philippines and we willhave an untold harvest waiting for us in Heaven.

Praise God! I was such a simple, but powerful word from aman with great wisdom.

He also said that when the Lord opens the door, run throughit as fast as we can. Then he warned, when God closes a door then it is time toleave.

I’ll always remember that talk with Jim, and what made iteven more powerful was as I returned to my seat I opened the Bible to continue reading.I was in the Book of Acts and the next scripture I read was Acts 10:34-48. TheApostle Peter was speaking to the Gentiles the simple, but powerful message ofJesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead for the remission of sins.Exactly what Jim was telling us.

God spoke to me through this kind gentleman and thenreaffirmed it through His Word. Now we know without a doubt that we will plantchurches in the Philippines and not only continue the work we have been doingwith our brothers and sisters here for the past year, but do even more. We are supposedto be here.

Thank you God for speaking to your humble servant 35,000miles above the earth you created. I’m looking forward to that day when I willtake that glorious trip even higher than that to meet my Lord and Saviorface-to-face. That’s a promise God gives to everyone who believes and confessesthat Jesus is their Lord and Savior.

Jesus died for all of us. Then God raised Him from the graveon the third day. Accept what Jesus did on the cross. Believe God raised Him fromthe grave. Confess your sins to Jesus and asked Him to forgive and save you.Now, confess that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. It’s that simple, and thatpowerful.

Our trip to Philippines

2012-01-20T16:50:00.004-06:00

Our first day in the Philippines was amazing. The peoplehere are so friendly and hospitable. We are accustomed to “SouthernHospitality” in Alabama, but Filipinos take it several steps higher.

Our trip here to Sindangan was very long. All total, about20 hours of flying, nearly 16 hours of layovers, and a two-hour drive down thebeautiful eastern coast of the Philippines island of Mindanao, which is thesecond largest island in the Philippines, populated by more than 23 millionpeople.

The trip was long, but a very good one. Delta did anoutstanding job, as did Philippines Airlines. We met some great people on theplane, including another group of Americans going to a different island on thePhilippines to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is their sixth trip.

While waiting in Manila for our connecting flight to DipologCity, we met some wonderful people. We met Pastor Aries and Bro. Armand, whoserve the Lord in the Manila area. Our good friend Micah Lewter of HomegrownHarvesters knows these two brothers and was hoping we would meet them. We did,at 1 a.m. Instead of sleeping, these two brothers traveled about an hour tomeet us. We talked and had a good time of prayer. They are great men doinggreat work for the Lord in a very challenging area. We were also able to givePastor Aries a study Bible that Micah had mailed us to bring to thePhilippines. He was very appreciative. Thanks Micah! And thanks Micah forintroducing us to all of these wonderful brothers and sisters in the Lord herein the Philippines.

We then met a womannamed Rose. She is a native of the Philippines, but lives in Indiana, nearIllinois and Chicago. She was very energetic and kept us going during the earlymorning hours. She told us a lot about the Philippines and she was amazed atwhat we were coming here to do. We told her we love our Lord and were justdoing His work by the example He gave us. Rose fell in love with Mama likeeveryone does. She called her “Mamasee.”

Then we met two indigenous missionaries to the Philippines.Anna is a medical missionary and Joy is a missionary who teaches the Word ofGod to those who do not know Jesus. They were fascinating to talk with andlisten to their stories and heart’s desires. We enjoyed several different timesof prayer with them.

Then, when we landed in Dipolog City we were greeted by morethan 30 men, women and children from the Shiloh Bible Baptist Church family.Wow! That blew us away; more on that in my next blog.

So it was a long trip with hardly any sleep along the way,but it was a good journey and one we are very thankful to have made. Everyonewe met was amazed at Mama’s ability to travel that far. They just don’t know myMama. And for anyone back home wondering, she’s doing great.

Philippines bound

2012-01-18T10:00:00.000-06:00

A year ago I'd never been off the North American continent. Then, three months ago I was in the South American country of Ecuador, and now I'm on my way to the Asian country of the Philippines.

I never gave too much thought about traveling outside of the U.S. and Canada, but then God put it on my heart to go to different countries. I told Him, wherever He leads I'll go.

In October it was to Shell, Ecuador to work with orphans at Casa de Fe and do street ministry in Puyo. Now, I'm on my way to the Philippines with my wife and mom. How awesome is that? Traveling to the other side of the world with my wife and mom to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank God for this awesome opportunity.

Jesus Christ gave His disciples the Great Commission before ascending into Heaven. His Great Commission is for all of us, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." - Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)

Jesus further drives home His point in Acts as the very last statement He tells His disciples before ascending to Heaven is, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” - Acts 1:8 (NLT)

While the majority of our ministry is done locally in Dothan, Ala., God has opened doors for Love In Action to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ in other U.S. cities and throughout the world. Whether it is Atlanta, Ga., Baton Rouge, La., New York City, Memphis, TN, Los Angeles, Shell, Ecuador, or Sindangan, Philippines, Love In Action is obeying our Lord and Savior by telling the world about Him.

Please keep us in your prayers. We are praying for hundreds of souls to be saved, people healed and delivered, and pastors and missionaries encouraged.

Our volunteers are the best!

2012-01-17T22:09:00.000-06:00

People often hear me say that our volunteers at Love In Action are the best, and I mean it. They give of themselves to serve the homeless and needy, and they do it with so much love.

Our volunteers are a major reason why Martha and I can travel to other cities and other countries to minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. You might remember that back in October, not only did Martha and I travel to Ecuador, but our two Celebrate Recovery Inside directors went too. And, the ministry in Dothan didn't miss a beat, because of our awesome volunteers. They make it happen.

Love In Action's ministry in Dothan will continue as usual while Martha, Mama Tuck and I are in the Philippines. We have tremendous ministry leaders and volunteers who do a great job each week. We held a volunteers meeting Monday night and the room was filled with our awesome volunteers. We talked about what God accomplished through each one of them and Love In Action in 2011. Check it out and praise God with us for the great things He has done:

- Many people accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!
- We were a ministry without a home entering 2011, but we purchased a building, renovated it and moved into the new Love In Action Ministry Center. Now we have a permanent home. Praise God!
- We moved Celebrate Recovery Inside and Bible study back home to our ministry center after months of moving around from place to place
- Moved the LIA Health Clinic for the Homeless to the LIA Ministry Center.
- Began four new ministries: Lighthouse Cafe coffee house, Laundry Ministry, Shower Ministry, and Adopt-A-Block.
- Strengthen the following ministries: clothing, food pantry, food distribution, and hygiene supplies distribution.

Each of you who volunteer, pray and financially support Love In Action were a huge part of everything that was accomplished in 2011. We couldn't have done all of this without you. Thank you so much for your support and desire to show the "least of these" the love of Jesus Christ.

Please continue supporting us and encourage others to join you in supporting Love In Action in 2012. We've already had a great start to the New Year, and it's only going to get better. We are praying that more souls will be saved this year than ever before. We are also praying for God to continue to strengthen each ministry that we do and further expand Love In Action according to His perfect will and purpose throughout this year.

We thank each of you once again. We are like Paul, Silas and Timothy were in their letter to the church of Thessalonica, "We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 (NLT)

'Wake up and look around'

2011-12-13T09:54:00.000-06:00

“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.” - John 4:35 (KJV)

I like the way the New Living Translation writes these words of Jesus, " But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest."

Jesus was telling His disciples, and He is telling us today, "Wake up, open your eyes; there are hurting and lost people all around you. Go tell them I love them and bring them into My kingdom."

Take a quick survey of what you are doing with your time. How much do you pray? Do you read God's Word? If so, how often? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? How much time do you spend watching TV? Do you tell anyone about Jesus? Do you show His love to others through your actions? Do you do more for yourself or for others? This Christmas season, are you focused more on gifts or on The Gift, who is the One we celebrate?

How did your survey turn out? This blog post isn't meant to condemn anyone, it's to help all of us do what Jesus tells us in John 4:35, "Wake up and look around." It's so important to heed His words. People are dying every day. Eternity is at stake. When we die we will either go to Heaven or Hell, both are real places. Heaven is eternity with God our Father. Hell is total separation from God our Father forever. We can make a difference in a person's eternity by showing the love of Jesus to them, and by sharing with them what Jesus has done in our lives.

Action speaks louder than words, though. I like the way St. Francis of Assisi said it, "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words."

Let's be sure we are doing that. Let's don't waste time by getting caught up in worldly activities. Now, events and hobbies aren't bad in and of themselves. The problem is when they dominate our thoughts and time.

I encourage you to read John 4 today. Read how Jesus broke down walls by talking with a Samaritan. See how he reached out to the woman and changed her eternal destination. See how He carried out His own "Great Commission" (Matthew 28:19-20) by going and reaching the people and then teaching them. Read how He teaches His disciples and explains things to them in John 4:34-38.

Jesus tells them that He receives His spiritual nourishment from doing the will of the Father; by finishing the work that the Father has given Him. We must do the same. Let's follow His example. God has given each of us a job to do. We receive joy and gain strength through doing it. So, let's do it, and spend our time "doing the will of God."

This is why we do what we do

2011-12-04T21:35:00.000-06:00

This afternoon showed me why we do what we do with our Adopt-A-Block program at Love In Action.

On Sundays after church, we deliver bread to people throughout the neighborhood where we do our weekly Saturday Adopt-A-Block outreach. On our last stop, we visited Mr. Freddie. He's an elderly man missing one of his feet. He spends most of his time on the couch or in his wheel chair.

We first met him on Thanksgiving Day as volunteers delivered dinner throughout the neighborhood. The next two weeks we have gone back to clean up and do repairs on his house and take him more food.

Today when Martha, Shaun and I arrived, he just smiled at us, and then started crying. He said, "Y'all are so good to me. The Lord is so good. Everything y'all been doing for me ... I can't even talk about it without crying. It makes me feel so good."

Praise God! I told him that's Jesus showing His love for him and smiling upon him. Mr. Freddie said, "God is good isn't He."

He looked at Shaun and talked about Thanksgiving Day as Shaun was one of the volunteers who brought dinner to Mr. Freddie. A woman in the neighborhood told us about him and encouraged us to take him dinner. Mr. Freddie said he sure was glad she did that.

He told us that in all of the years he has lived at his house in downtown Dothan, nobody has ever given him anything. He said they have only taken from him.

Mr. Freddie is a precious man. It is so good to see him smile and talk about the goodness of God.

I asked him if he had ever asked Jesus into his heart to be his Lord and Savior. He said yes, he did years ago. Then I asked if we could pray before we left, and he said yes, and then he prayed. It was such a wonderful prayer. He thanked God for everything. He cried tears of joy as he prayed.

We left praising God. Such an awesome display of God's love and someone being so thankful for it.

Please keep our Adopt-A-Block outreach and all of our ministries lifted up in your prayers. God is doing an amazing work. We have recently seen seven people make decisions for Jesus. Praise God! Lives are being changed by the love and power of God. It is wonderful to see and humbling to be part of it.

Thank you for your prayers, financial support, and volunteering. Together, we are making a difference for the glory of God.

Making a difference

2011-11-27T22:03:00.000-06:00

Making a difference in people's lives is something we should all strive to do. Making that difference an eternal one is what we should all be doing. As a child of God, we can make an eternal difference through the power of God working within us.

How do we do that? It's pretty easy. God has given us all a cause. All we have to do is do it. I like how Jesus puts it in Luke 2:49, "Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” That's it! We must be about our Father's business.

At Love In Action our cause is to reach the homeless and needy with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do that through acts of compassion. Our newest outreach to show the love of Jesus to people is Adopt-A-Block. This is a powerful weekly outreach and my favorite because we are out in the neighborhood taking Jesus to the people, not waiting for them to come to a building.

In just two weeks, we are already seeing a change in the community. One woman came to our Thanksgiving Day lunch and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. People are accepting our offers of prayers. Today, a young man asked one of our volunteers to tell him more about Jesus. People's needs are being met.

We have raked three yards, worked on two roofs to stop leaks, repaired a screen door and a back door, repaired a toilet and put light bulbs in a single woman's house and a house of an elderly man.

We met an elderly man who is a disabled veteran on Thanksgiving Day. Some of our volunteers knocked on his door and entered when he said to come in. They saw a man in a wheel chair with his left leg propped up. He doesn't have a left foot. What else they quickly discovered was the horrendous conditions he lived in. His house probably hadn't been cleaned in years. Cluttered, sticky ... you pick the adjective and that's what it looked and smelled like.

We went back on Saturday during Adopt-A-Block and a team of volunteers went to work. Bags were filled with trash and taken to the street. Floors, walls, cabinets, tub and toilet were scrubbed. His yard was raked. He was all smiles at the end of the day. He kept saying, "Thank You Jesus." We aren't finished at his house. There is plenty more to do.

Another part of Adopt-A-Block is picking up trash throughout the neighborhood. We were on a street yesterday where there were two vacant lots filled with trash. I told a woman we were going to clean up that lot. She was so thankful. She said the people who live on that street had contacted the city to clean up those lots. I told her we were doing it, and people on that street thanked us as they saw the cleaned lots.

Making a person's house more livable, cleaning neighborhoods and fixing leaky roofs are all acts of compassion that shows the love of Jesus Christ. We are planting and watering seeds of God's love. We will see a bountiful harvest reaped. This is just the beginning. It's exciting watching God transform lives and entire neighborhoods.

Please keep Adopt-A-Block in your prayers, and please continue to financially support Love In Action to help us help those in need

A very happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T22:12:00.000-06:00

Today's Love In Action Thanksgiving outreach was as beautiful as the blue skies and bright sunshine overhead. More than 70 volunteers selflessly gave of their time to serve about 300 plates of juicy turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and all the trimmings.

The recipients were the homeless and needy in downtown Dothan, Ala. The love of God was easily seen in each smile and heard in every kind word of the volunteers. The sparkle in the eyes of the needy and their expressions of gratitude let us know those we served were indeed thankful on this Thanksgiving Day.

Our cooking team began the day early at 5:30 at the First United Methodist Church in Dothan. We thank the good people at First UMC for allowing us to use their kitchen to prepare the meal. More volunteers came later in the morning to put all of the plates together, then load them in the back of pick up trucks to be transported to the Love In Action Ministry Center.

More volunteers at the ministry center unloaded the plates and set them up inside ready to be served. Ice was placed in cups and tea was poured. I greeted the crowd and shared some Bible verses about being thankful, then shared about the importance of accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Pastor Dwight Deal then shared some Bible verses, thanked the volunteers and prayed over the meal. Dwight is a Love In Action board member, and he organized and led the cooking efforts. Dwight excels in logistics.

Then lunch was served and everyone enjoyed it, not only the food, but the fellowship as well.

It was during lunch that one of our volunteers introduced me to one of our guests. A thin, frail woman talked about some issues in her life. We talked for a little while, then I asked if she had a relationship with Jesus; was He her Lord and Savior? She couldn't say yes. She said she went to church. I told her a lot of people go to church, but not everyone has a relationship with Jesus.

I told her I was not going to pressure her, but I wanted her to know if she wanted to make sure Jesus was her Lord and Savior, I would be more than happy to pray with her. She said, "Yes, let's pray," but she wanted to go into the sanctuary. I grabbed Dwight and his wife Vickie as we walked into the sanctuary and we prayed with her. She gave her life to Jesus and also asked for prayer for her family. Praise God! That is what it is all about. Another soul whose eternity completely changed today. She has the assurance of everlasting life with God now. She lives in our Adopt-A-Block area, so we will be able to easily follow up with her. She also said she will be coming to the LIA Ministry Center on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

After the crowd thinned out we hit the streets with plates of food. Our first stop was at a group of apartments where mostly Hispanics live. They are thankful, and seemed a bit surprised that we came to serve them.

