St. Philippians Bless Star Gospel Residents With Steak Dinner and Financial Support
Several of the men and women of the Home Missions Team had the blessing of serving a steak dinner—complete with salads, Texas toast, baked potatoes, and cheesecake—and sharing fellowship with the guests of Star Gospel Mission on Monday, June 3. A band of brothers (Briggs Huddleston, PJ Kuyler, Scott Wallinger, Lee Batchelder, Rhett Smith, Jason Ayers, and I) pulled together to acquire the food at The Chef Store, and we prepared the meal in the Parish House kitchen.
It was an honor to serve these men of the Kingdom, watch them break bread, to have some fellowship, to get to know several of them, and share some stories. My heart is speaking and I want to write it down. If I could pull those men aside, I would tell them this banquet is only the beginning. Preparations are being made for a far Greater Banquet—a Wedding Feast—and they are all invited.
The invitation is from the LORD Himself to each who are drawn to Him and have ears to hear and eyes to see. The bread and water never run out, and the Family serves only the best wine. Their—our—Father in Heaven loves them and has made them with irreducible complexity, just as He has made all of us. Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Raising Awareness: “A Walk in Their Shoes” Fundraiser
Last month, several St. Philippians participated in Star Gospel’s inaugural “A Walk in Their Shoes” (AWITS) fundraiser, where participants were given an opportunity to walk between three and ten miles with the leadership of Star Gospel Mission and the Charleston Police Department escort to, making several stops under bridges and other locations to speak with homeless individuals about their plight to understand the issues. A worship service and fellowship breakfast at Star Gospel followed. The St. Philip’s Home Missions Team also voted in our May meeting to support AWITS through a sponsorship of $1,000.
Star Gospel Expansion Endeavor: From 30 to 100 Beds
Star Gospel Mission has begun a campaign to raise the funds to add several floors to their Columbia Street building, increasing the number of beds from 30 to 100. The executive committee with Star Gospel Mission has calculated it takes about $12,000 total to support a bed and have asked St. Philip’s to sponsor 50% of the first bed in the campaign. The Home Missions Team has been blessed by the kindness and generosity of the entire St. Philip’s Church family, as we have the budget and funding to provide, with the support of the Vestry, a total of $7,000 in for the sponsorship of Bed #1 and “A Walk in Their Shoes.” Many, many thank-yous to the entire church family—we are blessed indeed. Many other churches, groups and organizations are now lining up to sponsor additional beds, but Star Gospel Mission wanted St. Philip’s Church to be the Lighthouse lighting the way for Bed #1. The youth at St. Philip’s Church will have the opportunity to support the guest of Bed #1 by sending letters and care packages in support of his spiritual, physical, and mental recovery through Christ our Lord.
After the steak dinner on June 3, Star Gospel Mission representatives presented St. Philip’s Church with a commemorative wooden plaque engraved with our sponsorship of Bed #1. They also showed us the wooden star—engraved with St. Philip’s Church as the inaugural sponsorship—which will be placed on the bed.
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