I realize this is an important question. If God lays a vision on your heart that is bigger than you can accomplish on your own, you have to answer the question, ‘How am I going to get others involved?’ It’s really very simple, but the first step can be the biggest!

The #1 way to bring volunteers to your ministry or cause is recruiting one on one. You have to make the ask to that first person. When you find someone who believes in you and what you are doing tell them to keep it going. Then you will find yourself being able to ask the second and the third and so on. It just happens, life on life, one on one. I sat down with someone recently who just drips wisdom when he speaks, and he told me, ‘No revolution begins apart from relationships.’

If you think your dream will come true if your company sends an official email, or if your Pastor will announce your ministry/cause from the stage, or if it makes the church bulletin, that’s just not the case. If you need more Children’s Ministry volunteers, parking lot team members, it begins with the existing volunteers believing in what they are doing enough to make the ask. If you are finding fulfillment meeting a need or serving a cause, give others that same opportunity.

Are you engaged in something bigger than yourself? Who are you asking to join you?

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

“Thank you in advance for your help & support of the 2011 Thanksgiving Outreach!”

Over the past three years, the Thanksgiving Outreach has provided more than 475 complete Thanksgiving dinners to people in our community.  Our goal for this year is to provide 300 Thanksgiving dinners.  You can help by making financial donations, making phone calls to meal recipients, and packing/delivering dinners.  Approximately $35 will feed a family of four a complete dinner and provide a Blessings/Prayer journal and scripture cards with each Thanksgiving dinner basket.

Please click on the zoomerang link below to view details, nominate families for Thanksgiving meals, and also to:

• Volunteer to pack
• Volunteer to deliver
• Volunteer to call and coordinate meal deliveries
• Make a donation

Click here to view details and complete the information 

To donate by credit card, you can click on this secure PayPal link.

You can also mail your check (made out to Men of Mars Hill) to 5369 Thornapple Ln NW Acworth GA 30101.”

This year Hope For Christmas will be happening on Saturday, December 10th in 4 locations. We are thrilled to be hosting this at every West Ridge Church Campus and we are being joined by Bethany Christian Church in Dallas, GA. This year we believe we will serve 6,000 children  multiple Christmas gifts, allow them to choose a gift for a loved one, and provide a Christmas meal for their families. Of course, we cannot do that without help from as many people as possible.

If you want to volunteer, help a guest register, or check out some of the businesses that are collecting toys in Bartow, Cobb, and Paulding Counties visit www.hopeforchristmas.com

More To Come!

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

My friends Tony and Skip led Last Saturday this past weekend. Outreach happens all the time through our Local Missions, but this is a once a month serving opportunity for anyone at West Ridge Church to get involved. Maybe next month you could join us for Last Saturday!

Cindy S- A widow that has been on a walker and somewhat bedridden for 20 years.  We had 10 volunteers from our Journey Group complete yard work which included mowing, trimming, edging, removing trash, planting shrubbery that had been purchased by Ms. Simmons previously. We spread 18 bales of pinestraw all around her home. We made plans to continue to serve her by organizing a garage sale at her home to help raise funds for some medical bills that are due. 

Sarah H- A single mom that has suffered a spinal injury in the past and lives with her 15 year old son. She was in need of a handicap ramp instead of negotiating the stairs outside her front door.  4 volunteers and completed the ramp before lunch. 

Barbara W- A single lady that has had a stroke recently and has no strength in one arm. She had asked us to help with some miscellaneous items including mowing lawn, moving some shrubbery, mulching a garden area where she sits outside, repairing a park bench, planting some flowers, restoring a bird bath, and painting handrails on the front and back porch. Skip Anglin led this project that included 11 volunteers, 5 of those 11 were young children.

