​Hello folks, Andrew Terry here for The Refuge Homeless Shelter of Lapeer.

Today (Oct. 24) an email went out to our mailing list talking about how people can volunteer for check-in training.
 
Did you get that email? If not maybe you are not on our mailing list. Go to http://www.therefugelapeer.org/subscribe to subscribe to receive updates and emails from The Refuge.
 
I know what you are thinking, "Why would I want to sign up for yet another email?" Good question. We send out many different types of emails: news about events, volunteer opportunities, fund raisers, and even when there is an emergency need on behalf of the guests.
 
So, go to http://www.therefugelapeer.org/subscribe now and subscribe. 
 
So far, of the 19 weeks we plan to be open, 14 weeks are filled, thank God. But we still have 5 weeks yet to be filled. Three of those weeks are during December.
 
Folks, I don’t need to tell you what holiday is in the month of December. It is Christmas. The celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And it saddens me of all the weeks and months for the Church, who is called by Christ, who worships Christ, who is called by his name, is not helping the "least of these" during CHRISTmas!
 
Would you turn away Jesus during the holidays because it is inconvenient, he would get in the way, he would mess up all your plans? Would you turn him away because you are too busy with decorating, wrapping presents, cooking, and attending parties?
 
Let's re-think the holidays. Let's re-think what the Christmas is all about. Let's truly celebrate Christmas by bringing Jesus, the homeless savior, into your church this season.
 
Today, I want to read from Matthew.
 
"Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Mt 8:18–20
 
We have a person, a scribe, someone who wants to follow Jesus. Scribes copied the laws and religious texts of the Jews. This allowed them to pass down the scriptures from one generation to the next. They had firsthand experience reading, and copying scripture, letter by letter.
 
This scribe seen Jesus and knew he must be the Christ the Old Testament talked about. Where Jesus went, he wanted to go; what Jesus did, he wanted to do. Or so he thought.
 
Jesus' response to him was, "“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus had no place to call his home. No place of rest. No place of refuge. Could the scribe live the same life? Could he live the life Jesus lived, homeless, traveling from place to place?
 
We have this same dilemma. Will we follow Jesus even into homelessness? Now, I am not saying we all should move out of our homes and live on the streets. But, maybe, we need to start to spiritually live as if we are homeless.
 
What do I mean by this, I mean, we should start to empathize with the homeless. We should try to understand them, get to know them, and see where we can help. When Jesus said we should care for the poor, the hungry, and the imprisoned, he was not talking about people that where far away, that lived on that side of town. He was talking about himself, people like him: poor, hungry, homeless.
 
So, this week, think about the homeless in your thoughts and prayers.
 
The question of the week is: Do you have any personal experience of homelessness? Tell us your story. Look for the post on our Facebook page and join the conversation.
 
For now, this is Andrew, signing off – Seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.

Hello folks, Andrew Terry here for The Refuge Homeless Shelter of Lapeer.
 
Our season is one month away! We open November 18. We are excited and ready.
 
But, there is one down side to us opening on November 18. That means we are not open now. We receive calls almost every day with people looking for shelter.
 
Just today, a mother of a two year old son called looking for shelter. Then another woman called who need emergency shelter today. I had to turn these two people away. We are not open. We cannot help.
 
This is the challenge The Refuge faces the 33 weeks we are not open. From November 18 to March 30 is only 19 weeks.
 
19 Weeks. That is all The Refuge is able to help this season.
 
The biggest obstacle for The Refuge only being open partially in the year are the churches that participate. We now have 17 churches that have said they are hosting The Refuge this year. A few others are discussing with us how they can help and get involved too.
 
There are over 100 churches in our county. If only half of them partnered with The Refuge we could help the homeless year-round.
 
Sure, many churches cannot host due to building arrangements or the number of volunteers. But, churches can begin to work together.
 
We have four churches and ministries right now discussion working together, to pool their resources, to host a week this season.
 
I know I talked about hosting last week, but these phone calls I received today broke my heart. We need you, the church, to get involved. Please like, comment, and share this video, get the awareness out.
 
