Until The Nets Are Full: June 2013

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Our fantastic group from Grace Church in Greenville, NC.

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

thank you so much for your prayers for the team from Grace Church that joined us last week. God was good, and we learned some things. Several folks sent me an email asking to see what questions we asked, so here's the survey that we took to our clients. It's a bit long, but for in real time typically took 20-30 minutes to work through.

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Mountain Vision Client Survey:

Is ___(client’s name)_____________________________________ home?

We’re here on behalf of Mountain Vision Ministries. They’re the folks over towards Mosheim in the white building with the red doors. They’ve been helping people in Greene County for a few years now. What they’ve figured out so far is that more people have needs than they’re able to help. So right now, they’re trying to learn how they can do a better job of helping people, and maybe help even more people.

So today, they’ve asked us to come and do some interviews with people who’ve been helped in some way through the Storehouse ministry. Would it be alright if we came in and sat down and asked you some questions that might help them help more people?

Basically, we believe that everyone has God-given talents that can be used to benefit the community. We’d like to spend a few minutes talking to you about your gifts and skills. Would that be alright? (If they ask how long will it take, tell them somewhere between just a few minutes and half an hour, depending on the conversation.)

1. What positive qualities do people say you have?

2. Who are the people in your life that you give to? Besides stuff, what do you give them?

3. When was the last time you shared with someone else? What did you share?

4. What do you give that makes you feel good?

Sometimes we have talents that we’ve acquired in everyday life such as cooking and fixing things.

1. What do you enjoy doing?

2. If you could start a business, what would it be?

3. What do you like to do that people would pay you to do?

4. Have you ever made anything? Have you ever fixed anything?

Would you be willing to donate your time and gift or skill to help someone else in the community, meaning, if someone from this community comes into the Storehouse and needs something that you’re gifted to do, could we call you to volunteer and help that person?

You’ve been really helpful thus far, would it be okay if I asked you a few more personal questions to help us get to know you better?

How long have you lived in this location?

How long have you lived in this community?

(If recent, where did they move from?

What brought you to this community?)

Who lives with you?

Who are the most important people in your life?

Do you have a government issued ID like a driver’s license or SS Card?

Do you have work?

If YES, doing what and where and for how long?

If NO: Are you looking for work?

If Yes, what type of work are you looking for? How long have you been looking?

Do you have any degrees, certificates, or certifications that would help you find work, or better work?

If DISABLED: If you could have more income from working than you draw in disability, would you rather work?

If Mountain Vision or one of its local church partners offered a program that taught basic money management and budgeting, would you be interested in participating? Would that be helpful for you?

If Mountain Vision or one of its partners offered a program that would help you prepare for work and potentially help you find a job, would that be helpful to you? Would you be interested in participating?

Do you go to church anywhere?

If YES: where?

Do you know the pastor?

What does your church do to help families in need?

Would you be willing to introduce your pastor to Charlie or Daniel from Mountain Vision?

How can we specifically pray for you and your family right now? (Pray with them)

If NO: Have you ever gone to church? Is there a reason you don’t go now?

Would you consider yourself to be a good person?

Have you ever told a lie?

What do you call someone who tells lies?

Have you ever stolen something, anything?

Jesus said that if you even looked at a woman (man) that you weren’t married to with lust in your heart, that you were guilty of adultery. Have you ever looked at a woman (man) with lust in your heart?

We’ve only known each other a few minutes, and you seem like a nice person. But you’ve just admitted to being a (lying, stealing, adulterer) at heart. Now if you were to die tonight and the Creator God asked why he should let you into his heaven, what would you say?

Share the GOSPEL:

DREAMS

Before we go, I want to take a minute and hear about your dreams- these goals you hope to accomplish.

1. What are your dreams?

2. If you could snap your fingers and be doing anything, what would it be?

End Survey

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Here's team one introducing themselves.

The kids did a great job of asking questions and trying to share the gospel!

This was actually the neighbor of one of our clients, but we were awed by this gentleman's ingenuity. He lined up his 3 mobile homes and built walkways between them, effectively making a triple wide. We were impressed.

As you might imagine, we got all sorts of answers to our questions, but through the process were able to glean some useful information and learn a few things.

We learned that our clientele is generally more transient than we realized. We only visited homes of clients who had come to the Storehouse in 2013, and yet a third or more no longer lived at the address they gave us. That's a pretty high housing turnover rate. It tells us that our clientele are what's usually called "housing insecure".

We learned that a fair percentage of our clients come from government subsidized housing, and that the turnover rate in those housing projects is higher than in other places.

We learned that our clients come from all over Greene County and southwest Washington County. They're spread out from Limestone to Bulls Gap, which is about 30 miles as the crow flies. Our mission group also learned however, that a crow never marked a road in East Tennessee, the cows did. And we drove all sorts of windy paved cow paths looking for folks.

