A great Saturday; new homeless friends

Today was a great day as we held a work day at the Love In Action Ministry Center. We got a lot done as about 15 people came out to help. From cleaning furniture to picking up furniture to sorting and organizing, we accomplished a lot.

A great thing about those helping is they came from at least four different churches, and four the people helping were men we have helped come off the streets. It's great seeing them help like that. It means they care about what happens at the LIA Ministry Center.

We will have another work day on April 10 at 8 a.m. until noon. We will be getting set up for the charity auction and doing more sorting and organizing of items.

My favorite part of Saturday occurred about 1:30 p.m. That's when we met five new friends. A friend of LIA, Sean Nix, had met five homeless people who live in the woods. He earned their trust, so when he told them they were invited to the Love In Action Ministry Center for lunch, they came.

Ricky and Patrick fried fish, which were perfectly cook, and Emily and Diana helped with the rest of the food preparation and some of the cooking. So we had a great lunch for all of the volunteers and for our new homeless friends - Bill, Kenny, Nathan, Brad and MJ.

We welcomed them and talked with them as they ate. We made sure they felt welcomed and let them know they are welcome at the LIA Ministry Center any time. I explained our expansion to them, and you should have seen their eyes light up when I mentioned we were going to install showers and a laundry room. Oh, how I wish we already had it built, but we're so close to being able to start with the construction. All in God's perfect will and timing.

I told them that they were welcome to have anything we had that would be use to them. They found a tent, blankets, boots, hygiene items, clothes, a sleeping bag, and food. One of the men has a pickup truck and we nearly filled the back of it with supplies.

They were very thankful, and you could tell they were glad they came. They said they would start coming on Tuesday nights for our Celebrate Recovery. One of them told me he was an alcoholic and that he wanted help. Celebrate Recovery will be a great first step for him.

We had a small Coleman stove and we gave that to them. They needed fuel for it, so I told them that I would go get some later in the day and bring it to them. It's so important to keep your word. That's how you earn trust.

I did that, plus picked them up a little cookware. They were so thankful for all of that. Then they did something which showed me that I have their trust. They invited me to their camp. In the homeless population that's a huge thing. They don't want everyone knowing where they live. So I was honored to be invited into their "home."

A big reason why they trust us at Love In Action is Sean had already earned their trust. So, if he recommended us, in their eyes we must be good people. Yet another example of the Body of Christ working together to change lives for eternity.

I can see the potential in our new friends, and I know what God can do in their lives. I told Sean, if they let us work with them, people will not recognize them a year from now. I can see them serving and worshiping Jesus, working and living in their own homes. Please pray for them, and please pray for us as we minister to them.

Thanks to those who pray for us, give financially, donate items and your time to support LIA, we are seeing lives change by the power of God.

Thank you Jesus for all that you have done, are doing and will do.