​Hello Folks, Andrew Terry with The Refuge Homeless Shelter of Lapeer - giving you an update from The Refuge.

Recently, the board of directors had to make a hard decision in delaying our opening for two weeks. Instead of opening on November 1, we are now going to open our doors to the homeless on November 15.

There are several factors in making this decision. One is we are still working on our building to accommodate our changes for shelter and changes for COVID crisis. We are doing renovations to add a shower, expand our kitchen, and get the building ready to social distance and receive the homeless.

Another factor is we want to be able to expand our volunteer base. In the past we have helped the churches that were unable to fill their volunteer spots by reaching out to our network of churches and volunteers. We want to expand that network even more. We want to make sure no church is left out of helping the homeless in our community. We want to be able have people available to fill shifts, give food, and give support. 

To do this we needed to put together new policies, and new training, especially for health issue and COVID. We will format an online sign up for days or weeks churches are not able to help. We will also offer online tutorials for new volunteers that have not helped The Refuge in the past. 

One issue that is restricting us is the zoning to use our building. There is an interpretation in the law that we are only able to shelter our guests at our building 14 days out of the month. This means we needed to find another place to shelter our guests overnight. We have found the Michigan Christian Youth Camp (MCYC) - they have graciously given use of one of their buildings to use for the other days of the month we cannot shelter at our own place. This means for two weeks we will shelter at our own building. The other two weeks will be at the MCYC. Until the city gives us approval to use our building for shelter temporarily during this COVID crisis, we will be using this 2-week-on-2-week-off model.

That being said, there is a public hearing regarding our use of our building coming on November 4 at 6:30. The meeting is happening through Zoom. In this meeting the city will hear from the public the pros and cons of allowing us to use our building as shelter temporarily during this COVID crisis. We will not have a decision until December 7. Until then we will do everything we can to ensure the homeless are sheltered whether at our building or at the camp ground.

Please click the link in the post to subscribe to our emails. You will receive volunteers opportunities, news, and other ways you can support the our work helping the homeless. Like this video, share it where ever you can. 

This is Andrew Terry asking you to seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

Hello Folks, Andrew Terry with The Refuge Homeless Shelter

2020 has been a crazy year, to say the least - everyone has been effected by the virus in various ways. The Refuge is in the same boat as everyone else. Our season was cut short last spring - we had to transition sheltering the guest in one location until the Stay-Home-Stay-Safe order was lifted.

What the pandemic highlighted most in our need for a permanent location, a permanent shelter in our county. However, we are the only shelter that operates rotationally during the winter months, that is open to anyone who is homeless who is willing to transition out of homelessness. 

Last spring, the board decided to pause our rotational operations and to seek out a permanent location for this coming season. Due to the COVID requirements given to us they thought it best to be able to control one environment instead of 20. This way we can follow the guidelines given to us the best way possible. 

We are working with the city to get temporary approval to use our facilities in downtown Lapeer to shelter the homeless this coming season. This means we will not be rotating between churches for as long as the COVID crisis exists. We are trying shelter the homeless at our building on the corner of Oregon and Saginaw streets. 

There is a public hearing before the Zoning Planning Commission on November 4 at 6:30 to address the use of our building as shelter. After the hearing, there will not be a decision until December whether we can use our building as shelter 100 percent of the time this season.

We also have use another location that we can use overnight. Again, this will be a single location that we will use for overnight until we get approval from the city. We still plan to open on November 1 helping the homeless in our community.

We are still asking the churches to partner with us, not to host the The Refuge at your facility, but to sponsor The Refuge at our facility. 

What does that mean? That means we are asking the churches to continue to volunteer for The Refuge one, maybe two weeks this season, to bring your people to our facility to feed and minister to the homeless. So, instead of the churches providing the building, the food, and the people, we are asking each church to provide just the food and the people.

We have to limit the amount of people in our facilities due to social distancing guidelines. This means we can only shelter a maximum of 10 people at our facility. Also, this will limit the among of volunteers we can have working at one time. So, we are looking for just one female, and one male, to volunteer for shifts during the evening times, and one shift in the morning. 

We know this changes everything - we are still figuring out all the policies and procedures. We plan to open November 1st, less than one month away. We have a lot of work to do. Please keep an eye out here on Facebook for more info, visit our website often as we will be updating it these coming weeks, and also, be sure to click the link below to subscribe to our emails.

You can also comment below with your questions or email us at contact@therefugelapeer.org

One final note: our van fundraiser has been a complete success. We reached out to you guys asking for half of the cost of our van, just $5,000 - you guys came through giving both online and offline - we have raised over $10,000 so far! If we continue this growth we will have the van paid off with no debt! 

Thank  you for watch, this is Andrew Terry with The Refuge Homeless Shelter saying, Seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.

Subscribe: http://www.therefugelapeer.org/subscribe.html

COVID-19 has brought many challenges to people, businesses, and organizations. The Refuge is not immune to such challenges. During the spring, the board of The Refuge determined our current model of rotational shelter needed to change. This is a total revamp of our operations and gives us new challenges The Refuge has not experienced in our 18 years of operation. 

