Welcome to the Missions & Outreach Newsletter!
I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful Spring weather we've been having - minus the pollen! With Spring in mind, I wanted to share a devotional I recently read from Dayspring. Considering the considerable difficulties of the past 2 years, these words really spoke to me.
"Spring Forward in Faith"
by Andrea March 09, 2022
Isaiah 43:19 says, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland."
Sometimes in order to come into a new season and spring forward in faith, we have to let go of the old season. Isaiah 43:18 says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past." One of the many lessons life teaches us is to let go. We can't hang on to past hurts, past struggles, and past relationships. And, sometimes this means we have to give ourselves time to grieve in order to move forward.
We may have to let ourselves feel the loss, be sad for a little while, and talk to someone who cares. After we've grieved, we can pick ourselves up and start looking ahead once again.
As spring starts to surface and the trees begin to bloom, we can see God’s reminder to align our hearts to the new thing He’s doing. Let us go to prayer, asking Jesus to help us embrace all the “new” he has in store for us:
Dear Lord, Thank you for developing me into the person You want me to be.
I have to admit, Jesus, that sometimes I find it hard to let go of old things even when I know they are holding me back. Help me, Lord, to truly see this spring season for what it is: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be. As flowers begin to adorn the trees once again and fresh grass rises up from the ground, renew in me the strength to let go of the past and move forward in my faith journey with You. Amen
Blessings,
Mignon Fowler
Director of Missions & Outreach
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THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING UKRAINE! |
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We have collected over $3500.00 to send to UMCOR for the relief effort! Thank you for your donations and continued prayers.
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TRANSFORM A CHILD’S FUTURE. On Sunday, May 8th , 2022, our congregation will support Epworth by collecting the Annual Epworth Mother’s Day Offering. We invite you to give generously to the children impacted by Epworth’s care and programs. Epworth does not receive apportionments from the United Methodist Conference. This offering is our opportunity to support this vital ministry. For more information, please visit Epworth online at www.epworthchildrenshome.org. |
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Missions Opportunity
to work on the Epworth Campus in Columbia, SC
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We're heading to Columbia to serve with Epworth!
We're taking a team to the Epworth Campus in Columbia, SC, arriving Friday, May 20 by 5pm in time for dinner together. We'll meet some of the staff and hear first hand about the amazing things the organization is accomplishing.
Saturday, May 21 will start with breakfast and devotions together at the house before tackling their list of projects of landscaping, cleaning, and/or painting! Lunch will be with the Epworth kids in their dining room and we'll head back to Greenville Saturday afternoon about 4pm.
More information to come as they furnish the list of things to be completed. Limit 12 people - ages 10+ with parents welcome!
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Join us in the Chapel at 10am on Sunday, May 29 for a presentation from Pendleton Place hosted by Missions and Outreach member Ashley Newton. Pendleton Place offers programs that protect, equip, and heal vulnerable children, young adults, and families. They strengthen children while rebuilding families because their goal for each child to have a stable home environment and a bright future.
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Join us for an interactive and compelling week of events that will give a glimpse of Greenville through the lens of four remarkable local nonprofits—Jasmine Road, Triune Mercy Center, Project Host, and Soteria. Each day will include an educational component, service component, and a time to fellowship over lunch. Lunch will be included and all events are free.
Hosted by Emily Kodat with BSUMC Crisis Ministry.
Register now - space is limited!
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Your financial gifts directly impact the lives being transformed through the Crisis Ministry program. |
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Sowing Seeds of Hope in Selma
“To walk in unity to heal the trauma of oppression and blindness through faith in Jesus for abundant life”
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by Beverly Clapp
Selma, Alabama is a small town best known for the Selma-to-Montgomery marches of the 1960s and “Bloody Sunday” in 1965. Selma’s history remains a difficult and divisive topic for many people today, but especially for the residents of Selma.
