What a night!

The band "From the Heart" led worship at Celebrate Recovery Tuesday night at the LIA Ministry Center.

Wow! What an incredibly awesome, wonderful, amazing, miraculous, unbelievable night at Celebrate Recovery Tuesday night at the Love In Action Ministry Center. There really aren't words to properly describe what happened. All I know is God is AWESOME and He really did some amazing thngs last night.

We had a record crowd for our Celebrate Recovery with 105 people. Praise God! We keep growing, and that's exciting. That means more lives changing through the power of God. Our cook, Diana, prepared yet another delicious dinner and we had enough for everyone.

A band called "From the Heart" led worship. This was their first time playing at Celebrate Recovery, but it won't be their last. They are incredible. I would recommend them for anyone looking for a band to come and play. Once I get the video edited and posted on our Web site, be sure to watch it. You will be blessed.

They really rocked the house. When they sung "Jesus is the best thing to ever happen to me," the Holy Spirit really filled the ministry center. You could feel the presence of God. When they finished singing, instead of us going right into the message, I felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to have an altar call; a time of prayer. So that's what we did.

I don't know how many people came forward, but many did. It was an awesome time of prayer. When it was over, two women had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and at least one man received a healing. Praise God!

The man had an injury that damaged nerves in his arm. I'm not saying the nerves are healed. He will find that out when he goes to a specialist. But he had a lot of swelling in his arm and hand for the past two days. He showed his hand to me at the beginning of the night and it was really swollen.

After praying for his healing, the swelling immediately went down and you could see the veins in his hands again. He could make a fist without pain for the first time in two days. I talked with him this morning and he's still doing good. He took his arm out of the brace last night and woke up feeling good. He's still going to the doctor. That's only wisdom, and he needs the doctor to clear him to work again. Our prayer is the doctor will look at his arm, find nothing wrong, and give him the OK to work.

Emily then shared a wonderful word and even more people came up for prayer when she was finished.

New volunteers came last night. They were excited and said they are coming back. Praise God! More people getting involved and finding their place is an ongoing prayer. God continues to grow LIA and CR, so we need more and more volunteers.

Martha and I are so excited about what God is doing. And, we're so humbled just to be a part of it. All the praise, honor and glory goes to God. He is the One doing it all. Those of us who volunteer our time, give of our finances, donated items to bless others, are experiencing what it's really like to be God's hands and feet.

Thank you for all of you who pray, volunteer and support Love In Action. Together, we are all making an eternal difference. Praise God!

Expanding the LIA Ministry Center

Martha and I are so excited about what God is doing through Love In Action, and the ministry has grown so much that it is time to expand the Love In Action Ministry Center in Dothan, Ala.

We held a meeting last Thursday to share the vision and 35 people attended. The great thing is about 80 percent of them had never been to the LIA Ministry Center. They had read about it and watched videos on our Web site, but had never visited. That's what we were hoping for, because that means more people who are interested in getting involved.

To further meet the needs of the homeless and needy in our hometown of Dothan, Ala., we need to add another restroom, install two showers, build a laundry room, and construct and outfit a full-service kitchen. Then, the homeless can come in and take showers and have their clothes washed. The homeless really do care about their hygiene, and this will help meet that need. It is also good for them when they have job interviews. The little money they do make working temporary jobs don't go far at laundry mats, so this will be an extra blessing for them. A bath and laundry ministry is a great way to reach the homeless. We have helped four other ministries around the nation start a bath ministry. Now we have the facility to start one. Praise God!

The kitchen would open up a wide array of ministry opportunities. We could serve breakfast, lunch and/or dinner during the week and/or weekends.

This will also expand our ministry area, which will be a great blessing. We are averaging 70-80 people every Tuesday night for Celebrate Recovery, and that will continue to grow. On Wednesday's we are averaging 30 for Bible study and discipleship classes, and that number will continue to grow as well. Last Thanksgiving we had 200 people at our Thanksgiving outreach, and we had 180 for Christmas.

This expansion will give people in the Dothan area more opportunities to serve the homeless and needy. It's time, and we're moving forward with our first-ever building project.

Here is a breakdown of everything, including the bids that we have received:

1. Floor covering:
Scope of work (about 8,000 sq. ft.):
- Remove existing VCT from front of ministry center to firewall
- Prepare floors to receive new VCT
- Install new VCT & vinyl base
Labor & Materials: $12,500

2. Plumbing:
Scope of work:
- Demo floors & walls to rough in plumbing
- Provide new bath fixtures (showers, lavatories, toilets)
- Installation
Labor & Materials: No charge

3. Doors:
Scope of work:
- Provide fire rated frame & steel doors at firewall
- Provide wood frames & doors for interior
Labor & Materials: $2,793

