Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. We praise God for what He did in 2008, and we praise God for what He is going to do in 2009.

Prayer requests

I have some prayer requests for everyone to pray about. Here they are:

- Love In Action Board Member Justin Swasey's parents are both having surgery today. His mom broke a kneecap and his dad fell and broke his hip. Pray for his mom and dad, for the doctors and nurses, for successful surgeries and for quick and healthy recoveries. Pray for Justin and his brothers as they take care of their parents. It's not easy seeing your parents go through things like this. Pray for comfort, strength and peace.

- Pray for ministries that Love In Action works closely with: Eagle's Nest Ministry in Atlanta, Ga.; Mama Tina's Mission House in Dothan, Ala.; Sunset Park Community Church in Brooklyn, NY; Mission New York City; Love In Action World Ministries in Plantation, Fla.; Arms Outstretched Ministry in Triangle, Va.; Street Light Ministries in Chantilly, Va. They all do great work. Pray for God's direction and provision. And, pray for strength and wisdom to do everything God wants them to do.

- Pray for the following churches: Harvest Church, Dothan; Christ-Life Church, Enterprise; First United Methodist Church, Dothan; Southside Baptist Church, Ozark; Tabernacle United Methodist Church, Dothan. All of these churches have been a great support to Love In Action. Please pray for God's direction and blessings for these churches.

- Pray for Love In Action as we have a very ambitious schedule for 2009. There is much more we desire to do. Only finances and time stand in the way. But, as I have learned the hard way over my 42 years (wow, I'm getting old), wait on God and His timing is always perfect. There is so much to do here in Dothan and throughout the U.S., over in Haiti and the Dominican, and now an opportunity has opened up in Africa. People are amazed everything gets done on a totally volunteer basis. That's just God. He gives us strength to do it, and He gives us volunteers to help get everything done.

- Please keep Martha and me in your prayers. Working full-time jobs and doing ministry full time can take a lot out of us, but that's not a complaint. We love doing the ministry. At some point in time we know we will be doing this full time. Whether it's in the near future or later in life after we retire; it's however God wants to do it. When God calls you to a ministry, it's not a burden, it's a blessing. Love In Action is a great blessing to us. We thank and praise God often for blessing us with this ministry.

- Please keep our five-member board of directors in your prayers. They have come alongside us and are working hard in their spare time to help us help the "least of these." (Matthew 25:40). My mom, Mike, Brian, Dwight and Justin are all awesome people, and it's an honor to serve God with them.

- Pray for everyone who supports Love In Action. We couldn't do anything without them. Their prayers and donations of finances and supplies mean everything to us. They have blessed thousands and thousands of homeless people and the poor over the past eight years. Thanks to their generosity, thousands have come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior over the past eight years. Pray for God's continued blessings upon their lives.

Thanks for joining me in prayer. God bless.

Excellent message Brian

I just want to say thanks to Brian Turner for preaching a great message this morning at Harvest Church in Dothan. Brian is assistant to the pastors at Harvest and a Love In Action board member.

Brian's message was excellent. He brought the Word and used great illustrations and analogies. He did a great job of challenging us.

Martha and I are getting the CD.

Excellent job Brian. I love you Bro.

A chat with Pastor Larry Arnold

I sat down with Pastor Larry Arnold of Eagle's Nest Community Church in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 13, 2008, following our Christmas Shoebox Outreach for the Homeless. We had a great talk about ministry and how much our ministries mean to each other. Click on the video and enjoy.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. Celebrate Jesus and enjoy family and friends.

Overcoming homelessness

Here's a good story from PalmBeachPost.com about a young man overcoming homelessness to play football at the University of Miami. And, more importantly, he's about to earn a four-year degree.

He was a diamond in the rough. There are many like him on the streets. That's why we do what we do. We've got to keep giving hope to the hopeless.

Here's the link to the story:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/epaper/2008/12/22/a1c_dixon_1223.html



Thanks for the link Dwight.

