Love and Compassion Ministries

Transcription

1 N E W S L E T T E R Love and Compassion Ministries In the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit March 1, 2011 In The Y ear o f Ou r Lord You Are Cordially Invited To Love And Compassion Ministries Annual Plant a Seed Volume 6, Iss ue 3 Inside This Issue Free Love Offering Dinner Story: Page Feature Speaker Pastor Jim Holbrook LCM In Action 2 March 25th :30 PM At First Baptist Church of Fort Myers 1735 Jackson Street Fort Myers, Florida Come and enjoy a night of fun, good food and learn more about Love and Compassion In Action. We are Blessed 3 Van Wells 4 Letter From Inmate 5 Please RSVP by March 14, 2011 by to: dinner@lovecompassion.com or call Free Parking is available in the parking garage across from Church. Dress Casually (leave your tie at home). Funnies 6 Letter From President 7 Prayer 8 First Baptist Church of Fort Myers 1735 Jackson Street Fort Myers, Florida South side of Church is the entrance of the Activities Center where good food will be served up with good fellowship. This is a monthly publication produced and printed by LCM. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce this publication! All of us here at Love And Compassion Ministries are excited to be apart of what God is doing in this community in regards to homelessness, runaways, job placement, drug and alcohol addicted people, troubled veterans and so many more. If you wish someone who is in jail or prison to receive a copy, call us for details.

2 Volume 6, Iss ue 3 Page 2 Love And Compassion Ministries, Inc. is made up of many Ministries rolled up into one! With many wonderful volunteers we are able to serve this community in many ways! PRISON MINISTRY HOMELESS MINISTRY STREET OUTREACH MINISTRY YOUTH MINISTRY DRUG PROGRAM MINISTRY THIS IS Love and Compassion Ministries In Action Won t you join us in our mission to reach out to the hurting with love and compassion regardless of their faith, race or gender.

3 Volume 6, Iss ue 3 Page 3 Love And Compassion Ministries, Inc. Is very blessed to have so many wonderful volunteers, advisors, Churches, businesses and ministries helping to run this ministry. Lyle Smith Jim Cossairt Joann Cossairt John Domino Mark Decker Frank Blake Tony Distaffen Ron Willis Steve Smith Barbara Smith 2011 Directors In No Special Order Advisory Board In No Special Order Elizabeth Domino Van Wells Marybeth Blake Kevin Cummings Sandy Cummings Johnny Rosko Margaret Rowlett Peter Makrys Torrey Husband Chuck Hirst Gary Danno Francine Danno Betty Bates William Stewart Sally Stewart Buddy Malcomb Nancy Barta Joseph Whetsel Jean Whetsel Henry Brown Kelly Bryant Dean Bubois Geneva Mock Dick Tatro Amy York Bertha Lemmon Bonnie Sanders Jim Holbrook Gean Holbrook Buck Philips Paula Philips Gail Bubois Rich Hartz Barbara Hartz Kendra English Talbert Melton Close Advisors In No Special Order Carolyn Melton Zoe Smith Robert Willis Support Churches / Ministries / Business In No Special Order Cypress Lake Baptist Church Zion Lutheran Church Faith Fellowship World Outreach First Baptist Church of Fort Myers First Assembly West Messiah Lutheran Church Central Baptist Church All Souls Episcopal Church Hiland Park Baptist Church Shepherds Gate Grace United Methodist Church of Cape Coral Teen Challenge International Sam Galloway Ford Florida Heating and Air Decker Homes Divine Intervention of SW FL Kiwanis Club JM Todd Insurance Mock Engineering Quick Print of Cape Coral

4 Volume 6, Iss ue 3 Page 4 Van Wells has been a wonderful friend, donor, director and is now on our Advisory Board, but his heart has been in the Dominican Republic for many years now and he wants you to know: Dear Christian Friends: In 2005 I began a journey to help the poor in the Dominican Republic. Dominican's have great family values but suffer in the poorer provinces where there are few work opportunities. The Dominican Republic has the highest unemployment percentage for all of Latin America plus they have 600,000 Haitians living in their country. As we have worked with missionaries in Palmar Arriba (a province next door to Santiago) where they have established a Missouri Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church and school, things begin to change through the intervention of Jesus Christ. There are now 92 children in the elementary school and the Church is starting to reach out and help others. Upon my return, I have been given the task of implementing a breakfast program for the children. The average Dominican eats one meal a day. The children need a good start to have the energy to focus and learn in both Church and school. A lady named Maria with her six children from two previous marriages was one family that had a particularly hard time. Her first husband drowned and her second husband abandoned the family because of no work. Naomi, the youngest child, was six pounds under weight, sick and struggling to survive. So I paid the medical bills and bought food and medicine. To make a long story short, I started playing baseball (their national sport) with the children and fell in love with Maria and we were married two years ago. The children are all growing and healthy now, especially since I got them off the water system that sometimes had four different viruses. Now we only drink bottled water. The children all go to Church on Wednesdays and attend Sunday school classes. The three oldest graduated confirmation class this last January. All have been baptized and pray to Jesus about everything that comes into their lives. Education is the ticket to a better life, and learning English as a second language can open opportunities for them. My goal is to raise or save $8,000 dollars for passports, visas and plane tickets to bring my family to the United States. So please keep me, my family, the missionaries and the children in your prayers (Maria, Jose, Yeni, Adoni, Delvi, Jeterli and Naomi) that the Lord Jesus Christ will provide a way for all of us to be together and to help the Dominican people grow in a personal relationship with Jesus. Amen God Bless, Van Wells

