OABC World Changers
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Orangeburg Avenue Baptist Church of Modesto, CA community service group.
Location: Modesto, CA
Members: 1
Latest Activity: Apr. 15, 2009
The letter I sent that explains where I hope to see this going:
I got a phone call today from a nice lady named Desiree. Between she and her husband, they have 13 years of combined experience in running non-profit food distribution services in the Los Angeles area. They worked for Friendships in LA for the entire time and have recently moved to this area to start the program.
The vision is to obtain donations of all sorts from groceries to furniture in order to be distributed to those who have a need (with no strings attached). They have acquired a bus from somewhere in the Midwest and will be bringing it to Stockton soon for the purposes of storage and distribution. The goal is to distribute food and whatever else they can acquire (by means of donation) to the local community.
They will be utilizing volunteers and -- to a greater extent -- local churches to aid in the distribution. They do not plan to come up with a marketable name for the program as their stated purpose is to bring all of the glory to God through selfless service to the community. By utilizing churches for this purpose, the community can see how the church is seeing to their most basic needs and therefore see the evidence of Christ's love. This will naturally draw them to a recognition of the vital role the church and, more notably, the role that God plays in their lives.
They want volunteers (period) that's what they are asking for. They will need volunteers to distribute food to their OWN local community (i.e. OABC delivers to North East Modesto neighborhoods and 1st Baptist to Downtown neighborhood, etc.) This way it is the local neighborhood church that is directly impacting their OWN neighborhoods! They will also need volunteers at the home base to set-up the donations for delivery, sort and store the food stuffs, etc.
They have just submitted their non-profit application (which they have no doubt will be approved) and feel that the ministry is really getting kicked in high gear.
This is an awesome opportunity to get involved with a proven ministry model from ground zero. It doesn't have to be a "death by committee" decision to involve our college group in it, thankfully, we can just do it.
One of the struggles they had in the past, when the program was in it's infancy in LA, was getting churches involved. Most churches refused to jump in with a new start-up food distribution program with such incongruent reasons as "we are already involved in so much", "we don't have the volunteers," and "we need to see to our own congregations needs first." So what ended up happening was individuals jumped on board and started volunteering, and, graciously, when the ministry gained notoriety as a major charitable force, the churches changed their tunes and joined in (this was in the late 80's and early 90's back when we were going through a comparable recession and the occasional neighborhood-condemning riot).
So now we have this organization with a history of being hugely successful in providing the basic necessities to millions that prefers to work behind the scenes so that God and the local churches can receive all of the recognition and it is now "digging in" in our very own community providing us with an opportunity that has been all but unnoticed until now!
Although the exact timeline of when the rubber will meet the road is yet to be determined, I've already jumped on board and offered every bit of assistance that my wife and I can render and I'm praying that more will follow suit. What an awesome opportunity to invest so little into something so eternal!
In the process of looking for a means and an opportunity for our youth/college groups, I came across a social networking website called "Change my city" (www.changemycity.com). Its a newer website with very few members. The goal is to provide and opportunity for Christian community-oriented ministries to network and collaborate to make the most of an otherwise fractured and incoherent work force. I opened a group on the website for us to congregate, share ideas and provide updates, the idea being that a social networking website will appeal to both the youth and college groups (and all others who are equally addicted to facebook or myspace) and also serve as an incredibly convenient means of group communication.
Check out my blog for instructions on how to sign up and to see the group page.
This is one exciting ride that I'm on board with one way or the other. We'd love to see a huge enthusiastic volunteer work force follow.
Sincerely,
Zach & Elizabeth
http://zachthinksdeep.blogspot.com
I got a phone call today from a nice lady named Desiree. Between she and her husband, they have 13 years of combined experience in running non-profit food distribution services in the Los Angeles area. They worked for Friendships in LA for the entire time and have recently moved to this area to start the program.
The vision is to obtain donations of all sorts from groceries to furniture in order to be distributed to those who have a need (with no strings attached). They have acquired a bus from somewhere in the Midwest and will be bringing it to Stockton soon for the purposes of storage and distribution. The goal is to distribute food and whatever else they can acquire (by means of donation) to the local community.
They will be utilizing volunteers and -- to a greater extent -- local churches to aid in the distribution. They do not plan to come up with a marketable name for the program as their stated purpose is to bring all of the glory to God through selfless service to the community. By utilizing churches for this purpose, the community can see how the church is seeing to their most basic needs and therefore see the evidence of Christ's love. This will naturally draw them to a recognition of the vital role the church and, more notably, the role that God plays in their lives.
They want volunteers (period) that's what they are asking for. They will need volunteers to distribute food to their OWN local community (i.e. OABC delivers to North East Modesto neighborhoods and 1st Baptist to Downtown neighborhood, etc.) This way it is the local neighborhood church that is directly impacting their OWN neighborhoods! They will also need volunteers at the home base to set-up the donations for delivery, sort and store the food stuffs, etc.
They have just submitted their non-profit application (which they have no doubt will be approved) and feel that the ministry is really getting kicked in high gear.
This is an awesome opportunity to get involved with a proven ministry model from ground zero. It doesn't have to be a "death by committee" decision to involve our college group in it, thankfully, we can just do it.
One of the struggles they had in the past, when the program was in it's infancy in LA, was getting churches involved. Most churches refused to jump in with a new start-up food distribution program with such incongruent reasons as "we are already involved in so much", "we don't have the volunteers," and "we need to see to our own congregations needs first." So what ended up happening was individuals jumped on board and started volunteering, and, graciously, when the ministry gained notoriety as a major charitable force, the churches changed their tunes and joined in (this was in the late 80's and early 90's back when we were going through a comparable recession and the occasional neighborhood-condemning riot).
So now we have this organization with a history of being hugely successful in providing the basic necessities to millions that prefers to work behind the scenes so that God and the local churches can receive all of the recognition and it is now "digging in" in our very own community providing us with an opportunity that has been all but unnoticed until now!
Although the exact timeline of when the rubber will meet the road is yet to be determined, I've already jumped on board and offered every bit of assistance that my wife and I can render and I'm praying that more will follow suit. What an awesome opportunity to invest so little into something so eternal!
In the process of looking for a means and an opportunity for our youth/college groups, I came across a social networking website called "Change my city" (www.changemycity.com). Its a newer website with very few members. The goal is to provide and opportunity for Christian community-oriented ministries to network and collaborate to make the most of an otherwise fractured and incoherent work force. I opened a group on the website for us to congregate, share ideas and provide updates, the idea being that a social networking website will appeal to both the youth and college groups (and all others who are equally addicted to facebook or myspace) and also serve as an incredibly convenient means of group communication.
Check out my blog for instructions on how to sign up and to see the group page.
This is one exciting ride that I'm on board with one way or the other. We'd love to see a huge enthusiastic volunteer work force follow.
Sincerely,
Zach & Elizabeth
http://zachthinksdeep.blogspot.com
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Started by Zach Greenlee Apr. 13, 2009.
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