Then we went into the neighborhood where we started our Adopt-A-Block outreach. To say the people were happy to see us would be an understatement.

Some of our volunteers visited a house where a man was sitting in a chair with his footless leg propped up. He said he had prayed and hoped someone would bring him food today. God answered his prayer. Praise God! One after another said how they had hoped someone would bring them dinner today. See, the people in this neighborhood are extremely poor. Most couldn't afford to buy food for a big meal.

What a blessing it is to be a blessing, and I can't thank God enough for the honor to serve Him.

Many people helped with this incredible outreach. Martha and I thank all of you ... those who prayed, gave financially, and volunteered. As the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:16, we also, "... have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers."

It was indeed a very happy Thanksgiving.

Adopt-A-Block underway

2011-11-20T18:56:00.000-06:00

The streets highlighted and those inside that area are the streets where we are conducting Adopt-A-Block.

Love In Action spreads the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion, and yesterday we started a new outreach to further our mission. With 18 volunteers, we started our Adopt-A-Block outreach.

This is an outreach we will do every Saturday in the neighborhood surrounding the Love In Action Ministry Center in downtown Dothan. It is an impoverished neighborhood that has pretty much been written off by most people in Dothan. God hasn't forgotten about the people, and we are going door-to-door serving them. We were well received by the people on Saturday.

We learned this outreach from our friends at the L.A. Dream Center in Los Angeles, Calif. (http://www.dreamcenter.org) While in L.A. a decade ago on two difference occasions, we had the honor to go out with the Dream Center for their Adopt-A-Block, and it was amazing.

The concept is simple. Jesus taught us to serve, so that's what we do through Adopt-A-Block. We are not trying to cram Jesus down people's throats. We are serving and loving them. By doing that, we are showing them the love of Jesus and that opens the doors to share Jesus with them.

The first thing we did yesterday was pick up trash throughout the neighborhood, and man, did we ever pick up trash. We filled our dumpster to overflowing with all of the trash we picked up. Click here to check it out in a photo slide show.

We also handed out fliers door-to-door to invite people to our Thanksgiving Day dinner. A number of people were excited about the opportunity to have a good dinner on Thanksgiving Day.

We also pray with people and if there are any projects we can do for them we will. Yesterday one of our groups came across an elderly man who needed his back yard raked. With his bad back, he just couldn't do it, so three of our guys raked it for him. He was very thankful.

That's serving, and the doors God will open through this outreach will be incredible.

The more volunteers we have the more streets we can adopt. So, if you are interested in joining us, please come out on Saturdays at 9:45 a.m. Just two hours a week can help change lives. Once you get involved and help people you will not want to stop.

Thank you volunteers!

2011-11-15T16:29:00.000-06:00

I often tell people we have the greatest volunteers in the world at Love In Action, and I mean it. Our folks rock!

Here's a great example and further proof. When Martha and I announced we were going to Ecuador for nearly two weeks, some people asked if we were closing the Love In Action Ministry Center while we were gone. We quickly responded, "No, ministry will continue as usual."

Some people had puzzled looks on their faces after our answer. But we weren't puzzled. See, our team of volunteers are awesome! They are dedicated and responding to the cause God placed in their hearts. They enjoy serving God by serving the homeless, incarcerated and needy.

We have placed leaders in positions to lead the different ministries at Love In Action. Martha and I can't do it all, especially while I work full time as well. If it was just Martha and me, we wouldn't be doing nearly as much ministry out of the LIA Ministry Center. In fact, we wouldn't have the ministry center. We couldn't do it by ourselves.

While in Ecuador, the ministry operated seamlessly, without a hitch in Dothan. Celebrate Recovery Inside had its largest crowd ever at the ministry center. Bible study continued, as did the health clinic for the homeless, Friday night coffee house, Saturday work day and Saturday laundry ministry.

At the same time, LIA volunteers were in Ecuador, by using their own money, ministering at an orphanage, on the streets of Puyo, in the jungle and teaching missionaries about Celebrate Recovery. Wow! Praise God! Ministry on two continents at the same time! To God goes all the praise and glory!

Martha and I can't thank our volunteers enough. Those who lead ministries and those who serve in each ministry are amazing. They take time out of their busy schedules to serve the "least of these" as Jesus tells us to do in Matthew 25:35-40. They are responding to the our Lord's Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20.

God places a cause in each of our hearts. How we respond to that is the key. If we don't step out and do what God calls us to do there is a huge void in our lives and we are not fulfilled. When we do say "Yes" to God and go after that cause with all that's within us, we live rich, fulfilled lives and experience joy unlike anything we can explain.

Thank you volunteers for everything that each of you do. This ministry is not about Martha and me. It's not about any one person. It's all about God and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion with the "least of these." To reach the lost and hurting and leading them to Jesus so they can experience His amazing love.

Volunteers, you are the best. Thank you and God bless all of you.

'Wherever You lead, I'll go"

2011-11-07T17:19:00.001-06:00

Our trip to Ecuador was simply amazing. There are many things I could write about, and probably will as I continue to digest everything that went on during the trip.

One thing for sure is God directed our paths. We traveled to Ecuador with some ideas of what we would be doing, but nothing concrete except for the work we would do at the Casa de Fe orphanage. And, if that was all we would do we would be very happy and fulfilled. The people who run Casa de Fe do an incredible job. They are certainly God's hands and feet in Ecuador. Amazing people.

Martha and I had prayed a lot about Ecuador before going , and we decided if God wanted us to make connections for Love In Action to make a long-term impact there then we would leave that totally up to Him. I learned long ago that God doesn't need my help. I will only mess things up.

From the moment we arrived in Shell, Ecuador, God started opening doors.

We connected with a two precious people - Rick and Sharon LeBouef. They have been missionaries in Ecuador for more than 30 years. Rick preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ daily on the streets of Puyo, Ecuador. We had the honor of ministering with Rick and a new missionary named Andy.

Rick just got his plane back up in the air and now flies to the jungle regularly to help the tribes in the Amazon Rain Forest. His son does the flying. The people in the jungle have many needs, and Love In Action will become more involved in helping them and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them.

We met a number of missionaries while in Shell. Our Celebrate Recovery directors Emily and Judy did a wonderful job of introducing CR to them, and they were very receptive.This program can be a great source of encouragement and growth for them.

We also met a great married couple who have started a church in their home in Shell with land to expand. Keith and Loly are precious and they have tremendous hearts for reaching the lost in the Shell-Puyo area. We had a wonderful time of prayer with them.

Also, Andy and Priscilla are two young missionaries with a great vision for reaching the lost and hurting with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Shell-Puyo area and in the jungle.

One thing that really stood out to me was the children. They were everywhere playing and running around with little to no adult supervision. When I mentioned the word "futbol," they got excited and we started kicking the soccer ball around. They enjoyed attention from an adult, even if I couldn't speak their language. Just someone to kick the soccer ball with. Kind of like throwing a baseball or football here in the U.S.

And of course there's Casa de Fe. Those children are some of the most precious children I have ever met, and the staff some of the most focused. So loving and caring. Like all kids, they just want to be loved and have a home of their own. There is a great vision and plan for growing the orphanage, and it will be a blessing and an honor to be involved with them.

My mind is churning and ideas keep popping up. I will continue to commit them to prayer and see how God leads. One thing I do know is God has opened the door for Love In Action in Ecuador, and we will continue to pursue His will.

Love In Action is an international ministry. Obviously our strongest focus is on the Dothan area and that will not diminish. In fact, we have plans for tremendous growth, but when God opens doors we will go through them. Just like that old Gospel song says, "Wherever You lead, I'll go."

Street ministry in Puyo

2011-10-29T08:47:00.000-05:00

Street ministry is something I love doing. In fact, it is one of my favorite things to do. Martha and I prayed we would get the opportunity to do street ministry while in Ecuador, and God answered our prayers.

Martha, Karen and I have hit the streets twice this week with Rick and Andy, two missionaries living in Shell. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings we went to a nearby city called Puyo, which is a good deal larger than Shell. The first night we ministered around a small park, and the second night around a large shopping market, kind of like a mall.

Rick has lived here around 35 years, so he is very fluent in Spanish. Andy has been here a little more than a year. Rick starts out singing praise songs in Spanish, then Andy preaches a short message and Rick translates it into Spanish. Martha, Karen and I walked around the area handing out Christian tracts.

The three of us do not speak much Spanish, though Karen is getting better at it. However, God still used us to be effective, despite the langauge barrier.

Many of the people would stop and read the tracts, which amazed us. In the U.S., usually only the homeless will do that. A smile translates into any langauge, too. It was cool seeing people who looked down as we walked up to them change facial expressions as we smiled, said "Buenas Tardes" or "Hola" and handed them a tract. Most of them smiled back and said, "Gracious."

The first night, a man walked up to Martha and starting speaking. We couldn't understand him, so he tried harder to explain himself. He kept looking and pointing to the gray streak in her hair. Then he showed us a photo on his cell phone of his daughter. We were able to understand that she died and is in Heaven and that Martha reminded him of his daughter. For about 15 minutes he kept looking at her in amazement and talking about his daughter. You never know what will give someone hope.

Thursday night, Karen was talking with a vendor and figured out he had some kind of infirmity, and he allowed us to pray with him.

In Shell and Puyo, there are a lot of children running around the streets and riding bikes. They all wanted tracts and many read them. I had fun with the kids and played soccer with some of them, which was cool. That was one of the things I wanted to do while here. I grew up playing soccer, or futbol, and even played a year in college. Knowing it is their national sport, I was hoping to play some while here. Plus, these children crave attention from adults, so that made it even more fun.

I have seen God move through us over the years even with langauge barriers. It all comes down to faith and obedience. God will honor that every time.

Please keep the Ecuadorian people in your prayers.

Hurts so good

2011-10-28T20:22:00.000-05:00

I have never been so happy to be so tired and sore.

Today, Ted, Rick and I mixed and poured concrete at Casa de Fe in Shell, Ecuador, for their education building. We were working on the first floor, mixing and pouring concrete for the flooring. Knowing the building is going to be used to educate orphans made every lift of the wheel barrow worth it.

Here in Shell they mix and pour concrete the old fashion way. Ted loaded three two-men buckets of gravel and dumped it in a cement mixer. Rick filled four buckets of sand and stones and dumped it in the mixer. I manned the "truck," better known as a wheel barrow, and wheeled it into the building and dumped it. We did that all day. We weren't sure we were going to make it, but we did. We did pray for God to give us strength, and He did. I prayed that prayer a number of times throughout the day. :-)

It has been a great privledge serving beside Ted and Rick this week. They are both true servants. No matter how tough the work has been, they have kept smiling and serving with great joy.

We have mixed and poured concrete, dug through dirt and sand pulling out wood and nails. We have pulled nails out of boards, built cabinets, modified a bed and repaired a bicycle. The whole time we have thanked God for this opportunity. Why? Because this is the heart of God. He tells us in James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress."

This has been and awesome experience and we still have four days left. And, it won't be Love In Action's last trip to Ecuador. This is only the beginning.

Introducing Celebrate Recovery to missionaries

2011-10-28T07:31:00.000-05:00

The Love In Action team is accomplishing a lot here in Ecuador. One of the areas we are seeing God work is spreading Celebrate Recovery in Shell and Puyo.

One of the goals of this trip is to introduce Celebrate Recovery and it is taking off. Love In Action CR Director Emily Hinderhilter and Love In Action's Tuesday night director Judy Olski have been busy telling missionaries and a couple of churches about CR, and they are all excited about it.

Love In Action Vice President Martha Tuck and LIA volunteer Karen Hils told Patty Sue, director of Casa de Fe about the CR children's program, and she was very receptive.

We brought books and other literature so they can all see for themselves and decide. It looks like each group here is going to start CR groups. We are helping to start groups for children, teens and adults. We know what a great program CR is, and we are humbled and excited that God would use us to start it here in Ecuador.

I am really thankful for and proud of Emily and Judy. They hit the ground running here to fulfill their purpsoe for this trip. They didn't know how it would go or if anyone would be receptive. They just decided to trust God and be obedient to Him, and every day they have had meetings. People are calling the hotel to set up meetings with them. Wednesday afternoon a missionary just showed up at the hotel because she heard about CR and wanted to know more about it.

This Monday, a large group of missionaries and local pastors will come to the hotel to meet with Emily and Judy, and they will give the give a presentation and share about the great impact CR is having in Dothan.

Emily and Judy have really stepped into the calling and cause God has placed in their lives and hearts. They are great leaders and they lead with great compassion. I am so thankful to have them leading CR for LIA.

Praying in the Amazon Rain Forest

2011-10-26T21:18:00.012-05:00

What an incredible honor we had today to be in the Amazon Rain Forest with the Houaroni tribe. This tribe killed the first missionaries who visited them 50 years ago. Today, the majority of them are Christians.

We flew to the Houaroni village in a Cessna. The pilot made a perfect landing on a dirt runway. Members of the tribe met us and warmly welcomed us. The pilot gave them bags of rice and other supplies.

They took us to their church and about six tribal elders welcomed us. They didn't know we were coming today, but two of them said they had dreams the night before that people were coming today.

They sang and talked in their native langauge. One of the elder's sons translated it into Spanish, and then our pilot translated it into English.

One of the elders was a member of the tribe that killed the missionaries 50 years ago. Thanks to the family of the missionaries who kept reaching out to the tribe for Jesus, he is a born again Christian.

The elders prayed for us, then I was honored to pray for them. It was an incredible experience, and one that none of us will ever forget.

It is so cool to meet people like the Houaronis and listen to them worship God.

Every tongue, every tribe and every nation will sing God's praises and worship Him.

God keeps opening doors

2011-10-25T23:08:00.000-05:00

The doors God keeps opening up in Ecuador are incredible.

Today, Ted, Rick and I were back at the Casa de Fe orphanage working. We did more work on the school building, and we started work on modifying a bed for one of the orphans. Because of health problems, the child has to eat sitting up. We are modifying the bed so they can raise it up to a sitting when she eats.

Emily and Judy talked with Claudia, a missionary, for a second time about Celebrate Recovery. Claudia is very excited about it, as is another missionary named Sharron.

Martha and Karen spent time with Patty Sue, the director of Casa de Fe. They shared with her about Celebrate Recovery for children, and she was very interested in it.

Starting Celebrate Recovery in Ecuador was part of our mission here, and we are well on our way. Praise God!

Then tonight, Martha, Karen and I did street ministry in Pujo, Ecuador. Street ministry is at the heart of Love In Action, and to do it in Ecuador was great. We went out with missionaries named Rick and Andy. We handed out Christian tracts, Rick sang and Andy preached, while Rick translated.

Afterward I had the honor to pray with some people, including members of the tribe who killed the first missionaries in Shell, Ecuador, years ago. They are now Christians.

Then, I played soccer with some children in the park.

It was another great day. Thanks for everyone's continued prayers.

'A Father to the fatherless'

2011-10-24T23:47:00.001-05:00

What an awesome blessing it is to be in Shell, Ecuador working at the Casa de Fe orphanage. These children are so beautiful and precious.

Today, Ted, Ricky and I worked all day at the new school under construction for the children. It was a day of hard work, but it was great. As I was walking back up the hill to the construction site with water I smiled and thanked God for this opportunity.

This past year God has sent so many volunteers to help us rennovate the Love In Action Ministry Center. Martha and I understand the importance of volunteers. We know how good it feels when people come along side us to help us fulfill the cause God has placed inside of us with Love In Action. Now, God is giving us the opportunity to do the same for others.