5 Volume 6, Iss ue 3 Page 5 We recently received this letter from an inmate of the Florida department of corrections: Dear Mr. Willis, Hello! I sincerely hope this letter finds you being blessed by our Father in Heaven daily. In my last correspondence to you I had informed you that I was on my way back to Lee County for my appeal. A few months have passed and I m finally back from my appeal and settled in my new place of residence, Calhoun Correctional Institution in Blountstown, Fl. I wanted to inform you of the outcome of my appeal. Our blessed Father showed mercy and compassion on me and because of this, I received five years off of my sentence, so currently, my release date is Jan 2016 which should eventually drop to mid I received your newsletter from Jan. It was forwarded to me from Desoto. I always enjoy so much reading the Ministries newsletter, and seeing what God is doing in then lives of others. Ron, Mr. Willis, I ve been writing to you for quite some time, and I imagine you may wonder why this is. From the very first of hearing about you and your ministry several years ago, I have felt drawn to your ministry. I ll never forget how it affected me when I noticed that that every inmate in jail received a Christmas card from your ministry. I believe that was Christmas of (Continued on page 6) LOVE AND COMPASSION MINISTRIES NEEDS: INK CARTRIDGES - HP 95, 96, 97, & 98 POSTAGE STAMPS FINANCIAL SUPPORT NEW or USED COPIER FOR PRINTING OUR NEWSLETTER Please Support our efforts Donate Now! Name: Love And Compassion Ministries, Inc. P.O. Box Cape Coral, Florida Address: Phone: Date: ( ) I would like to commit to a donation of $ monthly to support LCM. ( ) I am making a one-time donation of $ ( ) Please send me more information on how I can get the monthly News Letter delivered to a loved one.

6 Volume 6, Iss ue 3 Page 6 (Continued from page 5) That gesture really touched my heart. After that, from time to time I had run into people who knew you and always spoke so highly of your ministry. I wanted to know who the fellow Ron Willis was, so I began writing you. I have tried to stay in contact with you over the years because I wanted you to get to know me because one day I m hoping to be a part of your ministry. Of course, none of us really have any idea what the future holds, but one thing God has made clear to me is that his purpose for me is to serve Him by serving others and I truly believe that is why God brought your ministry across my path. The only thing I really know is that no matter if I m inside the bars or outside the bars, I will spend the rest of my earthly life serving my Lord and Savior. Mr. Willis, I will close for now and ask you to keep me in your prayers. You and your ministry will remain in my prayers. God Bless You! Richard Praise the Lord! God is able to use us to change lives! Praise God! He has changed Richard s life! Let s allow God to use all of us to change lives! Please keep Richard and others like him in your prayers!

7 Volume 6, Iss ue 3 Page 7 Dear Friends, Love And Compassion Ministries Amazing things can come about when we bring together all the resources of faith as small as a mustard seed. But what good is faith if there are no works! James 2:18 says: Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. 19. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Look, many times in our life time we face giants. We are so small compared to our dilemma. But, as Christians our Lord and Savior has given us all we need to achieve the job that is set before us and overcome all obstacles, but what good is this gift if we do not use it. We must be obedient servants and use what God has given us to do the job. We must bind together to utilize the resources of us all. We all have different abilities and spiritual gifts that need to be utilized in serving our Lord. United we stand or divided we fall. Our Lord never meant us to be an island. We are stronger together. That is why the wicked one will do all he can to cause distress, grief, hardship and pain between us. He knows that we are so much more stronger together. Satan uses people around us all the time. They can be your boss, friend, neighbor or even your family. They will tell you It can t be done, it costs too much, your not smart enough, there are not enough resources, who do you think you are, etc, etc, etc only to keep you off the task that our Lord has set before us. We can believe a lie or believe God. The truth is we can do all things Matthew 19:26 says: But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Matthew 21:22 says: And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Mark 9:23 says: Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. Together we encourage, strengthen, comfort and restore each other. Alone we become shark bate. I pray our Lord will bring us all together as one unit; not as different faiths or religions, but as Christians on fire for our Lord reaching the lost with the resources that our Lord has given us love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance against such there is no law. We stand at the cross roads of life. We can keep on doing what we are doing or change course and do God s will. With desire and determination, we can bring honor and glory to our Lord while serving the lost, hurting people of this world. Do not be afraid or intimated for our Lord is with us! We are the victors. With wholehearted obedience and super natural strength we can do the impossible. Don t just be a Christian, be a doer. Join the team and see how our Lord can use you in mighty ways. In the Presence of our LORD, Ron Willis Ron Willis, President Love and Compassion Ministries, Inc.

8 Love And Compassion Ministries Stamp P.O. Box Cape Coral, Florida Phone: Fax: your comments: We re on the Web! PRAYER If you would like to be a part of our exciting prayer team, please send us your address and we will send you updates of people who need our prayers. It is a great privilege that we have, as sons and daughters of the KING, to be able to come into HIS presence with our needs, our hurts, and our cares. We know that we can leave them at HIS feet because HE cares for us and will always answer us in our time of need. Prayer requests are very important to us! We always need people who are caring and willing to personally pray for others needs. As we pray for their physical, moral, and spiritual needs, we must understand that because of JESUS CHRIST'S love for all of us, we are able to do this. CHRIST is the answer to every human's needs. As members of the BODY of CHRIST, we have the privilege and responsibility to pray for our Churches, our missionaries, public officials, other ministries, and each other. It is so exciting to see prayers being answered. May we always give CHRIST the Glory!