Today, I want to read from one of the most remarkable passages in the Bible, Jesus reading from the book of Isaiah. Luke 4:18-21
 
Luke 4:18-20 English Standard Version (ESV)
18
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
19
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
 
Jesus is saying, this passages in Isaiah is talking about me. I am the one that the Spirit of the Lord is on, I am the anointed one. I am the Christ.
 
Then he goes on to say what his mission is: preaching to the poor, sending captives free, healing the blind, and bringing justice to the oppressed.
 
Since we too are anointed with that same Spirit of God, we too have the same mission. To preach good news to the poor.
 
What is good news to the poor? It is news that they will receive help. They will have a friend. They will see justice. They will be fed, clothed, and housed. Why? Because the people of God will do what they see their heavenly Father doing - caring for the poor and less fortunate.
 
This is the work of the church! And The Refuge gives you the tools to make it happen.
Jesus mission is the trust of the work of The Refuge. The work that we do is good news to the poor. Our message is this: Jesus loves you, and I love you too.
 
What I really wanted to highlight today is our check-in process. This is the process our guests go through before they are taken to the host church for the night. This involves a pat-down, a breathalyzer test, and search. This part is important to insure the safety of our guests and volunteers.
 
This check-in procedure is done by volunteers every day at our offices in downtown Lapeer. And we need you to volunteer for this process. From 5:15-6:30 every day, and hour and 15 minutes time. You can volunteer to help once week, twice a week, once a month, however you feel led.
 
Go to http://www.therefugelapeer.org/check-in-volunteers.html to sign up to volunteer. We will be having training November 6 and 8, beginning at 5:30 - at our offices in the basement of St. Matthews church in downtown Lapeer.
 
Go to our Facebook page and click on events and let us know which training session you will be attending. You only have to come to one. If you have questions please let us know.
 
For now, this is Andrew, signing off – Seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.
 
 
 

Hello, Andrew Terry here for The Refuge Homeless Shelter of Lapeer.
 
This is my third video. I hope you have had a chance to see my previous two videos. If not, you can go to our Facebook page to see our videos.
 
You can also go to www.therefugelapeer.org/blog. There I will be posting all my videos and transcripts for you to see and read. Also, it give you the ability to share the videos on other platforms, like twitter or email.
 
Today I was walking from the Gather Place, our Drop-in and Fellowship center for homeless and displaced citizens…
 
By the way, if you have not liked our page for the gathering place, go to www.facebook.com/colifecenter to like our page.
 
Anyways, I was walking back to this office and it was raining. Nothing to bad, just a sprinkle. The walk was three blocks and I hardly got wet.
 
But, it made me think about all those other times when the weather is bad: when it down pours, when there are high winds, when it thunders and lightening,
 
It I was walking in that type of weather I'd be soaked!
 
Now imagine if you had no car. Everywhere you go you had to walk. Life does not stop because it is raining. People have jobs, doctors appointments, they need to shop for food.
 
Many of the homeless live like this every day. Hey have no car they can drive around. They have to walk everywhere they go. Some have bikes that help them get around. But, that does not protect them from the elements.
 
Think about the winter having to ride your bike to and from work every day.
 
We that do not live in poverty, who have homes, cars to take us to work, and clothes to keep us warm…we tend to take for granted the things we have, and the weather does not affect the way it affects the homeless.
 
We depend upon our things to helps us every day. The people in poverty, the people that are homeless, the people that go hungry, they have nothing upon which to depend on.
 
The only thing, the only person they can depend upon is God.
 
This leads me to a verse in Matthew, it is found in Jesus Sermon on the Mount. In fact, it is very first saying in Matthew 5:3
 
It says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
 
We know that Jesus had the poor in mind when he said this, because the companion verse in Luke says, "Blessed are the poor."
 
Matthew does not over spiritualized Jesus words. Jesus is trying to teach us something about life, and about our relationship with him.
 
