Sunshine will once again be participating in the Chicago Half Marathon as a fundraiser event. Last September we had 2 people run for Sunshine: myself and Christi Gilbert. This year, we are expecting a much larger "Team Sunshine" to be running in the event. The date of the race this year is Sunday September 12. Would you consider running on behalf of Sunshine? The time to begin training is now. We will even set you up with a personal training to give you consultation through the training process. This is a great opportunity to get in shape and to help raise money for a Kingdom cause. Contact us at Sunshine if you would like more information.
Safe Families for Children-Chicago began in 2002 in the wake of a particularly deadly summer for children. Dr. Dave Anderson, Executive Director of the LYDIA Home Association (a Christian social service agency in Chicago) reacted to the crisis by writing to Mayor Richard M. Daley. Dr. Anderson made a radical proposition in his letter: What if compassionate Christians opened up their home to children from families in crisis before the children were taken into state custody? The Mayor and one of his trusted deputies responded enthusiastically and helped find seed money to implement this bold undertaking.
By February 2003, Safe Families for Children-Chicago began with a handful of volunteers. This movement has now grown to close to 400 volunteer families in the Chicago area alone with a placement rate of over 30 a month. Hundreds of people have been helped and changed - not only those served by the ministry, but those serving as volunteers as well.
Our goal here at Sunshine is to build a "Safe Families Hub" (a network of churches and social service agencies) on the greater south side of Chicago. Therefore, we have been meeting with pastors/churches, social service agencies, public schools, etc. The vision is to not only mobilize "host families" but also referring and support agencies who will connect us with families who are going through a crisis. Our prayer is that God will raise up a "village" within our community to come alongside families in need.
How can you be involved? (1)Do you know of a social service agency (hospitals, clinics, after school programs, etc.) located on the south side that we could contact? We are looking both for referral partners (agencies who will refer us families) and for "family resources." Organizations who serve as family resources would be those who provide their services at a discounted price.
(2)Could you connect us with your pastor/elder board to make a Safe Families presentation?
(3)Within the body of Christ we are looking to recruit and mobilize Host Families - families who practice biblical hospitality by opening their homes to children in need Family Friends - Individuals who are able to help out with diapers, clothes, doctors visits and other expenses
We greatly appreciate your prayers and assistance as we begin this journey! We are excited about the potential of what God could do in and through His people in the city! For more information contact Erica Avery at eavery@sunshinegospel.org
During the month of March, we welcomed a new "team member" to Sunshine to serve as our Safe Families Hub Manager (blog entry forthcoming to further explain Safe Families). Erica Avery was born on Chicago’s south side to two loving parents, Carleton and Desney Avery. From an early age she felt God calling her to a life of service. September 2007 to May 2009 Erica responded to that call by leaving all she knew to be a part of Masters Commission USA, a ministry training program where she learned the importance of discipleship, social justice, race relations, and most importantly the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. After Erica Graduated from Masters Commission USA she heard Gods call to bring what she learned back to the inner city of Chicago. During the summer of 2009 Erica joined the Chicago Peace Campaign, a pro peace movement started by Chris Butler, Bishop Edward Peecher and several others that has markedly changed the atmosphere where it has been implemented. Erica soon after began working as the Volunteer Coordinator for a democratic candidate who ran for state representative in the 10th district of Chicago’s North and West side. As the campaign came to a close, Erica began to pray to God for her next assignment. A few weeks later the door opened for Erica to work for Sunshine, specifically focusing on the Safe Families program. Safe Families is a ministry that helps parents who are experiencing a temporary crisis arrange for their children to stay with a Christian family while they address the issues that led to their situation. Erica is currently focused on building up the Safe Families Network in the greater south side of Chicago. We are excited to have Erica serving with us! She is a great asset to our team!
It is college spring break season, therefore at Sunshine it's prime "Bridge Builder season." As many of you know, Bridge Builders is our short term missions trip experience. Last week we hosted 18 students from Eastern Michigan University. This week we have 91 students!!! These students represent the following schools: University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina, Furman College, University of Nebraska, University of Central Florida, Cornerstone University, and Judson College. We will also host groups over the next 3 weeks from various campuses throughout the country. These groups come ready to learn and ready to serve.
