July 2009

Greetings Friends!

Another month to share with you, and again we have more to say than can comfortably fit on these 2 pages, but we’ll see how much we can squeeze in here.

ACTION
Tom, Case Manager at Shasta Women's Refuge, was ecstatic. They had made the first SafetyNet "Safe Transition" placement this month through the Nazarene Church, and he was grinning from ear to ear. Women and children who need help transitioning from dangerous circumstances and abuse can find it at the refuge for 30 days, but after that the trail begins to get steep as options decrease. Through Safe Transitions, we are attempting to provide a solution to this problem and deliver hope and a future to these courageous overcomers. As you'll recall, our SafetyNet Community thrust contains forward thinking initiatives such as MyWatch, Project 18 mentoring and Safe Transitions. The goal is to undergird local services by inviting the family of God into the picture to bring tangible transformation. As more services are eliminated or gaps increase due to state budget cuts, the opportunity for us to rise to the occasion is ever more prevalent. So, Safe Transitions is operational and growing, as is MyWatch and Project 18.

VISION into implementation
Jessica Freeborn did a wonderful job shepherding the LOT into its second season. The city waived our fee for the 3 summer events, the first of which happened Friday, June 26th. If the church wants to lead in cities and nations, we have to lead in the streets. In order to win the streets, one must be IN the streets! So, with peace, we entered the hot zone. The night went well with over 300 youth stopping in. Skate park, basketball, jump/joust house, live music and the fire department hosing down the overheated all made for a fun hang out! Gen 14, our rapper buddies, ministered and almost 20 folks asked for follow-up, prayed to receive Christ or indicated they needed/received healing that night - right in the street. Just another Friday night in a town where the Church rallies together around a vision!

The next day, we held a significant Grace in Motion workday, significant due to the property involved and its contested future. 80K cars pass by this site everyday as they enter or exit Redding on Highway 44. The Christian man who bought the property some 30 years ago had a God vision in his heart for the place, but for 15 years now, the property has been vacant and unkempt, doubling as a campout for the homeless. The man’s son is now responding obediently as God prompted him to establish a creative arts center there on the property. As soon as he stepped out in faith, another suitor for the property surfaced - a medical marijuana advocate group. The family decided not to sell or rent to the hemp people the same day we did the clean-up, PTL. We want to see God’s purposes prevail here. Our work day was timely, and our prayers too. God used it more than we know. 30 laborers generated 2 truck loads of trash and huge piles of green waste.

INVITATION
Hayfork, CA invited me to share vision and implementation with them this month, so up into the mountains I went. I was blessed to see almost 30 folks from a variety of local fellowships there. Pray for Hayfork, Weaverville and the hill country to our west as they rally the Church there to do the 5 components and deliberately engage new paradigms for Kingdom work.

Just this month, we were invited into another 3 grant proposals, some of those Federal, to bolster our Project 18 mentorships. If awarded all of these, imagine how they could grease the wheels for action, involvement and impact! Pray for God’s will on this though, and for wisdom. We are so grateful for you who support us so we can embark on these initiatives as the Spirit leads, without financial motives.

The $10K grant from Public Health has begun, so we are hosting mentor trainings (7 committed mentors are with us now), filming the promo video (contact us late July to get one for your church or small group), wordsmithing brochures and upgrading our website. CHECK OUT OUR STUFF at the new site which Tyler has fashioned, www.wer1net.net. Updating will happen all summer long. New videos, pictures, brochures, a ‘haves-needs forum’ and much more. Please patient as we fine tune it.

CITATION into excitation!
Good-Good-Good, Good vibrations and (some) citations. Karen and I both office a lot in our cars and this month it cost us. I got ticketed for ‘talking on my cell phone’ and Karen was photographed doing a California stop and right turn at one of those fancy photo-lights. But, guess what, God is using this too! Karen looked into working off her fine by doing community service and during the conversation, the Probation Assistant complained about the budget cutbacks and her increased workload. Thinking “SafetyNet” and on the lookout for gaps where we can serve, Karen sensed a need becoming an opportunity. It looks like God is directing her to spend her community work hours creating a resource to help streamline the process of connecting those who need to complete service with non-profits who could use some help.

EXPANSION
The expansion process is multifaceted as we draw up documents that spell out how other communities, visionaries, champions of community solutions and gifted leaders can attached to our non-profit in order to bring the grace of God to their communities more rapidly. We’re laying a foundation for future works through the web work, the grants, the meetings and action you see in this newsletter. We are so glad to see the constant stream of creative God-birthed initiatives and the resources to see it through.

PARTICIPATION

In late May, Relay for Life cancer walk provided our WeR1 band a golden opportunity to share Christ through music for 2 hours amid a crowd of 2000 or more. We also have been granted 90 minutes of music time on July 3rd prior to Anderson’s fireworks show and 70 minutes July 4th prior to Redding’s celebration. July 17 we plan to be at the mission downtown. We would still welcome roadie help and intercessors to minister with us.

We thank our laborers who assisted the fair parking fundraiser mid-month. This nets us $1500 cash to help us pay bills, which at this moment are almost all paid up. Please continue to give as we continue to live out the vision best we know how. All is well.

In the flow,

Jon & Natalia Thompson

 

 

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