Gifts for needy children

Love In Action provided Christmas gifts for needy children in Dothan, Ala., today. I loaded up my truck at our warehouse during my lunch break and took the gifts to Mama Tina's Mission House to help with their annual Christmas presents outreach to the needy children in Dothan.

They do a wonderful job every year of helping to make sure needy children in Dothan have presents on Christmas Day. We were glad to be able to help with toys and clothes.

There is still time to get presents to Mama Tina to help with their Christmas outreach. If you live in the Wiregrass and would like to donate gifts for needy children in Dothan, call Mama Tina at 334-714-3482.

Christmas message

Here's a video of my Christmas message to the homeless in Atlanta, Ga., on Dec. 13. It was an awesome outreach with about 50 people making decisions for Jesus Christ. Thanks again to everyone who prayed, helped, and donated. All of you are wonderful.
We serve an awesome God!

Merry Christmas everyone.

Giving back

Dave Albertson has experienced many ups and downs in his 58 years of life. About two months ago he became homeless when he lost his job and housing. His son Bryan lost his housing the very same day. When we found Dave and Bryan they were living in tents in our hometown of Dothan, Ala. The week of Thanksgiving we were able to get them out of their tents and into a hotel room. Thanks to many people donating to help them they are still in that same hotel room.

Dave has 10 years experience as an electrician, but the holidays are a tough time to find work in that field. In this economy it's hard to find a job of any kind. He has been looking hard and we have been looking as well. Hopefully at the beginning of 2009 a job will open for him. One company has told him they think one will be available after the first of the year.

In the mean time, Dave has been working hard to serve God. He has a great desire to serve God at every opportunity. When we went to Atlanta for our annual Christmas outreach to the homeless, he wanted to go. He plays the slide trombone, so I asked him to play a Christmas song during the service in Atlanta. He was excited about doing it and he did an excellent job.

He said it was tough because he was homeless and he was playing in front of about 100 homeless people. It touched him as much as he touched everyone in that service. Above is a video of Dave playing during the service.

Please keep Dave and Bryan in your prayers.

Under the bridges in Dothan

We went under the bridges today in Dothan, Ala. We found where some of the homeless sleep and go to get out from the weather. Go to our Web site at www.loveinactionministries.com for more information and a photo slideshow.

Thanks to LIA board members Dwight Deal and Brian Turner for joining Martha and me in this outreach to give Christmas shoebox gifts to the homeless in Dothan.

Thanks

A big "Thank You" to Mama, Franklin, Robert, Mike, Dwight, Justin and Jeremy for coming out to the Love In Action warehouse to help Martha and me with our work day. We got a lot accomplished. A very long wall was taken down and all the nails pulled from the wood. Our conference room received its first coat of pant, all of the clothes were sorted and put up, and a lot of cleaning up was done. It was an extremely productive day.

I want to give a special "Thank You" to Franklin and Robert. They have been working hard the past two weeks at the warehouse and now we have electricity to places we needed it and light switches that makes everything a lot easier. They also got our conference room's carpet cleaned. Thanks so much.

Thanks again everyone. All of you are awesome! Things are really coming together at the warehouse, and that will help make the ministry even more efficient and productive.

End of year giving

If you are looking for some tax credit, then don't forget about end of the year giving. Whether you want to give your tax deductible gift to Love In Action, your church or another ministry, don't forget to do so.

If you want to make an end of the year tax deductible donation to Love In Action, please be sure your check arrives by Dec. 31. You can make your check payable to and mail it to:

Love In Action International Ministries
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302

Work day this Friday

We are going to have a work day this Friday at our warehouse if any of you can make it. We have been continuing to work to get the warehouse in shape. Franklin Moore has been leading the efforts to get electricity into the conference room and office area. We now need to paint those rooms. There is also a framed wall we need to take down.

In addition to that work, we have a lot of clothes that need sorting.

If you can make it, our warehouse is located at 1140 Montgomery Hwy. in Dothan next to the Piggly Wiggly. We'll get started at 9 a.m. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and God bless.