• There’s more activity than there’s ever been on the Friday of CMO. I think a lot more people have taken off from work and started earlier.
• Our school teachers and administrators need our involvement. They are under resourced and overwhelmed. If churches really want to make a long term sustainable difference in a community we have to be available to serve our schools and encourage our people to volunteer. The doors are wide open!
• There is hard core poverty in the suburbs. It looks different than urban environments, and we must engage both with sustainable ideas.
• In Summer #4 this event is becoming more intimate even as it gets larger. There are some big projects with a lot of people serving, but a huge amount is just one family helping another.
• I saw people of multiple age ranges and ethnicity serving side by side today. Serving together creates unity and diversity at the same time.
• Was excited to see Parents with older elementary kids serving with their kids and shepherding them as well.
• Small businesses and locally run franchises are ready and willing to invest in their local community. It’s not about publicity. It’s about relationships.

Post your own project photos on the Community Makeover Facebook page.

If you are on twitter you can follow Engage Atlanta by going to twitter.com/engageatl. Use twitter hashtag #engageatl11 for all your tweets on this year’s Community Makeover.

Our Celebration Service is Sunday night July 24th, at 7:00 pm. at the Paulding County Courthouse!

Go here for directions

View Larger Map

• 110 Churches, 1000+projects, 12,500+ volunteers. Yep, I love that.
• Businesses call and ask how they can help. Racetrac said they didn’t care if their name was on something or not, they just want to be a part of it. Atlanta Paint Disposal did the same thing. (That’s my plug for Racetrac and Atlanta Paint Disposal)
• Media outlets call and ask me questions that have heard from others about this. The little local ones are the most fun, and impact our community more than larger ones.
• Project needs are getting met at the last minute. A lot of this happens as different churches interact together and different skills and talents are shared. We are able to say ‘Yes’ to even more folks that we were planning on. Unfortunately, not everyone. There will be more to do when this thing is done.
• Non-profit partners that jump in unselfishly, NW Habitat For Humanity, CAYA Ministry and A Fresh Hope come to mind off the top of my head.
• We are also serving some great non-profits, like the area Boys and Girls Club and Wellspring Living.
• If I take just what I know of from churches like Johnsons Ferry Baptist, Gracepointe Church, Bethany Christian, and others more than 3,000 kids will get backpacks this weekend. That’s a lot of families who don’t have to choose school supply money over grocery money.
• Working with Church Leaders that do things differently (and better) than us. There is so much to learn from each other!
• Working with churches of different ethnicity. I think working together outside of the Sunday hour can create a culture in a community that creates diversity inside the worship hour. For my money, churches with a little more ‘color’ have better food.
• Volunteering creates ownership. This weekend is a catalyst. It is not an end unto itself. Tons of people will be more involved in their churches and in their communities because they gave this ‘First Serve’ opportunity a chance.

Did you know there are just over 7,000 Georgia children in foster care?

These youth need stable, loving care until they can either safely reunite with their families or establish other lifelong relationships with a nurturing adult.

May is National Foster Care Month. This month, Paulding CountyDepartment of Family and Children Services is joining thousands of individuals, government agencies, and child advocacy organizations across the nation in promoting National Foster Care Month with various events throughout the region to raise awareness about these children.

No matter how much time you have to give, you have the power to do something positive that will “Change a Lifetime” for a young person in foster care. For more information, please visit www.fostercaremonth.org today.

For additional information on becoming a foster or adoptive parent, call 1-877-210-KIDS or contact your local Department of Family and Children Services and speak with the Resource Developer, Patty Malone at 770-443-3754.  You can visit Georgia’s waiting children online by visiting www.itsmyturnnowga.com or at www.wednesdayschildga.com .

The needs this season have been a bit overwhelming. One family shared with Jeff Bell, our Pastor of Life Care, that their toilets were frozen over. Imagine how cold it must have been in that house for the toilet water to freeze.

