Have you ever seen a scripture come to life before your eyes? We have:

Luke 7 The Faith of the Centurion

² There was a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. ³ The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, ⁵ because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” ⁶ So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. ⁷ That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
⁹ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” ¹⁰ Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

Our prayers, God's healing. Is God different today than yesterday? God chose to heal in so many different ways in the bible. The touch, with dirt, by his disciples, from afar. And the list goes on and on. But does he answer prayer? Does he heal from a distance today. The answer is yes. Case in point:

We were praying for a little one that had mental torture. She would cast herself down and say leave me alone when no one was touching her. She had fits of anger and she was only  2. We started praying for this little one. So many said she needed to have a laying on of hands. She needed baptism. She needed demon possession intervention.

Well, we prayed. We joined in prayer for weeks and months and then one week, many had the impression that she was released of this struggle. These were people that didn't know her. They had just been praying for her. She was in foster care and had been moved from home to home all her life.

Well,  sure enough, she had been healed. Her new foster mother didn't know what the social worker was talking about. This was a perfect child. No fits of anger. No tortured soul and a once shallow shell of a child was thriving and gaining weight.

A coincidence?  A healing? You decide. And yes she was baptized and continues to thrive yet today. Thank you Lord for letting us be a part of a bible story in the making.

Lord bless this little child and all those we pray for that are still today tortured souls. Crying out in their darkness for your healing touch. AMEN

Fund Raiser A Success

Thanks to all who made our 2013 "Tennis For Truth" fund raiser and new after event at the Capital City Club a success.

We especially want to thank Mike Harris our fund raiser chair for his tireless contribution of keeping the event organized and on track.







This year we had a great tennis event at the        O 'Connor tennis center on the 29th of June from 9-1 with a total of 34 tennis players participating.

A fun time was had by all and a great patriotic cake was eaten after a long tennis session and a great lunch.








This year we took the day event and expanded it to include a wonderful night extravaganza at the Capital City Club.

There was a silent auction; a light meal; a fashion show and a wonderful presentation of fine music by the first chair violinist of the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra: Robin Scott.

If you missed the event please mark it on your calendar for next year as we usually have it around the 4th of July.

Wow, are we excited about the upcoming 4th annual Tennis for Truth fund raiser June 29th. This year we are expanding this event and adding an after event at the Capital City Club. You can read about the events and register at the link below. Please tell your friends and register and bring a group to the event. We will have a fashion show, music, and our famous silent auction. To donate silent auction items phone Debby Thomas at 224-1460

http://tennisfortruth.eventbrite.com/

Journey Magazine

Thank you to Journey magazine for this months article. Please pick up a copy and check us out.

Did you know that we provide hygiene kits for the homeless to take a shower. If you travel and get those little bottles please consider saving and donating them. They are a perfect size for our kits.

Did you know that we go through some 100 plus coffee cups a day giving away a free cup of coffee to those that come in. Also between 50 -100 plastic cups for water.

Did you know we also use over 100 large and small paper plates, 5 pounds of sugar and several creamer  containers a day. Not to mention laundry soap and silverware.

God bless all of you that give to this ministry to help meet these needs. What a blessing you all are.

We never want to take you for granted. Thank you.

Publix partner

I guess we take for granted when we have so much that something as simple as a plastic bag can be a gift from God. But when you have nothing to carry your clothes in and you are walking blocks and blocks to the mission for a meal and see a couple of shirts to wear and you have to carry them back those blocks and blocks to where you sleep for the night ( maybe in a home or an abandoned building or under a bridge) a Walmart or Winn Dixie bag can be a gift from God. Wow, what a thought. But thank you to Publix for partnering with us to donate their used recycle bags so that this simple need may be met. We go through some 30 bags a day at the mission.

He is Risen

Sunrise Service- Easter Sunday

Thank you to Gateway Baptist, Grace @ Bell Rd., Legacy Anglican and Venture Church who all came together for a community-wide, Sunrise Service on Easter.

During the service, they took up an offering for a ministry in our community. This year, they gave their offering to Reality and Truth. 

This took place Easter Sunday March 31st at 6:30am on the lawn of Grace @ Bell Rd. What a great gift they gave to our ministry.

Easter Celebration

Great Easter celebration put on this weekend by Christ Church on Saturday night; Food, fun, fellowship, and great music.

Great Day of Service Coming

Looking forward to a Great day of service this year. Plans are being made for April 13th and 14th work days in combination with the Methodist Church's Great day of service. Contact your local church and come out and help. Participating churches so far this year: Aldersgate UMC; Capitol Heights; Frazier and Grace Point. Thank you in advance to all those coming to work in April.