4. Store front (optional)
Scope of work:
- Provide pair of aluminum doors 1/4 glass
Labor & Materials: $1,650

5. Roll up door
Scope of Work:
- Provide & install 8'X10' fireproof roll up door
Labor & Materials: No charge

6. Metal framing/sheet rock/ceilings:
Scope of work:
- Frame firewall with 6" metal studs
- Frame bathroom/showers/laundry room/kitchen with 4" metal studs
- Acoustical ceiling in above areas
- Hang & finish sheet rock in new areas
- Firewall to receive 5/8" sheet rock on both sides (1 hour rating); 1/2" in other areas
- Will provide labor to construct walls & ceilings at no cost and will supervise hanging and finishing of sheet rock, also at no cost
Labor & Materials: $6,536

7. Insulation:
Scope of work:
- Provide 3-and-one-half-inch insulation for all new walls
Labor & Materials: $500

8. Demo:
Scope of work:
- Demo exterior walls to receive new door & frames
- Support openings with steel framing
- Install new door & frames (excludes store front)
- Install steel support for existing roll up door
Labor & Materials: $3,432

9. Steel:
Scope of work:
- Provide all steel needed to support exterior door openings
Materials: No charge

10. Package 3-ton heat pump & A/C for classrooms:
Scope of work:
- Roof unit for existing classrooms
Labor & Materials: $6,000

11. Sprinkler system:
Scope of work:
- Add sprinkler system in all new areas
Labor & Materials: $4,100

12. Security system:
- $70/month

13. Consulting services: No charge

Total cost of project: $37,511. If not for the donations of labor and materials by some of the bidders, the project would cost nearly $60,000, so you can see how God is already blessing this step of faith.

We are doing everything by city code, and items like the firewall and exterior doors are things the city requires us to do, and it all makes sense for safety reasons.

Our goal is to raise $40,000 and do the entire project. Our first goal to meet is $10,000 by Easter. That's just six weeks away, but we believe God will provide.

What can you do to help? First, please pray for us. Then, donate money to help us reach this goal. If you are receiving an income tax return, please consider giving some of it to help. Tell others about it and ask them to donate. Talk with your pastors and tell them what Love In Action is doing. We are available to come speak to your church about Love In Action. Talk with business men and women and ask them to donate.

When construction begins, we will need help cleaning up, because we will still hold Celebrate Recovery and Bible study during the construction. We will need help painting and other things as they arise.

Please pray about what you can do to help us reach even more of the homeless and needy in Dothan with the love of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 334-494-4995 or email me at loveinactionministries@hotmail.com

Thank you and may God bless you.

Don't forget meeting on Feb. 18

Just a reminder for all of you who live in Dothan and the Wiregrass area that we will have our "Catch the Love In Action Ministry Center Vision" meeting tomorrow night, Thursday, Feb. 18, at 6:30 at the LIA Ministry Center, which is located at 1140 Montgomery Hwy., Dothan, to the right of the Piggly Wiggly. You can click this link for a Google map if you need further directions: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=109841177010684357023.00047f99421704757dc7d&ll=31.240123,-85.398252&spn=0.016512,0.038581&z=15

We're excited about the expansion of the LIA Ministry Center, and hope you can become involved in further helping us meet the needs of the homeless and needy. You don't have to know how to build a wall or run electricity to attend this meeting. It's for everyone who is interested in joining us in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion. You will see and hear the vision of the ministry and discover ways you can and/or will be able to become involved. For those of you who already serve with us, please attend too. There are exciting opportunities coming up that you will want to know about. Please keep this meeting in your prayers.

Thank you again for all of your prayers and for supporting Love In Action, so we can serve the "least of these brothers of mine." Matthew 25:40. Please visit our Web site for a preview video of this meeting: http://www.loveinactionministries.com/

In His Service,

Ken Tuck
President
Love In Action International Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302
334-494-4995
www.loveinactionministries.com
http://twitter.com/liaministries
http://liaministries.blogspot.com

Come and catch the vision Feb. 18

For the past 10 years, Love In Action International Ministries has proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion by putting feet to Matthew 25:35-36 as we go into the inner cities and reach out to the homeless and needy.

Many of you have joined us over the past decade to help us show the love of Jesus Christ to the homeless throughout the nation. Now as we enter a new decade, we need your assistance to help us do even more to reach more people.

People in our cities are very much like the people described in Matthew 9:36, “When he (Jesus) saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

Then look what Jesus told 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."

As Christians, we are His workers, so let’s work together and watch God bring forth the harvest.

We help people with their physical needs – food, hygiene items, and clothing. As we reach them through acts of compassion, the door swings wide open to show them their number one need - Jesus.

Love In Action has grown tremendously. God has transformed our warehouse into a ministry center where the homeless, needy and Houston County work release inmates receive discipleship training through Wednesday night Bible studies, and life-changing experiences through Celebrate Recovery every Tuesday night.

There is much more we could do to reach and help the homeless and needy in Dothan through the LIA Ministry Center, but we need your help to make that happen. We need to construct another bathroom, put in two showers, a laundry room and a full-service kitchen.