Photos from Christmas outreach

The homeless woman pictured above is an example of how drugs can destroy a person's life. She earned a college degree and had a bright future ahead of her. Then her sister was killed and she couldn't handle it, so she turned to drugs. Now she lives on the streets and lives for her next high. It's so sad and heartbreaking to see someone living like her. She was recently shot when trying to steal someone's drugs on the streets.

I'm thankful we were able to minister to her and help her on Saturday. Please pray for her. Pray that God will open her eyes and remind her of her once bright future.

Go to our Web site at www.loveinactionministries.com for a photo slideshow of the outreach.

A great day in Atlanta

We're back home from Atlanta. It was a wonderful outreach today. About 50 people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior and rededicated their lives to Him. We served about 200 dinners and distributed shoebox Christmas gifts to the homeless.

About 25 volunteers from five different churches joined us. They came from Dothan, Enterprise and Ozark, Ala., and Rome and Atlanta, Ga. Thanks to all of the volunteers, to all of you who prayed for the outreach, and to those who donated shoeboxes, hygiene items, food and money so we would could purchase the supplies necessary to have such an incredible outreach. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I will post videos, photo slideshows and more information from this Christmas outreach soon. But for now, it's time for bed. Good night and God bless.

We're in Atlanta

We made it safely to Atlanta. My mom traveled with us. Our cargo trailer is filled with more than 200 shoeboxes, 10 fully cooked hams, eight large cans of green beans, a lot of sweet potato casseroles, and nearly 30 dozen homemade cookies. (I had to test a few of them to make sure they were good. :-)

Thanks to my mom and Pat Beech of Harvest Church for making all of the delicious cookies. The homeless love homemade food, and they seldom get homemade cookies.

Thanks to everyone who donated shoeboxes for our outreach. Lisa Lewis of Harvest Church got her doctor's office involved at Urological Associates in the Doctors Center at Flowers Hospital, and got enough donations for more than 75 shoeboxes. The Dothan Elks Lodge donated 50 shoeboxes.

Mike Simmons of Harvest Church hit local businesses and got more than $200 donated.

Thanks to everyone who helped this year. You helped to bless a lot of homeless people and remind them that God loves them and so do we. Sharing the love of Jesus; that's what Christmas is all about.

We're excited about tomorrow's outreach. We're expecting volunteers from Dothan and Enterprise, Ala., and Rome and Atlanta, Ga. Please continue praying for the outreach.

Thanks and God bless.

New board of directors

Martha and I are very excited about Love In Action's new board of directors. We prayed for most of this year about who to ask to serve on the board and God has assembled a great team.

Our new board members are: Susie Tuck, Mike Shroades, Justin Swasey, Brian Turner and Dwight Deal. All of them have a great heart for the homeless and poor, and they all have the same vision that God has given us for Love In Action.

Susie is my mom. She's been active with Love In Action from the beginning. She has done a tremendous amount of work for us over the years, including helping with outreaches throughout the country, getting us donations of money and items, and speaking at churches about the ministry. She's an awesome woman of God.

Mike is a co-founder of Love In Action. Mike and I founded this ministry eight years ago and it would take a long time to write everything we have experienced. It would also take a long time to tell you how much Mike means to Martha and me. He's more than a brother and more than a minister. He is an awesome man of God and one of the best leaders - in or out of the church - that I have ever had the privilege of working with. He has a tremendous heart for people.

Justin is another awesome man of God. His a tremendous leader with great ideas. He has a big heart for the lost and hurting. Justin has traveled the country with us over the years as well. There are many stories we could share about those experiences. Justin has the ability to minister to children and youth unlike anyone I've ever seen before. No matter where we're at, the children will flock to him.

Brian is an awesome man of God with strong leadership skills. He's a hard worker and a man of his word. If he says he's going to do something, he will do it. He has a heart for people and for ministry. Brian was a catalyst for us getting our warehouse. He's a strong teacher of the Bible, and has become a great friend.