Casa de Fe is Patty Sue's dream. It is her cause. It is exciting to be a small part of it. The end of the work day was the most amazing part. As we walked around the front of the building the children currently live and attend school in, they were playing. They saw us, smiled and said, "Hola!"

I took a photo of them and they all ran to me. I knelt down and they started hugging me. One child who was born with his brain exposed wanted to touch my beard. Another child, a beautiful little girl, started kissing the right aide of my face. She wouldn't stop kissing me. I just wanted to break down crying at their wonderful love for a person they have never seen.

God tells us in Pslam 68:5 that He is a "Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His dwelling place." Theses orphans are close to God's heart. In fact, they are in His dwelling place.

As the children hugged and kissed me it was like God saying "thank you for helping My children." I am the one who is thankful. I thank my Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity. I thank Him for providing Martha and me with the resources to come to Ecuador.

I serve an awesome God. He is worth of all my praise. I love God so much, and I keep growing in love with Him more and more every day.

Please pray for the children at Casa de Fe and the amazing staff there. And, please keep the Love In Action team in your prayers, too.

Ecuador bound

2011-10-22T01:26:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe Oct. 22 is already here. We started planning our trip to Ecuador early in the summer. We even took six weeks of Spanish classes. I'm pretty sure none of us are ready to communicate completely in Spanish, but at least we know some phrases.

Seven of us are going on this trip, and we are excited. As we go to minister the love of Jesus Christ, we all know that we will be forever changed by what God does in our hearts through this mission trip.

We are going to serve at the Casa de Fe (House of Faith) orphanage in Shell, Ecuador. These precious children are shown the love of Christ and given a new chance at life through the love and compassion of a wonderful staff and volunteers.

Some of the children were born to tribes in the Amazon jungle with birth defects. In the jungle, the weak do not survive, so they are tossed away. Thankfully, Casa de Fe is there to catch them.They take these beautiful children in and raise them. Other children are at the orphanage because their parents have drug and alcohol problems and are in jail. There are various other reasons, but the main thing is to let these children know that there is a God in Heaven who loves them and people who love them.

James 1:27 says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (NIV)

Martha and I have never served at an orphanage, so we are excited about this opportunity. We know it will be heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time.

Another reason for this trip is to introduce and teach Celebrate Recovery to a group of missionaries who are interested in the program. Love In Action's Celebrate Recovery director, Emily Hinderliter, and Love In Action's Tuesday night Celebrate Recovery Inside director, Judy Olski, are going on this trip mainly for this reason. This is exciting, and a great opportunity to make a positive impact and bring great encouragement to missionaries who are on the front line every day.

Another aspect of this trip we are excited about is flying into the Amazon jungle to minister to a tribe.

All of Love In Action's ministries back home in Dothan, Ala., will continue. We have great leaders and volunteers who will keep everything running strong.

This trip is not costing Love In Action any money as all of us are paying our own way.

Please keep the seven of us going in your prayers. We will keep you updated throughout the trip on this blog, and also on Twitter (www.twitter.com/liaministries) and on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/lia.ministries
So please follow us on Twitter and "Like" our Facebook page.

I also have a nifty little device called SpotConnect. It's very inexpensive satellite technology that allows my smart phone to connect to Twitter and Facebook with messages up to 41 characters when there is no cellular service. It also tracks our location, so you will be able to keep up with us even when we are in the middle of the Amazon jungle in Ecuador. Pretty cool.

Thank you for your prayers.

A grand Saturday celebration

2011-10-17T12:28:00.000-05:00

What an amazing Saturday we experienced this past weekend at the Love In Action Ministry Center as we opened the ministry center for the community. There were seven people who made decisions for Jesus Christ, and we served 282 lunches. Praise God! Now that was a grand, grand opening!

Our friends from Baton Rouge, La., No Place Outreach and Cooking for Jesus, traveled to Dothan to cook for our celebration. Oh man, did they do some cooking! They started early Saturday morning and cooked a delicious meal of Jambalaya, white beans, rolls and brownies. Watching them put it all together was fun.

I took a team of volunteers into the community around the ministry center Saturday morning, and we canvased the entire area inviting people. Many of them responded.

A good number of the homeless attended. We got the word out to them and they enjoyed the afternoon with us, and we enjoyed them. We get to meet some great people doing this ministry.

A surprise to the lineup was a praise team from the Lighthouse Outreach Center in Waipahu, Hawaii. They were leading a revival at First United Methodist Church in New Brockton where one of our board members, Dwight Deal, is pastor. They wanted to do something on Saturday, so they came to Love In Action. Our new Hawaiian friends were great and led two worship songs.

Then the praise team from Crossroads Community Church in Enterprise, Ala., led worship. We always enjoy worshiping with Crossroads. They did a great job, then Crossroads pastor and LIA board member Gene Oden preached a wonderful message.

Following Gene's message, seven people made decisions for Jesus Christ. Praise God! That's what it's all about. We also had a great time of prayer with people about a number of different needs.

Then, as we like to say, we strapped on the feedbag and ate some Cajun food. It was delicious! Our Louisiana friends have a passion for cooking for the homeless and needy, and they do an awesome job.

After lunch, the "Gospel Jubilees" sang. These precious women love to worship the Lord.

Later in the day, we loaded up the back of my pickup truck and took a team of volunteers to deliver food to people in the neighborhood. We also visited a homeless camp. The excitement of our volunteers was incredible, and the people were so thankful.

We also delivered some blankets to the homeless.

It was a great day and we thank God for giving us the opportunity to serve Him. What an honor and a privilege it is to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is awesome!

We thank God for all of the volunteers who helped us on Saturday and who help us every week to show God's love to the needy. We also thank God for everyone who prays for us and gives financially. We could not do this without you.

Shower Ministry up and running

2011-10-09T10:32:00.000-05:00

When you come home after working hard and sweating all day at work, doesn't a hot shower feel great? Imagine being able to take a shower because you live in a tent in the woods or under a bridge. Or, imagine not having the money to pay your water bill or only having cold water because you cannot afford the electric bill to make the hot water heater work.

All of those scenarios are reality for many people, and Love In Action is providing a way to help through our Shower Ministry. A hot shower can go a long way in helping people feel better about themselves. I often tell people that the homeless really do care about their hygiene. They care about if they smell or not. But, when you don't have a place to go to take a shower, there isn't much you can do about it.

That has changed now in Dothan as our Shower Ministry began yesterday (Oct. 8) at the Love In Action Ministry Center. George, our volunteer plumber, finished installing the shower yesterday, and four men were able to take hot showers. You should have seen the smiles on their faces as they felt good to be clean and to have such a nice shower to get clean in.

We want to thank George for his hard work. He has re-worked the entire plumbing system at the LIA Ministry Center. Thanks to George's expertise and dedication, and people donating the finances for us to purchase all of the plumbing supplies, we are now able to wash people's clothes with our Laundry Ministry and provide a hot shower with our Shower Ministry. Praise God!

These are real needs and we thank God we can help meet them. These two ministries are more ways we can spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion. When people see you care about their needs, they are open to listening to what you have to say. And, if you are showing the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to them, then they realize this Jesus we talk about really does love and care for them, too.

The Laundry and Shower ministries take place every Saturday at the Love In Action Ministry Center from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. Of course, if the homeless need help on a different day we will certainly help them.

Lighthouse Cafe opens

2011-10-08T07:30:00.000-05:00

Friday nights can be rough out on the streets, so we decided to give people a safe alternative, create a safe haven for the homeless and people who live in the hotel and neighborhood around the Love In Action Ministry Center.

Friday nights are mine and Martha's date night, and one of the things we usually do is go to Barnes & Noble to enjoy some Starbucks coffee and a good book. It's our place to unwind and relax at the end of a busy week. We wanted to create the same kind of place at Love In Action, so we opened the Lighthouse Cafe.

The grand opening was last night (Oct. 7) and it was a great night. Cynthia is the leader of this ministry. When we first mentioned the idea of this ministry her eyes lit up. She excitedly told us how she managed a coffee house and would love to be involved. Cynthia has been a faithful LIA volunteer for more than two years, so Martha and I had no problem letting her take charge and lead.

The goal is to create a safe, Christian environment where people can come and relax, play board games, listen to Christian music, talk, and of course, drink coffee. We also have delicious homemade desserts and Chill Yogurt donates "Yo Cakes." Oh man, those things are delicious. I have to do quality control on food items, so that means tasting them. Our desserts at the Lighthouse Cafe passed with flying colors. One of our new volunteers, Lauren, baked homemade blueberry muffins. I told her to make one extra, because I was going to eat one before we opened. :-) They were great, and our guests agreed. I gave an older gentleman a ride home from the Lighthouse Cafe and the first thing he said as he climbed in my truck was, "Those blueberry muffins were good."

The young and old came last night. A couple who lives in a hotel has a three-month old baby named Destiny. We have been helping this family, and Destiny has quickly stolen all of our hearts. She is such a beautiful child and is such a good baby. She always has a smile. The mother, Tiffany, brought her to the Lighthouse Cafe last night. Destiny instantly became the center of attention.

We also had the opportunity to ministry to another homeless man last night. His name is CW. He is in his mid 80s. His back is bent over to the point where he is about halfway bent down toward the ground. He cannot straighten his back, but that doesn't slow him down. He rides and pushes his bicycle everywhere.

One of our volunteers paid for him to sleep at a hotel last night, and others fixed him up with hamburgers and other items. That was a first big step to building trust with CW so we can reach him for Jesus and provide the help he needs.

So another outreach begins at Love In Action. We are excited about everything God is doing and we give Him all of the praise, honor and glory. We thank all of the volunteers, people who donate financially, and those who pray for us and those we serve. It takes all of us working together to make it happen. It's called the Body of Christ uniting to reach the lost and hurting. Thank you.

'I was sick, and you cared for me'

2011-10-07T02:17:00.000-05:00

God's wonderful display of mercy and grace continues to amaze me. As we opened our free health clinic for the homeless tonight at the Love In Action Ministry Center I watched in awe the goodness of God in action.

Doctors came to volunteer. Dr. H.L. "Chief" Lassiter was our doctor on duty and Dr. Steve Stokes grilled hamburgers for everyone who attended. Other doctors came to support our efforts and check out the new facility.

Volunteers lovingly served the hamburger dinner to our guests. Our six patients enjoyed the meal as did others we invited in who were walking past the ministry center. We were also able to provide hamburgers and chips to about 20 homeless men.

When I look at the health clinic I think about the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:36, "I was sick, and you cared for me." Then he tells us in Matthew 25:40, "I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!"

Jesus had to be smiling tonight at His Body of believers coming together to start a new outreach out of the LIA Ministry Center. He instructs us to care for the poor, and one of the things we need to do is take care of the sick. That happened tonight and will happen every Thursday evening as we open the clinic for the homeless, women from the House of Ruth and the men and women from Houston County Community Corrections work release.

They do not have insurance. They don't have money to pay for medical care. Thanks be to God, we are able to provide them with medical care, including medicine. At the same time we provide a dinner for them, and we are there to pray with them. That is a powerful combination.

I was honored to speak to a large group of social services organizations in Dothan this week and I told them that Jesus tells us to provide social services to the poor. He didn't use the term social services, but providing food, clothing and shelter is what we call social services. I also told them that social services without Jesus doesn't work.

We have to show and tell them about the great physician. Jesus is the one who can heal our bodies and spirits. He is the only one who can save us.

We are so honored that God would allow us to provide this type of ministry to the homeless population in Dothan, and it is an honor to minister alongside such great men and women who will give up their Thursday evenings to take care of the needs of the needy.

One thing this clinic does is show people we care about them and love them. More importantly, it shows them that God loves them and cares about their needs. It lets them know they are of great worth to God.

Please continue to pray for this medical outreach. Next week we will have eye care, and in the near future, dental care.

We thank and praise God for everything He is doing.

Wonderful Wednesdays

2011-10-06T01:02:00.000-05:00

If Wednesday nights get any better I don't know what I'll do. Well, yes I do. I'll keep shouting praises to God.

Last night was another incredible Bible study at the Love In Action Ministry Center as three people accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Praise God! If that doesn't make you shout for joy something is wrong with you.

Two of them were homeless people we just met last night. They are a married couple and they met another homeless man we met for the first time Tuesday night. They met him outside of a local restaurant and he told them he was going to church and invited them. Praise God!

The third person was one of our guys from work release. We love our guys. They are part of our family and to see what God is doing in all of our lives is incredible and just blows me away.

A great transformation is taking place. Souls are being saved, mindsets are being changed, and the reality of God's love is radically rocking people's world. It is so cool to watch.

We have grown to about 30 people now on Wednesday nights, and it's always a wonderful time. The food and fellowship is great, and the Bible studies are outstanding. The prayer time at the end is always incredible.

We serve an awesome God, and when you seek Him you will find Him.

Lives are being transformed by the power of God. Dreams are being restored. People are realizing they are of great worth. That's how God is moving through Love In Action, and we give God all of the praise, honor and glory.

Carla out of hospital

2011-09-25T16:45:00.000-05:00

The miracle continues as Carla has been released from the hospital.

A month ago she underwent a six-hour surgery to remove two brain aneurysms. The doctor then scheduled a 12-hour surgery to remove two more he found deep inside her brain.

People from throughout the U.S. and all the way to the Philippines started praying. A week later, following a brain scan, the doctor said one of those aneurysms had disappeared. Then he said there was no need for a second surgery. Praise God!

Now she is back in the hotel room with her husband Donald. Her memory is bad. She doesn't remember much from her past, including family members. But, she looks good and Martha and I believe she will regain her memory.

Donald called yesterday and said Carla really wanted to see us. Praise God she remembers us. We visited her and Donald last night. It was so good to see her away from the hospital. We prayed with them and really felt the power of God at work in that room.

Please join us in prayer for God to completely heal her brain and totally restore her memory. If God can totally take away an aneurysm and keep her alive and healthy enough to be released from the hospital, then He can certainly restore her memory.

Also, if you would like to help them, they could use help paying for their hotel room. Gift certificates to restaurants are also good. The ones located near their hotel room are: Panera Bread, O'Charley, Chili's, McDonalds, Long John Silvers, Cracker Barrel, Ruby Tuesday and Longhorns. You can mail the certificate to us and we will give it to them. If you would like to help with their hotel room, mail your check to Love In Action and we will put it all toward their room.

Our address is: Love In Action, P.O. Box 85, Dothan, AL 36302

The roller coaster ride of ministry

2011-09-22T16:29:00.000-05:00

Ministry to the homeless is filled with times of great rejoicing and heart-breaking moments.

The past 24 hours was a good example. While eating lunch with my wife and one of our Love In Action board members, Dwight Deal, the ministry phone rang and Martha answered it. On the other end of the phone was a very familiar voice. It was Patrick. We met him when he was homeless in Dothan.

I remember when we first met him. He was totally plastered. We were helping another homeless man at the time and he was friends with Patrick. Even though Patrick had been homeless for a while and was drunk, I remember telling Martha, "We're going to reach that guy." And, thanks to the power of the love of Jesus, we did.

It was a roller coaster ride at times, but we helped him come off the streets into his own apartment and get a job. He eventually moved to Pensacola to work with a company to clean up the Gulf oil spill. When that job dried up, he stayed there and became homeless again. He found a ministry with a shelter and started working with them.

It had been about six months since we last heard from him, so we were excited when he called. He said he was doing good and that this ministry in Pensacola reminded him of Love In Action. He said he was working on becoming a pastor. Praise God! He has an incredible testimony and he realizes what God has done in his life. Our prayers remain with him and that he will stay on this path.

Then, this morning my mom received a phone call from a homeless man in New York City who has become part of our family. Many of you are familiar with Benjamin. He is like a brother to me and a son to mom. Though he is a few years older than I am, he calls me his big brother.

