It’s A Beautiful Morning!
It’s a beautiful morning here in Buffalo… not a cloud in sight and I believe we can safely say SUMMER IS HERE!
This is our first summer at 567 Hertel and school gets out this week so it will be interesting to see the dynamic of the neighborhood during the summer months.
We have been getting to know and partner with the great folks over at the NW Community Center (best in Buffalo) Larry and Tony are great guys and have a tremendous heart for this community. They have a summer program that starts next week. Some 500-700 kids a day will walk through their doors.
For those who are not familiar the NW Center is just 2 blocks from us so it is literally around the corner. So instead of trying to implement some kind of summer program we are going to partner with them and what they are doing. So the Renovation staff will be spending some time volunteering during the week. It’s great… we want to meet and get to know the kids in our community and their families… we don’t have to establish a program…time/money/energy/logistics… we just show up and help!
If you have some time or should I say would like to make some time in your summer schedule to help volunteer talk to Joshua and he can let you know how/when/where!
Just got through meeting with a good friend and an incredible pastor down on the Westside. He needs to finish the upstairs of his building (needs sheetrock and labor) so they can get a Certificate of Occupancy. They have been working to get it the certificate for 5 years! This pastor serves a very poor neighborhood… a lot of refugees, poor hispanic… most of the people in his church are on social services… $500 a MONTH! He serves 250 families every week as a food pantry out of his little church building that he bought 5 years ago on his credit card. They didn’t even have electricity or gas for 2 years after they moved in. So little by little they have renovated this little building and now need to finish the third floor which is no easy task. This is a light house church in a spiritually/economically/relationally dark place and we need to pray for our brothers and sisters who are serving. But not just pray for but ask God what we can do to help them accomplish the mission that God has given to them in their circle of accountability.
It’s not always about us Renovation… what can we do for others!
So glad to hear from people…emails, notes saying that you are getting what we are talking about during this Series. The Church is for the world like the heart is for the body. If the heart is sick then the body will be sick… if the church is sick then it’s community will be sick… no hope, no resourcefulness, no integrity…
Getting ready today for our conversation this Sunday… another key value that is near and dear for us at Renovation.
Don’t forget to put Riverside Family Fun Day in you schedule July18 and Summer Jam July 27 -30!
