May 23, 2008, from the Timberlake Outreach Center: How do you put into words something so awe-inspiring, that goose bumps creepy crawly up and down your arms and neck, you choke up with a tear or two, breathing is rapid and shallow - - you are caught, stunned in a God moment? I mean, what do you say? When I think of Open Door Mission, those are the moments that make up my day! My name is Kelli Young, and I am a Community Case Manager at the Timberlake Outreach Center. I work in our Furniture Program and get to witness lives being changed on a daily basis. Believing prayer is the answer to what is needed in life, we pray much, often and offer to pray for/with others. Here is one God moment that happened today… I remembered my first appointment by name and by sight, having met her many months ago when she provided a “ride” for our mutual client. He spoke a different language; she was the interpreter. I remember telling them about Open Door Mission, our different programs and services, and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Upon completing our referral sheet, I asked if there was anything I could pray for them? The offer was declined because he was Muslim, and her faith not yet acknowledged. I served her several times after that, but we could never pray together because she still had not chosen…. So it was with a heavy heart this morning when I saw she was my first appointment of the day. I was here to serve her, resigned to just completing the referral form and picking out the furniture. I knew she’d be happy with what we had in terms of donations, and that we had just what she said she needed! But I was the one to be surprised! She came in to my office with pen and paper in hand, writing down the scriptures posted on my walls! She pointed out where I had misspelled “fervent” on one scripture, as in “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16). She shared that although she is new to this, she is now attending church and learning! Indeed, what a student she’d become! We thanked God for opening up her heart and we prayed for her request for wisdom (James 1:5-6). She cried a bit and I choked up and got the creepy crawly goose bumps, and we really enjoyed this God moment! From praying to quit smoking, to praying for the healing of ravaging diseases, to praying for a new (or older) heart to be opened to the Good News - - we see God here, working His wondrous miracles everyday through the Open Door Mission programs!.....Kelli.
23 May 2008
22 May 2008
Encouraging Words from our Men's Recovery Director
It’s almost June and I don’t know about you, but I have been spending a lot of time outdoors gardening and planting. What a great God we serve to provide us with such simple and yet profoundly enjoyable activities. Just the thought, to see life, develop life, protect, nurture, and cultivate life itself. Actually, it’s highly symbolic of the ministry we carry on every day here at the Open Door Mission in Men’s Recovery. Watching new men join our program, come to new life in Christ, grow through Dick’s discipleship counseling, develop life skills through John’s mental health counseling, protected by Dwight’s oversight as building supervisor, and cultivation of all that through Tony’s case management. Just imagine the privilege of being directly involved in the recovery of someone’s sense of dignity, self-esteem, and productivity then you can see what Jesus Christ can do for those who we might view as the most hopeless. Yet, He proves time and time again that there is no such thing with Him. That sense of hope and that sense of reward drives us here at Men’s Recovery and we humbly realize that if it were not for a much larger team, we could not do the job. I wanted to share some thoughts of encouragement with everyone of you who minister with us by way of prayers, donations, volunteering, and working with our men here at the Mission. Dick Arant has shared a really fantastic experience he had lately. Although he is filling in for us as Discipleship Counselor, he still continues his job as Aftercare Case Manager. Lately, he has been working with one of our past graduates who is becoming increasingly ill and bedridden. Dick was able to help him procure an adjustable hospital bed and get it set up in his apartment (with some help from our program men). We were really excited watching how our God always provides. I was the thinking about this because I was speaking at church around the same time about El Shaddai, the Hebrew name for God meaning The All Powerful Provider. Needless to say, He provides me with plenty of examples for that name on a daily basis here. (As I am sitting and typing these very words, men are working in the next room installing a new security system for us.) Our All Powerful Provider never fails to meet our men’s spiritual, physical, or psychological needs and the staff here is constantly reminded by these examples, of the true source of our men’s individual recovery stories. Very recently, we have seen the return of one of our men who had left too early. Although he was out of our sight, God was still working with him to bring him to remember things he had been taught here. He finally came to realize the state of his existence and to crave a return to his former relationship with Christ. He called from Chicago and was able to get back to Omaha where he is currently progressing in our New Life Program. It makes me wonder about hundreds more like him who have left and although we don’t hear back form them, God is still faithful to use their experience here to work with them. Of course we have our men who leave other ways as well and these are blessings God allows us to see. For instance, we just graduated three men and all are gainfully employed. But the best new is that one of them is currently an Open Door Mission staff member working for Men’s Ministries. Praise God! I have personally been blessed lately watching my own staff and their development. They have gone through some tough experiences lately, but God has been faithful in teaching them through these. It’s hard for all of us to gain wisdom and it never comes cheap or easy, but it’s always worth it when the lesson is over. More important, is the source of that wisdom and the faith that develops knowing that when things seem out of control, God is still in charge. If we can just keep looking to Him, the purpose will show through. I think of the verse Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” This is rapidly becoming the theme verse for my own life. Part of that is because we are constantly planning here in Men’s Recovery, (in fact we will be having staff meeting in just a couple of hours to do more of that) and the great mystery (to us) is how God accomplishes His