Verse of the Day:
"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3:17
This past Sunday, I has the privilege of attending services at Trinity Reformed Church in Newark with the senior high Sunday school class. This is an amazing place. In 2004, I went to Trinity on a mission trip with Three Bridges and Bruce and Laurie Hawley. We spent the week converting part of the building into Sunday School classrooms. While we were there we had lunch with the Principal of the Hawkins Street School which is directly across from the church. The discussion was how this mission site could be in ministry with that school. Who knew then that with only 4 people attending Sunday worship what God's amazing power would do to this small patch in the middle of a hurting city. Now they have an amazing ministry to children of all ages through Safe Haven Urban Redemption with children having a safe place to be after school with people who are sharing the love of Christ. Danny (pastor and director of Safe Haven) told us that they just celebrated an amazing milestone - they have not had a shooting in the past year. On Sunday, I watched as 16 young adults were baptised. Without this ministry they would have already been baptised into gangs. Three Bridges has had a small hand in helping this ministry get it's footings. We built the Sunday School rooms, we sent money to pay for the carpeting, we helped pay for the new hard wood flooring in the Sanctuary and we have continued to support them through our benevolence giving. If you every wonder if a gift you have given makes a difference - just look at Trinity.
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Sue -
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young engineer just starting out I worked on a design for a new addition to the Hawkins St. School. I met with then Principal Joe Randazzo and was immediately impressed. It was obviously a really rough neighborhood, but his kids were more well behaved than most of the suburban districts I had been to. I asked him once why he thought he was so successful with these young kids when others weren't. He said that he learned from his mentor (the principal of Ann St. School) that these kids are searching for someone to care about them. He said that the discipline, the uniforms and the constant correcting were just ways to show that he and his staff cared about them. It's so simple, yet so, so vital. There's a sermon in there somewhere.