Advent Reloaded...

This year our church has done a series over Christmas that is focusing on giving back and spending less on ourselves. As we have talked about this in church and in our small group I keep loving on this verse.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1:8

I wanted to do a short little blog series about what this has meant to our church lately...

Jerusalem- this is like our family, our church, and our city. For Chris and me, this is our home, Saint James, and Montgomery. Right now our church has adopted three homes through a ministry in Montgomery called Common Ground. To learn a little bit more about them go to Common Ground Montgomery. Saint James will use volunteers to help renovate these houses and then build relationships with the people who move into them. A project I'm super excited about and looking forward to going out there and working some! Then of course, being with those precious kids!

Judea, Samaria- These are surrounding regions. For us this is our state and the surrounding states. Another ministry our church is working with is Church on the Street. Church on the Street is a ministry in Atlanta, Georgia working with the homeless population and ministering to them. There are over 12,000 homeless men, women, and children living in Atlanta. To learn more about their mission you can go to Church on the Street

Ends of the Earth- This is exactly where it says it is. Saint James is doing this in multiple ways. A few of which are adopting a Compassion International child, digging wells in Zambia, and helping with the rebuilding effort in Haiti to name a few. If you are interested in sponsoring a child definitely go to Compassion International. You can write letters back and forth with the child you sponsor and makes an enormous impact in the lives of those children.

A little extra thing I will talk about on my last post during this series is adoption. Two of my DEAREST friends are adopting from Uganda and it has become such a passion for me going through this process with them. They have started an adoption ministry at our church where parents who are interested in adopting or have adopted or in the process of adopting can all come together and help and serve one another.

Well enjoy your hump day.. my first post will be tomorrow on my Jerusalem and we're gonna talk a little bit about Common Ground!