The new cold season is right around the corner. We still plan to provide shelter to the homeless and displaced people in our community starting November 1. Since our operations will switch to being a rotational shelter to one location, this presents a problem: where could we shelter the homeless?

The Refuge currently resides in two locations: our Day Center and our Restoration Center. Neither of these places is equipped or zoned for shelter. Therefore, our plan is to ask the City of Lapeer for a variance regarding the Restoration Center. The Refuge will be combining our locations into one, moving our Day Center operations and our offices to the Restoration Center. This will allow us to better serve our guests and clients. Renovations are being planned and implemented to expand our kitchen, add a shower, and add laundry facilities.

The Restoration Center is on the corner of Oregon and Saginaw in downtown Lapeer. The Refuge acquired the building when New Hope Missionary Church decided to disband their fellowship and gift The Refuge their church building. 

Though our desire is to have one location, the Restoration Center is only a temporary solution. What is needed is one location with two distinct separate areas, one for sleeping, and another for day-time operation. Having one location during this pandemic gives us the best possible opportunity to control and clean the environment according to CDC guidelines. These guidelines include cleaning high-touch surfaces daily, sanitizing bathrooms and kitchen areas daily, control the number of interactions between people, space out sleeping mats the minimum distance of 9 feet, temperature checks, and wellness checks.

The unfortunate consequence of the CDC guidelines is the reduced amount of people we will be able to shelter. For the past 18 years, our cap of total person we could shelter at one time was 20. Because of social distancing and sleeping area restrictions, we will only be able to shelter 10 men (our largest clientele) and 4 women in our Restoration Center. However, there can only be 10 people at one time in the day-center including staff.
We are seeking additional facilities. However, we cannot shelter the homeless in this location without the variance from the City. Without this variance, The Refuge may not be able to operate as a shelter during this 2020-2021 season.

This is where we need your help. Reach out to anyone you know, friends, family, co-workers, and talk about The Refuge. Tell them about our needs and the people that we help. Contact your city officials and let them know you care about the needs of the homeless and want to see The Refuge operate this coming season.
Also, the renovations we are doing requires worker and funds. If you have the heart to serve the homeless through work or donation you can go to our website at www.therefugelapeer.org or contact us at contact@therefugelapeer.org, or call 810-356-9880.
 
Written by: Andrew Terry

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

Happy New Year!!!

Thank you so much to all of you who gave during the holiday season. It was a biggest year for holiday giving. You guys have went above and beyond our expectation for this season.

But, we are now into a new year, the season continues, and we have work that needs to be done.

We are about a third of the way through our season. I'd like to take time some time and thank all the host churches that have helped us so far:

The Center for Discipleship
New Hope Missionary Church
Immaculate Conception
Trinity United Methodist
Thank you St. Paul's for allowing The Refuge use your building the one week we did not have a volunteer church.
Imlay City Christian Reformed
And currently hosting is North Branch Wesleyan Church

Thank you all so much for partnering with us and all the hard work you put in to make sure the homeless have food and shelter during these cold months. We could not do this without you!

We have 11 more weeks ahead of us. We are looking forward with partnering with all the churches in the coming weeks.

Right now, I want to turn your attention to a little verse that doesn't get much preaching time in our churches today. It is Luke 6:24.

Many know about the Beatitudes of Matthew chapter 5: blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the meek, blessed are the peacemakers…etc. Did you know that many of these are repeated in Luke. Jesus is preaching on a "plain", a level place, to his disciples.

In this Jesus repeats the teachings, "Blessed are the poor…" But, what is different than his teachings in Matthew, is he also addresses the rich.

He says, "woe for you who are rich, for you have had your comforts in full."

Another translation says, "But how terrible it will be for you who are rich, because you have had your easy life."

Now, you might be thinking, "Well, I don't have to worry about that. I am not rich!"

But, did you know, compared to the rest of the world, Americans, along with Europeans, are the top 1% of the whole world. Some parts of the world earn less than a dollar a day. Here in America, 56% of the people make more than $50 a day.

And it shows - when it comes to our comfort we pay big bucks - luxury cars, comfy couches, soft beds…etc. Also, we pay big for entertainment while we sit in our comfy couches.

Could Jesus be speaking to us when he said, "Woe for you…you have had your comforts in full"?

When we see our neighbors homeless, hungry, and cold, we should feel for them. We should get off our comfy couches and see that our fellow human beings are cared for. It is our calling, our mandate as humans to care for other human beings.

It is our mandate from God himself.

So, I leave you on that note - keep this thought when you are going about your day.

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.

We open ten days from now. We are getting everything ready for our first week. This week we have check-in training happening - Tuesday was the first night, tonight is the second night of training. This is training for our check-in and pat down process. It is happening tonight at 5:30 pm in the basement of St. Matts in downtown Lapeer.

My wife is working hard to get all the host training scheduled for all the churches. We've had our first training last Sunday, and we learned a lot.

Today I want to read from Mark 6:37, it reads:

"But he answered them, 'You give them something to eat.' And they said to him, 'Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?'

