Important Announcements – Christ Cares Oct. 2012

upcoming special events, resources & Volunteer needs:

* Tuesday, Oct. 30 – Scott Reese is speaking at a seminar sponsored by Christian Service Ministries. 7 pm “Caring for the unemployed person in your church or community–getting at emotional & spiritual needs” at Faith Christian Reformed Church.  Free.  Please reserve a seat by calling Jan Visser 708-307-2370

* Wednesday, Oct. 31 – We are helping three Christian Alternative Activities on Halloween Night. CANDY DONATIONS ARE NEEDED! PLEASE CALL & LET US KNOW  YOU CAN HELP. 708-539-8939

* Saturday, Nov. 3 – Christ Cares is sponsoring an Evangelism Training. Please help spread the word. 8:30 a.m. Breakfast & Fellowship, 9:15 – 10:30 a.m. Evangelism Training – How to Share your faith. At New Life Baptist Church – 1633 Wilson Ave., Chicago Heights IL.

The great commission was not just given to pastors! One of our greatest responsibilities of Christians is to share the “Good News”. We will share how to do this and empower you with gospel tracts so you’ll be ready when God opens a door of opportunity. Fliers are available for your church.

* Sunday, Nov. 4 – Scott is preaching at the Chinese Church – do you have any unchurched Chinese friends, neighbors, or co workers? contact us for info.

* Saturday, Nov. 10 – Rozetta Baptist Church is visiting us from Central Illinois. They will be helping us with a community outreach meal in Roseland and then a one day Vacation Bible School in Chicago Heights. We need help with transportation of urban youth for this activity (afternoon).

* Saturday, Nov. 17 – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – WE HAVE THREE ACTIVITIES GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME!!!

• We have a meal that needs to be picked up in Crete IL and delivered to Roseland (Chicago). This is for a Community Outreach Meal for the poor & homeless.
• We need help picking up and transporting 50 thanksgiving baskets from the Agape Center in Chicago to Chicago Heights. We also are looking for freezer  space for Saturday/Sunday.
• We are partnering with Orland Park Christian Reformed Church in another “Make a Difference Day” – a one day VBS type activity & thanksgiving meal. WE NEED HELP TRANSPORTING ABOUT 100 HOMELESS & URBAN YOUTH FOR THIS ACTIVITY – PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU CAN DRIVE FOR THIS – ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE A VAN…

* Sunday, Nov. 18 – we are distributing “Boxes of Love” Thanksgiving Baskets. We are grateful that the Agape Center – CRU’s (Campus Crusade) Here’s Life Inner City is donating 50 Thanksgiving Baskets. WE COULD USE ADDITIONAL THANKSGIVING BOX DONATIONS – PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU CAN HELP.

* (Reminder / mark your calendar – the due date for “Christ the Greatest Gift Christmas Toy Drive” is   Dec. 16, 2012)

* OTHER NEEDS – 1) A sandwich sign to help better promote our Roseland Community meals  2) An HD quality video camera (donation or allowing us to borrow it) to empower us to make a much needed fund raising video.

* PRAYER REQUESTS –

1) My (Scott’s) brother Lane is having trouble with his leukemia again and is going through a challenging time. The day before he found out, his wife (Marlina) lost her job and his state of health has made it difficult for Lane to work – so on top of the health concerns they have financial pressure. The week after they found out, they had a fire at his house and they lost everything in their bedroom.  He has already started chemo. There is a good chance that I will need to go down to Texas this December to do a stem cell transplant. This is a very serious situation & I’d appreciate your prayers. If you’d like to send him a note of encouragement or help, his address is: Lane Reese – 403 S. Main, Aubrey, Tx. 76227

2) We are in process of putting in place some new programs to share God’s love to the area’s homeless through the PADS program. PADS is a wonderful organization that uses churches to house the homeless one night a week, however there is no spiritual component to this. We are praying for wisdom and provision to inspire and empower these churches to add a voluntary Bible Study before or after this program. (More info in the article below)

Ladies, did you ever have a bad hair day? Imagine yourself in some unusual situation – possibly a camping trip or an all day traveling experience and then someone takes out a camera and starts taking pictures of you… Now multiply this 100 fold and imagine what it would be like to be homeless, possibly unable to shower for days, being tired, weary, and stressed… you meet a pastor to help you & then he whips a camera and starts snapping pictures of you… This is a dilemma we face… our donors want to see pictures and video and these are very effective ways to share needs and inspire people to get involved… On the other hand, it can be disrespectful & demeaning to take a picture of a homeless person for a variety of reasons… they have pride and feelings too! Pray for wisdom for us – another consideration is that the Lord teaches us that we should do our “good deeds” in secret – this puts a missionary in an awkward position as far as to what degree to document the good deeds that he and the ministry are doing…

