Mission Athens Night of Service Benefitting the Family Resource Center Parents As Teachers Program

Please mark your calendars and SAVE THE DATE.  Our next Mission Athens Night of Service will be Wednesday, September 11 at Central Church of Christ.  This quarter, our service project will benefit the Family Resource Center Parents as Teachers Program.

Parents as Teachers is a free parent support and education program offered to at-risk families in Limestone County from conception to age 3.  Our program aims to prevent child abuse and neglect, increase parent knowledge of child development, and increase children's school readiness and future school success. Families enrolled in our Parents as Teachers program are able to earn "Baby Bucks" by taking part in personal home visits, groups meetings, and making other wise parenting choices. These bucks can be used in our Baby Boutique on items such as food, diapers, wipes, clothes, toys, bedding, and books.  Due to a recent increase in the families served, we are experiencing some needs in our Baby Boutique.

We are currently needing:

        - Size 3, 4, 5, & 6 diapers of different varieties. (Some babies can use off brands such as dollar general, but we also need Pampers, Luvs, and Huggies for some children due to skin sensitivity.) We are currently out of the sizes listed. 

        - Cloth diapers for emergencies situations

        - Baby soap, powder, and lotion

        - Small training toilets

        - Baby wipes

        - Sippy cups

        - Any other baby items

The Mission Athens team along with the Central Hospitality Committee will be providing a meal of lasagna, salad and bread FREE for all members who bring baby items to donate to support the Parents as Teachers program.  We are partnering with the Hospitality Committee to host this evening of service in conjunction with our Wednesday night meal, so plan on donating your items and having supper at 6 prior to our evening service at 7.  As usual, desserts and drinks are needed as well, so please bring these items to share.

The Central family always GIVES BIG, and we hope September will be no exception.  We are looking forward to collecting lots of baby supplies to help with this wonderful program, and we thank you in advance for donating generously to help babies and moms and dads right here in our community.

If you have any questions about the upcoming night of service, please contact Laura Swint.  We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Back to School, Back to The Haven

"Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it."  Proverbs 22:6

We are excited that school is back in session, and after a great summer of fun at The Haven, we are ready to get back into the swing of things with our afterschool program.  As a reminder, The Haven offers afterschool homework help on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-4:30 p.m.   We are kicking off our afterschool program on Tuesday, September 10, and we need your help!

Volunteers are needed to help the kids with their homework on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Our goal is to provide help for elementary aged children, and we need lots of folks to help us provide the one on one help these kids need.  If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our curriculm coordinator Lynn Abernathy.

If you are unable to volunteer during those after school hours, there are lots of other ways to get involved at The Haven.  First, you can donate Walmart gift cards to Beth Patton for use at The Haven.  We use these cards to purchase fresh healthy snacks each week as well as to replenish the supplies we need to keep The Haven clean and kid friendly.

If you want to get your hands dirty, consider volunteering to help with the yard work.  You can sign up to cut the grass, and one area that needs attention right away is weeding the flower beds.  No signing up or volunteering needed--if you have a spare hour, just swing by and tackle some of those beds.  The weeds need to go.

We can't wait to see the kids back at The Haven in a few weeks, and we look forward to seeing you there, too!

Introducing The Haven: A Community Outreach Ministry

The Haven

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.  Repeat them to your chldren.  Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."  Deuteronomy 6:5-9

After months of prayer, planning, painting, plumbing, and pruning, the Mission Athens team and our church family at Central Church of Christ are so proud to announce the birth of The Haven.  Located at 810 N. Malone Street in Athens, AL, The Haven is the home of our newest community outreach ministry program. 

Over a year ago, the Mission Athens team began discussing an permanent home where we could reach out and provide services to our community.  Specifically, we were praying for a place that would be easily accessible to school-aged children.  In 2012, we found a house literally on the exact corner we wanted, and we were able to purchase the property.  For the past several months, countless volunteers have worked tirelessly to meet with city officials, develop appropriate plans, remodel the house, clean, paint and landscape, and now The Haven is ready to open our doors to children.

Our initial plans are to be open from 3:30-4:30 on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons beginning Tuesday, March 5.  During this time, specially trained volunteers will provide a snack to the children and help them with their homework, focusing on reading and math skills.  If you are interested in learning more about volunteering at The Haven, please contact Will Grice at Central Church of Christ so that you can complete the required training program.

