Turkey Call
December 17, 2008
Turkeyfest turned out to be fantastic. Our small group had 5 baskets to deliver but we only took 4 names. We figured, somehow, we would be directed to the fifth family. We asked the first 4 families if they were aware of a family that really needed help. We were led to just such a family.
Four boys, ages 2,3,5,6 and Mom and Dad. All living in an apartment with NO, absolutely no furniture. All the contents of the apartment had to be destroyed because of bedbugs, that or pay $3800 that they did not have, for a “bedbug treatment”.
They were great people and they realized we were there to help. They were joyous over the turkey dinner and all the fixings, but we somehow realized a turkey dinner would not cut it,.
At our next small group meeting, we decided to try to “adopt” the family for Christmas. We didn’t really know what that meant, yet. We made contact with them and they accepted our offer. We asked for the children’s names, and ages and what they might want for Christmas. We also asked what Mom and Dad might want for Christmas.
The answers surprised us. The boys could each use one pair of pants and perhaps one “learning” toy. Mom and Dad said they had no needs. No needs. We were expecting more toy requests or “fun” things, but Mom knew exactly what they needed. Mothers somehow always do.
We dug a little deeper to find something that Mom could use. An iron and a blender said the father.
We divided up the list and each member of our group obtained the requests, and we all seemingly added a little bit more. We called to set up a time to meet with the family and Mom would be available on Tuesday night. She wanted to know how many of us were coming so she could serve us some coffee.
During this time period we have, through the generosity of a number of people, started to get some furniture for the family. The husband of one of our members delivers them bread each week. I think we found a calling here.
Tonight is the evening we are going to their apartment, to take our small gifts to help to change their world. While the gifts will be helpful to the family , the real gift is that, through the Turkeyfest, we found this family and I think we will discover that we are the real recipients.
I didn’t know a Turkey could be so powerful!
Thanks for the Turkeyfest and everything else you and The Vineyard do for us.
Regards,
Wayne
In-Step with the heart of the body of Christ
December 17, 2008
We have an awesome small group! We’ve only been together since “The Call” series but everyone gets along so well that you would think we’ve been best friends for years! Everyone is flexible in last minute get-togethers, fun to be around and serve with, and has a heart for spiritual growth and outreach.
Here’s our story.
I have a son who was brain injured in a car accident when he was a toddler. He lives in a nice group home with two roommates and 24-hour caretakers. About five years ago while at a Christmas party with him and other physically and mentally challenged adults Bill and I noticed that not everyone received a gift at the party. However, when another group home’s name was called for receiving the door prize gifts, the others clapped with excitement for those that won, even if they didn’t. We wanted to do something to make sure everyone received a gift at the next party but time got away from us until this year.
Last year one of our group members said that she thought we as a small group should take gifts to my son’s group home. This year we all took action and decided to collect gently used or new re-gifted items (nice gifts that were received but not wanted or useful and that may just be sitting in storage), wrap them and go as elves to give the gifts and serve at the party. The morning we shared our idea with Dan Henry was the morning the Vineyard announced their outreach that was similar to ours. It was exciting to see that our small group was “in-step” with the heart of the whole body of Christ!
Shortly after Thanksgiving lots of nice donated items started coming in. Soon our living room, dining room, kitchen and guest room was so full that I doubted that we could get them all wrapped in one evening and wondered how we’d ever get our home ready for Christmas with the “mess”. The evening before the party we set up “wrapping stations” at the kitchen table, breakfast bar, dinning room table and a folding table in the living room plus a folding table for our chili dinner before wrapping. Because I am a planner and one that functions better in an organized environment, the clutter of wrapping paper, ribbon and boxes and bags of stuff looked overwhelming. However, seeing how calmly and well everyone was working together made the task look easy! In less than three hours over 100 gifts were wrapped, the scraps of paper picked up and folding tables put away with the help of many hands!
I say all this to encourage those who may think such an outreach is too much when in fact, with God’s people working together to serve in any way, it becomes a great blessing!
The next evening our small group plus four other Vineyard volunteers put on our elf and/or Santa hats and served drinks and dinner to each table. The people were so excited and wanted pictures taken with us. It is difficult for one or two caretakers to carry drinks and help take each of those in their care through the food line, especially if they are in wheelchairs and/or using walkers in the crowded room so they were very happy to be served! Our volunteers then mingled with and danced with those with disabilities and helped everyone pick out a stuffed animal from the two tubs full. There were enough wrapped gifts and stuffed animals and new gloves for every single person, including the caretakers!
It was so much fun to serve these special people and we are looking forward to doing it again next year!
God is great!