This is an interesting story. Jesus and his disciples went away to be by themselves for a while. But people showed up where they were at. About 5,000 people. Jesus had compassion on them and taught them. When it was getting late his disciples urged Jesus to send the people away so they could get some food to eat.

But Jesus says something fascinating. He says, "You give them something to eat."

The disciples were astounded. Feeding 5,000 people was no small task. And it is very expensive. But Jesus had other plans.

He took what they had, five loaves and two fish and multiplied them. Then he gave them to his disciples and they fed the people.

What I find fascinating is Jesus telling his disciples, "YOU give them something to eat." Many times we pray and ask God to care for the poor, the oppressed, and the homeless, when all this time he is telling us, his people, to do these things.

He is telling you, me, every Christian, give the hungry something to eat; give the naked something to wear; give the homeless shelter; visit those in prison.

Many times we want to send someone else - God send someone else, not me.

But you can't escape the command - Go and do.

So, with that in mind I encourage you to go and do with The Refuge. Our first week is being hosted in calibration with several ministries, and they need volunteers. I've posted a link on this video that you can click on to sign up for your spot to volunteer. We are looking for people to visit with the guests in the evening hours. Also, we are looking for overnight volunteers, both male and female.

My wife and I both will be volunteering during this week. It is the week of Thanksgiving. I know people are busy during the holidays. But, homelessness doesn't take a break during the holidays. So, volunteer and help The Refuge the first week we are open, November 18 to the morning of the 25th.

The question of the week is: Do you think the homeless are completely beyond our ability to help? Aside from housing how would you help them? 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.

http://signup.com/go/nbKrhfk

We're using SignUp.com (the leading online SignUp and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming SignUps.

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:
1) Click this link to see our SignUp on SignUp.com: http://signup.com/go/nbKrhfk
2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
3) Sign up! It's Easy - you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on SignUp.com.
Note: SignUp.com does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

​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.

Script:

Hello All, friends and supporters of the Refuge Homeless Shelter of Lapeer.
My name is Andrew Terry, and I am here to talk to you about The Refuge.
 
First, let me say thank you for being a supporter of The Refuge for these 16 years! We are now into our 17th season. We could not have done all that we have done without you.
Most of you may know our former director Kendra. She has been with The Refuge since the very beginning. When she turned in her resignation last spring the whole community was in shock.
 
Questions arose of who would be the next director? Will the board be able to handle the ministry without her? Will The Refuge have to close?
 
I am here to tell you The Refuge is not close. We have a good strong board. And we have new directors.
 
I believe the board of directors coming on this season is the strongest I've seen in four years. Each year it seems we get stronger, more determined, and passionate about this ministry.
 
Our board is:
Wade Jenkins – a great organizer, and director of our day center, The Gathering Place. He is the president of our Board of Directors.
Diane Jones – Is a lovely soul, and good with numbers. She is our treasurer.
Laurie Pagel – Volunteered to be our secretary, praise God. This is her first year on the Board. She is also a retired nurse.
Gloria Haynes – Pastor and chef, she will be a great asset to our Board, maybe not to our waist line.
Linda Hamilton – Retired nurse, compassionate and tender, she has been on the board for two years now, this is her third season. She keeps our guests healthy.
Bill Moroski – Passionate and caring, he also brings organization and wisdom to our Board.
 
One change this year, a first for The Refuge, is our new directors.
 
My wife Tabitha and I have been contracted by the Board of Directors to be the executive directors of The Refuge. The responsibilities and duties still need to be hashed out, but, we are to oversee the whole operation, and insure the goals and objectives of The Refuge, with guidance and instruction from the Board, are met. What this means is, you will be seeing a lot more of myself, and my wife, involved with The Refuge.
 
The Refuge is here, The Refuge is strong, and The Refuge is working to be the light of Jesus Christ in Lapeer County.
I want to read a passage from the Bible. Some say this passage is the very mission of Jesus on earth. Sense it is his mission, it has been passed down to us, his followers. The passage is found in Luke 4:16-19, one of my favorite passages.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
 
            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.”
 
You see, caring for the poor, those oppressed, those who are in the bondage of addiction, caring for this people is at the heart of the gospel. Our gospel falls short if it only includes salvation from hell and eternity with God. Jesus promised life in the here and now. And he has us to be his hands and feet.
Everything The Refuge does is to proclaim this gospel, to see the kingdom of God come to Lapeer County, to see churches get involved with caring for those who are poor, held captive, blind, and oppressed. This was the mission of Jesus, it is the mission of The Refuge, it is your mission in this world.
 
Be sure to go to therefugelapeer.org to sign your church up to host a week for The Refuge. Also, our volunteer spots for check-in are open now. Go there and sign up for one day a week, or multiple days, whatever you feel led to do. There will be check-in training in November, so keep your eyes open here for updates.
 
Be looking for our newsletter to go out next month. Go to therefugelapeer.org to sign up to receive our newsletter in your email.
 
The question of the week is: If money were no issue, what would you do to help the homeless? 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.