I’m in Gainesville, GA visiting Kim and hanging with some of the other AIM crew. I always forget how much I love this community as a whole! They are great people and have the same heart and passion that I do. It’s fun to hook up with some of the people I lived with in Kenya and some that I just know from different times I have been here. I have only been here 36 hours and I already wish I didn’t have to leave! : )
Kim is co-leads a ministry called Community life. She lives in a house with 10 other girls, while they do intensive discipleship and community outreach. It’s a pretty crazy house, but it’s been fun to chat with the girls individually and get to know their stories. They are all at different places in life and once the program is over in August, will be heading off in different directions around the globe. I wish I had more time to spend with them!
Tonight, their outreach project was to cook and serve dinner at Good News at Noon…a ministry for the homeless in Gainesville. What a privilege to be a part of this ministry! I had such a great time with them today and it was fun to see them love on some of the outcasts of society. They gathered donations from local businesses and we had a great pasta dinner for about 200 people. It is a shelter for men, but tonight was family night so there were many women and children there as well. The place was packed as we served up the meals, hymns were sung and God was glorified. There was another church helping, along with some community service “volunteers”…so many people in fact that we waited in line just to help the people carry the boxes of food to their cars!
At the end, we sat with a man named Ray. He played his broken, old guitar and sang some songs he had written. Apparently, he was part of a successful local band as recently as 1991. I have no idea the story behind him being homeless, but he was clearly a very talented man. One of the program staff told us they were praying for a hearing aid and a nice guitar for Ray. As I looked around, I wished I could hear the stories of some of the people. They were grateful and had built a community there. A little bit of kingdom on earth right here in Gainesville!
Kim is co-leads a ministry called Community life. She lives in a house with 10 other girls, while they do intensive discipleship and community outreach. It’s a pretty crazy house, but it’s been fun to chat with the girls individually and get to know their stories. They are all at different places in life and once the program is over in August, will be heading off in different directions around the globe. I wish I had more time to spend with them!
Tonight, their outreach project was to cook and serve dinner at Good News at Noon…a ministry for the homeless in Gainesville. What a privilege to be a part of this ministry! I had such a great time with them today and it was fun to see them love on some of the outcasts of society. They gathered donations from local businesses and we had a great pasta dinner for about 200 people. It is a shelter for men, but tonight was family night so there were many women and children there as well. The place was packed as we served up the meals, hymns were sung and God was glorified. There was another church helping, along with some community service “volunteers”…so many people in fact that we waited in line just to help the people carry the boxes of food to their cars!
At the end, we sat with a man named Ray. He played his broken, old guitar and sang some songs he had written. Apparently, he was part of a successful local band as recently as 1991. I have no idea the story behind him being homeless, but he was clearly a very talented man. One of the program staff told us they were praying for a hearing aid and a nice guitar for Ray. As I looked around, I wished I could hear the stories of some of the people. They were grateful and had built a community there. A little bit of kingdom on earth right here in Gainesville!
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