Maximize My Ministry: Personal Development for Today's Christian Leader - powered by FeedBurner

Maximize My Ministry: Personal Development for Today's Christian Leader - powered by FeedBurner

MULTIHOUSING CONFERENCE/FBC EULESS

Over 70 people came together for the Multihousing Conference at FBC Euless on September 25. We spent the day learnig and ineracting with those who are already involved in Multihousing MIssions. Ronnie Cox came from South Carolina to talk about working with pastors and church members in developing this work. Andrew McElyea talked about "I Am Second" Bible study and disciple making venue. Kenny Price showed how to use the Evangecube in evangelism. Tia Albertson gave ideas of how to begin churches onsite. Audrey Simon and Audrey Gibbs, who are practitioners, talked about long term sustaining of the ministy. One of them has been a missionary to apartments residents for 12 years and the other for abour 4 years. I showed the attendees how to get started if they were really considering this outreach. Jim Burgin came to talk about Mission Arlington and Charles Thornton talked about Apartment Life. It was a day packed with information for those who want to get started and for those who are already a part of reaching this mssion field.

Most of North America lives in multi-housing; 95 percent need Christ - NAMB.net

Most of North America lives in multi-housing; 95 percent need Christ - NAMB.net

Austin Multihousing Conference

What a wonderful time we had at the Austin Multihousing Conference. We had a good group from several different places such as Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Dallas and even South Dakota. We spent the morning experiencing church as one could in an apartment community. The second session was a discussion on how to approach and work with apartment industry personnel. There were three choices for the afternoon sessions. One was led by the "I am Second" group which showed how to begin Bible studies with the unchurched and lead them to a point of disciple making. The second was a session talking about Church Planting in apartment communities. The third session was a discussion about sustaining ministry onsite in apartment communities for the long term. We ended the day with prayer for each one as they went back to their particular situations at home. We wish all of you could have been there with us to share in the experience.

Karen Kids Learning English Through Play With American Kids

American Kids Helping Karen Refugees with Homework!

FORT WORTH KAREN REFUGEES

God has truly broken my heart. I met 35 Karen families last weekend, anywhere from 3 to 8 in a family. They are living in an apartment complex near the seminary in Fort Worth. They are from Burma and have been persecuted to the point that government sponsors from this country bring them here. The only problem is they have not thought through the entire situation before bringing them. Most of them do not speak English(hard to get a job when you cannot communicate), do not have any transportation, no housing etc. They come with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They are given $1000 to set up housekeeping, get an apartment etc. They are each give one plate and spoon, food stamps for 6 months (which take weeks to get). The kids have medical insurance but the adults do not. Here they are!!!!

I am trying to do 2 thing for them. I have two lists - one general and one specific of things and stuff they need. I am giving this list to all I know to try to help them get set up. I will send the lists to you if you email me for it at barbara_oden@att.net. If you can, pass them out to ANYONE you think might help. Anything given can be given through Texas Multihousing Consulting and can be tax deductable. I have receipts to give. The second thing I an going to begin doing is teaching them English. If you know anyone who might want to assist with that, let me know.

They are such sweet people. I cleaned out my closets and kitchen and took some things to them on Monday. They were eating together when I got there. They immediately gave me a chair and fixed a bowl of noodles and broth for me. They all gathered around me a took a picture. I can't begin to tell you how I felt. One lady does not even have shoes, one man asked is I could find him a medium size jacket. They need blankets to keep warm at night. I felt like I was in a foreign land.

Anyway, if you have some ideas - please let me know.

The Dallas Baptist Association Multihousing Leadership Team had a great meeting on Friday morning. Fonda Koss had not been there for many months due to her surgery and her husband's Cancer surgery and all that followed. We saw some new faces as Pastor Simmons from Hillcrest Baptist Church and Richard and Adam Harris from Lawson Road BC were there too. It is always amazing to me how God brings together the group each month He determines to be there. We had a great time of discovering from each other some great ideas and resources to use in the ministries. We talked about churches onsite also. We missed some of our regulars but know that things come up that just cannot be helped.

One thing we are going to pursue is a night meeting instead of the morning meeting. Maybe more folks could come since many do work during the day. If you read this blog, I would love to have your input into this idea.

Next month will be a special time as one of the kids I led to the Lord in my first apartment ministry in 1986, who is not a missionary with his family in Bangkok, Thailand, will be there to speak to us. We look forward to hearing from one whose life has been changed because someone went to him instead of expecting him to come to a local church already established.

Today was a VERY special day for me. I am in Houston to meet with the Multihousing Ministry Team. It just so happens that one of the first converts from my first apartment ministry 24 years ago is home on leave from Bangkok, Thailand and is furloughing in Houston. When I got to my hotel John, his wife Ruth and their children Timothy and Hannah met me there. It was a wonderful reunion. It is so amazing to think that 24 years ago John did not even know the Lord and now he and his family have been missionaries in Thailand for many years now. I remember that, when he first found the Lord, we could not shut him up. He told everyone everywhere about his new found Friend. Now he is half way around the world doing the same thing. Time has not changed a thing in our relationship. It is still as wonderful as it was then. The only thing that is different is that we don't get to spend as much time together as we once did. What a thrill it is to be able to see some of the fruit God has produced through His awesome way of using us to increase His territory. Praise His name!

Today was another great day in the life of reaching out to another apartment community. This one only has 72 apartments but there are lots of kids and Moms to minister to. New Millennium Baptist Church will be sponsoring this work. They will begin with a Resident Interest Survey to determine what the residents may have a desire to do. After this information is compiled and the church teams are put in place the relationship building will begin. The apartment manager is very open and has already talked about giving the pastor's wife a key so they can come and go as they need to in order to serve. There will be a Summer Lunch Program provided by Central Dallas Ministries. They will provide the lunches and New Millennium will serve them, along with volunteer residents. There will also be some kind of Backyard Bible Club event each day after the lunch so the kids will hear about Jesus all summer long. This looks like a great beginning and we are hoping many residents find Christ as Savior and follow on to becoming disciple making disciples themselves.

Today I met with several people at Central Dallas Ministry. One of the things they do is feed lunch to children during the summer months who would not get lunch otherwise. Many times these kids live in apartment communities. CDM will be creating a list of the places they will host this summer. I will work with them to find groups who will serve the meals and then provide a Backyard Bible Club or other faith based programming. I am hoping that, after commiting to a couple of hours a days for several weeks, some of the groups will want to continue with an ongoing work.

Today was an exciting day in the life of multihousing connections. I had a great meeting with a pastor yesterday who really want to see a transformation of the community near their church. He has a dream to see other churches in the area come together with them and provide whatever is needed to reach this community. One of the biggies in this area is apartment communities. He asked me to work with them as they begin. The first thing he asked for was for me to provide a list of the properties in a certain area around the church. I spent today searching google and yahoo for the list. I found 46 properties around their church. WOW! We will be meeting again as they discover the next step!