We learned that our clients vary in age from single moms to senior adults.

We were surprised to learn that a portion of our clients told us they would rather work if they could make more income from working than they presently receive from disability.

We were also surprised to learn that a number of our clients said that they would be interested in a either a jobs preparedness program or a financial literacy program if we offered it.

We confirmed that most of our clients are not a part of a local church, though some are. Most of those interviewed said that they had, at some point, gone to church. When asked why they don't go now, their answers were all over the place. However, through the gospel presentations, it was clear that the reason most of these folks don't go to church is because they've never had a life transforming encounter with the gospel of Jesus.

I'd like to say a special thanks to Pastor Michael Adams and Mrs. Cheryl Meshaw for leading their group of young folks from Grace Church in Greenville, NC to join us for a week. The young people did a great job of working through the surveys with people and not jumping ship when the "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?" question came around. They got to share the gospel boldly with a bunch of lost people this week, and though I can't tell you that any of them came to faith, I can tell you that these folks were confronted with their own sinfulness and need for a Savior. Our prayer is now for those who heard the message of truth to respond in faith. Our prayer is also for the youth that came to serve to have an increased passion for and skill in sharing their faith with their lost friends and family members.

I'd also like to say a special thanks to my BTCL guys who took turns teaching the group through 2 Peter in the evenings. They did a great job, and it's neat to watch the Lord blessing their efforts to become more effective communicators of the Scriptures.

Overall last week went great, and we sincerely appreciate your prayers on our behalf.

Things you can be praying for this week.

1. Please pray for Charlie. He had an outpatient procedure done yesterday that went very well, and he's home now recovering. The doctors orders were to do nothing until he heals up, and if you've met Charlie, the recovery and doing nothing will be worse than the procedure. Pray he heals up quickly and that he's patient with himself in the meantime.

2. Meredith and baby Hosea are doing well, but she failed her glucose screening for gestational diabetes. She took their 3 hour test yesterday and passed it, which means she doesn't have diabetes. Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray for Meredith and the baby as we move through this process. Tomorrow is 27 weeks!

3. In the weeks and months ahead, Charlie and I will have to decide what to do with the things we learned last week. Please pray for wisdom and guidance from the Lord as we seek to help our local churches bless the community in a very real way.

4. This Saturday there's a prayer shower for our newest niece, Cora. Please keep her and her parents in your prayers. You can follow their journey here. http://joshandrebeccashrader.wordpress.com/

Looking out towards the Tennessee Valley from the top of Viking Mountain.

Family pic on the mountaintop.

Little Hosea was not very cooperative for his latest ultrasound, but if you look carefully, you can make out his cute face with his hand in front of it.

Our family is praying for Cora!

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Lily eating our first homegrown blueberries of the season!

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

Next week, June 17-22, we'll be hosting a group of missionaries from Grace Church in Greenville, NC. That's my (Daniel's) home church. Over the past few months, we've been actively learning more about working with materially poor people, and the plan is for that to continue next week. The team will spend their days going to the homes of some our recent clients at the Storehouse, hoping to glean some helpful information that we'll be able to incorporate into our strategy for bringing Christ's reconciliation to people in all walks of life. I've been reading about Asset Based Community Development and Asset Mapping strategies lately, and I've gleaned enough to put together a basic survey. However, as a learner in this process, I wonder if any of you have suggestions for questions that our team could ask that would be beneficial. So, if you were going up to the door of a materially poor person, genuinely interested in helping that person, what questions would you ask? I don't just mean that as food for thought. Seriously, I would love for you to email me what you would ask them. For each question or group of questions, let me know why you think their answers to that (those) particular questions would be beneficial to our efforts to help these folks and not hurt them.

At the same time, please be in prayer for the team that's coming as they prepare to step outside of their comfort zone and engage with people. For the young people coming in particular, it's a huge leap of faith to walk up to a total stranger and engage them in meaningful conversation. Pray the Lord would give them a spirit of gentle boldness over the course of the week, and that their faith would be deepened as they witness the Lord at work.

During the evenings, the group will be taught through the book of 2nd Peter. The guys in our BTCL class are hard at work preparing to teach and to put into practice what they've been learning these past few months. This is where the rubber meets the road and we find out if they've learned anything! Actually, it's a beautiful opportunity for these men to share what the Lord has been teaching them, and to practice the skills that they've been learning. I'm pretty excited about it. Please be praying for these men as they prepare, that the Lord would be faithful in bringing to mind what they have been diligent to study.

We were blessed to have my cousin Kelly, her husband David, and their two boys come spend the weekend with us. Lily loves people, and she was fun to watch as a little hostess for our guests. It was an enjoyable and encouraging visit, and we're looking forward to more guests in the coming weeks!