Delivery Sunday

Sunday morning I attended Mountain Crest Baptist Church in Leadville, Colorado with the principal of Westpark Elementary school. We unloaded the suburban (not a small task) and shared stories over lunch.

All told, we delivered more than 200 ski jackets and sweatshirts (much of which was brand new), boxes of puzzles and books, and other miscellaneous clothes. We also delivered 2 used bikes with helmets, and a brand new bike and new helmet. The new bike and helmet were donated by Criterion Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, CO! (We are BIG fans of that bike store!!!)

Upon my return I was approached by several members of the church letting me know they have items they want to donate to the kids at Westpark Elementary School. We are also planning a work weekend in which we will make as many home repairs as possible for the families in Leadville. (More to come on that!)

The next set of goals for the Leadville community is the work weekend and another trip with a suburban full of clothes, books, and soccer balls. We will also be collecting school supplies closer to the end of the summer.

More coats!

Thanks to a tip from a River member about the 99-cent sale at the Salvation Army yesterday, we were able to purchase 78 sweatshirts and ski jackets for the kids in Leadville.  It took 4 people and 4 shopping carts to haul everything to the car.  

Imagine the inside of a Suburban with the seats removed.  Now imagine that space has been packed by a boy scout so every possible nook and cranny is filled.  There is room for the driver, but not much else!  

This will be such a blessing to the children of Leadville!  Thank you to everyone that helped make this trip possible through generous donations!  We will be going up there again soon, so keep collecting!

May 13, 2009

I continue to be amazed by the generosity of God's people!  I am not the kind of person to ask for help or money, even if its not for me.  I once took an assessment to determine the career path I should take and the results included "Do NOT go into sales!"  This weakness of mine has not limited God in what he wants to accomplish for the kids in Leadville.  

This week alone I have had 3 people offer boxes of clothes, and one family has offered to donate more bikes.  At a community garage sale a woman gave me some money to help pay for all of the ski jackets I was buying.  I hadn't asked for any of it - the nice people just wanted to help.  

I am meeting with the generous principal who pays for so many things for the kids at her school out of her own pocket on Sunday morning.  Although she lives in a nearby town, she is coming to church with me in Leadville so I can meet the pastor and talk about other partnership opportunities between our church and theirs.  

Will you please pray for us - for our meeting Sunday morning and our church vote Sunday night?  (The vote is to make the River backing of the Leadville community official.)  Based on the response so far from the members, I think the vote will go well!  

May 3, 2009

Our church recently learned of a community with great need.  Westpark Elementary School in Leadville, CO has almost 80% of the kids on free or reduced lunches.  Many of the kids come to school without coats, hats, gloves, even shoes.  They are lacking in books and school supplies.  There are many opportunities to serve in the Leadville community:  clothing donations, home-repair projects, church partnerships, etc.

We presented the Leadville idea at church tonight.  The response was wonderful!  We had requests to help, wonderful suggestions of ways to help (ways I never would have thought of, like asking the local schools for their lost-and-found coats), and offers of donations.  

Our church is The River, currently meeting at the Church at Woodmoor in Monument, CO Sunday nights at 5.  

www.wearetheriver.com

How I got started...

In the summer or fall of 2008 I watched "Second Chance." In the movie a pastor learned that he couldn't simply throw money at an inner-city church in order to change things - he had to roll up his sleeves and get involved with the people.  I recognized myself in this since my spiritual gift is "throwing money at the problem." During the movie I felt the Spirit making sure I was paying close attention to the message and telling me to get ready for something big, but to wait.  Several months later Mike Jiles called to say they had met as a staff at the River and my name had been mentioned for the Director of Children's ministry position. I had mixed emotions about it.  While I love kids, it would be time-consuming, and there are elements of children's ministry that just aren't part of my gifting (like teaching).  While I fasted and prayed, I felt the answer was, "Not yet.  Wait."  So I did.  I also asked that God speak to me through a dream as He does with so many in the bible.  That night I had a dream that I said no to the position and immediately had a wave of peace washing over me.  

Meanwhile, I was becoming more involved with Compassion International and had applied to be an Advocate.  I prayed God would use me to help the kids get sponsored and that he would use me for something much bigger than me - something so obviously Him and something huge.  I began reading the book "Beyond Jabez" which goes deeper into how to pray the prayer of Jabez.  While reading each chapter I prayed as the book directed, always thinking my borders would be expanded and He would use me through Compassion, but not asking for specifics since I didn't want to limit Him.  I was getting a little annoyed by all of the stories and examples in the book of how prayers were answered in a matter of days. Knowing I had been told to wait I knew my answer wouldn't come that quickly.  

As I reached the halfway point of the book I had dinner with friends including Mike Jiles who told me he had a story that "is sooooo Meredith!"  He told me about a huge need in the town of Leadville where almost 80% of the children live at or below poverty level.  He had a vision for the River to help the town by bringing them VBS, school supplies, coats, etc.  He then told me the staff had decided to put off hiring a children's director and instead wanted to find someone to head up "Externally-Focused" ministries.  He asked me to pray about taking the position. That night I emailed Mike to ask when he would be going to Leadville again and if I could go with him.  Craig and I had just cleaned out our basement and had boxes of clothes, school supplies, and books we were planning to take to Goodwill.  I was also praying God would show me His will regarding the position.  

The next morning as I read the next chapter of "Beyond Jabez" I realized this Director position was exactly what I had already been praying about for weeks.  I didn't need to pray about it because the offer was its own answer to prayer.  At this writing I don't know how he is going to use me, but I am filled with nothing but excitement and eager anticipation of what He will do.