We met Benjamin around eight years ago in Brooklyn. It's a long story, but we worked with a church there to help get Benjamin into a rehab program in Chicago. We brought him to Alabama twice. Once was to sing at mine and Martha's wedding.

Once he made it back to New York, he went down the wrong path and ended up in prison for about four years. When he got out he was doing so good. Martha, mom and I went to NYC last summer and visited Benjamin. What a grand reunion that was.

For the past six months we haven't heard a word from him, which is strange. He always calls. He had strayed again, and this morning he called to apologize over and over again and to say he was going to turn himself into the police because there were two warrants on him. He said that was the right thing to do, and he was tired of running.

He said God used him in prison the last time and he wanted to get close to God again so God can use him again. Mom was in tears when she hung up the phone. It's so heartbreaking. Benjamin knows the difference between right and wrong. He has all the potential in the world, but he keeps falling.

But you know what? God will keep picking him back up and we are still his family. We still love him. What Benjamin and others like him need is stability and accountability. That's why were pray that one day we will have a facility of our own to house homeless men, women and families, and provide a strong, Christian-based rehab program to give them the support they need to change the choices they make in life.

Please keep Benjamin and all the others in your prayers. We can reach them. They are not lost causes. God never gives up on His children. We shouldn't either.

Prostitutes need Jesus too

2011-09-18T21:59:00.000-05:00

Prostitution is a trap women in the inner city find themselves in. Many do it for drugs. This lifestyle leads to total destruction of their body and more importantly, their souls.

Prostitution takes place in Dothan more than people think. These women have come to a point in their lives where they have no self esteem ... no self worth at all. It's an extremely sad situation.

That's another reason why we wanted to locate the Love In Action Ministry Center in downtown Dothan. There are many hurting people living in the inner city. Living is the wrong word to describe their lives. Existing may be a little closer. But, dying is more accurate.

Love In Action is here to bring hope back into their lives, and that hope can only be found in Jesus Christ. Society looks down on prostitutes and consider them a loss cause. The Bible tells us a different story.

Remember Rahab the harlot in the Old Testament? She made the Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11:31: "It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies." (NLV)

How about Mary Magdalene? Most people believe she was a prostitute before becoming a believer in Jesus. In Luke 7:36-50 Jesus talks about her. Even if this isn't Mary Magdalene, it is a prostitute Jesus is talking about. Look at what He says, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” ... "And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” - Luke 7: 47-48, 50 (NLV)

We have been ministering to prostitutes for years and even more so since moving to our new ministry center. One prostitute ended up in the Houston County Jail and is in our Celebrate Recovery Inside class which meets every Wednesday morning inside a cell block in the jail. She told our CRI director Emily to tell me thank you for talking to her as she was leaving the hotel next to our ministry center and to let me know she was OK.

This past Saturday a prostitute who is strung out on drugs came to us for help with clothing. She had only what she was wearing. We gave her clothing, a hygiene kit and invited her to eat lunch with us at the ministry center. She was so thankful.

This is how we reach these women for Jesus. We take care of their physical needs like clothing and food. We don't judge them. Instead, we show them the love of Jesus. It doesn't take long for them to know that we care about them, then that opens the door to share Jesus with them. That's the beginning of leading them out of a lifestyle that destroys and into a life of love and hope with Jesus Christ.

They never dreamed of living a life of prostitution and drugs. Somewhere, somehow, their lives fell apart. Our mission is to restore their dreams and show them that God has much more for them (Jeremiah 29:11).

Those who support us help us reach these women. Thank you. You are helping us make a difference for Jesus.

God loves crazy people too

2011-09-17T23:13:00.000-05:00

Over the past 12 years we have met some interesting people. Some of the people we minister to are what a friend of mine calls, "shot out." In other words, they are not in their right minds.

Some of them have mental conditions that have gone untreated for years. Others have lost their minds due to drugs and alcohol abuse.

There is a man who lives near the Love In Action Ministry Center who has lost his mind because of years of drug abuse. Injecting drugs intravenously and smoking crack has taken its toll. He has told me some very creative stories about his life. One time he was working undercover for the U.S. Army and hot on the trail of his ex-wife who was selling missiles to terrorists. Today, he was working on "flying machines, you know, spaceships." He said he used to be a rocket scientist.

He will make sense for a short time, then his mind flies off to another world. I can't help but laugh at some of the things he says, but at the same time it's very sad. Here is a man who who may have had a dream early in life about being a hero in the U.S. Army. Maybe he dreamed of working for NASA. But somewhere along the way drug abuse destroyed his dream.

The fact of the matter is, no matter his state of mind, God loves him and he needs to be shown the love of God. He doesn't need to be shunned and pushed aside. He needs to be shown that people care about him too. Who knows what will trigger a turn around in his life. Some may say, "Ken, that dude is too far gone." My answer is nobody is out of the reach of my God. He can transform anyone's life, and He can restore a person's mind ... nothing is impossible for God. He still works miracles.

This man knows we care about him, because he keeps coming back, and at the end of the day today we gave him more proof that we love him. We had a large, and very heavy, desk that we didn't need. He saw it and wanted it. He said he could put some wheels on it and push it home. I immediately told one of our work release guys to help me pick it up and put it in the back of my truck and deliver it to this man's home. I told my young helper that God loves everyone and we need to show His compassion to everyone, even crazy people.

He thought it was so great that we did that and thanked us several times. I told him that God loves him, and he said he knows that.

No matter a person's state of mind, we must show God's love to them. You never know when the next miracle is about to happen and God may be wanting to use you to bring about that miracle.

God keeps blowing my mind

2011-09-16T16:45:00.000-05:00

If you have noticed an extra bounce in my step and a smile stretching further across my face there is a reason for that. His name is Jesus!

It seems like more and more every day I am seeing the love of Jesus transforming people's lives, including my own.

God has been showing us His great power and grace in greater measures with each passing week. We have seen prayers answered like we've never experienced before. For example, we asked for prayer for a homeless woman who had four brain aneurysms. The doctor removed two and scheduled a second 12-hour surgery. Before that procedure, God removed one of the aneurysms that was deep in the back of her brain and the doctor said now there is no need for that second surgery. Praise God!

One of the guys in our Wednesday night Bible study has been asking for prayer for his sister who the doctors didn't expect to live for another day or two. This was nearly a month ago. Wednesday night, David said, "I have a praise report. My sister is doing so good. She ate a steak and potato dinner and has been getting up every day this week." He praised God. His sister was at the edge of death, but God had other plans.

We are seeing men and women who had no hope in their lives giving their lives to Jesus and now they have hope and understand that God has great plans for them (Jeremiah 29:11).

The renovations of the Love In Action Ministry Center are nearly complete. What started on the last weekend of January is now coming into fruition. God has given us a beautiful facility, and He has worked through the hands of many volunteers. Some were homeless, some work release inmates, others were volunteers from various churches throughout Dothan and the Wiregrass, and others were businesses like Bob Woodall Air Care Systems who donated the entire HVAC systems (five units, duct work, labor, etc). And, other businesses like Lakewood Landscaping who takes care of our yard for free and is planning a renovation of the landscape in front of the ministry center. Lowe's of Dothan donated items like insulation, lights, blinds, doors, etc. and brought an army of volunteers to work. Goldfingers provides lunch free of charge for our volunteers every Saturday, and Chicken Box To Go provided food one Saturday.

Churches like Harvest, Covenant, Tabernacle, Greystone, Highland Park, Wiregrass, Crossroads (Enterprise), Mt. Gilead, and more have helped us in so many ways.

It has truly been the Body of Christ coming together to accomplished a great work. And, lives are already being changed through activities at the ministry center.

Tremendous discipleship takes place every Wednesday night at our Bible study. The spiritual growth taking place is incredible.

The Laundry Ministry has been a great blessing to those we serve. Up to 14 loads of clothes every Saturday keeps our two washers and dryers running all day.

Saturdays are always our big work days, but it's also a great time of mentoring. We get to speak into those men's lives and teach them how to work together as a team to accomplish something for God.

I'm excited because so many people are getting involved. People are praying, giving financially, and volunteering their time. More than 50 people came to our first volunteer meeting. Thursday night 13 attended our Leadership training.

God also keeps opening doors internationally. Martha and I will travel to Ecuador in late October to work with an orphanage, minister to tribes in the jungle, and hopefully some street ministry.

God has opened Asia up to Love In Action as well as we have been working with a wonderful group of churches in the Philippines called Shiloh Bible Baptist Church. They are a family of churches in some of the poorest areas in the Philippines. We have helped some of them purchase land for churches and build/expand their current facilities. We also help one church feed 70-80 children each month.

This week I was invited to be the guest speaker at their Two-Day Revival Conference in January 2012. All of the pastors and missionaries will be there. In addition, we have been invited to help with the outreach to the children, which will include serving them food and giving them gifts.

God is really blowing my mind with all that He is doing. We serve an awesome and mighty God, and every day I am seeing more of His glory and power at work in people's lives and in mine.

I thank everyone of you who support Love In Action in prayer, finances and through volunteering your time. We could not do this without.

Officially an ordained minister

2011-09-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

All of us who follow Jesus Christ are called to be ministers of the Gospel. That's clearly seen in Matthew 28:19-20, when Jesus said, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV)

He has given us all different gifts in which to minister. According to the Apostle Paul, Jesus also gave certain offices to be held in the Body of Christ by those He called to serve in those capacities. In Ephesians 4:11-2, Paul writes, "Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ."

I believe God calls people, not man. So, I don't place a lot of stock in a piece of paper that says I am an ordained minister. However, I know it is important to have that piece of paper for a variety of reasons. First, it is like a seal of approval, the first of which comes from God through His Holy Spirit, of course. Being a licensed and ordained minister is also a recognition from those God has placed in authority to appoint people to certain leadership positions within the Body of Christ.

For more than 11 years I have responded to the calling of evangelism God gave me. For many years people have been calling me "pastor" and "preacher man." Love In Action co-founder Mike Shroades has told me for years I am a pastor to the homeless and poor.

I started having a desire to become a licensed and ordained minister. I felt God was leading me to, and I knew it would be good for the ministry as well. Also, people we have ministered to have asked me to marry them in the past, but I couldn't because the state of Alabama will only give an ordained minister the authority to officiate weddings. Being an ordained minister I could also baptize people, which I have been asked to do.

I searched for the right organization to be ordained through. I didn't want some flaky bunch that prints out any kind of ordination certificate for any kind of religion, and there are a bunch of them out there. I finally came across an organization called the National Association of Christian Ministers. I thoroughly investigated them. Being a journalist for 20 years has given me good skills to do that. What I found was an upstanding organization that is biblically grounded. Their beliefs and values line up with the Word of God.

They are also an independent Christian organization, which is important as well. Since we have people from so many different Christian denominations, I didn't want to align myself or Love In Action with a particular denomination. We are all about the Body of Christ working together to reach the lost.

Last Thursday I received the confirmation of my ordination. Here is the what the N.A.C.M. sent:

"The National Association of Christian Ministers (N.A.C.M.), LC acknowledges that:
You have demonstrated a devout belief in the Christian faith, a call to ministry, and have passed the scrutiny of the Council of Elders. Therefore, on the authority of Matthew 28:19-20, this religious organization deems you an Independent Ordained Minister with all of the obligations and rites that are associated with this title.

"Father, in the name of Jesus we set apart your servant this day requesting that you make use of them in the ministry of your Kingdom. We ask that you give them wisdom to know your ways, strength to resist sin, courage to face adversity, and a love for people that fulfills your law. We thank you for your purpose and calling on their life. By the blood of Jesus and the power of His Spirit –AMEN.

"Congratulations on your acceptance and recognition into the Christian ministry of Jesus Christ. The N.A.C.M. has enlisted you in its Minister Verification Database (MVD) so that government and civil agencies may confirm your good standing with our organization."

I thank Martha, my beautiful wife and ministry partner, for her love and support, and our Love In Action board of directors for their guidance and encouragement. And, I thank N.A.C.M. for approving me for ordination.

Our God can do anything!

2011-09-02T11:06:00.000-05:00

A week ago we sent out an urgent prayer request for a homeless woman, Carla, who had four brain aneurysms. She had just gone through a six-hour surgery to have two of the aneurysms removed. During the surgery, the doctor found two more in the back of her brain.

We have a praise report. After another brain scan, the doctor can only find one brain aneurysm. Praise God! The second one just disappeared. Who says God doesn't still answer prayers? We praise God for His healing power.

Now, we are asking you for your continued prayers. Donald has asked that we pray for God to heal Carla of the last remaining brain aneurysm. A surgery is scheduled for next Friday. Let's pray that God would miraculously remove that one as well so she doesn't have to go through another surgery.

Also, please pray for her brain. Damage was done due to those first two aneurysms. To what extent we don't know yet, but due to her speech and actions it is obvious there is brain damage. But, we know God can heal her from that as well and make her brain as good as new again. Please join with us in continued prayer for Carla and Donald.

Thank you, and most of all we thank God! He is awesome! Our God can do anything!

Renovations update

2011-08-30T15:50:00.000-05:00

Things are coming along nicely with the renovations of the Love In Action Ministry Center. We are close to having it ready to open.

The city's fire marshal, plumbing and electrical inspectors have all been to the building now and told us what we need to do to be compliant. We accomplished the plumbing tasks last Saturday and this week thanks to George and Robert.

Lowe's of Dothan donated about $1,300 worth of materials we needed to come into compliance with the fire marshal. What a great blessing! Robert has been busy this week installing all of that, so hopefully we can get the fire marshal's sign off soon. Both Dothan Lowe's stores have committed to helping us, including tiling all of the restroom floors and the foyer to the sanctuary. Praise God!

The big project now is electrical. Thankfully, Robert is a master electrician and he will be able to handle all of that. Last weekend we received a financial blessing that should pay for all of the electrical upgrades. Praise God! Does God want this ministry center open or what?

Robert installed the new soundboard in the sanctuary, and that thing is sweet! I never knew our speakers could produce that kind of sound, but as Robert said, "It's all in the soundboard, baby." The overhead projector should be installed soon as well.

So, we are getting close. We hope to open the week of Sept. 12. It all depends on if we get everything done that the city wants. We are happy to do what they want. They have codes for a reason, and that is for safety, so we appreciate the work they do.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Pray for a miracle

2011-08-26T17:43:00.003-05:00

My heart was broken today as I walked out of Southeast Alabama Medical Center.

There is a homeless couple we met about two months ago named Donald and Carla. They have been working hard to come off the street, but keep running into hurdles. This morning, they faced their greatest obstacle ever as Carla underwent a 6-hour surgery to remove two brain aneurysms.

The good news is the surgery went well and she is resting in the critical care unit. The bad news is the doctor found two more aneurysms deep in the back part of her brain. The surgeon has scheduled a 12-hour surgery in two weeks to remove those two.

According to brainaneursym.com, "a brain aneurysm, also called a cerebral or intracranial aneurysm, is an abnormal bulging outward of one of the arteries in the brain." This is a very scary and deadly condition. Prayer, much prayer is needed for Carla and Donald.

My heart broke as I talked with Donald, and listened a lot to his heart breaking. What do you tell a homeless man who has nothing and nobody but the woman who is on the brink of death going through very dangerous surgery?

I told Martha, imagine one of us going through that and how tough it would be. But, we would be surrounded by family and friends to help us make it through. They have nobody but us. That's why he called to let us know what was happening.

All I knew to do was ask God to give me the words to say and let His Holy Spirit led me.

There is a prayer room outside of CCU, and we went in there pray. I wish all of you could have heard Donald's prayer. I've never heard a more genuine, heart-wrenching prayer. But he also prayed in confidence of the miracle working power of God. Then, in the midst of all of his agony, he prayed for Martha and me and Love In Action, and thanked God for the people at the hospital who have been so helpful to him.