We invite you to celebrate with us at an Open House at The Haven on Sunday, March 3, from 1-3 p.m.  If you would like to help support the efforts at The Haven, please bring some of the following items to the Open House to help us get ready for our grand opening.  Items needed include:  Ziploc bags, Febreeze, Pine Sol, Clorox or Lysol wipes, liquid hand soap, paper towels, paper plates, small Solo cups, napkins, liquid hand sanitizer, spray cleaner for counter tops, bathrooms and tables, pencils and paper, crayons, markers, trash bags, etc.  You can find a more comprehensive list of items available at Central Church of Christ.

We would like to say a huge THANK YOU to all the volunteers who have worked so hard to create such a special place for God's seeds to grow in our community.  The dictionary defines the word haven as "a place of safety and refuge."  We are praying that it will be just such a place for these special children, and we solicit your prayers that God's love would be felt by all who enter our doors.

Last summer, the Mission Athens team hosted a cookout at 5th Avenue Park, just down the street from what is now The Haven.  At that time, we were all so fervently praying that God would open the doors for us to work more closely with our neighbors in that community.  We did not know that on that day, we were taking our first steps towards achieving our dream.  All we knew was that there were so many precious children living in that neighborhood who could use some love. 

There was one little girl in particular with pigtails and a blue balloon who captured our hearts.  She was just about to start kindergarten, and she couldn't stop talking about how excited she was about going to "big school."  We are so happy that now we will be her neighbors, and we pray that we can help her and all her friends succeed in school and achieve their highest potential.  We also pray that they will see that there is a God who loves them, and that as we work as His hands and feet with these children, that we will all draw closer to Him.

On the Outside, Looking In

"Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.  He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory."  1 Timothy 3:16

Admit it, you are curious.  You must be, or you wouldn't be reading this blog.  What is it about Central Church of Christ that has people so charged up?  The people who attend this church seem so happy--they are always out doing things together in the community.  The other churches of Christ in the area seem so upset about the things we are doing.  Sometimes, there are even passionate editorials written in the paper about what people at Central are doing. 

Yet, our membership continues to grow, as we now have two services and our numbers continue to increase each month.  People seem to either passionately love or passionately dislike Central--something is creating a lot of passion in this place.  What is it?  The answer is infinitely simple and infinitely complex. 

The answer is.....Jesus.

You see, the story of Jesus has been told and retold, all throughout the ages.  Many different denominations have emerged through the years, there are different churches on every corner in this town that seem to have their own "flavor" of Jesus. 

Some people believe that we should worship Him on Sundays, some on Saturdays.  Some worship with huge bands of instruments, others worship Him simply with the sound of their own voices.  Some have Wednesday night Bible studies, and some rely on their preacher to read the Bible for them and just tell them what it says.  Some churches have hard wooden pews and worn out song books, while others have cushiony chairs and Power Point slides.  Some churches have pot luck meals in members' homes, others in the church building. 

Most all of these church people go to church, sit in a pew, check it off their list of "good things I did this week" and go on about their business.  They sit in Sunday school classes and talk about how they have it all figured out, but their neighbor at the church across town, bless his heart, he is totally wrong in his approach to Jesus, tsk tsk tsk. 

These differences get people really fired up and passionate, and fights break out among "church-going Christians" about all these things.

What about the people on the outside, looking in?  What about the people who aren't born-and-raised-three-times-a-week-every-time-the-door-was-open-my-Mama-took-me-to-church people?  What do they think about all this bickering?

I have gotten to meet a few of these people through our work with Mission Athens.  Most of these people, upon hearing of these squabbles, get a faraway, eyes glazed over look on their face.  They just don't get it. 

It seems so ridiculous. 

What about Jesus?

What have we done with our Lord's story?

Where is the love?

Where is the majesty?

Where is the glory, the chill bumps on the back of our necks, wonder of it all?

Take a moment today, close your eyes, and think about the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  He was born in a barn to parents who lived in poverty.  At the young age of about 12, He began His life's work of serving others, sharing food, telling everyone about God's love for them, preparing the way to His Father's house.  He attracted people everywhere He went.  And then, one sad day, this world beat him up, nailed him to the cross, and stuffed him in a tomb behind a rock.

And then, our Lord overtook death; He conquered the grave.  He was seen by angels and by men and women in His beautiful glory, and He ascended to the right hand of God, and there He is today, watching all of us, and I wonder if sometimes, He shakes His head.