Dwight is pure energy. He's an awesome man of God who wants to help the "least of these." Dwight has helped us out in so many ways the past few months. From making contacts to getting the giant mud hole in front of the garage door at our warehouse fixed to helping us plan for various outreaches, he has been a tremendous blessing. He's become Love In Action's top chef too. Well, Dwight and Don Swanson are our top chefs. Dwight has also become a great friend.

We are excited about 2009. With a strong team assembled, I know God has many great things for us to do next year and in the years to come. We have a very ambitious schedule for 2009, which we discussed at our first board meeting Monday night. I'll share more on that later.

Thanks to Mama, Mike, Justin, Brian and Dwight for agreeing to serve with us. Martha and I love and appreciate each of you. I ask that all of you reading this blog to keep all seven of us in your prayers.

Thanks and God bless.

Looking forward to Christmas outreach

We're getting ready for our annual Shoeboxes for the Homeless Christmas Outreach. Martha and I spent most of the day at the warehouse putting together shoeboxes.

It's going to be another great outreach next weekend with our friends in Atlanta at Eagle's Nest Community Church. We will have a service, cook and serve a delicious Christmas meal, and then give the shoebox gifts to the homeless.

We're excited about the team of volunteers that will join us in Atlanta. There will be volunteers from Dothan, Ozark and Enterprise, Ala., and Atlanta and Rome, Ga. Christians from different churches coming together to reach the lost and hurting for Jesus. That's how the Body of Christ is suppose to work. No banner other than Jesus Christ will be raised.

Please be in prayer for this very important outreach.

Thanks and God bless.

Great Bible study

The new small Bible study group we've started with Dave, Bryan and Russ continues to be great. We met tonight once again at the Atlanta Bread Company (the butternut squash soup with sour cream is delicious by the way). Bryan had to work tonight, but Russ, Dave and his girlfriend Debbie were all there.

As we started our Bible study, a man walked up to the table and asked, "You are Ken, right?" I had sent an e-mail out the other day to people in the Dothan, Ala., area on the Love In Action e-mail list asking if anyone had any leads on jobs for Dave and Russ. Someone forwarded the e-mail to this man. Through his job he helps people find jobs. He told us about a job at a steel fabrication plant here in Dothan. I quickly introduced him to Russ and Dave. He then made a phone call and the person told him that he would hold that job and see if Dave could do it. Praise God! We'll find out more tomorrow.

That guy had a couple of things that Russ was interested in too that deals with some struggles in his life. Plus, I'm going to help Russ put a resume together and turn it into that steel fabrication plant, because he has a lot of experience in that line of work.

The topic of our Bible study was "Assurance." Assurance in our salvation in Jesus Christ. All of the verses just jumped out at us and we had a lot of great discussion. Philippians 1:6 was one of the verses we studied tonight. It reads, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."

Dave and Russ know that God has began a good work in them and that He is perfecting it. Martha and I realize that too. These Bible studies haven't just been for Dave, Bryan and Russ. It's been for us too. It's been awesome. Debbie enjoyed it tonight too and will join us as she's able too. She's in extremely bad health. Please pray for her.

Then a very awesome thing happened. Russ and his wife are separated. As we were on the last part of our Bible study, Shanon walked through the doors. Shanon said she wasn't going to stop as she was driving by, but she couldn't go by. After joining us, she said, "This is the Russ I fell in love with." There is hope in that situation, and they both know that Jesus is that hope.

It's amazing what God is doing in the lives of three homeless men. Martha and I truly believe God is restoring their lives. We're seeing it happening. They all still have a ways to go, but they're smiling again, they're now serious about living for Jesus, and they want stability in their lives again. Also, they all want to serve with Love In Action.

That's awesome! That's God!

Thanksgiving Day video

I finally had time to finish the video from our Thanksgiving Day outreach.
Thanks again to all of the volunteers, First United Methodist Church in Dothan, Ala., and Mama Tina's Mission House in Dothan.

You can also see a slideshow from the outreach on our Web site at www.loveinactionministries.com