Skip to main content

LETTER FROM A PASSIONATE LEADER: My Heart and Vision

This evening one of our church members who leads us in ministry to the homeless copied me on the email below that she sent to some people interested in assisting with our vision to see lives changed in our community.  My heart was not only touched by this letter, but Vicky wrote with pure passion that is shared by our church family.  Here is a glimpse into my heart as well for The Community:

I am from Henry County, Virginia near Martinsville.  I attend The Community Fellowship, a church in Collinsville, Virginia. Our mission is to demonstrate the love of God to our community. 
 
Henry County has a population of estimated 55,316. As 2007 census 16.1% were living in poverty.      According to a count done by the West Piedmont Better Housing Coalition on 1/29/09,  152 homeless were found in this area covering 4 connecting counties while 51 were found in Martinsville/Henry County alone. Ronnie Pannell, continuum of care manager with the Coalitions states that he does not think this count is accurate due to various reasons. He believes the number is much higher.
 
Jim Tobin, executive director of Piedmont Community Services in Martinsville, states that the national rule of thumb is for every homeless person counted, there are 7 who are not counted. If this is true, in the Martinsville/Henry County are the number would be closer to 360 homeless and 1060 for the 4 county area. 
 
I have a great passion for loving and helping the homeless. After many discussions with my pastor, we know the direction that we need to take.

There is no shelter here in this area and that is a tremendous need. We like to dream God sized dreams and would like to take it even farther than a shelter into a place of opportunity. Opportunities to beat addictions, to learn to read, to learn a job trade. We would like to give hope to the hopeless and broken and let them know that people truly do care about them. A dream center. A place they can come and dream and just maybe make those dreams come true.
 
The homeless are people and deserve the same basics as any one else. They are deserving of a chance to make it and of love and happiness.
 
Our greatest opportunity is funding.  I am asking any one who can help to please contact me.  I need ideas of how to persue this. I need to know about grants (which I know nothing about) and any other information that you may have that could help us to give hope to those who seem to have no hope. 
 
I sincerely appreciate anything that you can offer.
 
Love in Christ, 
 
 
Vicky English
click here to email me

Comments

steveharrison said…
man..what a great note..what a privilege and a honor to have volunteers and leaders who get it..who want to be a part and are all in..wow!..love to see God's people step up and serve..people who say let's get messy and do ministry..step up and be the hands and feet of Jesus..demonstrating love to the community will lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ..in fact I would venture to say that many may serve and give before they become believers..man continue to put the vision in front of folks and the Lord is going to continue to show favor to the The Community and Henry County...Yes! and Amen!
August 12, 2009 at 6:37:00 PM EDT
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Francis Chan's "Forgotten God" (brand new book)

One of the most powerful preachers, writers and leaders of our time, in my opinion, is Francis Chan.  His first book, Crazy Love , revolutionized my thoughts about God's love as well as my interacting with God.  Now it is time for a brand new book from Chan being released tomorrow, September 1st.  The book is Forgotten God .   This is a phenomenal book about the power that Christians and the church can and must tap into.  All of it is within the Holy Spirit.  Francis talks about the power that was seen in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit began to move among people.  It is true that many have avoided or maybe forgotten what the Holy Spirit is all about.   And like the Savior who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts.  We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things.  It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and ac...
Post a Comment
Read more

inspiration from C.S. Lewis

There are many people, past and present, who get our attention by what they write or say or share.  For me C.S. Lewis is one of those.  He was a prolific writer who continues to grab the attention of thinkers from many different points of view. Lewis first grabbed my attention when I was in 5 th grader, and our teacher, Mrs. Foy, shared The Chronicles of Narnia with our class.  It was a powerful time that this dreamer opened doors to thinking like I had never lived before.  He wrote of faith, of far off places and of strong figures who found their character rooted deep in God. C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in 1963, 7 years before I was born.  It wasn’t until his 30’s that under the influence of his friend Tolkien that he came to be a Christian.  He was raised in a traditional church going home, turned away from God as an Atheist in his teen years and through trying to stay away from God and faith returned to God with...
Post a Comment
Read more

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!
10 comments
Read more