Friday, June 08, 2007

When God Opens a Door

Got a lot on the docket for this weekend? We welcome Coy and Teresa Thorp, some of our dear friends from El Dorado County, with their two girls Ann and Emma to our home this weekend. Tonight at 9:00 pm, the undefeated Woodward Park softball team is back in action at the Bethany Softball Complex. Tomorrow, the girls have their dance recital. Trae is very polished in her jazz and ballet routines; Tori, on the other hand, is the youngest in her group and, at times, it shows. Sunday is a full day with worship assemblies, honoring nine graduates from the Class of 2007, and a YBC Planning Meeting.

It's a full-life lived at break-neck speed...but its all good!

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I continue to appreciate all the insightful feedback I've received all week in response to my post on Tuesday about strengthening the churches in decline throughout the rural areas of California. I'm going to devote my blog on Monday to your ideas, and my own, as it relates to answering the question, "What Shall We Do?"

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Two weeks ago, I asked you to pray for a special ministry opportunity. God has heard our prayers and a door has opened for us through the Fresno Human Services System.

Back in January, I was intrigued by what I learned at Greenlawn Church of Christ in Lubbock, Texas. A group from there had commissioned a class to meet each Wednesday evening at a park in Lubbock as a means of taking the church into the neighborhood for the express purpose of reaching the lost.

Through Cedric and Cheryl Rowe, we learned of an ideal place to imitate Greenlawn's ministry. That ideal place is a 52-unit housing facility for at-risk families, comprised primarily of moms and children who have come out of abusive environments. All 52-units in the transitional facility are filled and through the graciousness of the staff there, we have been given permission to go every other Wednesday night to conduct Bible studies for the moms and special Bible studies for the children.

Beginning on Wednesday evening, June 20, a group from Woodward Park will begin meeting there every other Wednesday evening in the hopes of sharing the grace and love of Jesus with the less-fortunate lost of our city. I am grateful to God for this incredible, open door of opportunity. Coupled with our ministry downtown, these opportunities are unique in giving us an outreach to a most receptive, if not often ignored, segment of our city.