Does our Lord look down at His family, the people who have proclaimed Him and think, what are you doing?

We are His disciples here on earth.  There are so many people here who we need to tell His story.  There are millions who need us to feed them, help them, care for them in His name, and yet, we are pointing our fingers at each other, claiming we have all the answers to the perfect way to worship Him. 

We sit in pews when we should be out in the streets.  We cling to those who believe the exact iterations we believe, who practice our same traditions, instead of working side by side with our neighbors from the church down the street, as a unified body of Jesus, fighting for souls all around this world who need us to proclaim His hope.

Is Jesus on the outside of our churches, looking in?  Or is He in our presence, working in our hearts, serving as our purpose, our guiding light, our sole hope of salvation?

I'm all about worshipping God.  I am so thankful that I was blessed by Him to be born in a country where I have the freedom to worship Him any way I choose.  I am so thankful you have that right, too.

I am not trying to minimize any one's right to a different opinion on the right way to worship.  You do your thing....

I am just so over it.

I am over trying to be perfect.  I am over going to a church service only to walk out feeling like I can never be good enough.  I am over churches that seem so much like a club, and only a few people get to be members.  I am over placing tradition over transcendence.

I just want Jesus.

Two years ago, my family and I were curious, too.  We walked into the doors of Central Church of Christ on Friends and Family Day.  We sat down, started singing songs, began to worship, and over the next few months, we all felt Jesus in our midst in a way we just hadn't before.  My children, who before I had to drag to church kicking and screaming, started asking me on Thursday how much longer until Sunday, Mom, can we go to church?  My husband worked like a dog cutting trees in strangers' yards after the April 27, 2011 tornadoes with teams of men from Central.  All five of us have worked together on Mission Athens projects.  And, for the first time in my life, I am going to teach an adult Bible class starting next month.

We have all grown, all five of us.  We have begun to experience Jesus in our own ways.  We are not perfect yet, and we will never be.  We have learned to accept the beautiful truth that Jesus does not call us to be perfect, just to perfectly love Him.

I am not promising you that you would have the same experience if you came to Central.  You may or may not.  It is certainly not a perfect place, how could it be?  We are all imperfect people who worship there.

You see, I have often said Central is like a refugee camp for people from churches all around town.  Some of us are here because we never felt good enough at other congregations.  Some are here because we sinned and our church families couldn't forgive us, not really.  Some are here because we want to be a part of a body of believers that is living the Gospel in action, not just saying the words on Sundays.  Some are here because we fell in love with someone who grew up in that "not so good" church down the street, and we are trying to find a place our new family can grow together. 

You know who some of the coolest people at Central are, though?  They are the ones who found Jesus for the first time in this place.  They are not bogged down by all this bickering, squabbling, and silliness.  They are the ones whose eyes glaze over when we start talking about all of it.  They are the ones we think about and smile, because we have something in common with them....

All of us are here because we want Jesus. 

Do you want him, too?  Do you feel like you are on the outside, looking in?  Curious?

Come and join us on Sunday, August, 26 at 9 am for our Friends and Family Day.  Stay for Sunday School.  We are having a pot luck meal immediately following, and we would love to have you join us.  We really mean that.

If you are curious, we will be talking about the 40-year history of Central, where we have been and where we are going.  I have only been a part of the church for two of the forty years, and I can't believe how much my life has changed.  I would love to share this wonderful experience with all of you.

We are not a perfect church. 

We do serve a perfect Savior.  We are passionate about serving Him in real, meaningful ways. 

We don't really care if other people talk about us, especially if they have never even walked through our doors.

We know He may seem like a mystery, but we are discovering His truths together. 

Come, discover Him with us.

Mission Athens Fifth Avenue Block Party

"And Jesus said, 'Let the little children come unto me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'"  Matthew 19:14

A few months ago, the Mission Athens team began exploring ways we could have a greater impact on those in the most need in our community.  We invited the director of all of the city's federal housing projects to come to one of our Mission Athens meetings.  During our conversation with him, we learned that Fifth Avenue Apartments housed the largest concentration of women and children living in federal housing in the city of Athens .

During our Central Youth Ministry and Mission Athens combined Spring service project, Spring Into Action, we visited a few of the housing projects around town and worked to beautify their campuses with landscaping, planting flowers and bulbs, and meeting our neighbors.  After that project, we began to think of ways we could continue to build relationships in these areas.