This being said do know we are committed to sharing as much video etc as possible. A couple times every month we post updates & pictures on what we are doing –  few ministries to do this, but we do want you to be aware that often it is not appropriate to photograph all our endeavors…

Last Tuesday morning early I was at the New Life Baptist Church of Chicago Heights for the PADS homeless program. It was a touching sight – 56 women and children slept on the gymnasium floor on mats because they were homeless… my heart goes out to them and we are looking at ways to help them spiritually and practically…I wish you could have seen it, I’m sure you would be impacted…  In addition to supporting Christ Cares to empower us to make a difference, A PRACTICAL WAY TO HELP IS TO PURCHASE AND COLLECT  WHITE  SOCKS AND TOILETRIES FOR US… THANKS… (soon we will need volunteers on Monday nights to help with this outreach, BUT WE DO HAVE AN IMMEDIATE NEED FOR A VOLUNTEER TO HELP ME TUESDAY MORNINGS FROM 5:45 a.m. TO 8:00 a.m.)

DONATE TO CHRIST CARES – HERE

RETURN TO CHRISTCARES.ORG – HERE

A Day of Blessing – Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012

The fOllowing is a missionary report for christ cares on saturday, oct. 20, 2012

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On Saturday morning the day started with:

NEW life baptist church – family conference

I (Scott) taught a seminar to help prepare young adults for adulthood – i.e. transitions into marriage, parenthood, & the temptations of no longer living at home with their parents.

roseland community outreach meal

We thank the Liccar family from Crete Church for providing a wonderful meal for a Community Outreach Meal at Galilee Baptist Church of Chicago. This is an area with much homelessness and poverty. We empower the church to proclaim and demonstrate the Love of God. Rev. Bell shared his testimony of how God changed his life from a drug dealer to a preacher. It was powerful and many lives were encouraged and then they were blessed with a delicious meal.

Rev. david gills & children’s hunger fund

Rev. David Gills and myself visited the Children’s Hunger Fund where New Life Baptist Church had a team of volunteers being trained to learn how to use CHF’s resources to feed  hungry families in the Chicago Heights area.

While there I was reunited with Mary Compton, a dedicated Christian who is a reporter/photographer for The Chicago Heights Patch. (Children’s Hunger Fund Article – HERE) Soon they plan on doing a story on Christ Cares – Amen!

Besides these three events Saturday, we were blessed that once again the

car ministry of orland park christian reformed church

Helped someone CHRIST CARES is ministering to, to get a car. This is a wonderful ministry – if you are considering donating your car, then please contact me and I’ll put you in touch with them. The Director, Bruce Harnew, is a gifted and dedicated Christian and I am very grateful for his friendship and how we closely work together. Pamesha, is the mother of some of the children we minister to on Wednesday evenings (a Basketball Program & also a Bible Study/fun time). They did not own a car and this donation will be a tremendous blessing to this family.

on a sad / tragic note – while listening to the news on saturday, i heard about the sentencing of the teenagers who shot a couple children in roseland two years ago.

Ariana Jones and Tanaja Stokes, cute young girls only about the age of 7 were jump roping and practicing cheers in front of their house when shots rang out from a nearby gang war. Tragically Tanaja was shot in the head and killed while holding her mother’s hand who was trying to move her to safety. Ariana was also shot in the head but survived after much time in the hospital. (News articles about this are HERE, HERE, & HERE.)

I had met these precious girls – they attended youth activities sponsored by Christ Cares. There aunt, Caroline Zigglar, (of Roseland Christian Ministries) is a dear friend that some of you have met when she gave her testimony at some of our events. It is so sad that there is so much violence around the drug trade and gangs. Economic renewal would go a long way towards helping this problem but the greatest need is for spiritual renewal. Please pray for us and other Christian Ministries as we share the HOPE AND GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL in urban Chicagoland.

It is very sad that I have personally known probably over 100 people who have been murdered… urban problems are great, but our Gods is greater… please pray for Ariana & the relatives of these girls. There is still much gunfire, especially at night – Caroline requested special prayer for safety some months ago after the gangs started a fire in the house across the street from her and then “shot up” the house beside hers…

(10/26/12 update – I talked with Carolyn yesterday – the gangs just shot up her relatives homes – they do have police protection temporarily, but we look to God to keep them safe… she also knew personally two people who were murdered this past week – please keep this family in prayer)

tonight, when you lay your head on your pillow, thank God that you live in a safe neighborhood, and then let your heart and thoughts turn to those who live only a few minutes from your home, but live in a completely different world – pray for them and be open to let God use you to be part of the solution…

DONATE TO CHRIST CARES – HERE

RETURN TO CHRISTCARES.ORG – HERE