|
The Journey Begins!
A few years ago I had been thinking
that our family needed to be
involved in some kind of ministry
outside of our church. I knew our
girls could benefit from an
experience that would help them
understand their material and
spiritual blessings. I had begun to
think about this during December of
2003. Of course, December is when
the Lottie Moon
Christmas Offering is emphasized in Southern Baptist
Churches. Our pastor had a telephone conversation
with several missionaries over our p.a. system
throughout the month that really touched my heart. I
knew I couldn’t assist these missionaries but I also
knew there had to be a
missionary in
Atlanta that could use
some assistance. I contacted the
North American Mission Board (NAMB)
and they recommended that I contact
Tim Cummins with Whirlwind Missions.
He is a MSC Missionary with NAMB.
Once a week my girls and I drove to
Chamblee to work at Azalea Place. Tim has an afterschool
program there. (Check out
pictures of
Azalea place at Tim's website.) We had a blast
helping the kids with their homework and playing
games with them. It was also fun hearing all
the different languages spoken there. Tim speaks
several languages and does a lot of
work with immigrants and refugees. Tim kept
asking me why we were driving all
the way to Chamblee? He believed
that there had to be some ministry
in our area that we could help with.
It’s not a short jaunt (about an
hour) especially in afternoon
traffic but we enjoyed it and knew
God wanted us to help Tim. We also
saw how God was working in the
children's hearts. Tim said that he
was going to pray about this
situation. And wow, a couple of
weeks later, a contact hooked him up
with a manager of an apartment in
Austell that needed help with their afterschool program. Austell is 20
minutes from my house. Tim and I
went down and visited the property.
The manager was excited to have us
and agreed that we could do Bible
stories and crafts. God was working
so the girls and I starting helping
at Kingsley Village in Austell, Ga.
Click here to read Tim's account
of the situation.
A New Road
We missed Tim and the kids but we
were too busy to cry. By now it was
May and school was just about over
so the girls and I began right away
and worked at Kingsley Village all summer.
We did nature walks, had relay races
and told Bible stories. It was like
a backyard Bible club all summer!
Some days were difficult but most
days were a blessing. We invited the
kids to our VBS. My husband carried
a 15 passenger van full of kids to
our
Vacation
Bible
School with several children praying to receive
Christ. This experience really
encouraged our family and helped
us realize that when you invest your
time and resources into people’s
lives there’s a greater chance of
them responding to the gospel
message. We continued to help a
couple days a week during the
following school year. We always
made sure that we had a craft or
story with a spiritual emphasis and
had some great discussion times with
the kids. Some of the questions were
amusing but some where sad when you
realized the misconceptions that so
many of these kids had about God and
Jesus Christ. Several children
thought that Jesus was Santa Claus's
brother. This was heart-breaking!
An
Increasing Ministry
That fall one of the girls at
Kingsley was struggling about what
to believe about God. She had some
extended family that was Christian
and a dad that was Muslim. She
stated that she would be
both. I explained why this wasn't
possible. After several weeks
of talking with her and much
prayer with her and for her, she decided
that Jesus was the only way. She
prayed to receive Christ at a picnic
table at Kingsley Village. Praise
the Lord! After our crying and
hugging, she asked what was she
supposed to do next? I explained
about baptism and church fellowship.
She asked, "What time are you going
to pick me up for church?" What
choice did I have? She immediately
began to go to church with our
family and
was soon baptized. All the other
kids in the neighborhood wanted to
know why they couldn't go to church,
too. This began a van ministry with
several kids coming to church each
Wednesday night and Sunday mornings.
And Hallelujah! We've had some
parents come with us lately.
The Call!
Shortly after this, Tim began to
encourage me to consider taking a
new step in this ministry work. He
said, Kim – God has a calling on
your life. Have you considered
applying to NAMB as a MSC
missionary? He was right – I was
reminded that God called me as an
Acteen in high school at Central
Baptist Church in Douglasville, Ga. to be a part
of missions. I was still a little
hesitant, though, but God kept
calling. He used mission emphasis at
church, Bible study and the kids at
Kingsley to confirm that he was
calling me to be more involved in
missions. I was commissioned by
County Line Baptist Church and NAMB
in 2007 as a MSC Missionary. Tim
Cummins is my supervisor. Check out
Answer
the Call's website for more
information about MSC missionaries.
Expansion!
I
continued to work at Kingsley
Village and through my church began
ministering at Columbia Gardens in
Douglasville but now God is calling
me to a bigger commitment. He has
called me to full time mission work.
So now five years after the journey
began, God has given me a vision of
expanding to other apartment
complexes in the Douglas and Cobb
county area. I have begun to contact
apartment complexes in the area to
see who would be interested in
partnering with us in this ministry.
Managers are begging us to come in
and do a work in their communities.
Praise God! I also praise Him
because He is so patient with me and
only gave me the vision one small
piece at a time. Please pray that
God will raise up volunteers and
financial support to help in this
expanding ministry.
Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the
age."
Matthew 28: 19-20
|