My largest prayer over this season is that the people we have served would find a home in the Body of Christ at West Ridge or some other church in our area. I know some of you in church leadership are thinking that doesn’t happen. And you are right. Most of the time suburban churches reach out and minister to the needs in their community, and the plan is just to see those folks again at the next Easter Egg hunt, school supply giveaway or next Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would love to buck that trend! Here’s two things that I think are important to making that happen.

1. Don’t grab and go, stay and connect. We didn’t just give away food bags, hens, and gifts, we did it in a party atmosphere. The invitation was not just to pick up assistance, but come have fun in the process. It took 1500 volunteers to pull off this event (including the best volunteer leadership team on planet Earth). They were all given the same mission – Be relational. Don’t just hand out invite cards to the Christmas Eve service to strangers. Make new friends, invite them to go with you to dinner first, sit with you in a service, and share the holidays with them.
2. It’s not Us and Them, It’s Just Us. – We helped families in our community who needed help in 2010. They are our neighbors. They are our friends. They are not a different race of people from Planet Section 8, they are fellow travelers on life’s journey. Too many church leaders talk about the poor and less fortunate like they are aliens. We served people from our own Body, with glad hearts. From our own community, with glad hearts. Some that we have served in the past are now volunteers and making their own donations. There is no ‘they’ or ‘them’. It’s just ‘us’.

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

Warehouse of Hope, one of our Local Outreach partners, has informed us that they are getting an extraordinary amount of requests for coats. These requests are coming from men and women, boys and girls, of all ages and sizes. If you have a coat that you could donate to Warehouse, we would like to invite you to bring it to one of our Christmas Services at West Ridge Church this December 23rd and 24th.

11 And he (Jesus) would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” Luke 3:11

Everyone Belongs,

Paul

1. Volunteer to be a part of the event on December 11th, or for some aspect of the preparation at the Hope For Christmas Website

2. Sponsor a family’s Christmas dinner for $20 using the paypal button on this site, or at West Ridge Church on Sundays!

3. Buy a toy for a child or gift card for a student. Donate them at West Ridge, or at our donation boxes throughout the community at participating Wal-mart, K-Mart, and Rite-Aid stores

4. Donate a gift a child can give to a family member when they ‘shop for free’ at the Fresh Hope store on December 11th.

Thanks for being a part! Expanded explanations are below:

1) Go to the Hope For Christmas website, and volunteer to be a part of the process. There are over 1200 volunteer roles to make Hope For Christmas a success. Some have already started. Even if you can’t serve on December 11th, there is a way for you to jump in! We feed our volunteers and provide child care on December 11th. It’s like we are paying you to volunteer!

2) Visit the World Cafe at West Ridge Church and sponsor a food basket for a family for $20. Your sponsorship will provide Christmas dinner to a family in need with all the trimmings. You can also take a moment and write a card to the family who will be benefiting from your sponsorship.

3) Buy a toy for a child or student. Buying an extra toy for a elementary child is actually a lot of fun. Toys have come a long way since you were a kid! BUT we will also be serving students all the way into high school. Think GIFT CARDS! $10 gift cards to Best Buy, Sports Authority, and other teen friendly stores would mean a lot. You can donate them in the Hope For Christmas boxes made available at West Ridge on Sunday.

4) One of the most beautiful aspects of the Hope For Christmas Party is the store provided by Waverly Gilcrease and A Fresh Hope. Children and students are invited to come into this store and ‘shop for free’ and pick out a present for someone in their lives to give away on Christmas morning. Inexpensive gifts for adults are readily available at Wal-mart, Kohls, Marshalls, and other discount stores. Help a child or student give Mom, Dad, or Grandma a gift they won’t forget!
Do something that maybe you wouldn’t think of! Use the forward feature at the bottom of this email and help us get people involved from throughout the community as possible. It’s going to take a lot of involvement to make this happen!

Everyone Belongs,
Paul

One a side note, if your business is looking for a place to do some corporate giving to families during the holiday season, and they are not permitted to give to a church please contact me. I will be glad to help guide them in the right direction.