The world's population is becoming increasingly urban. It is estimated that by the year 2030, 60% of the world's population will live in cities! This increasingly urban population will also be increasing poor. Therefore, as followers of Christ, we must be equipped to respond Biblically and missionally to these realities. The Bridge Builders program was designed with these challenges and opportunities in mind. When students spend a week with us they are given chances to learn, serve, and discover within the "classroom" of Chicago.
Learn Learn Biblical lessons focused on the important topics of God's heart for the city, the poor, racial reconciliation, and justice!
Serve Serve alongside urban ministries in Chicago through hands-on service projects and ministry visits that will engage your heart and mind, and open your hands!
Discover Discover the realities of the urban context!
Pray with us that God would use these weeks in a powerful way in the lives of the college students who spend time with us! Pray that they would take the things that they have learned back to their campuses and communities where they can "flesh them out!" Also, please pray for our Bridge Builder's staff: Sarah Murphy, Brian Wongkamalasai, and Joel Hamernick.
One of our partnering ministries, Africa Revolution, highlighted the efforts of our young people in raising money for ministry efforts in South Africa. Specifically, we raised money to support the Life House - a local church ministry in Mamelodi, South Africa to care for abandoned babies. You can read the update here.
This past weekend we had our annual winter camp retreat. We headed to Sunshine Cove Christian camp in Union MI with 31 campers, 9 counselors, and a dining hall/kitchen crew composed of 3 high school students. The weather in southwest Michigan was perfect for the weekend! We had roughly 6 inches of snow on the ground and sunshine.
Our theme for the weekend was "Real Love" taken from 1 John 3:16-18. We talked about the amazing, sacrificial, selfless love of Jesus, and how we can demonstrate and display this same type of love to others. The kids really grasped the chapel lessons, and we had great discussions during our break-out times. Even this week during programs they have made statements connecting what we have read for tutoring back to the topic of the weekend.
The schedule was so full of activities that one of our students stayed home from school on Monday due to "soreness." Her first day back at our after school program she requested that we pray that her "soreness from camp would go away." We played indoor games, snow football, broomball on the ice, and went ski-tubing on two different slopes with varying degrees of steepness. We consumed large amounts of Ms. Rhonda's famous cooking and many cups of hot chocolate.
We concluded the weekend with a Sunday worship service at First Baptist Church of Elkhart IN. Pete's dad is the pastor there. They were very generous to us all weekend! They provided us with bus transportation to and from camp, and also had a "pizza buffet" lunch for us after the Sunday service. We are very grateful for all of their assistance over the course of the weekend!
Our kids are already looking forward to summer camp, and they are our best recruiters!
In our work with young people, one thing that by God's grace we want them to develop is Kingdom lenses. In other words, we want them to view the neighborhood and the nations with the love, compassion, and justice of God. One way that we have done this recently is by having our kids bring in their spare change for the benefit of others.
During the month of December, our youth programs raised money for the Life House in Mamelodi, South Africa. The Life House is a ministry of the Powerhouse Church in the township of Mamelodi to care for abandoned babies. In the midst of extreme poverty, and a growing HIV infection rate many women feel hopeless when faced with the prospect of caring for another life. This local church, in collaboration with the U.S. based ministry Africa Revolution, seeks to come alongside these mothers and help them care for these precious babies. When we described what the Life House was doing to impact the lives of babies in South Africa, our young people immediately "got it." They routinely brought in their spare change and bills each week. One of our 3rd graders even told her mom she was going to give her $5 allowance to the "babies in Africa!" At the end of the month, our kids had raised $75 towards this worthy cause.
This month we have decided to raise money to Haiti. We have spoken to our kids about the effects of the earthquake, specifically what it has done to families in Haiti. We have watched "Youtube" videos that portray the devastation. Shortly after we decided to raise money for Haiti, we received an email from AWANA Clubs International describing the work of AWANA in Haiti through local churches there. It seemed like a natural fit for our AWANA club at Sunshine (and our other youth programs) to raise money for the AWANA clubs in Haiti! The following video was produced by AWANA, and was viewed by our club this past Monday night.
We will do a follow-up post to keep you updated on how much money our kids have raised for our brothers and sisters in Haiti.