I am asking all of you to pray for Carla and Donald. Pray for healing, comfort, peace, and even joy. Pray for the surgeon and nurses and all of those involved in her health care.

If you live in Dothan, please go by the hospital to pray with Donald. You won't be able to see her since she is in CCU, but Donald could sure use the encouragement. CCU is on the fourth floor at SAMC. Use elevator A to get there.

They did have a house to live in, but that time ended earlier than they thought, so they are in a hotel room. Well, Donald is. He can't get out and find odd jobs right now with his wife in CCU, so we want to help take care of that burden for him. It is $186 a week. We have taken care of this upcoming week, but we could use help for at least a couple of more weeks. Who knows the recovery time and what all will be required of Donald.

Donations can be mailed to: Love In Action, P.O. Box 85, Dothan, AL 36302 or there is a donation button at the bottom of the homepage of our website at http://loveinactionministries.com/
Please note that it is for the Donald and Carla situation.

If anyone has any other living arrangement ideas we are certainly open to that. Everything they own is in that small hotel room.

If anyone would like to cook some meals for Donald, that would be a big blessing too. Or, just picking up some food at a restaurant and taking it to him would be great. I have convinced him to get some rest, so he went back to the hotel this afternoon to try and get some sleep.

They both need their Love In Action family. Please help us show the love of Jesus to them during this very tough time in their lives, and again, please, please, please pray for a miracle and ask others to pray as well.

Making the final push

2011-08-21T21:16:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Covenant United Methodist Church, a lot of work was accomplished at the Love In Action Ministry Center this past week.
It was Covenant's "Missions Blitz Week" and they converged on the ministry center.

A team came out Tuesday night and then all day Saturday. Together with our regular group of wonderful volunteers, the ministry center is looking great.

All of the crown molding and baseboard is up in the sanctuary, and we now have a good floor in the coffee house. They installed plywood, and then got most of the tile put down on the floor. It all looks great.

We have new windows in the sanctuary and coffee house now. They look good and do a great job of silencing the outside noise and keeping cool air inside. Our third and final medical room now has all of the sheet rock on the walls. They just need sanding and painting.

Now we are making the final big push to complete the renovations so we can open the week of Sept. 12. Can you help us? Here are the needs we have. If you are skilled in these areas please come and help us.

- We have a lot of baseboards and crown molding that needs to be caulked and painted. We also have more that needs to be installed.
- Carpet to be installed in sanctuary
- A small amount of laminate flooring to be installed
- VCT tile needs to be put down in a medical room and a small amount in the coffee house
- Tile flooring in two restrooms

Please pray for us as we continue to seek approval from the city. We must be in compliance with city codes, and we have been working hard to do so.

Other expenses we need to take care of include electrical work, which will include the installation of a 600 amp panel; we ordered a shower, a little more sheet rock and shower wall panels, and tile for the bathroom floors. Those needs, along with the extra expense we incurred on the large sanctuary floor and two restrooms, our financial need is $7,000. If you can help us reach that goal that would be a tremendous blessing.

We are so excited about the opening of the LIA Ministry Center.

We are so close. Praise God!

Please help us make the final push to get the work done so we can open the week of Sept. 12.

To contact us, please email loveinactionministries@hotmail.com or call us at 334-494-4995.

Thanks!

Volunteer meetings scheduled

2011-08-19T15:17:00.001-05:00

In preparation for opening the Love In Action Ministry Center, we are scheduling two meetings for volunteers and those who would like to find out more to see if they want to become volunteers.

Our first meeting will be for those working with and who are interested in working with our Love In Action Medical Clinic for the Homeless. That meeting will be held at the Love In Action Ministry Center on Thursday, Aug. 25, at 6:30 p.m. Physicians, eye doctors, dentists, hygienists, nurses, medical assistants, pharmacists, pharmaceutical reps, etc. are invited. If you would like to help check our patients in and assist in other non-medical ways, you are invited too. If you would like to cook and serve dinner for our patients, please attend.

Our second meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the Love In Action Ministry Center. It will be for all volunteers who are involved with our Celebrate Recovery Inside, Wednesday night Bible studies, Laundry Ministry, and those who would like to become involved with those ministries and the new ones we will be starting soon, like our coffee house for the homeless, bus station ministry, homeless outreach, and Adopt-A-Block.

If you are interested in being a part of all of the exciting things God is doing and will be doing through Love In Action, please come to this meeting.

The Love In Action Ministry Center is located at 320 N. Foster St. in downtown Dothan. It is at the intersection of North Foster and East Burdeshaw.

We invite you to help us continue to put feet to Matthew 25:35-36 as we reach out to the lost and hurting. Society would like to forget about the homeless, prisoners, drug addicts, prostitutes, gang members and all the others who make up the inner cities.

But God hasn't forgotten about them, and He has called us to reach these people and let them know that Jesus loves them so much that He died for their sins and came back to life to give them eternal life. We minister to the people's felt needs - food, clothing, hygiene, health. As we reach them through acts of compassion, the door swings wide open to show them their number one need - Jesus.

Come be a part of this exciting ministry.

Getting close to completing renovations

2011-08-14T22:02:00.000-05:00

We are so close to completing renovations at the Love In Action Ministry Center we are about to explode. OK, hopefully Martha and I will not self-combust, but we are very excited.

This past Saturday we saw a lot of progress made. All of the sub-flooring was put down in the sanctuary, and the majority of the painting was completed. This next week we should see a lot more accomplished as teams from Covenant United Methodist Church will put their skills to work at the LIA Ministry Center. More floors will be completed, including the one in our coffee house. They will also be installing baseboards and crown molding throughout the building, among other things.

We have three of the four new windows in the sanctuary installed. They make a huge difference. In addition to keeping the cool air from our new A/C units inside, it keeps street noise outside. The other window and the new windows in the coffee house will be installed soon as well.

Speaking of A/C, Bob Woodall Air Care Systems has four of the five units up and running. Oh, it feels so good to have A/C. The final unit will be installed before we open, which we are praying will be the week of Sept. 12.

We are working hard to complete all of the renovations and to have everything approved and signed off on by the city of Dothan. We believe in doing things the right way. That's the way Jesus wants us to conduct ourselves in all things.

Please keep praying for us, and pray that we will indeed be able to open the week of Sept. 12. Also, please continue giving financially. We need another $7,000 to pay for everything we need to do to finish. We ran into some extra cost on the sanctuary floor and in the third and final medical room we are renovating. But $7,000 isn't a lot of money, and we know God has brought us this far, so He isn't about to stop now.

Thank you all again for your prayers, financial donations, donations of items like food and hygiene products, and for your volunteer work. Martha and I thank God for each of you.

Another life changed for eternity

2011-08-14T17:55:00.000-05:00

I never grow tired of seeing people get saved. It's the start of a new life, and the beginning of an awesome eternity.

It happened again today. A young man, who has been coming to our Wednesday night Bible studies every week and working every Saturday on the renovations of the Love In Action Ministry Center, knelt at the altar at Harvest Church this morning and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Praise God!

We don't always see the harvest, but it is so cool when God allows us to see the moment someone's eternity changes.

If you have been telling others about Jesus and showing them through your lifestyle, but still haven't seen them accept Jesus, don't give up. We have to remember, we are not the ones who can save them. It is up to us to plant and water, but only God through His Son Jesus can save them.

I like what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6-8, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor." (NKJV)

You may be the one who starts the person thinking about Jesus. Your actions may cause that person to think more about Jesus and his or her's eternity. Then, someone else may say just the right thing that brings it all home to them and they give their lives to Jesus Christ. As Paul says, the one who plants and the one who waters are one. In other words, we are a team working together to reach people for Jesus Christ.

We have seen that over and over throughout the past 11 years of Love In Action. Today, we saw a young man we have been ministering to for months give his life to Jesus after Pastor Ralph Sigler's message about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We have seen two others recently join Harvest and one get baptized.

It happens at every church where people are actively reaching people for Jesus. Today at Christ-Life Church in Enterprise, the church where Love In Action's co-founder Mike Shroades is pastor, two women who recently got out of prison gave their lives to Jesus. Someone planted seeds in their lives, and today Mike watered those seeds with the Word of God and God brought in the harvest.

We all must be about our Father's business as Jesus so often says in the New Testament. Jesus tells His disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (NIV)

There are a lot of people hurting in this world. Many of them are controlled by fears due to the economy, wars and natural disasters. As Christians, we have the answer, and His name is Jesus. He is the only one who can truly give us peace in the midst of life's worst storms. His is the only love that can heal our hurts and deliver us from addictions. We need to be telling people and showing them Jesus through our actions.

The lives that are changed through Love In Action are changed because of many people working together as the Body of Christ. There are those who pray for us and those we serve, those who give financially so we can operate the ministry and help others, those who donate items like food and hygiene products, and those who volunteer their time.

So please continue to support Love In Action through these ways. Together we are making a difference for eternity. And don't grow tired in your support. Remember what Paul says in Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (NIV)

We are reaping a harvest, so please keep doing good. To God goes all of the praise, glory and honor.

Homeless ministry increases

2011-08-12T18:28:00.000-05:00

The more work we accomplish with the renovations to the new Love In Action Ministry Center the more homeless people God sends our way.

For example, there is a couple we have been helping. Donald and Carla were homeless and he was hitting the streets every day looking for work. Odd jobs ... whatever he could find to earn money so they could stay in a motel that costs about $25 a night. Not the best accommodations as you might imagine. But, when that is your only option, you take what you can get.

Carla has some medical issues that we have been able to assist with, along with other needs. Then one evening Donald called me and said, "I have an awesome praise report to tell you." A local businessman had given Donald some work and saw how hard he worked to take care of his wife. The businessman and his wife, buy houses, fix them up, then sells them. So, they told Donald and Carla they could move into one of their houses rent and utilities free for two months to help them get back on their feet. Praise God!

That brought tears to mine and Martha's eyes. I told a group of women from Mt. Gilead Baptist Church who were helping us that evening at the LIA health clinic and they were excited too. In fact, they bought Donald and Carla a bed, sheets, pillows, a table, and groceries.

They didn't have any furniture, and wouldn't you know it, God placed it on someone's heart to donate a house full of furniture to Love In Action. The cool thing about that is if we didn't have somewhere to take it, we would have had to turn it down because we don't have any storage space like we did with the warehouse we rented the past two years.

We loaded up the cargo trailer and my truck and moved it into Donald and Carla's house. Praise God! I love it when God does stuff like that. A need arises, and He fills it.

Then a couple of weeks ago we met a really sweet homeless woman named Hayden. We have been able to help her and she has been coming to our Wednesday night Bible studies. She is a hard worker too. She works at a fast food restaurant and walks to it from her hotel room every day she is scheduled to work. Finding a full-time job for her is our goal.

She is very quiet and doesn't ask for a thing. Martha has really taken Hayden under her wing so to speak. The two of them hit it off wonderfully right from the start. I couldn't think of a better mentor or role model for Hayden.

She feels comfortable at Love In Action. Last Tuesday night a big thunderstorm hit Dothan. We saw it coming and closed down the clinic before it hit. Nobody was in the clinic and our outside table and supplies were about to get blown away.

Martha and I drove back to the ministry center and unloaded our trucks. Hayden saw us and came over just before the bad weather hit. We invited her in and the three of us enjoyed a spaghetti dinner that we were serving at the clinic. It was a very nice time and meant a lot to Hayden, and to us too.

We treat the homeless like family, because they are. That's how Jesus treats everyone, and we just want to follow Him and His ways.

We couldn't do any of this without all of you who pray for us, and who donate financially. And, we are so thankful for all of our volunteers. Together, we are making a difference for the Kingdom of God.

"I was in prison and you came to visit me"

2011-07-31T20:42:00.000-05:00

For the past two years Love In Action has been expanding its reach to further obey everything Jesus says in Matthew 25:35-36, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."

For more than 11 years we have been providing food, drink, clothes and shelter for the homeless and poor. This past year we have started helping with health care issues and taking care of the sick through the Love In Action Health Care Clinic for the Homeless.

But today I want to look at the part about "I was in prison and you came to visit me."

Jesus loves and cares about everyone, from the homeless to the rich. In this verse He shows his concern for those in prison as well.

We started working with the men and women at Houston County Community Corrections Work Release more than two years ago when I was asked if they could come to our Bible study. That began a wonderful new ministry of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those incarcerated and showing them His great love.

We took it a level higher when we started Celebrate Recovery Inside. We have a busload of men and women each week attend CRI, and we are seeing so many lives being changed.

This year as we have been renovating the Love In Action Ministry Center we have been picking up 10 men every Saturday to help us with the renovations. Without these guys we would not be as far along as we are.

Most of them are very talented in areas of carpentry, dry wall, painting, flooring and plumbing. We also have a lot of fun on Saturdays as we work. But to me, it is about a lot more than accomplishing the renovations. Saturdays really give me a chance to mentor and speak into their lives. I enjoy that.

On Wednesday nights we usually have between 10-15 men at Bible study, not always the same group of guys as some have to work on Wednesday nights. We have seen many accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and we enjoy watching each of them grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.

We have seen God answer many prayers in their lives, from jobs to healing. We love these men and want to see them all succeed and never go back to jail when they are free again.

These guys are like all of us. At some point in our lives we needed a second chance. These guys are learning that through Jesus Christ, they have another chance at getting it right, and many of them are. Within the past two weeks we have seen two of them join Harvest Church and one of them was baptised this morning. Praise God!

About 10 of our former work release guys are members at Harvest and some are serving as ushers and driving the van to pick up the guys in work release to bring them to church. Most of these guys still come to our Wednesday night Bible study and lead small groups at our CRI. Praise God! They understand that we need to be saved, but also serve Jesus.

These men are wonderful examples to those in work release that they can turn their lives around through Jesus Christ. The ones who get connected and involved with Love In Action and their church make it.

The current group of work release men we minister to are a great group of guys. They made mistakes and are paying for it. Most of them will tell you they are thankful they got arrested, because they were heading for destruction. Today, they are learning to live in the light of Jesus Christ.

We love these men and are very thankful for them and for the change God is doing in their lives. The keys are they know that God loves them and that we do too. They often thank us for treating them like real people. Like the homeless, those serving time get treated differently. People look down at them and think they are worthless. Lies, all lies! They are of great worth. Jesus died for them too. Look at who was next to Jesus on the cross ... a thief. And, what did Jesus say to the thief when he turned to Jesus? "Today you will be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43)

Our CRI has recently gone even further. Our CRI director, Emily Hinderliter, goes every Wednesday morning to the Houston County Jail and ministers to up to 14 women. God is doing an incredible work through Emily, and these women's lives are being changed by the power of God. I will write more about this in another blog.

The thing is, God loves those who are incarcerated. They are the outcasts of society. Throughout the Bible, God shows He has a great love for those living on the fringe of society. People like the homeless, poor and incarcerated need to know that God loves them and has a better life for them. Love In Action is carrying that message to them.

Please keep us and those we serve in your prayers.

Same Kind of Different As Me

2011-07-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

If you don't read another book this year, you must read "Same Kind of Different As Me." I just finished reading this book, and it is one of the best books I have ever read. It is captivating and extremely inspirational.

The book was written by Ron Hall and Denver Moore, and it tells about their very different paths in life and how God brought them together through Ron's wife Deborah. Ron was a very wealthy white art dealer in Ft. Worth, Texas, and Denver was a mean and dangerous homeless black man who spent time in Angola prison in Louisiana.

Deborah was the one who allowed God's love to flow mightily through her for Ron and Denver, and she make a huge difference in the lives of the homeless in Ft. Worth. She sets the example for all of us on how to love the unlovable. Just an incredible woman.