You see, just like the poor today, the poor in Jesus time had no one they could depend on. They had only God, and those people who acted like God and helped them. They could only rely upon him.
 
The "poor in spirit" are those who take on the same attitude as the poor, who wholly rely upon God.
 
We tend to rely upon our things, our houses, how much money we have in the bank, and we only run to God when these things go wrong or go broke.
 
What Jesus is saying, is, we need to have the mindset of the poor, in that, we rely upon God for our lives, not the things we have, the money we make, or the homes we have.
 
When we rely upon God, and be "poor in spirit" we learn we don't need all the things we have. We learn we can live with less. We learn we can do without.
 
In turn, when we become "poor in spirit" we learn to empathize with the poor. We see them for who they are, human beings in need of the love of God.
 
We will be moved with compassion and start to give away our things, to see them so we can give to the poor, to give more of our wealth so others can live too.
 
I like how the Contemporary English Verses renders this verse, it says,
God blesses those people
    who depend only on him.
They belong to the kingdom
    of heaven!
 
You may not be poor in reality, but, you can be "poor in spirit" and begin to see through their eyes, and walk in their shoes, and maybe give a little more.
 
So, if your church has not signed up to host The Refuge this season, head on over to our website, www.therefugelapeer.org to sign up. Or call my wife, Tabitha, at 810-356-9880, ext 2 and ask her for more information, or to schedule a time where she can come and talk to your church more about the Refuge.
 
This week's question of the week is: Imagine if you are homeless. Do you think you’d behave “better”, smell “better”, than others? What makes a person “better”?
 
Look for the post on our Facebook page and join the conversation.
This is Andrew, signing off – Seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.
 

Script:
Hello, Andrew Terry here for The Refuge Homeless Shelter of Lapeer.

These videos that I do will be your news regarding The Refuge. We will talk about needs, talk about events, and highlight some good things that we see happening in our community.

I hope to do these videos once a week, and plan on doing it live every Wednesday.

This is an avenue that has not been used before by The Refuge. But, I pray it will be used as a tool to raise more awareness of The Refuge in our community. So, please do like, comment, and share these videos as much as possible.

One question I have for you, is, were you listening to WMPC, 1230 am Tuesday morning? If you were, you might have heard my wife, Tabitha on the radio talking about The Refuge. She did a great job, and the host Greg was gracious and very professional.

One thing to note, Tabitha did get our phone number incorrect. The phone number for The Refuge is 810-356-9880. There you can reach me, the manager, Tabitha, The Refuge Church Coordinator, Wade Jenkins, the manage for the Gather Place, and Laurie, who will be assisting in volunteer recruitment.

The season for The Refuge begins November 18, and our board is working hard to make that day a reality. Currently we have 16 churches that has said they will partner with us this coming season and host The Refuge at their church. To get us through to the end of March we have 19 weeks to fill. We need churches to step up and host.

If your church is not hosting, find out why. Many churches have legitimate reasons for not hosting. One is they don't have the facilities. Another, they don't have the volunteers.
One why you still can help, is, if you have the facilities but no volunteers, we can help you connect with other churches who have volunteers. If you have the people and no facility, we can help you plug into another church that has the facilities.

The mission of The Refuge equip the churches of Lapeer County to provide shelter for the homeless, and promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want the churches to come together and present the body of Jesus Christ as one, being the hands and feet of Jesus as one.

Let me read to you a passage from one of my favorite passages in the Bible, Eph. 4:1-5

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;"

Will the church have humility to admit they need help helping the homeless in Lapeer county?

Will the church have gentleness, patience to work with other churches to see the homeless have shelter in the coming season?

Will the churches be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit to help those in need?

I encourage you to get involved with The Refuge, and encourage your church to host this coming season. Go to our website, www.therefugelapeer.org and take a look at our resources and see how your church can get involved. You can also message us on Facebook, or call Tabitha at 810-356-9880, ext 2.

The question of the week is: What would you do if a person who looks "homeless" comes to your door asking for money? Look for the post on our Facebook page and join the conversation.
​
This is Andrew, signing off – Seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.