I received a letter last week from the Evansville Rescue Mission. For those of you who many not know, the Evansville Rescue Mission (ERM) has been serving this community for more than 90 years. In fact, in a few short years they will celebrate 100 years of service. This is an incredible organization. The ERM is specifically designed to minister to homeless men with branches extending to the entire community. Besides the shelter for men, there is the Youth Detention Center for teens. There is Camp Reveal for kids to attend (for free) during the summer. And there is the Thrift Store for the community. But the real mission of the Mission is Isaiah 46: 4 which says: I will sustain you and I will RESCUE you. This is an incredible organization. Oh, wait! I already mentioned that didn’t I? Well, it was worth repeating. Evansville is blessed to have this organization ministering to the needs of our community. Anyway, back to the letter I received. The ERM is inviting New Life Church to participate in one of their community events. It is called the Gobbler Gathering. Over the past 90 + years, the ERM has distributed Thanksgiving food baskets to the families who are living at or under the Federal poverty line. In its most recent history, this event has allowed the ERM to distribute more than 1,900 food baskets to families. 1,900! Let me say that again: 1,900! To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to every single student at Castle High School receiving a Thanksgiving basket as they walk out the school doors. Each Thanksgiving basket is stuffed with a 10 – 13 lb. frozen turkey, a 5 lb. sack of potatoes, a 5 lb. bag of onions, fresh celery, a can each of green beans, corn, peas, cranberry sauce, yams, and chicken broth, a box each of cornbread mix, macaroni and cheese, stuffing mix, cake mix, and egg noodles; 1,900 baskets of all that! This is how the ERM is inviting us to help. They have asked New Life Church to donate 200 boxes of stuffing mix. The event itself takes places on Tuesday, November 25th. This means we need to have our goal met by Sunday, November 16th. We will accept donations for the other items that are included in the Thanksgiving basket as well. I have no doubt we will not only meet this goal but we will easily surpass it. A donation box will be located in the foyer starting this Sunday, September 21st. Thank you in advance for your generosity towards the ERM! More importantly, thank you for the eternal investment you will be making in the kingdom of God! One of my goals as the pastor of New Life is to work in partnership with the ERM. In some ways, we already are. In case you did not know, several members of New Life work through the ERM. Of course, Tracy Gorman is the CEO of the Mission and former pastor of this church. Josh Nichols is the executive director. Ashley Nichols is the first face you see when you walk in. Dale Kyle is in charge of maintenance. Karen Kyle is the secretary to the CEO. Lynne Phillips co-manages the thrift store with Amy Heck. I guess you could say, the love affair between New Life and the ERM is just beginning. The Gobbler Gathering is one way we can grow that relationship. There are several options. We can donate to the event through New Life Church. We can volunteer for the event as there will be 7 distribution times for the Gobbler Gathering on Tuesday, November 25th (10 a.m., 11: 30 a.m., 1, 2: 30, 4, 5: 30, and 7 p.m.) We can make a monetary donation to be a sponsor of the event for $100, $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,500. Of course, a monetary amount of any size can be given for the supply of Thanksgiving baskets. We can also participate in the Drumstick Dash which is a run/walk on Saturday, November 22nd, 2014 at the ERM headquarters. It is $20 to register. The proceeds go directly toward the Gobbler Gathering. 2 Corinthians 8: 7 says: But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you excel also in this grace of giving. New Life Church, let us excel in this grace of giving. Living in His Grace, Pastor Jonathan & Sara
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 14:44:02 +0000
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