A sweet week at Love In Action

Mama Tuck and Virginia served up some delicious food inside Love In Action’s
Connected Coffee Cafe this past Thursday.

As I write this blog post, I’m sitting in a Birmingham hospital cafeteria wishing I hadn’t eaten that bacon, egg and cheese croissant. I’m not much on burnt croissant with paper-thin bacon. Where’s the real, thick bacon?

I look to my right and see a gentleman sitting at the table next to me looking like he is enjoying his biscuits and gravy. I should have ordered biscuits with gravy.  I wish I would have ordered some gravy to bury this croissant.

My friend, my young brother in the Lord, is in surgery as I sit here sipping my hot coffee beverage watching the cool rain bounce off the pavement outside and water what looks like would be the perfect Christmas tree growing just outside the cafeteria windows.

As I wait, watch the rain and watch people meandering through the cafeteria line, I find myself thinking about this past week of ministry at Love In Action. It was one of the busiest weeks we’ve had. The needs in Dothan are many, and I’m thankful God blesses us to help.

In three days, we served 440 plates of food; helped 140 individuals and families with food, hygiene items and clothes (around 200 people total); and took care of 16 patients at the Samaritan Clinic. Martha, Pamela and Dan will serve more food today as our friend and LIA volunteer Stan Sullivan hooks up our mobile kitchen to his Chevy Silverado and drives to sites where people are hungry.

We’ve encountered some knuckleheads during the week as usual, but who hasn’t been a knucklehead in their lives? I know I have, and I’m still not immune to being a bonehead. God loves us all, no matter if we’re knuckleheads, boneheads, hard heads, or act like a nincompoop.

Through all of our imperfections, God has worked mightily through our staff and volunteers this week. We saw a young homeless woman, who is new to Dothan, come to Jesus this week. She wasn’t sure if she would go to Heaven when she dies and wanted to know without a doubt. We are praying and encouraging her to take the next steps now of becoming a disciple of Jesus.

We met another homeless woman who is also new to Dothan. Her husband just landed a good job, but an old Buick with faded and flaking paint is still their home. As happens often, a promise of a good paying construction job with benefits brought them to Dothan. It never materialized. With no home to return to, they didn’t have much choice but to stay in Dothan and make the best of it.

While her husband started his new job yesterday, she sat out to find food, gas money, direction ... any help available to get them through this tough stretch. With tear-soaked eyes and a look of frustration and defeat, she walked into Love In Action.

She left smiling with hope for her and her husband. She was hungry, we gave her plates of fried chicken, butter beans, turnip greens and cornbread. She was thirsty and we gave her water. She needed clothes, so she was able to pick out some nice clothes. Kind of sounds like Matthew 25:35-40, doesn’t it. That’s the scripture Love In Action was founded on 19 years ago, and we will always obey God’s call to help and love the “least of these.”

She also received a full tank of gas. While that’s not in Matthew 25, it was a vital need for them.

We saw a homeless man reconnected, and we pray restored, to his family. He gave his life to Jesus last week, and when he talked to his dad this week, his dad told him to come home. He should have just pulled out of the Dothan Greyhound bus station, a.k.a. Flying J, heading home. What a fast restoration story! Nothing is impossible for God.

Those are only a few of many stories from this week. To God be the glory! I thank God for my wife and ministry partner, and for Pamela and Dan. They are awesome people to do ministry with. I thank God for all of our wonderful volunteers. They are all truly incredible people.

I’m so thankful for everyone who donates financially to Love In Action. Without people’s generosity, these stories coulnd’t be told. And, to those who donate items we need such as beanie weannies, Vienna sausages, tents, socks and underwear, to name a handful of items, thank you.

It’s amazing seeing how God brings people together from many different walks of life, and in different ways, to make an eternal difference in the lives of the homeless in Dothan, Alabama. Our God is truly awesome!

Well, the rain has stopped for now. I guess I need to get up from behind this keyboard and throw the burnt remains of my croissant away. Oh, three women are now sitting at the table next to me with a big King Cake. I wonder if they will share? Another woman has a brownie. Where was that when I ordered breakfast? Dessert for breakfast? Sure, why not?

The brownie looks sweet, but not as sweet as this week at Love In Action.

An encouraging start to 2019

This little guy tugged on my shirt after an awesome service at The Harbor last Saturday
night and said, "I want to be saved." Jesus says we must come to Him like a child. Amen!

This year is off to a fast start. I can't believe we are over halfway through February. It's been pretty much non-stop, but it's been a year that's brought much encouragement as we share Jesus with our homeless friends and our friends who live in poverty here in Dothan.

