Summer 2016 Newsletter – President’s Corner: How God is Using the Mission to Transform Lives

We hope you like the new, expanded format of the newsletter. It gives us more space to share the stories of our guests and to let our community know about what the Mission is doing. Everything we do focuses on helping God work in the lives of the men, women, and children who live with us, and serving here is an unalloyed blessing.

This is an exciting and rewarding time to work with the Mission. We are awaiting final approval of our plans to build a new Men’s Home, we are planning a capital campaign to fund the construction of that facility, and the Mission continues to minister effectively to hundreds of formerly homeless men, women, and children. The best part of serving here, however, is seeing God transform the lives of our guests.

One of our current efforts is to ensure our donors and the wider community ‘ understand exactly what we do at the Mission. We are not an overnight shelter that merely provides a meal and a roof, and then releases our guests into area neighborhoods. instead, we offer long-term residential programs that prepare our guest to become permanently independent and self-sufficient. Consequently, we see God change the hearts of our guests and give them the chance to live a life of dignity and grace. We routinely see examples of that transformation:

Saroj and her young son arrived at the Mission one year ago homeless, destitute, and hopeless. Since moving in with us, she has developed an intimate relationship with Christ, received her Veterinary Assistant certificate, and obtained a job in a local veterinary clinic. She is on her way to fulfilling her dream to become a vet.

Teddy has lived in the Men’s Home for more than two years. During that time, he has kicked a crack cocaine addiction, dedicated his life to Christ, received his high school diploma, completed culinary school, and begun working at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in downtown Orlando. He recently received a promotion to Senior Catering Chef. Teddy says that without the Mission, he probably would be in jail or dead. With the Mission, he has a bright future with a deep faith and a promising career.

The team at the Mission is enormously blessed – we get to know and work daily with men and women like Teddy and Saroj. We see the blessings God showers on our guests and the Mission staff, and we watch Christ transform the hearts and lives of our guests. We are grateful beyond words for those opportunities, and we are dedicated to being God’s vehicles for the love and grace He offers to our guests and His hands and feet in
this world.

None of these wonders is possible without your generous gifts. You transform the lives of the guests we serve, and
you make possible their release from the bondage of homelessness and poverty. Without you, the men, women,
and children at the Mission likely will never meet Christ, and they will not have the chance to enjoy the spiritual
and material freedom that accompanies lives of independence and self-sufficiency. We thank you for your efforts. God bless you.

In His service,

-Freddy Clayton