The book is well written, using very descriptive writing so you can picture the beautiful ranch called Rocky Top that Ron and Deborah owned, and the dark, rough streets Denver called home. It is also written how they speak, so Denver's uneducated dialect shines through. But don't take his speech as someone who doesn't speak with wisdom. As you read, you will quickly see Denver is extremely wise and definitely hears from God.

This is a true story and if you work with the homeless you have to read this book. Or, if you want to learn how to love people who are totally different than you, then you must read this book as well. It is one of those books that can change your life. It will definitely change the way you think about and treat others.

I won't spoil anything about the book for those of you who will read it, but I love this quote from Denver. Actually, you will find many of his quotes that will touch your heart. This man is filled with God's wisdom.

"Even though I'm almost seventy years old, I got a lot to learn, too. I used to spend a lotta time worryin that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon' have no kind a' future. But I found out everybody's different--the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walkin down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we rich or poor or somethin in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. So in a way, we is all homeless--just workin our way toward home."

Wow! He really says it all right there. We are all different. Just because some have more money and bigger houses than others doesn't make you better than those who live on the street, under a bridge or in a car. God loves us all. We must learn to see each other through God's eyes. When we do, the world will never look the same again, and our lives will be radically transformed.

Purchase this book and read it. I promise, you will not want to put it down until you are finished.

Homeless couple

2011-07-05T22:16:00.000-05:00

We met a homeless couple tonight. Their names are Donald and Carla. They seemed to be a sweet and humble couple. Thankfully we were able to help them with some needs.

Every time we minister to the homeless I am reminded how blessed we are and how good we have it.

Donald seems to be a hard worker and he goes out each day trying to find work and often finds an odd job here and an odd job there. Some times it is enough to pay for a night's stay in a hotel, but it definitely isn't a hotel most people would look forward staying at. I could tell they weren't comfortable with some of the activity that goes on there, but that's a good sign. They don't want to be around the drugs and prostitution. But all the same, they didn't complain one time about their living conditions.

All they asked for were the bare necessities. They didn't ask for rent money. They asked for food, hygiene supplies and shoes. Their hotel doesn't have a refrigerator or a microwave, and there isn't much room for one any way.

He was out working an odd job when we arrived to give them their supplies. Carla was at the hotel, and what a sweet and humble woman she is. She fought back tears of joy as we helped her carry the bags of items to their hotel room. "It feels like Christmas," she said with a smile on her face.

Christmas? Think about that for a moment. How many of us would consider bags of non-perishable groceries, hygiene items, socks, and some paper plates and plastic ware Christmas gifts? But to those who have nothing, it is just as good as Christmas morning opening presents around a Christmas tree. Again, I realized how fortunate Martha and I are.

We discovered Donald needed some tennis shoes. His were very worn out. We asked her if she wanted any shoes. She hesitated, then shyly asked for some sandals. So, Martha and I told her we would be back with both of them some shoes.

As we pulled up to the store, our phone rang. It was Donald. He said we didn't have to do that, but if we were going to buy him shoes to please use that money instead to purchase her an undergarment that she needed. Now that's thoughtful and someone who loves his wife to put her needs before his. We still got him shoes.

It is amazing the basic needs most of us take for granted. However, there are many Donalds and Carlas out there, and thanks to those of you who pray for and give financially to Love In Action, we are able to help.

Please pray for Donald and Carla. He is a carpenter, so if anyone hears of a job please let us know. Hopefully they will come to our Bible study tomorrow night. They seemed interested. They know that we care. Most importantly, they know that Jesus cares for them and loves them very much.

Reaching out to the Philippines

2011-07-03T21:00:00.000-05:00

Since being introduced to the Shiloh Bible Baptist family of churches in the Philippines, Martha and I have fallen in love with them. Their love and passion for Christ and for reaching the lost is contagious. Their desire to see people saved is inspiring and encouraging.

We were introduced to the Shiloh Bible Baptist Church family by our friends at Homegrown Harvesters. Beginning in April, Love In Action started working with Homegrown Harvesters to help the Shiloh church family spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Philippines, and it has been a joy to see what God is doing there.

In that short span of time we have been able to help one small church in Salug purchase land to build a church upon; we helped a church in Dipolog City expand to accommodate their ever-growing church; and we most recently helped provide Bibles and Christian tracts to a church in Sindangan.

These churches have very few resources. They are located in poor areas, so the people they reach have very little to give to support the church as far as finances. However, they have much to give in their desire to work hard to build God's kingdom in the Philippines.

Prayer requests pastors often email us are for souls to be saved and followed up with baptism, to reach children in the schools in their areas, church growth, success in evangelism outreach, spiritual growth of church members, and financial needs. Their prayers lists are a lot longer. That is just a handful of requests.

These pastors believe in the power of prayer and they are praying for Love In Action as well.

The best way to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in foreign countries is to support and work through native ministers. They know the culture, language and needs. In developing and Third World countries, lack of finances is the biggest hurdle for Christians.

Yes, it is good for us to go and visit and minister in these countries, and Love In Action will be doing more of that. In fact, I have been invited by two of the pastors in the Philippines to preach at their churches. I look forward to that day.

But, the biggest need is to support these pastors and churches financially. Let me give you an example. One pastor shared with me his church's need for Bibles and Christian tracts. He said his church consists of mainly new Christians and they don't have Bibles for them. First of all, they don't have the finances to purchase them, and secondly, if they did have the money they would have to travel 4-6 hours by bus to purchase them. That broke my heart. I can drive five miles in any direction here in Dothan, AL, and find a place to buy a Bible.

The same church needed Christian tracts for evangelism outreaches. Some areas they do outreach in cannot be reached by motorized transportation, so they walk 4-5 hours to tell people about Jesus. Is that dedication and passion for the lost or what? Incredible! That is where the tracts would come in handy.

We were able to send the church money to purchase the Bibles and tracts. Here is the pastor's response:
"To God be the glory! I was so grateful to God for using you and your ministry in answering our prayers with regards to the needs of tracts and KJV Bibles. Heartily and honestly, we really thank you for being a blessing to us and to the church. We also personally thank you Brother Ken and to your wife sister Martha for trusting the church's heart with this blessing.

"By Monday, July 4, I will be going to Iligan to purchase KJV Bibles and tracts that we have been long praying. On July 7, the church will be having its BIBLE SUNDAY. This whole Sunday will be dedicated to preach and school out the church members the importance of the Word of God. After the service, we will be distributing these KJV Bibles to the newly baptized believers."

Now that is exciting! We praise God for that opportunity.

There are many needs and we are asking those of you with a heart for international missions to join us in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Philippines. There are three ways we can help right now, and each of them are with finances.

One way is helping the churches purchase their own land. Most are renting and some are in danger of losing their rent once the land owner sells the property. We went through that last year ourselves so we understand that need.

Another way we can help is by helping to build and expand churches. It doesn't costs nearly as much to construct buildings in the Philippines as it does here in the U.S., and they need buildings to meet in.

The third way is to support the pastors. As I already mentioned, these churches are located in poor areas, so there is very little to no support for the pastors. Any help we can give them will be appreciated.

We will post needs as they come up. One of the first needs is $12,000 for the church in Dipolog City to construct a building, including a parsonage. This is a fast-growing church and is in need of a new building. Another need is money to build a new church building in Salug where we helped them purchase land for a church. When we receive the construction cost on that project we will share it as well.

There is always needs for Bibles, so giving toward that is a constant need.

When you send donations to Love In Action please note that it is for the Philippines. Every dollar you send will go there.

You can give online on our website loveinactionministries.com through PayPal. Or, mail donations to:
Love In Action
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302

By helping us reach the Philippines with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are fulfilling the Great Commission Jesus gives us in Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Hungry for God's Word

2011-06-26T22:18:00.000-05:00

Martha and I just smile every time we think about the Wednesday night Bible studies at the Love In Action Ministry Center. Those who attend know why joy fills our hearts at the very mention of these special nights.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Wednesday nights are an awesome time of discipleship, and we are seeing people who are becoming more and more hungry for God's Word.

We have great discussions during our Bible studies. I encourage them each week to ask questions and participate. I call out scriptures and different ones volunteer to read, and by the questions they ask you can tell they are hungry to learn more about Jesus.

The discussion that takes place is often so moving. Last Wednesday night, one of the men gave the most beautiful description of Matthew 16:24-27. That's where Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their lifewill lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done."

He remembered a teaching he heard years ago and shared it. I wish I had recorded what he said. We were all blown away as he described Jesus rewarding believers in Heaven. It was beautiful. And, it wasn't a famous preacher sharing it. It wasn't even me, the teacher of the class sharing it. It was an inmate from work release sharing something that will stay with everyone who heard it for the rest of our lives.

Then yesterday as our work day was winding down, some of the men started asking Martha and me questions about the Bible. I have been encouraging them to read each week on their own. I tell the new Christians or those seeking to read John and Luke. I've been encouraging others to read Acts and see how the church came into being.

They have started reading and had plenty of questions Saturday. One man asked Martha if he could write down some questions and bring them Wednesday. Of course she said yes.

That thrills us. These men are hungry for the Word of God. They are seeing the truth in God's Word and realize Jesus can change their lives. Praise God!

God says in Isaiah 55:11, "my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

Yes it does. We are seeing it every week. We thank God for Wednesday nights and for all of the lives that are being transformed by His Word. And it's not just the homeless and work release inmates who are being changed. It's all of us who are there and hungry for God's Word.

Needs list

2011-05-31T16:20:00.000-05:00

People often ask us what needs do we have. We will usually post those needs on our website, but here is a link that lists a lot of our needs: http://bit.ly/kLXHW0

Just click on it and it will take you to a page filled with needs like hygiene items, new socks and underwear, needs for our laundry and shower ministries and other miscellaneous needs.

These items can be donated by individuals or you may have a Sunday school class, church small group, civic club, business office, or other group activities that would like to make this a group project.

Thanks for helping us help "the least of these." (Matthew 25:35-40)

Discipleship produces growth

2011-05-30T00:23:00.000-05:00

Wednesday nights have become a great time of discipleship at the Love In Action Ministry Center.

Martha and I have led most of the people in our Wednesday night group through Discipleship Phases 1 and 2 and through a variety of many other Bible studies. The goal is making disciples of Jesus.

Jesus gives us His Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Jesus says to "go" and to "make disciples," so it is imperative that we lead people to Jesus and teach them how to follow Him.

Wednesday nights are very special. We are seeing so many people growing spiritually. And what really excites us is when we hear people telling us about the decisions they make based on what they are learning on Wednesday nights.

Recently a man who has been coming to our Wednesday night Bible study told me he was moving out of where he was living because of the teaching we have done on how important it is about who we hang out with and surround ourselves with. He said he didn't want to be around the people and things going on, so he moved.

Praise God! This man has come a long ways and we see God moving in his life. He is just one of many we are seeing tremendous spiritual growth, and we praise God and give Him all of the glory.

We began a study last week titled "A Life God Rewards" by Bruce Wilkinson. It is a powerful study, and it gets pretty deep in the Word. I was a little nervous about teaching this series because I didn't want to lose anyone by going too deep. Most of those in our group are new Christians.

I know one man in particular is searching. He hasn't made a decision for Christ yet, but he is searching and he keeps coming back each week.

During our study last week there were a plethora of questions asked ... a lot of good questions. We talked and discussed a number of issues. It was great.

At the end of the class I asked one more time if everyone understood what we had studied that night and if there were any more questions. Everyone said they understood everything now, except for that one guy who is still searching.

He had a confused look on his face as he read a verse and asked a question about it. Once he received the answer, he smiled and said, "Oh, I see now. Now I finally understand that."

Praise God! I believe soon he will be asking Jesus to be his Lord and Savior.

Please keep our Wednesday night group lifted up in prayer. We are seeing souls saved and disciples being made.

Our ministry partner is in the Philippines

2011-05-20T23:58:00.000-05:00

I just finished chatting online with my good brother and friend Micah Lewter. He is with Homegrown Harvesters, the ministry we team with to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Philippines.

He is there in the Philippines to preach, share his testimony and meet many of the pastors and missionaries we support.

He quickly learned how much the pastors and people in the Philippines honor their guests. Seven pastors met him at the airport. Micah said, "That's just incredible to me. Some drove 2 or 3 hours."

The family he is staying with insists on putting the only electric fan in the house in his room.
"It's a way of honoring guests, which is a big part of the culture," Micah said.

Micah sent his schedule so we could pray for him. Below is his schedule. Please pray for him, and ask God to use him in mighty ways to reach the lost and encourage the Christians. The Philippines is 13 hours ahead of us in Alabama. If you are in a different time zone please do the math. I'm a journalist, and journalists are not known for our math skills. :-)

Site Philippines day/time Alabama day/time Date

Dipolog City 10 a.m. Sunday 9 p.m. Saturday May 22/21

Tampilisan* Wednesday Tuesday evening or night May 25/24

Ozamis** Thursday Wednesday evening or night May 26/25

Dipolog City 10 a.m. Sunday 9 p.m. Saturday May 29/28

Dipolog City* Tuesday Monday evening or night May 31/30

* anniversary services

** testimony

From Micah:

"The anniversary services, I don't know the times for them. It could be at any time of the day. They are all-day events, and they have several sermons by different pastors/men. The anniversary services are evangelistic in nature, so please pray for the souls during that time.

"I do know that Wednesday I will preach at Tampilisan. We will then travel back to Dipolog for the all-night prayer vigil, then we go to Ozamis for the missionaries' meeting the next day. I will be giving my testimony there. Each town is about a 3-hour drive away from Dipolog, and in opposite directions."

It is exciting what God is doing in the Philippines, and Martha and I are thankful that Love In Action is part of it. And, we are thrilled for these opportunities God has given Micah to minister there.

To keep up with what God is doing in the Philippines and on Micah's trip, visit the Homegrown Harvesters' blog: http://homegrownharvesters.blogspot.com/

Thank you for your prayers.

Kicking it up

2011-05-13T11:47:00.000-05:00

Renovating the Love In Action Ministry Center has been an amazing process.

When we purchased the building, we knew we were getting a structurally strong facility, but one that needed a lot of work on the inside. Literally, from the floor to the ceiling we have ripped out, torn down, rebuilt, straightened, braced, painted, and everything else.

The best part of the work has been all of the volunteers who have come out and those who have provided materials and finances. Christians from a number of different churches have joined us, and it is so inspiring to truly see the Body of Christ working together. Martha and I can't say "thank you" enough.

We have made a lot of progress and the building is looking better and better each week, but we aren't finished yet. We still have a good deal of work to do. That's why I am asking for even more people to get involved to help us get the building ready to open.

There are a lot of people depending on us to open this building soon. The homeless are ready for us to open. The work release men and women can't wait to get back "home" for Celebrate Recovery Inside at Love In Action. People who live in the community are asking more and more questions and are excited about us opening. So many ministry opportunities await. We are doing a lot, but we can do so much more.

Here are ways you can help:

1. Pray: We need your prayers. We see God touching lives and providing for our every need in amazing ways, and we know it's because people are praying. Please continue.

2. Donate: We need finances to purchase materials. Or, if you can donate the materials that would be great too.

3. Volunteer: This is an entirely volunteer ministry, so everything that gets done is accomplished by volunteers. Here are the areas where we need expertise and help:
- Sheet rock: hanging it and taping and mudding it. Then sanding it and preparing it for painting.
- Flooring: We have a flooring man who is very good, but he is just one man and we have a lot of flooring to put down. We have VCT tiling and commercial grade carpet already purchased. We will need to buy more VCT for a few smaller rooms.
- Tiling a wet room. We are going to make the shower room a "wet room" We need people who can tile the floor and walls.
- Plumbing: We have a plumber, but he could use some help. We are totally re-plumbing the building, and doing everything by city code, so you need to know the codes, in addition to how to do the work.
- Vinyl siding: We have some corners that need replacing and some other repairs to make on the outside of the building.
- Parking lot repair: The back corner of our parking lot was caved in when we bought the building. It needs repairing for safety reasons and to give us more parking for volunteers.