Last August, a small group from our Missions team took a trip to Selma to visit a missionary family Mignon Fowler, BSUMC's Director of Missions and Outreach, had met at a missions conference. We wanted to see why they were called to Selma, AL and what God was asking them to do. We toured Selma's historical district with a guide who as young boy had actually witnessed the marches and "Bloody Sunday".
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We saw the historic church where the marches started, stood on Edmund Pettus Bridge, drove through the projects, and saw home after home abandoned and in terrible condition. Many of these, once beautiful thriving homes had trees growing right up through the middle of them. Seeing this city left in ruin through his eyes and his memory left a mark on my life that I will never forget.
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William and Morgan O'Neal felt God’s calling into fulltime mission with the idea of serving with friends in India. About three years prior to them moving here, they stopped in Selma on their way to visit family in Mobile, Alabama. The group that escorted them around Selma began to pray for them to come there. William saw no need to pray because Selma was not on his radar.
On returning to Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, KY, William told God they would go anywhere in the world just not Selma. God does have a sense of humor, He sent them to Selma. As always, God’s plan is always better than ours.
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They made the move looking at it as a "temporary mission field" and then they would be on their way to India. The longer they served in Selma the more need they saw for their plan.
They have developed some very strong partnerships in Selma, Pastor Grayson from Gospel Tabernacle and Dr. Rev. Dion Culliver of Historic Tabernacle Baptist as well as many neighborhood families.
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“Selma has experienced short-term mission projects, but there haven’t been people who stayed and invested long term. We aren’t here to solve all of the issues facing Selma. We are just here to love people and point them to Jesus.” - Morgan O'Neal |
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When William & Morgan first arrived in Selma they joined Nez and Kelly Vaval already serving in Selma with TMS Global. Nez and Kelly also received their degrees from Asbury Seminary. Nez, built like a football player, is a semi-pro tennis player and much sought after tennis coach. He uses this amazing skill as a bridge to teaching his students about the risen Jesus. Another type of bridge is being built by Kelly and Morgan using their home for bible studies to reach neighboring women. |
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Nez & Kelly Vaval and son Ki |
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In December 2021 they were joined by Jennifer Ford from Charlotte. For over two years, Jennifer sought the Lord's will which led her to consider somewhere in Africa or amongst the people of the Navajo nation. However, after hearing about how the O'Neals and Vaval's were serving in Selma, AL she came for a very quick trip. |
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Even though the trip was short, the Holy Spirit quickly confirmed for her that she was supposed to join their team. What makes this even more encouraging, unbeknownst to her at the time, William had been compelled by the Spirit that same week to pray for an African-American missionary to partner with them in Selma!
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This team serves with TMS Global and has started Seeds of Hope (SOH) as a place for children and youth to come after school and on “No School” days. SOH is a safe place to meet, study, get tutoring, use the gym equipment, do crafts, learn dance, learn how to care for their own body, and most of all, learn about Jesus and His love for them. The team is building relationships with families by just being present and sharing the love of Jesus with these kids who are experiencing abandonment, abuse, and poverty at a young age.
SOH has recently joined with the local 4H group to assist with education from peers and turning the back of the property into a vegetable garden. This will give the kids additional skills on caring for themselves and assist in funding SOH’s programs by selling the vegetables at a local market.
This unlikely team of five adults and five children are in Selma to promote change and that change can only be found through the blood of Jesus Christ. They are leading the children and young adults that come to Seeds of Hope to see that their hope is in Jesus Christ not in man. This team helps the kids see there is life beyond the history they see and hear every day, they can rise above it. Is it easy for the team, no – is it easy for the kids, no, they are bombarded every day with the idea that “I am worth nothing because of the color of my skin”. It is worth the battle to rise out of the ashes of history like the phoenix and live for Jesus Christ and serve him – maybe not here on earth but there is heaven to look to and that reward is more than the mind can imagine. Please keep these missionary families, their multiple partners, and all the “at-risk” children and youth they are reaching in your daily prayers.
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Director of Missions & Outreach
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