We need people who can give us ideas and wisdom on how to best accomplish everything. We need people who can donate supplies and finances.

Each of us know people who can help. If we all come together and come up with a plan, we can see all of this happen in 2010 and reach more people with the love and life-transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Please join us at the LIA Ministry Center on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 6:30 p.m. The LIA Ministry Center is located at 1140 Montgomery Hwy., Dothan, to the right of the Piggly Wiggly.

Please join us and help us proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through acts of compassion in even more powerful and effective ways. We need you. The homeless need you.

I’m looking forward to seeing you on Feb. 18, and if you know of others who would want to be involved please bring them with you and forward this letter to them.

In His Service,

Ken Tuck
President
Love In Action International Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 85
Dothan, AL 36302
334-494-4995

www.loveinactionministries.com
http://twitter.com/liaministries
http://liaministries.blogspot.com

Plenty going on at Love In Action

We are staying busy at Love In Action, where there is always something going on.

We are working hard preparing for the big Feb. 18 meeting at the Love In Action Ministry Center. We are inviting anyone who is interested in helping us reach the homeless to attend this meeting, which begins at 6:30. We are going to share the vision for the LIA Ministry Center, and then brainstorm on how we can accomplish it. Please attend if at all possible. I will be blogging more about this meeting.

We have Celebrate Recovery every Tuesday night at 6:30, and this Tuesday we have a very special guest speaker, Gene Oden. Gene is the pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Enterprise, Ala. He has a great testimony, and Crossroads is a great supporter of LIA. We are looking forward to having Gene and his wife Leslie at CR. Tuesday is also their wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary Gene and Leslie.

Keep the Oden's son, Max, in your prayers. He's in Haiti working with a ministry who has orphanges in a remote part of Haiti. He will be in Haiti this week. Please pray for his safety, and that God will work through him mightily. Max is a photographer and his photos will show what's going on in that region of Haiti. It's a region that hasn't received much coverage.

On Wednesday nights we are having discipleship training. Franklin Moore is teaching Discipleship Phase 1 and I am teaching Phase 2. These are awesome courses written by Ralph Sigler, who is the lead pastor of Harvest Church in Dothan, Ala. It's awesome seeing people grow and their lives changed. And it's not just those going through the courses who are growing and changing. Those of us teaching are too.

Every weekend we receive a lot of bread that we distribute to the homeless and needy. We receive a wide variety of loaves of bread, croissants, bagels, focaccias, baguettes, danishes, etc. We usually have enough to share with our friends at Overcomers in Christ, who also minister to the homeless.

We had an extra blessing to distribute this past weekend. In addition to the bread, we had fresh brown hen eggs to deliver. A wonderful couple from New Brockton, Ala., donated the eggs. The people we serve were very appreciative of the eggs.

We have several of our folks looking for jobs. These three men were homeless last year, but we helped them come out of the woods and off the streets into their own homes. They had jobs, but got laid off. So please keep them in your prayers.

We are also trying to find a car for a former homeless couple. They lived in their car until they moved into their own home last month. Then their car died. They both have jobs and are fearful of losing them and their home without a car. We have been taking them to work and picking them up, as have some people from Harvest. The problem is some times our schedules don't work out. See, Martha and I work full time jobs, so we're not always available to give them rides. Please keep them in your prayers, and that a car will come through soon.

Martha and I enjoyed being on "Small Talk" with Seletha Small on Magic 93.1 FM this past Saturday. Seletha called and said she had heard so much about LIA that she wanted to meet us. Then she asked if we could come on her show. During the show she shared some of her testimony about when she was homeless in Orlando. It was a great show. You can watch some of it on our Web site at www.loveinactionministries.com

Don't forget that every Thursday I am on the WAQG 91.7 FM with Debbie Irby. We talk about what God is doing through LIA and play good contemporary Christian music. We always have fun, so tune in. There is also a link on our Web site so you can listen online.

So, as you can see there is always something going on at Love In Action. Thank you for your prayers and support. We can't do it without you.

New discipleship cycle underway

Jesus gives us the Great Commission 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."

At Love In Action we take the Great Commission seriously. It's obvious that Jesus doesn't want us to be people who just sit on chairs or pews each Sunday. He wants us to be active. He said to "go." You can't do that sitting still.

Then Jesus tells us to make disciples. We are to go out and tell people about Jesus, then teach them about Him.

Wednesday began a new cycle of discipleship classes at the Love In Action Ministry Center. Franklin Moore is teaching Discipleship Phase 1 and I'm teaching Discipleship Phase 2. We have at least 18 in the Phase 1 class and nine in Phase 2.

I would like to thank Harvest Church for providing the material to teach both classes. Our pastor, Ralph Sigler, wrote the courses and Sean Nix is the Life Group Pastor of Harvest who oversees the discipleship classes.

It's awesome to see the homeless, the needy, and the men and women from the Houston County Work Release program grow in Jesus Christ. Lives are being changed, and Martha and I praise God for it all.