The most exciting and encouraging part is seeing people come to Jesus, and so far 12 have made decisions for Jesus at Love In Action this year. Praise God! That's why we do this ministry. Providing food and clothes is great, but giving people Jesus is the greatest thing we can do for anyone.

The ministry continues to expand, especially the food ministry. We are now serving 400-plus plates of food each week to our friends, and that will only increase as we expand our mobile kitchen outreaches.

To accommodate, we are upgrading our kitchen. Thanks to local businesses, we are able to expand our food ministry. We have added two more commercial ovens, thanks to Cracker Barrel donating two ovens to us. We just have to do a little work on them and they will be ready to cook. We've added three stainless steel tables in the kitchen thanks to Bill Dorminy and Goldfingers. That helps make our serving of food and preparing plates for the mobile kitchen much more efficient. CAE USA of Dothan has doubled the amount of food they cook for us daily to 80 plates.

Talk about encouraging. To have local businesses involved in helping the "least of these" in our community is awesome. We truly live in the most caring city in the world.

More encouragement comes from our friends we serve. They have commented over and over how much they enjoy the coffee house where we serve all of the meals now. There is more room and more of a relaxing feel. It also gives us better opportunities to sit down and talk with our friends and pray with them.

Those we serve with the mobile kitchen are encouraging. For example, last Friday a homeless man we had never met before got a plate of food from our mobile kitchen. He then walked over to me and said, "I love you, man," as he hugged me. That was genuine appreciation.

The unity between ministries is very encouraging. We are doing more and more with The Ark and The Harbor. The more we do together, the more souls are saved and more needs are met.

We have only had to open the warming shelter once this year,  but when we did a man made a decision for Jesus. That was ministry collaboration between First Baptist Church (host of the warming shelter) and The Harbor and Love In Action.

This past Saturday, I was invited to preach at The Harbor's Saturday night service. It was an awesome night as we all ministered together. The result? An altar overflowing with people responding to Jesus. I saw 10-12 come to altar, and then the flood gates opened and many more came forward. Some needed to give their lives to Jesus. Others needed prayer to be set free from different things, and some wanted more of Jesus in their lives.

After an extended time of worship, a little boy, who had been patiently waiting to talk to me, walked over and tugged on my shirt. He looked at me and said, "I want to be saved." Wow! How awesome is that? Jesus tells us we must come to Him like a child. I asked him questions while explaining salvation to make sure he understood, and he did. I pray God works through him to reach is whole family and his friends.

I believe this is only the beginning of what God wants to do in Dothan. The more we show people Jesus, and the more we, as the Body of Christ, show unity in reaching others, we will see greater things happen.

Encouraging? You better believe it. I am encouraged and excited about everything God has planned for the rest of 2019.

'Y'all saved my life'

Martha serves plates of food from our food trailer to couple of our friends.

As we delivered plates of food to the homeless and those who are home insecure on Saturday, I knocked on the door of a local hotel room. A woman opened the door, looked at me, smiled and said, "I'm still here."

She wasn't talking about still being at the hotel. She was saying, "I'm still alive." I said, "Praise God," and we hugged. Two years ago she was a patient at the Samaritan Clinic. Our volunteer doctors discovered she had lung cancer. She went through treatment and is "still here."

"Y'all saved my life," she said smiling. "Thank you."

She walked out to our food trailer to see Martha and receive a plate of food. She thanked Martha, too.

I praise God for all He has done and is doing in the lives of the homeless here in Dothan. Thanks to our volunteers, people are coming to Jesus because of their acts of kindness. Like this sweet woman. She praised God for what He did for her through the Samaritan Clinic. If our doctors and medical staff didn't volunteer their time and talents, she probably would not be alive today.

Our wonderful volunteers touch hundreds of lives every week. While they may not realize it at the moment, they are making a difference for eternity. It's like the five people who made decisions for Jesus on Saturday at Love In Action. They have been coming to LIA for a while. They have heard the Gospel and experienced the love of Jesus through our volunteers. All of those seeds planted by words and actions came to fruition on Saturday.

Thank you to all of our volunteers. We need more volunteers. Please come join us. Here is a link to our weekly schedule, https://loveinactionministries.com/dothan/weekly-schedule

Come join us and make an eternal difference in the lives of the homeless and those living in poverty here in our community.

An awesome and humbling year at Love in Action

Serving the homeless and needy with our new food trailer
expanded our food ministry in 2018.

Seeing people come to Jesus is why we do what we do.

It's awesome and very humbling when looking back at all God did in and through Love In Action in 2018.

Here are just some of the highlights:

- More than 80 of our homeless and needy friends here in Dothan, Alabama, made decisions for Jesus.

- Martha and Ken witnessed more than 100 people, most of whom were previously unreached with the Gospel, come to Jesus in India and Myanmar during mission trips to both countries. More than 1,000 more came to Jesus in India, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Haiti and Philippines where we partner with indigenous pastors and missionaries.

