With Thanksgiving I’ve gotten behind on the blog. So let me give you a quick rundown of some of the happenings over the extended weekend.
On Thursday we spent the morning at Mission 911. Mission 911 is around the corner from our church building in the South Bluff Park area of Corpus Christi. Mission 911 offers people the opportunity to get back on their feet with food, shelter, spiritual food and a sense of purpose. Mission 911 had already held their Thanksgiving celebration the week before, so our purpose was simple…hang out and get to know people.
We spent Wednesday evening baking cookies, pastries and other treats for the residents to enjoy. Once we arrived, we laid out the goodies and spent our time getting to know people. I had the opportunity to minister to a man who had been a resident the year before. His wife had left him recently and he arrived that morning looking to connect with the counselor that had helped him in the past. As we talked, he shared that he had given up hope and didn’t know how he could press on. By the time he left, God had done a work within Him. Just as he knew God had brought him up from the depths a year before, He also knew that God was willing to walk with Him through these dark days as well. Our greatest impact during the day was with the neighborhood children. We have been asked to consider starting something for the children on Saturdays and will be praying through that in the coming days.
About 2 weeks ago, the ministry was given a 1992 Jaguar. The car is currently in my driveway and not running, as the fuel system needs some work. On Saturday one of the men from the church and I spent a good portion of the day dismantling the fuel system, only to find out that the fuel pump we had was too large. This week we will try to complete the work and sell the car to further the ministry of Simplicity.
On Sunday, Mike preached his first message. He kept telling me he was terrified, but God spoke through him in spite of any fears he may have had. The video of his message is on the www.simplicitycc.org website under “media.”
Over the weekend, I began working with some e-commerce ideas I have had. I am hoping to develop a business model that can be developed to help support future church planters and ministry leaders. I currently have two websites up and running www.luvmyhog.com and www.healthmartxpress.com. I will be looking to develop a marketing strategy that can be cross pollinated for future use by other planters.
The development of a secular business model has become somewhat of a priority for me, as I realize that the one stumbling block for many potential Simplicity leaders will be the question of supporting their families, since one of the values of Simplicity Church is the use of bi-vocational and self-supporting pastors.