WELCOMING NEW PARTNERS IN MINISTRY: Just 24 hours after we were featured on the front page of the Mongtomery Advertiser, people were coming by dropping off clothes- seeing what we are all about. We had e-mails asking when they could bring by clothes and we had a visit from an Angel. Kilby's Angel actually. Evangelist Viola Young said, " I never buy a paper, but something told me to by this one. The headline read $7,000 dollars found and returned. Little did she know that this article was only one that she read that day. The other was about Reality and Truth ministries (got to love how God makes connections). She had clothes already packed up and thought she would come by and donate to one church mission. Viola is an ex-addict that found Christ at the foot of the cross after losing her two sons. Her daugther says of her mother: she is my mentor and best friend. She donates time at Kilby prison seeking to save the lost through introducing them to Christ her Lord and savior and introducing them to the three r's- restore, redeem and release. Viola came walking in and immediately felt a fit at one church mission. A member of Fresh Anointing in Montgomery, Viola said she felt like this was the start of a great friend and partnership.

I will be back she said. As do so many that experience the love of christ and the ministry of one church mission. Please come by and check us out . We are always in need of new partners in ministry.

                           Article this week written up at al.com

Working in downtown Montgomery as an accountant, she crunched plenty of numbers sitting behind a desk and in front of a computer screen.
Now, though, she focuses more on counting the numbers of homeless and poor who walk through her downtown mission each day, the number of donations of food and clothing received each day and the number of smiles she can put on people’s faces each day.
Brendle operates One Church Mission at 515 S. Court St. The mission is open daily from 1- 6 p.m. and provides Bible study, food, clothes, showers and washing facilities to the homeless and poor. Worship services are conducted Sunday and Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Friday at 3 p.m.“About 100 people are hearing God’s word every night,” she said. “It is about people knowing Jesus Christ. That is our motivation.” In her four years or so working closely with the homeless and poor, Brendle said she has learned many things about the population.
“I was surprised at how loving and caring they are,” she said with tears coming to her eyes. “When I opened this, I had more people helping me who were homeless and poor than the church.”
Brendle was told by a pastor friend that 40 percent of adult homeless grew up as orphans, and she believes it. She hears the same story over and over again.
She was also surprised by the number of homeless who suffer from a mental illness and are unable to manage their disability checks. A number of veterans also are living on the streets due to addictions.
But, Brendle has seen a difference being made in people’s lives through her ministry.

“They seem happier,” she said. “They have more hope and without hope you can’t do anything.”

Phillip Clark  (pictured right with Ladonna) has known Brendle for about two years and comes to the mission regularly. He likes to talk and help Brendle with tasks around the old home while he is there.
“It helps me get closer to God,” he said. “It helps me mingle with others and share my testimony.”
Clark said the mission also gives him access to social services that he needs.
In October 2008, Brendle formed Truth and Reality Ministries, a non-profit organization, to spread the word of God to the homeless and the poor of downtown Montgomery. That quickly led to the nightly feeding of the poor.
Others working with the homeless community think Brendle operates a feeding ministry.
Pastor Vincent Rosato, of Friendship Mission, said Brendle started by feeding the homeless prepackaged meals out of the truck of her car at Overlook Park.
Brendle said that is partially true. One day she was sitting in front of her computer screen at work and realized she didn’t enjoy her job anymore. She had always enjoyed her career working as an accountant so she reached out to God to get answers. “I felt like I was supposed to do something different,” Brendle said.
Working downtown and teaching in her church, Brendle said she knew there was a need to bring the word of God to the poor. After much prayer, that is exactly what she did.
She started by teaching Bible study and providing a meal at a downtown church. She would come across the homeless and soon realized that they had more than just a hunger for God. They didn’t have access to food in the evening. No one downtown was providing dinner to the poor and homeless at the time.
Brendle admitted that the task was more than she wanted to do at the time. She went back to God to ask if that was a need she was supposed to help meet.
She quickly got her answer and in addition to a weekly Bible study began providing prepackaged meals to people at Overlook Park more than two years ago. Brendle used her own money and collected food and money from her friends to provide food. “Before I knew it people were bringing meals every night,” she said.
Brendle said each night at dinner she would pray with those needing food and ask them what their needs were.
A lot of people prayed for jobs, she said, and a lot of people got them.
Brendle said she remembers trying to help one man in particular who was looking for a job. She offered to take him to her church where they had a job exchange program.
The man stopped her and told her to look at him, Brendle said. He said he needed a shower, a haircut and clothes.

That is when Brendle decided to change her mission to offer more than just spiritual nourishment. She decided to try to meet all of the needs of the homeless and poor.
After using the facilities at River City Church in downtown Montgomery for a time, Reality and Trust Ministry decided to find a home for One Church Mission. It has operated out of its current location for more than a year.

(Joyce Sweatt pictured left helps with the distribution of clothing- homeless and those in need can come and get clothing no questions asked.)

