A Year In Review
• To end hunger and homeless in our community while sharing hope, love and compassion.
• To build community and relationships between the ones serving and the ones being served.
• To preach the Gospel through our actions and if necessary use words.
It’s hard to believe we’ve ended 2009 and have started another year. We just wanted to share with you what the past year looked like for Jesus Was Homeless:
• We delivered or served over 11,000 meals primarily to those living in weekly or extended stay motels.
• We held 4 “Love Your Neighbors” BBQ’s at 3 different weekly stay motel parking lots and made them a “Luau Style” gathering.
• On “Make a Difference Day” we built a garden area at an extended stay motel so that the residents will be able to grow their own fruits and vegetables.
• We were overwhelmed with gratitude and volunteers for our 2nd annual Thanksgiving Dinner where we gave away free coats & toiletry items.
• We were blessed with books from Dixie Stampede, toys and stuffed animals from generous givers and were able to wrap and pass out Christmas presents to over 42 children living in the motels.
• We met people from different cultures and countries and held some Jamaican nights playing games, cooking Jamaican food and fellowshipping.
• We purchased 2-15 passenger vans to help share community and provide rides to a “Come As You Are” style Saturday night church service, Peace In the Storm. For many of these people living in motels they would not have gone otherwise and this authentic, non-judgmental, transparent look of a church made them feel accepted.
• We were blessed to be able to be part of Dawn’s baptism that we would not have experienced if not for this outreach.
• We passed out bibles to people that requested them.
• We took some Jamaicans and our friend Boyd to a Christian concert, Tenth Avenue North.
• We provided bikes for people without transportation.
• We passed out loaves of bread, toiletry items and even potatoes to those who received our “Happy Meals”
• We were blessed to be able to pray with and for those that we met both serving and the ones we were serving to.
• We gave hundreds of hugs, smiles and ears just to listen.
And the stories we heard were both heart-warming and heart wrenching at times.
We met a young man who had no place to go and we gave him a ride to Saturday night church service. Half-way through the service he started to really enjoy the service and praise God. After the service, the young man was offered housing and help for his addictions through the Church Army program. He is still in the program and has even opened Saturday service in prayer.
Thanks to Jesus Was Homeless I’ve conceded bitterness and re-opened my heart to the love and guidance of Jesus Christ and I’m beginning to see “the light at the end of the tunnel” within the many hardships of my life. Jesus Was Homeless makes this crazy world a whole lot easier to live in. I feel lucky their my friend. Just thought you’d like to know.
– Dennis
We provided food to a man that only had an onion to eat. We were told the resource sheet in the bag of food saved a girl’s life from suicide and desperation. And there is so much more.
All of this happened with no plan other than to let God lead. And as you can see, lead he did. We are excited to see what will happen in 2010. If you would like to be part of this community outreach for Branson then we invite you to *“Come and See”* in 2010.