I used to be cynical.  But in the 6 years of leading Prodigal’s Home this has changed. Common belief is that churches don’t like to work with each other. Certainly we have our little skirmishes but when it counts I have seen the Church work well together.

Take this coming Friday for example…  We will serve the homeless and poor as we do each day and then starting about 4:00 p.m. we’ll start setting up for the Prodigal’s Home Friday Night Youth gathering.  It’ll be a pretty big night and I’ll get to those details in a moment.

So on this day we’ll have two men, one from Pure Heart and one from Church for the Nations, doing renovation on the casita on the back of the property.  We’ll have a man from Living Streams preparing lunch for staff and volunteers during a break between serving. The house managers along with the leader of the youth program attend Reunion Church.  The other two youth leaders are from Open Door Fellowship and Hope Church.  I am active at Community of Grace and Kim attends St. James Catholic Church.  We’ll have some folks from Orangewood Presbyterian stopping by with some donations.  We have a group from Community Church of Joy who will be helping as well.  Depending on what is needed for the day we’ll have folks from Phoenix Christian, Phoenix First Assembly of God, and Crossroads UMC.

That’s 12 churches not counting the ones I forgot (be gentle with me if I have forgotten your church!)

We’ll give the gift of 20 showers and a dozen loads of laundry this day for those who are homeless and, many times, hopeless.

And then starting at 5:00 p.m. we’ll start Christmas service for the youth. It will start with a full turkey dinner for all those attending.  At 6:00 p.m. our friend, Terey Summers, will tell the Christmas Story.  About 15 minutes after that Phoenix Fires’ Engine 7 will be delivering (with lights & siren) a special guest to give over 100 gifts donated by Every Kid Counts.

I used to be cynical.

But look at what is happening at Prodigal’s Home this Friday… and most importantly look to the hope we have in celebrating the birth of Jesus this Sunday and I believe any cynical mind can be changed.

All this happens because of your very generous giving.  We’re a team of folks from many different backgrounds and local churches.

A generous gift from you will help this mission continue to thrive in 2012.

Thank you!

 

Grace & Peace,

Mike