Global Leadership Summit -- Two years ago Bill Hybels made this recommendation to Global Leadership Summit (GLS) host sites: focus on your people. Make sure your congregation can attend and benefit from the GLS experience.
We are doing just that at Five Oaks. We aim to make the entire GLS experience more accessible to all Five Oakers.
We have wonderful news! Five Oaks is sending a full container of food (272,000 FMSC meals) to the GVCM All God's Children Orphanage outside of Mirebalais, Haiti!! This past March, Feed My Starving Children designated the All God's Children Orphanage as an official food distribution site. Five Oaks Church will be sponsoring the shipment of one full container of FMSC meals to the orphanage each year. The circle is now complete. We will pack the food at Five Oaks Church during our FMSC events, ship containers to the orphanage, and finally send teams of Five Oakers to help distribute that food to malnourished children in Haiti's Central Plateau. The first container is scheduled to ship May 2016.
A little history and background: Back in 2005, Five Oaks Church began its partnership with Global Vision Citadelle Ministries, led by Pastor Yves Prophete. At the time GVCM was renting some land and a small shack to house orphaned children from the area of Fedja, Haiti. The conditions for the orphans was deplorable. The one room shack served as sleeping quarters, school and pretty much everything else for the kids. We committed helping GVCM acquire land and to building an orphanage building. Here is a photo of the old orphanage:
Between the first building mission in January 2006 and August 2009, when we cut the ribbon of the main orphanage building, over 200 different Five Oakers traveled to the building site in Haiti and gave of their TIME, TALENT & TREASURE to make the orphanage building a reality. Many of those people volunteered several times over several years.
The mostly complete main orphanage building.
We continued to send building teams for a couple more years building the orphanage wall and support buildings. The All God's Children Orphanage is now a complex of buildings serving newborns to 17 year-olds. There are, as of today, 106 orphans housed there. The orphanage is the main school for 225+ local kids, and a school of 14 deaf orphans was moved to the campus. Five Oaks has since transitioned from sending building teams to sending teaching and evangelism teams. That effort continues to this day. Our next Haiti Mission will be from July 30 - August 6, 2016. Five Oaks Church has also supported the welfare of the children, the orphanage / school operations, and staff with ongoing financial support.
The All God's Children Orphanage campus.
Approximately 3.5 years ago I started working with Yves Prophete, and various FMSC staff to forge a partnership between FMSC and GVCM. Five Oaks began packing meals with FMSC in 2008 and it seemed like a natural partnership to get those meals to the GVCM orphanage in Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere and indeed, many FMSC meals go to Haiti. The bulk of those meals, however, go to Port-au-Prince. The orphanage is in Haiti's Central Plateau and we could not find a local distribution point near that area. I will not bore you with the details and red tape, but now that partnership is a reality. With the 272,000 meals the orphanage will receive, we know that the orphans and school children in the area are protected from the recurring famines that sweep through Haiti. The food also gives GVCM pastors and missionaries license to enter villages throughout Haiti to spread the Gospel.
I consider this development the most important brick we laid since we set out to Impact Haiti back in 2005. The orphans are housed and now we know that they are fed. Glory be to God for orchestrating all of this!!
- Jerry Meras, Director of Outreach
I want to take a moment to send out a gigantic "Thank you!" to all who felt God's calling to care for the orphans of Haiti! These kids truly are the least of these. For the past two weekends we displayed photos of the orphans from the GVCM All God's Children Orphanage just outside Mirebalais, Haiti. We asked our congregation to select an orphans photo and story and to make a financial commitment of $35 a month to provide them with food, clothing, medicine and an education.
So many of you came through in a HUGE way to help provide a future for children growing up in our hemisphere's poorest country. Over the past two weekends we saw 19 orphans gain sponsors! That brings the Five Oaks total to 35 sponsored orphans. We more than doubled the number of kids we are supporting monthly.
These are the things that make a tangible difference in our world. I am so proud to be part of a church that is truly concerned with being the hands and feet of Christ to a hurting world. I am so proud to call Five Oaks my church home!
I want to thank Ron & Lesley Schlegel, our Haiti Impact Coordinators, and Sarah Bowers, who has an incredible hearth for these kids. Sarah provided us with the photos and stories and tracks our GVCM ChildVision sponsorships.
The opportunity to sponsor an orphan in Haiti is always open. Contact Sarah Bowers, sarah@gvcm.org, and she will answer all your questions, introduce you to your child and set-up your sponsorship.