- Served more than 10,000 meals to our homeless and needy friends in Dothan, Alabama. That is a record number for us in one year.

- Served more than 1,000 patients at the Samaritan Clinic on the campus of Love In Action in Dothan, Alabama. That is a record number for one year.

- Taught the discipleship method Training for Trainers (T4T) to more than 125 people in Dothan, India and Myanmar.

- Baptized new believers in Dothan.

-  New roofs were put on the Love In Action buildings ... paid for in full. This was an answer to a long-time prayer requests.

- Purchased a new food trailer to expand our food ministry. The food trailer was paid for in full.

- Purchased a bus to expand our transportation ministry. The bus was paid for in full.

- Started ministering on the radio on The JoyFM with the "Love In Action Minute" and "Sunday Morning with Love In Action."

- More people involved with Love In Action than ever in financial giving, donation of items, volunteers, and fundraisers.

- A stronger bond of unity with The Ark and The Harbor to better reach and serve the homeless and needy in Dothan, Alabama.

- Seeing more fruit being produced among the homeless in Dothan. Toward the end of the year we saw more hope in the homeless community than ever before.

Providing dental care for the homeless is one of many
blessings of the Samaritan Clinic.

This man in Myanmar gave his life to Jesus during our
 mission trip, was baptized, and is being taught
T4T to become a disciple of Jesus.

We provided water filters to give safe, clean
drinking water for people in rural villages during
our mission trip to India.

Thank you for an awesome year

As 2018 comes to a close today, I want to say a big "Thank You," first to God and then to everyone who made this the best year in our 18 years of ministry.

We thank God for His son, Jesus Christ, and for the opportunity to serve Him through the ministries of Love In Action. We thank God for His Holy Spirit moving through His people to touch tens of thousands of lives this year. We thank God for all the souls saved and lives changed by His power in 2018.

Thank you to everyone who gave financially throughout the year. Without your generosity of investing into the Kingdom of God, we could not have accomplished everything we did this year. You definitely understand Matthew 6:19-21, "Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Thank you to all of our volunteers. Without your servant's hearts we could not have shown the love of Jesus to thousands of homeless and needy people in Dothan, Alabama, this year. All of you exemplify the kind of Christian John wrote about in 1 John 3:18, "let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."

Thank you to everyone who donated items such as food, hygiene items, clothes, camping supplies, and more throughout 2018. Your giving helped us meet physical needs of our homeless and needy friends, which opened doors of hearts to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "If a brother or sister is  poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled,' without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." - James 2:15-17. You put action to your faith by giving items our homeless and needy friends are in need of. Thank you for being doers of the Word and not hearers only. (James 1:22)

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us in 2018. Your prayers are powerful, because of the One you pray to, and the fact that we know God hears your prayers. "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." - 1 John 5:14

Thank you to all of our brothers and sisters we are blessed to serve with in the Philippines, Myanmar, China, India, Pakistan and Haiti for your dedication and zeal for Jesus and reaching the lost in your countries. Many of those you reach have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of you live in persecution and the threat of persecution for your faith. You all inspire me greatly. I think of Matthew 5:12 when thinking of all of you, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in Heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

I thank God for our Love In Action Board of Directors - Bill Dorminy, Mike Shroades, Ted and Karen Hils, Grant Faulk, Justin Swasey, Shaun Cast, and Mama Tuck. Thank you for your leadership, wisdom, love and support. Martha and I cannot tell each of you enough how much we love and appreciate all of you. "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers." (1 Thessalonians 1:2)

Thank you to our staff, Pamela Johnson and Dan Levy. Martha and I couldn't think of two other people we would rather serve with. Both of you have big hearts to serve Jesus and lead people to Him. You both have hearts for helping those in need, and desiring to see them come off the streets and experience God's goodness. Thank you both for taking our Lord's Great Commission serious to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with your always, even to the end of the age."

Thank you to my beautiful bride and ministry partner. Martha has as pure of a heart of anyone I've ever met. She loves unconditionally, and our homeless and needy friends, and those around the world where we've been blessed to minister, know she truly loves them when she tells them. LIA wouldn't be what it is without her servant's heart and leadership. I wouldn't be half the man I am without her.

Martha is the epitome of the Proverbs 31 woman, and she is a perfect example of Proverbs 31:20, "She extends her hand to the poor, and she stretches out her hands to the needy."

All of you have helped us throughout 2018 to fulfill the scripture Love In Action is based on, Matthew 25:35-40: "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; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? The King will answer and say to them, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'"

Thank you one and all. I pray the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."

I look forward to all God has planned for all of us in 2019.