A couple of nights ago woke up for no particular
reason. But, I also had trouble falling
back to sleep. Several things were going
through my mind. One of those was the
Living Bridges ministry. I know that God
has called us to this, and since the ministry is growing at such as astonishing
rate I began to wonder where the funds and resources will come from. Well, I prayed and expressed this concern to
God and he answered very clearly “ask and it will be given to you.” I wasn’t exactly sure where it was, but I
knew it was scripture and when I looked it up it is Matthew 7:7. It was then that I realized that we need more
partners in this ministry, giving others the opportunity to be a part of what
God has led us to do and the furthering of His kingdom through it.
Let me
explain what we have been doing as a ministry.
We started last summer by hosting Kids’ Connections 2 Saturdays a
month. On those Saturdays an average of 30
family members were blessed by what we offered.
The children would play games, do a craft, hear a story about what our
father in heaven has, is and will do in their lives and recite scripture from
memory. The adults would have a Bible
study, play bingo for much needed household items and on some Saturdays do a
craft that gave them something they had created for their own homes. We also hosted a “Trunk or Treat” that
offered an alternative to trick or treating door to door. This event drew around 60 children from around
the area. Just before thanksgiving we
hosted a lunch where around 30 were fed.
Also, at this lunch we were able to send food bags home with each family
that contained staple items such as flour, sugar and vegetable oil as well as
canned vegetables and soups. Just before
Christmas we held our birthday party for Jesus.
Of course we celebrated the birth of our lord and savior, but we also
were able to provide each child with a donated gift. Board games were given to each family to
promote more spending time as a family.
I also forgot to mention that at every one of the events every person
was fed lunch that included hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets,
pulled pork sandwiches and other delicious food. But, do you know what the best
part of all of this was? It was the
fact that several people accepted Jesus as their lord and savior and a few
others decided to rededicate their lives to Him.
As you
can probably guess, as much as we love it, providing these things is not
free. Which is where “ask and it will be
given to you” comes in. Yes, we are
asking for your support. We have prepared
a budget that we feel will cover all of the above items and a couple of others
that include the pavilion rental at the park where we meet, state and local
licenses, accounting software that will be used to track our finances and
donations and buying curriculum for this summer’s Kids’ Connection and for
classes we would like to teach to assist the people in the neighborhood get
jobs and manage finances. We figure that
all together, we need approximately $3500 this year to accomplish what we would
like to do. This breaks down to an
average of $290 per month. So, if we
could get 10 families to pledge to donate $30, 20 families to donate $15 or 30
families to donate $10 per month this goal would be met and we could continue
to bless this area of Valdosta throughout the year. Also, as a reminder, we are now officially recognized
by the IRS as a non-profit ministry.
Which means that anything you donate is tax deductible.
There
are many ways you can help. You can
donate items that are listed on our needs list.
Of course, funds are always appreciated.
If you are able to donate funds, there are several ways to do this. If you would like to send a check, please make
it out to “Living Bridges Ministry” and mail it to the address listed on our
web site. You can also donate using
paypal, the link can be found on our web site, www.livingbridgesministry.org. We also have the capability to accept funds
by credit card. If you would like to do
this, please call us at (229)234-7427 and we will take care of it. But, the most important thing you can do for
the ministry is to pray that God will continue to bless it and use it to
further His kingdom.
If you
have any questions, comments or concerns please don’t hesitate to call at the
above phone number or email us at info@livingbridgesministry.org.
In
His Service,
Tony Gunter
President,
Living Bridges Ministry