Below are some photos of our newest sponsors. We were not able to get pics of all of our sponsors. If I left you out I sincerely apologize. You are all heroes to me.
Psalm 82:3 (NIV) - Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
- Jerry Meras, Director of Outreach
Back in October 2015 we handed out over 200 Union Gospel Mission Bags of Hope. The bags contained a Bible, water bottle, toiletries, cold weather gear and information on UGM services for the homeless. We distributed these bags to our congregation at no charge and simply asked for three things:
Have you had the opportunity to give your Bag of Hope away? What happened when you did? Email Jerry Meras, jmeras@fiveoakschurch.org, with your story.
On Saturday, February 27th, HandsOn Twin Cities will be putting on their annual volunteer expo at the Mall of America. Over 80 local non-profits will be on hand speak with the thousands of people at the mall to talk about ways to volunteer and give back to the community. Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities will have a booth in the main rotunda. In addition to having a booth, UGMTC will also have space for families and individuals to help decorate placemats that will be used at our Men’s and Women’s Campus cafeterias.
We’re looking for volunteers who would be willing to help be present at our booth and to share with people about how to volunteer with UGMTC. The event will be on Saturday, February 27th from 10 – 3pm. There are two shifts that we are looking to have volunteers be present and we would like to have 4 volunteers at each shift. Of course, we’ll all wear our UGMTC t-shirts!
Shifts:
10am – 12:30pm (4 volunteers)
12:30pm – 3pm (4 volunteers)
All supplies and handout information will be provided. Josh Windham and other staff will be present to provide support. Contact Josh Windham if you are interested and he will sign you up!
To Volunteer or for Further Information contact:
Josh Windham
Volunteer Services Manager
Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities
77 Ninth St. East, St. Paul, MN 55101
Direct: 651-789-7645
Fax: 651-222-7968
Email: jwindham@ugmtc.org
Website: ugmtc.org
Shine: 'A Beautiful Legacy' -- Shine is an event dedicated to encouraging women to define their beauty from the inside out, according to the word of God. Invite your friends to join you February 26, 6-9:30 pm at Five Oaks, and plan to listen to keynote speakers Rhiannon Rutledge and her mother Terri Hopman, with worship led by Legend Rutledge.
Story of God session starts February 9 - Think of the Story of God as a spiritual bootcamp. It’s foundational. With a framework for the whole Bible, you’ll get more out of reading it and studying it for the rest of your life. The Story of God also offers a practical, relational-based framework for spiritual formation. Grow deeper as a follower of Christ. Connect with others on the same journey.
It's Sanctity of Human Life Month, and we are celebrating by supporting New Life Family Services with our annual Diaper Drive! During the weekends of Jan. 16/17 and 23/24, bring in diapers of any size to the NLFS table located by the Impact wall. Also, enter to win a pair of tickets to NLFS's upcoming event: Laugh for Life, Sat. Jan. 30, 7:00 PM at Grace Church Eden Prairie. Drawing will be held after services on Jan. 24, and winners will be notified by email.
New Life Family Services compassionately opens their doors and hearts to women and men who believe abortion is the “only” solution to an unplanned pregnancy. Through practical and spiritual counsel, they provide education and support with the hope each client will make a life-affirming decision for their unborn child.
New Life operates four pregnancy center locations, known as First Care Pregnancy Center, throughout the Twin Cities and Rochester communities. Each center is equipped with social workers, nurses, and trained staff who provide free pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, pregnancy-related counseling, referrals, resources and more. Three of their pregnancy centers also offer Parenting Plus, a parenting education program which allows families to earn practical items such as clothing, car seats, diapers, and more.
New Life Family Services has been licensed to provide adoption services since 1980. New Life facilitates full adoption services and partial services to allow for complete customization based on each individuals needs.
Through Conquerors, New Life restores hope after abortion to men and women ready to seek healing from the damage a past abortion has caused in their lives. Conquerors offers both group sessions and individual mentoring.
Small Group sign-ups this weekend - God wants us to know him. God wants us to hear from him through scripture, prayer and his community, the church. One of the most natural ways we “do community” at Five Oaks is through small groups. Most Five Oakers who participate in a small group find that their small group becomes their church family. If you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to join a small group.
Are you fun? Share your fun! - Did you have a good time at last year’s Game Café, Fireworks at Five Oaks, or the Fall Fun Fest? Here’s your chance to keep the fun rolling by joining our Five Oaks Fun Team. Maybe you’ve never served at Five Oaks before, or maybe you made a resolution to give back to your church by serving in the New Year. ...