Saturday Service Opportunities

I'm so pleased that we've already begun serving in Carondelet prior to beginning public worship. God gave us opportunity with the handrails project, and we pray that more of those type of will be made known to us.

Tim Carroll and others installing handrails at the Work Day


As pleased as I am that we've got one project under our belt, I don't want us to rest on our laurels ;-) There will be opportunities to serve on probably three Saturdays each month (some of that depends on weather), on one of a few different projects. Here are the opportunities:

1st Saturday - St. Trinity Food Pantry
2nd Saturday - South City Work Day
3rd Saturday - Bellerive Park Clean-Up
5th Saturday - St. Trinity Food Pantry

I talked with Jean Kuhlman from St. Trinity and she told me that they usually have plenty of help for the 3rd & 4th Saturdays. We've now connected them with what we hope will be consistent help on 2nd Saturdays through the New City Work Day. But she told me that they usually need help on the 1st Saturday of the month, and on 5th Saturdays on months that have 5 Saturdays.

The 2nd Saturday of the month continues to be the New City Work day and I think at least 5 of us have already participated in one of those. I'd like to see that number continue to grow.

The 3rd Saturday which is one that will probably be more weather dependent is the Bellerive Park clean up, sponsored by the Carondelet Community Betterment Federation (CCBF). In fact, if there is a November date, it may be earlier in the month given weather and proximity to Thanksgiving.

I would really like to see some Resurrection folks help out at St. Trinity's food pantry on each 1st & 5th Saturday, and I'd like to have at least one Resurrection representative at each Bellerive Park clean up day as well. Looking at the rest of October & November, here's what will be available:

Sat Oct 31st - St. Trinity Food Pantry
Sat Nov 7 - St. Trinity Food Pantry
Sat Nov 14 - South City Work Day
Sat Nov 21 - Bellerive Park Clean-Up

Think about it. Pray about it. I'll be seeking to fill up a sign up sheet soon.

Serving in Carondelet

One of the ways that I believe we can have an effective gospel witness in the Carondelet community is to serve the community as we "seek the welfare of the city" into which God is sending us. One of the goals I had for our church is that we would be engaged in serving the community even before we started worshipping there.

After getting a referral from the Carondelet Community Betterment Foundation (CCBF) several weeks ago, Tom Hanley & I, along with Andrew Stern and April Mininger (both from New City Fellowship) went down to visit an elderly resident in Carondelet who had requested a wheelchair ramp. Ora, who is originally from Memphis, but moved to Carondelet to live with her daughter Verdi several years ago, is a dear woman. She's blind and in her early 90's, but she possesses an iron grip and a cheerful spirit. We talked and prayed with her, and got hugged on a bit too. She was eager to tell us about her church, where she has been faithfully attending since she moved to St. Louis. After assessing her situation, we decided that handrails on her steps would be better at this point than a ramp.



I'm pleased to say that with the cooperation of New City Fellowship's South City Work Day we were able to compile a team of volunteers including Tom Hanley & Tim Carroll who were able to build handrails outside Ora's home.



We're grateful to have had the opportunity to meet and work with Ora & Verdi, and hopefully to minister to a sister in Christ in a way that will be helpful to her. We are very pleased with the blossoming relationship with CCBF and the referral that they provided, as well as the partnership with New City South's Work Day. Much thanks to Tom, Tim and the others who did the hard labor last Saturday, and for Tom's leadership and his efforts on this project. In addition to last Saturday, Tom had several phone calls and meetings downtown with city officials regarding permits, designs, etc.

The Lord Jesus has already given us opportunity to seek the welfare of Carondelet...give thanks!

Pray for Tom

Remember to pray for Tom Hanley's meeting with the guy from the Chief Plan Examiner's office for the city of St. Louis Tuesday morning. Pray that the city would look favorably on the proposed plans, that would allow us to move forward with building wheelchair ramps for those in need, in the Carondelet area. Tom got the idea for the wheelchair ramp project from a friend of his who runs the Dallas Ramp Project.