As you can see, there is a lot of work to do, but with the right people and a large number of volunteers who can follow the experts' instructions, we can accomplish everything quickly.

We would like to open by late June or the first of July. Together, we can reach that goal. Can you help? Do you know people who can help? Again, please pray, donate and volunteer. Together as the Body of Christ we can do it.

Thank you all so much.

Wow! Look at what all God is doing

2011-05-09T14:28:00.001-05:00

Things are really going strong at Love In Action, and we are staying extremely busy and we love it. God keeps blowing our minds with everything He is doing ... changing lives, providing every need, and opening more doors for ministry. Here's an update, and a needs list at the bottom of this email. Get a cup of coffee or cold glass of tea. You may have to read a little now and come back to read the rest as this is a long update. But please read it. See what God is doing through LIA, and how He is using your prayers, finances and volunteer work to advance His kingdom. It is exciting!

Renovations at Love In Action Ministry Center:
- Bob Woodall's folks installed a three-ton A/C unit last week. That gives us two working units. Just two or three more go. Praise God! Bob and his company are a tremendous blessing to us, doing all of this for free.

- The laundry room is ready now as the washer and dryer were hooked up on Saturday. That's another ministry about to get off the ground. Praise God!

- Sheet rock started going up in the sanctuary on Saturday. What a great sight to see. Volunteers from Harvest, Tabernacle, and Covenant did a great job getting that project off the ground.

- An outside wall needed removing and replaced, and a team of men from Covenant UMC with H.I.M. (Home Improvement Ministries) did it. They also helped with the sheet rock in the sanctuary.

- More flooring went down on Saturday. Our floor man, Shane Parrish, who was walking to the ministry center from more than five miles away until I knew he needed a ride and went and picked him up, did another beautiful job putting the laminate wood flooring in the hallway between the foyer and the coffee shop. He does flooring for a living and does a great job. He is a former work release inmate who has been coming to Love In Action for more than a year. His dedication in volunteering shows us what this ministry means to him.

Celebrate Recovery:
- This will be our third week of Celebrate Recovery Inside at Love In Action in a women's cell block at the Houston County Jail. What an incredible opportunity this is! The first week there were five women in the meeting. Last week there were 11. Praise God! Please keep this ministry in your prayers. Two of the women will soon be transferred to Tutwiler Prison, which is a maximum security prison for women in Wetumka, Ala. They have asked if there is a CRI at Tutwiler. Emily, our CRI director, is checking into this and seeing if anyone up there is interested in starting a CRI at Tutwiler if there isn't one already. If you know of anyone in the Montgomery area who would be interested, please have them contact Emily at CRIatLIA@aol.com

- We will start our Dothan Celebrate Recovery Inside back up on Tuesday, May 17, 6:30 p.m., at Highland Park UMC, located at 1619 S. Park Ave. in Dothan. We want to say a special "thank you" to Pastor David Willis and the Highland Park congregation for opening their fellowship hall to us once again. We needed to get this important ministry going again, and we will hold it at Highland Park until the Love In Action Ministry Center is ready.

- Our CRI team is helping start a Celebrate Recovery in Enterprise. This is exciting, and even more so as three of our "graduates" are key leaders in this start-up process. Disciples are being made at LIA. To God goes all the glory.

Bible study:
- Wednesday night Bible studies have been going great. In the past month we have seen five people accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Praise God! Now that's what it is all about. Wednesday nights are very important in the discipleship process, and we are seeing lives transformed by the power of God. The discussion and participation each week is incredible.

Medical Clinic: Needs are continuing to be met at our weekly Love In Action Health Clinic for the Homeless. Health and eye care needs are being met, as are spiritual needs. The volunteers who bring food each week are a great blessing. The people enjoy receiving a delicious meal in addition to the health and eye care, hygiene kits and prayer. I have some very exciting news to share about this extremely important outreach coming soon.

International:
Ecuador:
- A team from Love In Action will be going to Ecuador in September. It is going to be a three-pronged approach. First, we will be helping an orphanage in Shell, Ecuador. Two LIA volunteers, Ted and Karen Hils, have such big hearts for this mission. They are leading this international outreach. They touched our hearts, and after praying, Martha and I knew this was a door God was opening for LIA. We are very excited about it. Ted has been to Shell several times and Karen's first trip was earlier this year.
Secondly, we are working on Celebrate Recovery programs for the missionaries in that region and for the local community. Emily is heading up this effort. Celebrate Recovery has an international ministry and she is working with them, the missionaries and making contacts for the local community.
Thirdly, Martha and I will be leading the outreach to minister Jesus Christ to the people in Ecuador. From street ministry to meeting physical needs to services to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, this is going to be hard work, but very exciting. Strong contacts will be the key.
The September trip will be a fact-finding and informational trip. We do not pretend to know the culture or their needs, so we will be working on building relationships with native Ecuadorians to assist them with their needs to reach their people. Please be in prayer for us as we walk through these doors God has opened in this South American country.
A Spanish class will be held weekly at Harvest Church every Thursday through Sept.22 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Room 209 in the Harvest Youth Center. It is recommended that you purchase the book "Madrigal & Magic Key to Spanish." While it isn't mandatory to speak Spanish to go to Ecuador, it will be extremely helpful.
The "Call to Ecuador" meeting will be held on Monday, May 23, at 6:30 p.m. at Harvest. For more information on the Spanish class and the Ecuador meeting, call Ted and Karen at 983-1092.

Philippines:
- Another international door God has opened is in the Philippines with our ministry partners, Homegrown Harvesters. Last month were able to help two churches with some important projects. One was to help a church purchase land for continued growth. Fruit is already being produced as six people recently accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and were baptized on April 27. Praise God! We were also able to help another church expand. God is really doing a great work in the Philippines, and it is exciting to be part of it.
Micah Lewter of Homegrown Harvesters wrote in a recent blog about the churches we are helping in the Philppines: "Some of the pastors in this family of churches minister among the Muslim groups in the Philippines. Al-Qaeda even has a presence in the nation, and one of the pastors was a member of al-Qaeda before he converted. We don't expect al-Qaeda to be rejoicing today or in the coming weeks, so please pray for these dear brothers who minister among some of these groups. Pray for their safety and their effectiveness. Let us remember this: Every terrorist, every Muslim is one witness away from being redeemed for eternity"

- Here is the latest need in the Philippines: Pastor Raffy Begafria in Tampilisan, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines. The church building is not complete, and we are praying to raise $2,200, which would allow them to finish their building and provide funds for the church's anniversary service. The anniversary service, which will involve a celebration of God's work and an evangelistic outreach, will be held May 25. Pastor Raffy will also be preaching the Gospel on May 24 at an engagement ceremony, so please pray for the lost people who will be there and will hear the good news of Christ's salvation. The need for the anniversary service, which is like revivals or spiritual renewal conferences in the U.S., has been met by Homegrown Harvesters and LIA. That was $470. That leaves just $1,730 for the building expansion. Please help if you can.

- For more on what God is doing in the Philippines, check out our ministry partner's blog. Exciting things are happening: http://homegrownharvesters.blogspot.com/

- If you feel led to give toward our international outreaches, please note "international" on your gift. If you want it to go toward a specific country, please note "Ecuador" or "Philippines" on your gift. Otherwise, all other financial donations will be used for Love In Action's ministries in Dothan.

Ukraine: One of our volunteers, JoAnna Hernandez, has a great opportunity to spend six weeks this summer ministering at an orphanage in the Ukraine. JoAnna works with the children at our Celebrate Recovery Inside and has done a wonderful job. The children love her and look forward to seeing her on Tuesday nights. She will do a great job working with the orphans in the Ukraine. If you can assist her with finances, please send a check to: Bridges of Faith, P.O. Box 733, Millbrook, AL 36064 and on the "memo" line of your check put her name - JoAnna Hernandez. Martha and I believe in God's call on JoAnna's life. We are supporting her. Can you help? https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=213133285371709

- Needs at Love In Action Ministry Center:
Prayers: Please keep us and those we serve lifted up in your prayers. Prayer is so important and powerful. It really blesses us when people tell us they are praying for us. We know people are. We can feel it.

Hygiene products: We are in need of the following hygiene items: men and women's deodorant (more men's than women's), lotion, body wash and shampoo. Travel sizes and regulars sizes are needed.

- Renovations: People who are skilled at hanging sheet rock, applying the tape and mud, and sanding the mud preparing it for painting.

- Finances: It takes money to do ministry. We have regular expenses, such as mortgage, insurance, gas for the LIA van, utilities, and renovations. All donations are tax deductible.

I told you we are busy at Love In Action. God is doing so much, and it is very humbling to be part of it. You are part of it too. If you pray, donate, and/or volunteer, you are a big part of what God is doing. And please know, we cannot do what we do without each of you. Martha and I do as Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 1:2, "We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers."

We love and appreciate each of you.

Be sure to "Like" our Facebook page. We keep that updated often with what is going on with Love In Action. The Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/lia.ministries

Angels are rejoicing

2011-04-21T00:10:00.000-05:00

You are never too far away from the saving grace of Jesus Christ. No matter what you have done or where you are at, Jesus will forgive you and give you eternal life.

We witnessed that tonight at the Love In Action Ministry Center. The topic of tonight's Bible study was the passion of Christ and came from "The Passion of The Christ, A Biblical Guide" by Greg Laurie. We looked at the "Four Reasons Why Jesus Had to Die on the Cross" and the "Seven Statements from the Cross."

It was a powerful study, and as always, there was good discussion and some great thought-provoking questions. At the end of every Bible study we always have a time of prayer. There is not a lack of prayer requests. But before we prayed for those requests, I asked if anyone was saved. There were two who wanted to make sure they spent eternity in Heaven - a young homeless woman and a man from community corrections work release who wanted a personal relationship with Jesus.

Those who follow this blog and our Love In Action Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/lia.ministries) have read a little about this young homeless woman. I won't go into her story again, but she has gone through a lot. She needs to know that God loves her and that there is a group of people at Love In Action who love her and want to help her.

The change in her since we first met her a few weeks ago is great. It's amazing how showing the love of God to people and giving them encouragement can make such a huge difference. She was all smiles tonight, and she told us, "Y'all give me strength." That is from the love and encouragement.

See, she felt like she wasn't worthy of real love. She didn't believe she deserved to be treated with respect. She had no self worth at all. Now, she knows Jesus as her Lord and Savior. She knows she has hope. She still has a long ways to go, but she is on the right road now and is actually making some plans to keep moving forward and improving her life. God's love can change anyone's life.

The young man who accepted Christ tonight has been down many wrong roads. But he knows that God loves him any way. He has many tattoos and he has been judged by others because of them. The first thing he noticed about Love In Action was we didn't judge him or making any comments about his tattoos. It's what's on the inside that counts. Jesus looks at the heart.

Tonight, he is a born again, forgiven child of God. No tattoo can keep Jesus Christ away.

There is a big party going on in Heaven tonight. What? A party in Heaven? Yes, you don't think Heaven will be boring do you? And tonight they have plenty to celebrate. In Luke 15:10, Jesus says, "... there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

There were two who repented tonight. Just imagine the celebration that's going on. Praise God!

It doesn't stop here, though. Now discipleship must take place, and we will be following up and teaching them the Word of God and helping them any way we can.

But tonight, we celebrate with the angels. God is so awesome!

International doors opening in Philippines and Ecuador

2011-04-14T00:37:00.002-05:00

When Mike Shroades and I started Love In Action International Ministries 11 years ago after much prayer and discussion, we decided to put the word "International" in the ministry's name. Some people asked us why, and we answered that we believed God would use this ministry to reach the world.

Over the years we have helped share the love of Jesus Christ in the countries of India, Haiti, Dominican Republic,and Panama. Local ministry has been and will continue to be our main focus. However, God has also connected us with other ministries throughout the nation, and we have helped them reach the homeless and needy in their cities as well. We have seen God do amazing things in cities like Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Memphis and Baton Rouge. And now, He is opening more doors internationally.

Recently we partnered with Homegrown Harvesters in Hawaii to help churches in the Philippines. Homegrown Harvesters is a ministry started by my friend Micah Lewter, who worked at the Dothan Eagle as one of our sports writers and page designers before moving to Hawaii. Micah has a strong walk with the Lord and he is a man of godly integrity. So, when he started his prayer ministry for the Philippines I was excited and knew it would be fruitful.

Micah has great connections in the Philippines through indigenous pastors, so when he told me of a couple of needs there I knew they were real. He introduced me to two of his contacts.

One need was for Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines that needed to expand. They do a great job of reaching their city for Jesus Christ and needed more space to accommodate their growth. All they needed was $600 and someone donated that amount. The church has already built its expansion with the money. Here is Micah's blog, with photos, about it: http://homegrownharvesters.blogspot.com/2011/03/photos-from-shiloh-bible-baptist-in.html

The second need was a small church in Salug, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines that was in danger of losing its land, which they had rented for eight years. They needed $3,000. For them, it might as well been $3 million. We made the need known and people responded, and within a month we were able to transfer $3,000 to them. Little did we know God was going to use that money to give that small church a larger lot in a better location. Read Micah's blog about this exciting news: http://homegrownharvesters.blogspot.com/2011/04/salud-to-salug.html

Now we are being asked by believers in Shell, Ecuador to bring Celebrate Recovery to their city. We learned about Shell through two friends and Love In Action volunteers, Ted and Karen Hils. They have been helping an orphanage in Shell. Ted has been to Shell to help and minister several times and Karen recently went for the first time.

They told Martha and me of the great work being done for the children in Shell. Then Karen said one of the main reasons there are so many orphans is their parents are alcoholics and cannot raise their children, and many of the parents end up in jail because of alcohol and drugs.

Karen said recently that as she asked God what could they do to help that situation, Celebrate Recovery came to mind. We chatted and searched on the Internet and saw that there is a Spanish translation of the Celebrate Recovery materials. Karen started talking with her contacts in Shell, and four different missionaries said there was not such a program in Shell, but one was very much needed.

One missionary in Shell said, "We would receive help in this area, either with training or missionary volunteers, with open arms."

Love In Action's CR Director Emily Hinderliter is on board to help us take CR to this small South American country. We thank and praise God for this awesome opportunity. The key will be to train those in Shell and provide the resources they need to have an effective CR there. They know the language and the culture, so equipping them will be key. Please pray for us as we enter new territory.

If God puts it on your heart to help financially with our international efforts, when you donate please indicate that it is for Love In Action's international outreaches. We have a separate account for those funds.

We are and always will focus mainly on local needs in Dothan, Ala., but God has called us to reach the world, so we are going to be obedient. And, seeing how He is opening the doors in the Philippines and Ecuador, the time to reach the world is now.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We cannot reach Dothan, the U.S. and the world without you.

'He heals the brokenhearted'

2011-04-07T22:35:00.000-05:00

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds" (Psalm 147:3)

When the homeless are hurting, it is good for them to have a safe place to go and people to talk with. That's why it is so important to complete the renovations at the Love In Action Ministry Center and open the doors for all of the ministries that will operate out of it.

Last Saturday I met a young homeless woman who was "staying" at the hotel next to the LIA Ministry Center. She said she had been abandoned in Dothan and ended up there. What that usually means is she is desperate and was selling her body for money and/or drugs. That's not passing judgment, those are just the facts. After 11 years in this ministry, we have learned most of the signs.

