I realized after looking over our blog entries so far that I have neglected to introduce you all to our team here in Miami. We work with some amazing people and are with them everyday (almost) so thought that you should get to know them as well. The pic I attached is our whole team and family and we all work together, living and ministering here in West Grove. We are here with the express purpose of reweaving the torn and faded fabric of the community in a wholistic way. We can see the beauty and potential of our neighborhood and in the lives of our neighbors but in many ways that vision is clouded by the reality and effects of neglect and in some cases poverty. There are so many things that could be grown and rewoven into our community but it takes a heart to see it happen, a little help from our friends and the hand of God to redeem what has been worn thin. With this in mind we are trying to create relational bridges and connections to our neighbors and help organize the efforts of our community to over come the things that hold us back. Our team is becoming a catalyst for this change to happen. It is made up of four of us myself and Erika (in the middle with the kids), Laurie Cook (right), & Faith Chastain (left).
I am the team leader and my time is mostly spent coordinating ministry processes, structuring our vision and goals, creating training and teaching materials, mentoring young leaders, team development, and community networking. Erika's focus is on growing deep relationships with our neighbors and working with them in a variety of capacities and using our home as a ministry and hospitality center. She is also focused on counseling young women and mentoring. Laurie is our community liason and spends the majority of her time walking around the neighborhood and building relationship and commuity connections. She also leads one of the Discipleship Houses (D-Houses) and mentors the three girls (and a couple others) who live with her. Faith is heading up our basketball outreach called Crossover and spends much of her time with local youth. She also facilitates the other girls D-house (with 4 other girls) and does a lot of our technical stuff (she is better than the rest of us in that area). In all we have a great team and one that works really hard everyday to live the life to which Christ calls us.
If you would like to learn more about us or support our ministry financially please write us at ccdwestgrove@gmail.com or check out how to give online at www.faithandlearning.org. We will soon be developing a new website that will be more interactive and it will allow us you to see more of who we are and what we do. We will keep you posted and let you know when that with ready for use. Until then you can respond to this post.