Sue
Being Available
December 4, 2008
Our small group is in the midst of reading Dave’s book and are really into it! The chapter on “availability” spoke volumes to all of us. So, we have been praying everyday and asking the question “God, I am available; how can I serve someone today?” Well, needless to say, God is faithful and he has answered our prayers everyday and then answered them in a bigger than expected way. What I mean by that is our small group had the privilege of providing two different families in the Winton Terrace area Thanksgiving dinners. One family we took food over on a Wednesday night to a single mom and 5 children. The mom wanted to prepare the meal herself and requested all the needed ingredients to make a Thanksgiving meal. She wanted the meal to be a way of bringing her extended family together because she lost her mother recently. She was murdered this past June. To make matters even worse, the mother that was shot and killed was holding this woman’s 2 year old son (the 2 year old’s grandmother). In addition, two other children of hers were present and witnessed this terrible murder. This all sounds surreal, but it is true because I have staff members who are serving this family and attending to some of their needs. Fortunately, this mom was open to prayer and we got the privilege of praying with her and her children that Wednesday evening.
The second family we served was a single mom with 6 precious children ranging from 7 years to 7 months We took fully cooked meal to her on Thanksgiving morning. She too allowed us to pray for her. The small children were so receptive to prayer; we joined hands and prayed in our little circle. The mom specifically asked for prayer to pass her driver’s test. When we finished praying, the little 4 year old tugged on my shirt and gleefully said, “My daddy’s out of jail now.” The mom laughed very nervously in response to her child’s statement. What a heart break!
We did not leave either place feeling good about what we had done, instead we felt overwhelmed by the needs of our community and asked ourselves, what else can we do? Taking a few meals is just not enough!
Of course, we will continue to lift the families up and many others just like them and also continue to ask God what else can we do. Our small group is meeting again this coming Wednesday to walk through another chapter of the Outward Focused Life book. We know God has a plan for our group and we are praying that we pay close attention to His voice as we enter into this busy holiday season.
We are grateful for your prayers!
Annette (and Mike)
Christ in Action
November 18, 2008
Just wanted to let you know about some great news that could have only been pulled off by our God, our Christ Jesus and man, was it awesome!
During LA La Viña, an outreach which reaches out to the Hispanic poor in our community, one of the families we serve had one sole immediate need – three kids under the age of 10 in need of beds. The mother, who works very hard couldn’t afford beds for her children and it wrecked her to the core. For her kids to sleep on the aged carpet and warmed only by thread-bare blankets…well, how would it make you feel?
But here’s how God shows up: Two people, who’d never been on that outreach felt they “needed” to see what it was all about Saturday morning and when the mother’s needs were known, each one had a missing component – one had a toddler bed, the other a twin bed for two. And another first-timer had sheets and pillows for the twin bed.
And while the mother was embarrassed to tell us her family’s needs, the people who had the items were bursting with excitement, joy and were more than ready to help. (I think there was a suppressed high five floating about the room amidst the tears of joy.)
So today, twelve people, most of us strangers, regrouped again after meeting each other for the first time yesterday, to go back over to deliver two beds and bedding for three kids who’d been sleeping on matted, worn out carpet for over a year.
And that….that…is Christ in action, kids. Princess bedding for the girls. Batman bedding for the little boy.
And let me say, this is not about a good deed, or about a “warm and fuzzy” at the end of the day, it’s all about Christ in action. Period. And how He puts the right people in the right places in the right time to help three little amigos in others path just to so He can say, “Sleep well tonight…for you..are a child of God.”
So to Kimberly, Jennie and Railey. “Jesus te ama.”
And we do too.
Small Group’s 1st Steps
September 5, 2008
One meeting night I surprised everyone by saying follow me to my car. As I was driving I told them tonight was our first outreach. We drove to Lowe’s and once there, everyone was assigned a duty to get everything prepared. We then gave away over 120 bottles of water and we did touch a couple of folks. One individual said he had heard of the Vineyard, and had been to “some Christmas play” and had wanted to go on a Sunday to see what it was like. He thought this might just be the catalyst to make him go.
Several weeks later I asked the group ahead of time if they wanted to do another outreach. Everyone said yes. I told them next week we are going to do a laundromat. We’ll pay for everyone’s wash (later I found out it was more than 50 cents a wash) and talk with the folks and see what happens. The night of the outreach we met in the VCC atrium and WOW! –everyone had brought something to share for the outreach! This night was already a success. What a great group, each member was really participating and preparing to share some of God’s love.
We went to the laundromat and had a little surprise. Almost everyone there was speaking Spanish. None of us speak Spanish. So it was fun to communicate and we did succeed with several folks. We paid for peoples washer, gave them a packet of Tide, even had drinks for everyone and snacks for the kids. One family had just moved here from Peru-and they wanted church info–we had a great talk with that family. Told them of the LaVina celebration. One person who did speak English said we must be “from the Vineyard-you guys are always smiling!” There were lots more encounters and we shared our “Practical gifts to show God’s love” with everyone. It was a super night for everyone including all members of our group.
Next outreach will be water and windshields-should be interesting!
Wayne
