As 2nd Corinthians 5:17 reminds us, we are new creations in Christ. The old is out and the new is in when we give ourselves over to His Lordship. This newsletter will focus on this metamorphosis because it’s what is happening to PCN and it’s what is happening with the families we serve. This July, we begin a new era of serving the impoverished families with which we are engaged.
We will have the same relational opportunities available for you to reach into the community but now we will have a central meeting space. Those that are serious about finding work, maintaining their housing and building new and helpful relationships will begin a journey in a few short weeks — and we welcome you to the table (see both our GOSO Watch Column (below) each month and our updated “Get Connected” page on our website).
PICTURE THIS: Here’s our motley crew in Memphis celebrating our training and certification from the Chalmer’s Institute to teach Work Life and both Zack and Ruthie’s birthdays (and yes, that would be the world-famous Rendevous rib joint… when in Rome, right?).
While in Memphis, we visited a non-profit ministry organization dedicated to serving the poorest in their city. Advance Memphis does similar trainings but we really liked how they linked their programming together. Their work was inspiring and gave our staff encouragement as this was the direction we were heading as an organization.
VBS is going great at Lexington Gardens. The kids have been bonding with our visiting missions teams and they are listening to and engaging in the Gospel. Zack and Ruthie are out next week celebrating one year of marriage so that means Michelle and I are in the VBS hot seat!
Fortunately, we are being blessed by working with 3 different missions organizations. The bulk of our mission teams are coming from Adventures In Missions (AIM) and we are hosting Radius Camps with our friend Nate Wood again this year. We have additional project work (painting, building, cleaning, etc) from our friends MissionFuge. A few weeks ago, our local church team was Brentwood Baptist Church. They did an amazing job of organizing and providing meals to the kids in our community. This week our local team is Trinity Baptist Church of Franklin, TN. Thanks for pouring into this community!
It’s an exciting time and it’s a new level of relationship and helping without hurting for those that need a hand up.
Alan and Michelle