We began planning our Summer Block Party immediately following the Spring Into Action project.  We had originally planned the event for June 10 as advertised on this blog, but we had to push it back due to rain.  At the time, we were disappointed, but now I see God's hand is in it all.

You see, we hosted our Block Party on Sunday, and it could not have been a more fantastic event.   I can't wait to share with you all they ways God blessed us on Sunday.  First of all, following weeks of severe drought, Athens has been blessed with large amounts of rain over the past few weeks.  We are so thankful for the rain; however, we truly prayed we would not have to reschedule our event again.  On Sunday, there was a huge black cloud right over 5th Avenue Park all afternoon.  The wind was blowing, and we were sure we were going to get a rain storm.  However, just before our party started, the cloud blew away, and this is what we saw.

All that dark cloud did for us was cool things off just a bit, and we enjoyed a warm summer afternoon with a gentle breeze.  While it was still a hot summer day in Alabama, it was much more pleasant that many of the 100+ degree days we have endured, and we are so thankful for the heavenly sunlight we enjoyed following that black cloud scare.  Thank you, God!

As we began setting up the tables, food and crafts, our small team quickly realized it takes a lot of hands to pull off an event such as this.  Our Central Church of Christ church family turned out in large numbers, picked up a job and went to work.  It was so awesome to see the body of Christ working together, each using his or her own talents, to serve our community.  Everyone, from the smallest child to the oldest members, pitched in to help make the event such a success.  Here are just a few of the ways our members helped.

Our Grill Master Roy lead a team of men who immediately started grilling hamburgers and hot dogs and did not stop until all 300 were cooked perfectly.  Another of our members had helped us purchase the food earlier in the week at a discount, so everything was organized and ready to go for us Sunday afternoon.  Once again, God blessed us in this, as we had no idea how much to purchase or prepare, but we had the perfect amount of food.  Everyone who attended had plenty to eat, yet we did not have leftovers.  Thank you, God!

I like to call these ladies our Buffet Line Dream Team.  They jumped right in, put in a system for moving people through the line, and I stood back and watched in amazement.  These ladies know what they are doing, and I was blown away by their logistics and strategy.  Clearly no where near as talented with organization of food lines, I humbly stepped away, smiled and cheered them on.  Because they were so extremely capable, I was able to take pictures, talk with our neighbors who attended, and truly enjoy the experience, trusting that all the details were being excellently covered.  Thank you, God, for Central's awesome Ladies!

Even though I am the mother of 3 young children, I truly hate craft projects.  Crafts are just not my thing.  My children, like most, LOVE them.  We knew going into this event that a Bible craft would be a great way to engage the children from Fifth Avenue who attended our event, but I was at an extreme loss and almost started sweating at the thought of having to come up with something.  I have no idea what to do with Popsicle sticks and paper plates--I'm just not crafty.  Thank you God, for Central's amazing Sunday School teachers!  These ladies had Bible verses on the sidewalks with sidewalk chalk, they had balloons, bracelets, and angel wings made from, you guessed it, paper plates.  I stand amazed, and praise God for their talents!

Our Central Youth Group was instrumental in helping us invite Fifth Avenue residents, and they did a great job engaging them in a fun afternoon of football.  We had so many 7-12 year old boys attend, and nothing makes a boy this age happier than playing ball with some friendly teenagers.  I tried to count our visitors, but  the game was so boisterous, I couldn't tell which were our youth and which were our visitors, which was exactly our dream.  Thank you, God, for young people who love to share You with our community.

Finally, I was most thankful for our Children's Ministry on Sunday.  We had so many children from Central attend the cookout, and they were so friendly and playful with the children who attended.  Since the whole point of the event was to build relationships with the kids of Fifth Avenue, we absolutely could not have done it without our children being there, smiling and engaging these kids in play.  I love this picture, because you don't see a "mission trip" here, all you see are two precious little girls racing to the top of the slide.  Thank you, God, for the sweet hearts of children!

As great as it was to see Central's church family come together to create a fun environment, it was much more awesome to see God glorified throughout the day in so many ways.  We were so happy to have so many of our neighbors from Fifth Avenue attend.  All throughout the afternoon, more and more people kept coming over and joining us.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the afternoon of fellowship.