desires for us and through us (sometimes in spite of the planning we did). I don’t think we would even begin to do a work of such importance and magnitude if we did not trust that, although we are responsible for the effort, He is responsible (and faithful) for the results. How else can anyone begin to do the work of any ministry without that focus and confidence? We struggle to maintain that focus here. Things seem to go directly parallel to our success and failure at keeping that focus. If you asked us what we have learned the most about lately, that is what we would tell you. And hey, the staff would also tell you that it’s often not fun nor easy, but we serve El Shaddai here and He always makes it worth it. As I close out, I am thinking that I will be out to do more gardening and enjoying nature in just a little while. It is His great pleasure that I experience such pleasure. (How about a God like that?) Aren’t you glad that He has out best interest at heart? We yearn for all of our men to believe that. So go out, enjoy nature, give Him great pleasure by experiencing pleasure from all He has provided. After all, He is El Shaddai. Stan Latta Director of Men's Ministries
21 May 2008
Greetings from a Developement Specialist
My name is Kathleen Lacy and I am a Development Specialist here at Open Door Mission. What is it that I do? While each day brings something new or different, my responsibilities grow or slow down depending on the season. I process incoming donations from the mail, and also online credit card donations. I send out welcome packets to our new donors and also welcome back packets to those we haven’t heard from in a while. I enter volunteer hours into our system (with the help of another person). As fall and the holidays come I register those for our Back to School Bash, Great Thanksgiving Banquet and Operation Santa, and Eggstra Special Egg Hunt Events. One of the greatest parts of my job is seeing the blessings. I get to see the smiles on the faces of children when they get their backpacks for school. The tears of joy when parents get presents for their children for when the loss of a job means no Christmas. The happiness on the faces of the volunteers as they serve meals. My favorite scene was at Christmas last year as our donation receiving area became Santa’s Workshop and watching all of the “elves” make Christmas possible for close to 5000 homeless and near homeless children. Remember, no matter what you do whether it be giving a monetary donation, or volunteering your time and talents you are a blessing to not only those we serve but those of us here on staff as well. God Bless You!
20 May 2008
Lydia House Discipleship Counselor
My day at the Open Door Mission begins bright and early at 6:30 a.m. I arrive in the dark to a locked building and have the privilege of being first to greet the women in the Recovery Program first thing in the morning. Several women have asked for a 6:30 wake up call so I go to their door, gently knock and say “Honey, it’s time to wake up.” Soon there is a trail of women clad in robes with towels over their arms heading for the shower. I often converse with them as they are washing their faces and putting on makeup while crowded around the bathroom mirror. Meds are given out at 7:00 a.m. in my office so I get another chance to sit about a foot away from each lady and speak face to face. This is usually a joyous time of teasing and laughter. If they get up on the wrong side of the bed, we sing a “Good Morning” song to coax them into good spirits. One of our outstanding disciples now is a woman who came into the Mission a few months ago, addicted to crack, thin, beaten down with no direction in her life. All she knew is that somehow she had to get off of the drugs. She was spiritually confused even not knowing whether she was a Christian or not. God’s Word has taken up deep root in her heart and she is being transformed before our very eyes. She loves doing Bible studies, sings full voice during our praise and worship time, and memorizes several Bible verses each week. She has earned countless award prizes (Bonus Bucks) for answering questions with complete Bible verses with references. This young woman hardly resembles the battered down one that entered the program a few months ago. She now knows whose she is (God’s!) and why she is here. All glory to God and the power of His Word to transform a life! Joy Stevens Discipleship Counselor
16 May 2008
Summer of Hope
13 May 2008
Great Volunteers
What a Blessing Saturday Volunteers are! May 3rd we had a great group from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church that brought a group of 30 people to help the Open Door Mission at our Outreach Center. This group helped us to clean out our freezer and cooler. Not only did they help clean it, but they also helped to organize it so that food could actually be found. We had big bags of vegetables that are very impractical for the use of our kitchen staff. So they helped us to condense the vegetable bags into freezer bags and put them into stackable crates. Now our kitchen can use the vegetables and they can walk into the freezer and find what they are looking for. This group did us a huge service in helping us to save food and they weren't afraid to reach in and get dirty. These wonderful volunteers not only volunteered their time to do a dirty job but they also donated bags and bags of hope totes. People are stepping out and making a difference right here and right now, what a praise and a blessing. We also had over 80 great volunteers that came to the Open Door Mission this past weekend. You too can have the oppourtunity to have a live changing experience and volunteer at Open Door Mission. Please contact Cris Morris at 829-1504 or at cmorris@opendoormission. for more information.
10 May 2008
Auction and Dinner
06 May 2008
Anyone for Lemonade?
A few weeks ago you might remember reading on this blog about a family that was going to have a Lemonade stand in their neighbourhood to raise money for the Open Door Mission. Well I am happy to tell you that Jack and Kristin did have their Lemonade stand just over a week ago. They held it on the Weekend of April 24-26 and their goal was to raise at least $250. Well they did in fact raise that and more. They rasied a total of $256. A great big thank you to these two wonderful children that thought about the men, women, and children that live at the Open Door Mission. To find out more about their experience please tune into KCRO 660 AM on Thursdays from 4:00 - 5:00 for Inside the Open Door with Candace. In the upcoming weeks they are going to be on to tell their story about their Lemonade Stand.
Never to Young to Volunteer or have fun...
05 May 2008
Words of Truth from a Volunteer
