Dear Friends,

The Lord is doing some mighty things within Renovo. I feel like I say that each month as I watch the hand of the Lord guide us and bring new people to serve along side of us. This mission of going and serving our community is not new. In fact, its something Christ called us to in His ministry. It is so encouraging to see people ignited by His work and love! The most amazing thing is that we don’t have to pretend to have it all together. In fact, God is pretty consistent with using those who are broken or perhaps considered “the least of these.”

As of October, we welcomed a new ministry of a jail outreach to our works. Sunday afternoons, we go down to the Monroe County Jail and hang out with the families of inmates while they wait for visiting hours. This has been extremely touching for me (Amy). We are able to bring music, cookies, and good conversation to an otherwise monotonous place. There are kids of all ages and many men and women hurting. I would encourage you to join us when we do this. It is a really organic way to love people-singing with them and talking with them about life.

We also had another prayer walk during the weekend before Halloween. Our main focus during this time was the upcoming “holiday” and for the safety of our peers, families in Bloomington, and those seeking definition in anything but Christ. We also prayed against the apathetic, lukewarm work of the Dalai Lama, who was visiting that weekend. We rejoiced as we prayed that this man would find salvation in Christ. Even that is possible in name of Jesus!

And of course, we had our monthly lunch. Jerry, a volunteer wrote an account of this meal.

~A Good Day to Serve Christ

Being a new member in the Renovo ranks (for about three weeks now), I have already come to see the God-inspired people that comprise the service group. This last weekend only further exemplified that.

The menu was determined. We would be cooking stuffed potatoes (With chicken, bacon, mozzarella, garlic, and some green thing that looked like pine needles, but wasn’t {I’m not really knowledgeable on my spices.}), warm salad with peas and grated cheese, and “peach” cobbler for desert.

Saturday was relatively easy. Good ol’ Jimmy and I washed a large quantity of potatoes and talked about topics ranging from our hometowns to the Kingdom of God. Needless to say, that hour was more than just scrubbing dirty potatoes. Others prepared the meats and cobbler for tomorrow’s finishing touches.

Well, Sunday’s “finishing touches” lasted a good 3 1/2 hours. Beth, Doug, and I cored and stuffed, stuffed and cored nearly every potato. The first pan of potatoes took us a good 30 minutes to prepare, but after a while we had it down to under 10 minutes. We were a ravenous, potato stuffing machine. It was glorious. But, this time spent working became something more than just hollowing out spuds with sharp objects. It was a great time to get to know one another as followers of Christ. We even got into such deep topics as the Bible and evolution, and relayed our personal stories of faith. It’s always striking to me how, as a body of Christ, it doesn’t take long at all to feel like you’ve known a fellow believer for years. It’s a strange, but wonderful blessing, for sure.

After a while, Andrew came in to help the assembly line along. And in a few small hours all potatoes (barring one pan) were properly prepared and ready to bake. I believe we had 300 some kilograms of potatoes, according to Doug’s calculations. (Or maybe it was 30 kg, or 3 my metric conversion is worse than my knowledge on herbs and spices. My spiritual gifts lie elsewhere, it seems.)

More people started to shuffle in as time to serve at the Shalom Center approached. The potatoes were in the oven, the salad was adequately sliced and diced, and the peas were steaming on the stove. The cobbler was also sizzling its way to perfection, albeit a slight mishap where Doug accidentally used pears instead of peaches. (I called it a mishap; later it would prove to be divine intervention. Who knew pear cobbler would be such a success? Jesus? I think so.)

After all was cooked and wrapped and ready to go, we piled the food into an eclectic band of vehicles and made our Merry Way to the church where we would be serving. And here, my friends, is where the story really alters from one Renovo member to the next. I, personally, worked mostly in the back, plopping the potatoes and salad on plates for the bussers to take out to the men and women who had come to be served.

And after a while it stopped feeling like a group of church goers feeding the city’s homeless, it felt, simply, like the church. I remember one sister in Christ playing her violin; one Renovo member (his name eludes me) played his guitar for the guests, and for us, as well. People came to eat and talk, and simply to enjoy themselves for those few good hours at the church.

And that’s how it always is. It’s not just preparing food and washing dishes, it’s about living simply as God would have us to live, in loving service with one another. And in many regards, I was just as much the one being served as the homeless that came in off the streets. I was being served by those around me, with a kind gesture or an encouraging word.

As we circled up to pray, after all the dishes had been washed and the remaining food put away, all of us strangers now friends, grabbed hands and thanked God for the day. Two homeless gentlemen joined in on our closing praises and prayers, as well. Then we said our goodbyes, piled in our respective vehicles, and made our individual ways back to our individual homes.

I’ve done a good number of service projects like this before, and have been blessed into similar groups like Renovo as an undergrad, and the outcome is always the same: Jesus is glorified, and hearts are filled.

Sunday was, indeed, a good day to serve God.
—

Keep praying as our four ministries continue to develop: jail, children’s outreach, lunch, and prayer walks. This coming month, we will be doing a few ad hoc outreaches with Backstreet Mission, host our first ministry seminar, and continue to pursue Him in faith! Are you ready?

For more information, please contact us at renovo.ministries@gmail.com.

Soli Deo Gloria!
~Amy, Renovo Ministries Director

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