She was high when I was talking with her. My heart broke. She didn't wake up one morning and say, "I want to become an addict and a prostitute." No, her dreams were shattered at some point through some event. She said life was good until her husband died in a car accident. Life has been a living hell ever since.

I listened to her and told her she was welcome at our ministry center and that we would be having Bible study Wednesday night. She said she would probably be "buzzing" by that time. I told her she would still be welcome, and that I would rather for her to be "buzzing" in a safe place than "buzzing" on the streets.

Tuesday night she showed up at the ministry center. I was at our health care clinic for the homeless when I received a call that a young woman was at the ministry center crying and scared. I knew who it was. I also knew she needed to be ministered to by some strong Christian women. So Martha and two of our volunteers, Denise and Emily, went to minister to her along with my mom and another volunteer, Gia. Talk about a powerful group of women.

They listened to her, talked to her, prayed with her, encouraged her to sing (which made her feel better), prayed, talked and listened some more. She had been in a bad situation where she had been hit, and she was terrified. The women of Love In Action did a wonderful job ministering to her, and she ended up at a safe place where she wouldn't be beaten.

She didn't think she deserved to be treated right, or respected or have good things happen to her. She has been completely beaten down spiritually, physically and mentally. People in her condition have no self worth. They think they are nobodies. But nothing could be further from the truth.

They are somebody. They are people God wants to save, heal, deliver, restore and love. Their dreams have been shattered, but God wants to give their dreams back to them. I have seen people like this young woman receive their lives back through the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the restoration power of God. There is hope for her and His name is Jesus.

There are many more people like this young woman in Dothan, Ala., and we are reaching them. When the ministry center is renovated and fully operating we will reach a lot more. This is what God has called us to do, and though we often shed many tears, it is worth all the heartache when we see one of these hurting souls saved and lives restored.

Please keep these precious people in your prayers, and please pray for us. It takes a lot out of you spiritually and physically when you are doing intense ministry like we do. We treasure and appreciate your prayers.

'Be still, and know that I am God'

2011-04-04T00:29:00.000-05:00

Psalm 46:10 has been revealed in such a powerful way as we stepped out in faith to purchase our own building.

Love In Action had never owned its own building, but God provided the perfect building in the perfect location in downtown Dothan, AL. The building may not have been perfect as far as the condition it was in, but the second we saw it, we saw the potential of the kind of ministry we could do with it.

As the renovations began, we continued to trust God to provide. I will be the first to tell you I am not a "handyman." So, we trusted God to send people our way to accomplish the tasks needed for the renovations and for the finances to pay for it. He has.

We have the best volunteers. On Tuesday nights and Saturdays you can find many of them giving of their time and talents to renovate the Love In Action Ministry Center. From electrical work to flooring and building and tearing down walls, volunteers are rolling up their sleeves and getting the work done.

Great progress has been made and we still have much more to do. But this past week will be one that Martha and I will always remember as we saw God provide for one need after another.

A few weeks ago I was invited to speak to the Dothan Rotary Club. I showed our new video and explained how Love In Action reaches the homeless and needy. During the presentation I mentioned two vital needs for the renovations - plumbing and HVAC.

After the meeting, a man who owns a very successful heating and cooling business in Dothan handed his business card to me and said, with a smile, that he knew a thing or two about heating and cooling. Bob Woodall of Bob Woodall Air Care Systems and two of his men came out to the Love In Action Ministry Center on Thursday to assess our needs, which are great.

As we stood outside by the old and destroyed condenser units, Bob told the other two men to write down everything that we need, take pictures, and they would take care of it all. Wow! Talk about a grown man ready to cry tears of joy and shout hallelujah! That was me.

I immediately thought back to last summer when we met in our former building that had no A/C. Despite summer temperatures of 100-plus degrees, more than 100 people came out every Tuesday night to worship God. I told them that God would bless us for our faithfulness to worship Him in such extreme heat.

I didn't know how God would do it, but I knew He would. Then, when God did it, He totally blew me away. We serve an awesome God!

Another man called me after the Rotary Club meeting and said he would pay a plumber to do the work we needed. There I was ready to cry tears of joy and shout hallelujah again. The building's plumbing needs to be totally re-worked. Basically, starting from scratch. And now, that work is being done as another individual has committed to purchasing the plumbing materials that we need.

Then, a local business donated about $600 worth of new faucets, then someone else donated an 80-gallon water heater. Praise God!

Add all of that with the great work of our volunteers, and you can see why we are so excited about what God is doing. I told someone the other day that if we ever had any doubts that God wanted us to renovate that building, all doubts were removed last week. Of course, Martha and I didn't have any doubts, but wow, God has certainly showed us time and time again that if we will just "Be still, and know that I am God," He will provide everything we need.

What's your excuse?

2011-03-29T00:20:00.002-05:00

Have you had opportunities to tell people about Jesus, but didn't? What was your excuse? Was it embarrassment? Didn't know how to? Didn't think the time was right? Afraid of rejection?

Those are just some of many reasons people use as excuses not to witness about the Lord. We have all used those excuses or others. But there really is no excuse. If Jesus has saved our souls, there is no excuse known or unknown to man for not telling others and showing them through our lifestyle.

Let me share something that I hope will motivate you to tell others about Jesus. Many of you know my friend Rick. He is the guy who was run over by a freight train when he was homeless here in Dothan. God spared his life and Rick has not stopped talking about Jesus ever since then.

Due to the accident, he is confined to a wheel chair, though I believe through the healing power of God he won't always be in that condition. But nothing slows that man down. He keeps going for Jesus no matter what. He is one of the most remarkable men I have ever met.

A month ago something happened. His face and arms were swollen and he had chest pains. I took him to the ER and they couldn't find anything wrong. The next day he went for a check up. The doctor said she didn't know why that happened to him. Rick quickly said, "I do. I was suppose to tell you about Jesus." So he did, and ended up praying with her for her dad who was real sick in Birmingham.

Then this morning (Monday) Rick called me and said, "I hope I'm not bothering you. I just wanted call and tell you that I talked with a woman about Jesus for an hour this morning and she got saved." Then he invited her to church. Praise God!

The woman went to church with us tonight and had tears streaming down her face during the music and message. At the end she looked at Martha and said, "Thank you. That was just what I needed." Praise God!

Rick said it was all Jesus. He was right, but as we told him, he was obedient to God by telling that woman about Jesus. Let's be like Rick. Let's don't make excuses, even if we have what seems like a legitimate excuse like being run over by a freight train.

Tell someone about Jesus today and what He has done in your life. Once you do, you will want to tell others.

Valentine's for the homeless

2011-02-16T10:35:00.000-06:00

As the heavy set homeless man read his Valentine's card tears streamed down his face. His emotions were of sadness and joy. After wiping away the tears, a smile shined forth from his face, and he said "thank you."

That happened Tuesday night at Love In Action's free health clinic for the homeless in Dothan, Ala. The man has a small child, but through some circumstances he hasn't seen her in a while and he misses her. Every time we see him, he asks us to pray for her.

The Valentine card that brought tears to his eyes was written and designed by an elementary school student at Providence Christian School in Dothan.

I was invited to the school on Monday for their Valentine's assembly to receive a donation of hygiene products, socks and underwear. The children collected a large amount of items for Love In Action. It filled up my truck. Then they presented me with something I wasn't expecting ... Valentine's cards designed and written by the students. Every class wrote Valentine's for us to give to those in need.

Martha and I looked over some of them that night, and they were precious. We decided to hand them out Tuesday night at the health clinic and at Celebrate Recovery Inside. Like the man who cried when he opened his Valentine, these cards touched and melted the hearts of each person who received one.

Many times we are asked, "can children help your ministry?" The answer is an obvious yes. These children from Providence touched the hearts of the men and women like none of us adults could. For many of the homeless and the inmates in work release, they have not seen their children in a long time. They miss their children and it hurts their hearts not to be able to see them.

Those Valentines weren't from their children, but it was the closest thing to receiving one from them. They appreciated it more than words could say. But that one man's tears said it all.

Thank you children from Providence. You did a wonderful thing. You did God's work and touched the lives of the needy, which is exactly what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ instructs us to do.

The children have given Martha and me an idea. Next Valentine's Day we are going to ask the children at Providence and some other Christian schools and Sunday School classes to make Valentine cards. Then we will give them out here in Dothan and send them to our contacts throughout the nation so the homeless in cities like Baton Rouge, Atlanta and Memphis will receive a sweet card on Valentine's Day.

God is so good, and we thank God for children. They can touch our hearts like nobody else.

Body of Christ working together

2011-02-12T10:24:00.000-06:00

One very important aspect of Love In Action is we provide an atmosphere where the Body of Christ can come together and do nothing but focus on serving Jesus.

Too often when we mention "church," we are talking about a building. That's not what "church" really means. The church is the Body of Christ. We are to represent Jesus and serve Him together in unity. At Love In Action we see that happen every week, and it's a beautiful thing to see.

This past Tuesday was a great example. We had three different things going on at the same time, and none of it could have been done without all of our wonderful volunteers who come from different towns and cities around the Wiregrass and from different denominations.

We had an army of volunteers at the free health clinic for the homeless, which we have every Tuesday. We had so many we had to send some to help with Celebrate Recovery Inside. These were new volunteers and they jumped in with both feet at both outreaches. They brought food for the clinic and served it, and when I took someone over to CRI, they were serving dinner there.

All of our other volunteers were busy serving those who come to the clinic and to CRI. There were also volunteers at the new Love In Action Ministry Center cleaning. Some of them were inmates from work release who volunteered to be there because they wanted to give back to a ministry that has given so much to them. There were also a couple of guys who have been through the CRI program and a couple of former homeless men helping.

I put one of the former homeless men in charge of the work crew a the LIA Ministry Center, and he did a great job.

It was an incredible night of ministry. Many lives were touched with the love of Jesus Christ, and a lot of work was accomplished. Martha and I could not help but smile and thank God. He has assembled a great group of people to serve "the least of these" here in Dothan, and He keeps bringing more to serve. It's awesome to see the Body of Christ working together.

We serve an awesome God!

Wednesday nights are back

2011-02-09T23:57:00.000-06:00

Tonight was a historic night as we held our first service at the new Love In Action Ministry Center. Praise God! It was great being together again for Wednesday night Bible study.

The last time we had Bible study was Dec. 22, because we had to move out of our previous building. We didn't have a place to meet until we purchased our new facility. Then we had to get a room cleaned and ready.

One of the guys said, "It's been a long two months." We were all excited to be together again.

Mama Tuck cooked a great meal. There wasn't much talking during dinner as everyone was concentrating on the great food.

We are beginning an eight-week course called Discipleship Phase II, which was written by Harvest Lead Pastor Ralph Sigler. Tonight was the introduction and I also shared from of the gospels of Mark and John about when Jesus called His disciples to follow Him. Jesus is also calling all of us. If we believe in Jesus, we will follow Him.

We ended the night with a great time of prayer.

It was just great to be back hanging out together, eating together, laughing together, studying God's Word together, and praying together.

Wednesday nights are back. Praise God!

A soul saved

2011-02-01T22:25:00.000-06:00

Love In Action's mission statement is "To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion."

What does that mean? Where there's a need, take care of it. For example, the homeless have little to no health care, so thanks to two wonderful Christian doctors, we started a free health care clinic for the homeless. We also see some of the work release inmates. Work release is not part of the Houston County Jail, so they have no health coverage.

Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 25:36, "I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." He then said in Matthew 25:40, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

That's what we do every Tuesday night at the health clinic. People come to us sick and our volunteer physicians take care of them. Then we offer people food, hygiene items, blankets, gloves and scarves. Then we ask them if there is anything we can pray with them about. Nobody has ever turned down prayer.

Tonight was the most powerful time of prayer at the clinic since we started back in December 2010. We prayed for a number of issues. Not just physical healing, but for peace, deliverance, and prayer for their families and friends. There was some real spiritual warfare going on tonight, and God showed up big time.

The greatest thing was seeing a young lady give her live to Jesus. For the first time in her life she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Praise God!

That's what we mean when we say we "proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion." The need tonight was health care. Also, some were hungry, and others needed hygiene items. All of them needed someone to pray with them, and just listen to them.

Jesus says in Luke 15:10, "There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Heaven is celebrating tonight because of that one precious soul who gave her life to Jesus. And we join with the angels singing praises to God for all He has done. Thank you Jesus my king, for your salvation that you offer to everyone. Jesus makes that perfectly clear in John 3:16 when He says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

"Whoever" means anyone and everyone. We serve a truly amazing and awesome God!

Terrific Tuesdays

2011-01-26T22:39:00.000-06:00

Tuesday nights have turned into "Terrific Tuesdays." Incredible ministry takes place every Tuesday night as we have our free health clinic for the homeless and Celebrate Recovery Inside. Spiritual and physical needs are being met in mighty ways.

The health clinic opens at 5 p.m. and that's where we minister to people's medical needs thanks to Dr. H.L."Chief" Lassiter and Dr. Steve Stokes giving of their time and medical knowledge, and the Alfred Saliba Family Services Center for allowing us to use their clinic facilities. We also minister to the people's physical needs by providing a hot meal, hygiene kits, blankets, gloves, scarves and more. And, we also offer prayer, and we have not had anyone turn us down.

Celebrate Recovery Inside begins at 6:30 each Tuesday night. We always have dynamic speakers sharing God's Word and/or their testimonies. Several people who have been through our CRI program have shared their testimonies and preached. That is great to see. We have great worship music led by worship leaders and Christian musicians from the Dothan area. We also serve a delicious meal each week at CRI. The small groups are very powerful, as are the prayer times at the end of each service.

It is exciting to see God touching so many lives in so many different ways. God is indeed doing a great work in the lives of the homeless, needy and incarcerated. We thank God for everything He is doing, and we thank all of the volunteers who make it happen. And we thank everyone who prays for Love In Action and who give financially. Together, we are reaching the lost and hurting with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you, and may God bless you.

Escaping winter's frigid temps

2011-01-13T11:48:00.000-06:00

Winter weather has set in here in Dothan, Ala. The day time temperatures are reaching just above freezing and at night the windchill is down to 10-15 degrees.

Imagine spending these terribly bone-chilling nights in your car. The exterior of the car breaks the wind, but the cold seeps into the car like flood waters into a basement. You can't run the the car for long because you need to conserve gas due to no money to refuel. Soon the cold overwhelms you and there's no sleeping. Just trying to put more layers of clothes on your shivering body.

I met a young couple Monday who were in that situation. They were in their early 20s, but they looked like kids. No jobs, and therefore a lack of money, forced them out of their home into their car. Thankfully, we were able to get them off the streets. It's way too frigid for anyone to be outdoors at night, much less trying to sleep. With temps down to 20 and windchills 10, that's hypothermia weather.

Unfortunately, struggling to live in the cold is reality for many people throughout this nation. The homeless are seeking shelter, and when shelters are filled where do they turn? Cars, abandoned houses and buildings, tents ... any place they can get out of the wind.

Thankfully we were able to help this couple, and this winter we have been able to help the homeless and poor in Dothan with blankets, gloves, scarves, warm hats and coats. Anything to help people make it through another bitter cold winter.

Usually our winters are milder than this, but the past two winters have been among the coldest on record.

Thank you for supporting this ministry. Without you, we couldn't help people like that young couple escape this winter's deadly freezing temps. Your support makes an eternal difference too, for when we meet people's physical needs it opens the door to sharing Jesus Christ with them. And when they see we care enough to be out in the cold helping them, they are more than interested in what we have to say.

Thank you, and please keep praying for the homeless here in Dothan and throughout the U.S.