I want to thank all who had any part in making last year’s Thanksgiving drive another success!  Thanks to those who provided food bags and gift cards, sorted through them, delivered them to BE Transformed house, and helped with the Fall Festival.  It blesses us all to be involved.

I want to share a miracle story about the bags. When we were gathering the bags, a young couple arrived at church between the services.They brought in 50 bags! I thought they looked familiar, so I thanked them and introduced myself. They told me they had never been to Res, just that they had looked online for a church doing a food drive and found us. They hoped the bags would go to people in need. I was awestruck and speechless! I told them they were angels and thanked them profusely. I asked them if they wanted to stay for the service, but  they declined, saying they needed to get back to Virginia!

I emailed a thank you to a name I didn't know from the sign-up, hoping that was correct. It was! The woman said that she had signed up to bring 15 bags originally and had told some friends what she was doing. They added the rest of the bags!  

For me, stories like this show how God blesses us all daily, those who give of themselves and those with whom we share. I am grateful that Church of the Resurrection values service. I urge everyone to reach out in any way, big or small, to help others. The blessings are tenfold.

Thank you, Edie Townsend

“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”. – Romans 12:2

Michelle Chase, a leader of Love Baltimore (previously Apostles in the City), wants to see Baltimore transformed by the love of Christ. Michelle had a vision of a happy home where kids in Belair-Edison, Baltimore could find a safe place after school and throughout the summer months. In April a house was purchased right across the street from the Brehms Lane Elementary school where she has worked on building relationships with staff, students, and their families through volunteering, leading Good News Clubs, organizing family fun nights, and participating in the Family Student council.  This home “will be a safe place for children and their families to come learn about and experience the radical love of Jesus through play, art, Bible study, counseling, tutoring, and provision.” The name BE Transformed captures the mission,  to transform lives which will transform the community of Belair-Edison (“BE”).

Michelle explains, “We believe that children are treasured by God and need to be treasured. They deserve to be loved, raised up, taught, and given opportunities. We believe that they are the key to transforming a community that has been traumatized. It is through the healing of these children through the radical love of Jesus within us that generational curses will be broken, that the cycle of abuse will end, and healthy families will arise. We believe that we are transformed by God’s love; therefore, we will transform the world around us.” 

Members of Church of the Resurrection have been active in supporting the BE Transformed home. If you are interested in getting involved in the life-changing work ahead, please join us for our open house by registering here. You can also help furnish the house by purchasing these needed items off the house registry here and donating here. Keep a look out for a follow-up video of the house in action coming soon!

The Easter basket give-away a month ago was a wonderful gift to so many kids. Seventy-eight Easter baskets were given away, which is almost thirty more than last year. A big thank you to everyone who made it happen!

Anna Burden, the student ministry associate, says the bags were filled with stuffed animals, a book about the biblical Easter story, a gift card for a family Easter meal, and LOTS of candy. “Our hope is that they bring joy.” Anna added with a laugh, “the bags also have toothbrushes and toothpaste to go along with all of that candy.”

Every year Resurrection collects Christmas gifts to bless the kids of families in Belair-Edison, a neighborhood in Baltimore. This year an emphasis was put on creating deeper relationships with those families. Each family was assigned someone from Resurrection to get in touch with them specifically and not only ask them what toys and clothes they wanted, but ask them if there was something they needed prayer for and to pray with them if they felt comfortable.

Jack Grubbs is the staff member liaison to the volunteer-led Faithworks team which heads up the Christmas gift drive and the other ministry partnerships in Baltimore. “Faithworks is a catalyst at Resurrection to help members of our church family meet and build relationships with people, particularly in Baltimore city. In addition to giving help and support where needed, we want to become friends and walk together as we discover the immense love Jesus has for all of us,” he explains.

Tara Boucher agreed to contact a family for the Christmas gift drive and sent a text to Eve*, a single mother of two children.  Eve texted back that she would like to talk on the phone and two hours later Tara and Eve hung up, having shared a lifetime of stories between them. “I kept trying to guide the conversation back to what kinds of toys her kids wanted, but an hour into the conversation I realized that Eve wanted someone to talk to. I realized God was doing something and I better quiet down and get out of the way.”

“I didn’t expect a stranger to open up about such personal things. I hung up and said ‘Oof, she will be on my heart for a very long time.’”  

One thing that Eve shared with Tara was that her son Michael* needed a bed. “I just couldn’t stop thinking that getting a bed is something that could be done immediately,” Tara said.