We learned a lot on Sunday afternoon about the needs that are right down the street here in Athens, Alabama.  It was such a positive afternoon in so many ways, yet I would be remiss if I didn't share with you some of the stories that broke my heart.  There was a man there, who I was so happy to spend some time with, who shared with me that he had just gotten to Athens from Arizona.  He has fallen on hard times, has no real friends in this new city, and was beginning to wonder if anyone here cared enough to help him.  He said he knew he needed to go to church, but he was so angry about his circumstances and the lack of anyone even noticing him, that he was about to give up on God.  "Your church has shown me that God's love is still real," he said.  "I am going to go to church on Sunday."  I pray that he does, and that we can help him get back into a relationship with God.

Finally, so many of the children we noticed were really enjoying the food.  I want to share with you the story of one of these precious children, as I think it really is representative of what so many of them go through.  My friend Beth and I had the pleasure of meeting a sweet little 5-year-old girl who is excited about starting kindergarten in the fall.  She talked a mile a minute, as most young girls, do, but her stories would break your heart.  She treasured all her crafts, painstakingly picking up every small thing to take home, but not taking anything that wasn't hers.  We walked her back to her apartment so she could leave her "prizes" there, and then she decided she wanted to come back with us to the cookout.  As we walked, she pointed out the landmarks along the way.

"That's where so-and-so lives.  She doesn't have a Mama or a Daddy." 

"That apartment was totally trashed last week.  The lady who lived there is in jail now." 

"I don't know what happened over there, but the police came the other night and took that guy away."

"My Mama is sick, and we have been taking turns taking care of her.  Can we bring her some food?  We don't have a lot of food in our house, only lunch meat." 

"That's where my friend lives.  I think she is boring, but I want her to come to the party, too, and her Mama wouldn't let her come.  Can you come with me to ask her to come with us now?"

"Sure," we said, as we walked over to pick up her friend.

Upon meeting this sweet little girl, I asked her if she had eaten yet, as it was almost 7 pm. She replied, "I had breakfast."  I said, "Oh, I love having breakfast for supper."  She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I had breakfast for breakfast."

Oh.....

These sweet little girls impressed me so much with their independence and loving hearts.  When we returned to the cookout, they met up with their other friend, and I watched the three of them for a while.  They took the new friend to the buffet line, fixed her plate with all the food, only taking one of each item.  They chose water to drink, and they sat with their friend while she ate instead of running to play and leaving her behind.  After they were finished, they asked if they could take food to their families, and we helped them carry plates back to their apartments.

I didn't want to leave.  After all the months of being nervous and planning and praying, the afternoon had gone so much better than I could have ever dreamed.  I had a hard time sleeping that night.  I was excited, humbled, heart broken, fulfilled, happy, sad, overwhelmed and full of faith, all at the same time.  You see, Sunday was just the beginning of the story, I pray. 

Our Mission Athens team is prayerfully considering how we can build a sustained physical presence in this community, right here near Fifth Avenue Apartments.  We believe this spot in our city needs the love of Jesus, and we want to help these children and neighbors know that there are people here who love and care about them.  Please pray with us that we will find the right path, and that our community will support us in these efforts.  As we saw on Sunday, when we all work together, we can accomplish truly great things for Him.

I will close with one last picture.  I think the smiles on the faces of the hot but happy Mission Athens teammates show you how thankful we all were that our Mission Athens Block Party was such a success.  Thank you, God!

Mission Athens Block Party June 10

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Please make plans to join us for our Mission Athens Block Party Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 5th Avenue Apartments in Athens, AL, from 4-6 pm.  We will have hamburgers and hot dogs, games, inflatables, and lots of fun planned for the residents and guests at this community event.

As you read in the last post, "Around the World, Across the Street," the Mission Athens team is making a commitment to create a sustained, visible presence in Athens.  Specifically, we are targeting the 5th Avenue/North Jefferson Street part of town as a starting point.  We have been working towards this goal all year, and it is exciting to see it coming to life.

Our Spring Into Action service project was a great start to this ongoing effort.  This cookout is the second event in what we plan to become a series of offerings in this community.  We have also worked on several home makeovers in this area of town over the past several months, and many of the people who live in this area have been helped through our weekly Dollar Club projects.

We believe that the time has come to Love God, Love Each Other, and Serve the World in a new way, in areas right here at home that represent challenges and opportunities to us as Christians.  Please make plans to attend this event, and if you would like to be more involved in cooking, helping with games, etc., please contact a Mission Athens team member.  Also, please pray for our ongoing efforts as we are entering a new chapter in our Mission Athens ministry.