Next month, Brendle hopes the mission will be operating out of its new 9,000-square-foot facility on Montgomery Street. The ministry purchased the building in August and has been relying on volunteer labor to do the renovations. The new building was paid for mostly through donations from family and friends, she said. Three area churches and some businesses also support the mission by providing money and food. Most of the clothes and home goods are donated by individuals.
Brendle said the new location will have a large dining room for meals and Bible study, several showers and washing machines and lockers for the homeless to keep their possessions and a free coffee house for the community.

 Our thanks goes out to Bubba Turner an employee of John Lee Paint Company and members of Capitol Heights United Methodist Church for collecting and sorting mens clothes for our minitry as depicted on the front page of the Montgomery Advertiser today.

Our own tireless servant Joyce Sweatt who comes regularly and  handles most of our clothing distribution was one of those helping.

Clothing was collected at a drop center located at the John Lee Paint store.

This is just one of our many partners in ministry connecting and joining with us as we continue to help and serve those in need on a daily basis. 

If you or your church would like to do a minstry collection, please -feel free. We need clothing, shoes, and  socks for men mostly served here but we also are in need of hygiene, coffee and laundry supplies.

We are open daily Monday through Friday from 1-6 for drop offs. Feel free to come by and visit us anytime at 515 South Court Street.

The blessings just keep right on coming. We continue to pray for God's servants to come and serve and what a week it has been. We had Susan come one day and then back the next and the next and brought with her two friends and lunch the third day. What a blessing! We had a man come with a friend to support him at bible study on Monday and has been back every day this week even bringing a popcorn machine donation and popcorn. Thank you Lord! Friday brought  Pastor Al who stepped in for Daniel who had to be away and gave a great testamony to the people at our prayer and share bible study at 3:00. We asked and he was more than happy to come and is now going to be bringing Wed. lunch from his church. Wow what a great blessing! We had Tina respond to the call to come and be a pick up and delivery person. We had Gary that asked where he could serve and when asked to take a man to his eye doctor apt and back said yes. What a blessing these and so many others have been to us and to the Lord and to those we serve this week. Thank you for sharing and giving of your time. Each and every one of you. Well done my good and faithful servants: I can here our Lord say. If you feel the tug to come and serve don't hesitate. You're missing out on a blessing if you delay. Both your blessing and those you would touch and serve. Come, be God's hands and feet.

Ok, to good to not be from God.

I love those moments in time when you know that you know that God is listening to your prayers and is way ahead of you answering them before you even utter a word.

I just thought you would enjoy this.... this was very interesting since we prayed for workers at our opening prayer of the mission on Friday. We fervently prayed that the Lord of the harvest would send forth workers. We all were in agreement and when I got home I read the e-mail below. 

 

Oh and FYI this e-mail below was sent at 15:28 or in laymans terms----1:28 pm interesting timing don't you think since we were all in agreement from 12:30 to 1:00. Now that's a quick answer to prayers.

---

Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:28:59 -0600    Hi LaDonna,

I was given your contact information by a friend of mine at work. I have recently started bible classes and one of my callings is homeless ministry. I would love to get with you and discuss your needs and maybe get involved with your group.

We also welcomed  Pastor James Turner from Victory Through Faith Worship Center that came in only an hour after we prayed. He was very excited about partnering with us to serve those in our community of influence.

 

God is certainly stirring in the hearts of his people. Lord, continue to send the workers and thank you for them. AMEN

 

Maybe the Lord is stirring in your heart to serve. Look around, he is equiping you for ministry. Search your heart and see where he wants you to serve.

 

Making a difference one life at a time: Without mentioning names we wanted to offer up a praise for God's faithfulness in working through lives at One Church. We have a loving man volunteering at the mission. He is a faithful worker giving up his time whilst looking for a job. Someone saw him there week after week giving faithfully and sacrificially of himself and was touched and in a position to offer him a job. Praise God that he rewards those that are faithful to him. God bless him and those that made this opportunity possible. God bless one church that is an avenue where people can learn to serve and prepare them to go out into the world.

Hey all please put us on your radar for May. We are having a bunco tournament fund raiser. Please  let all your bunco buddies know. If you are interested in coming please let me know by e-mailing realityandtruth@ live.com or call or text Debby at 334-224-1460.

Work Day: Saturday at the new "One Church Mission" building located at 506 Montgomery Street, downtown Montgomery. Starting at 8 am and going into the afternoon. Bring paint brushes and rollers. Hammers and nails. Work clothes and gloves. A smile and willing heart. See ya there.

Praises today: Many don't know that our One Church Mission has several food donors. Cosco gives day old pastry every week that they can no longer sell from their bakery,
Starbucks at Eastchase gives pastry and other items every Monday, Wednesday & Friday. GiGis at Vaughn and Taylor donates cupcakes they don't sell that day every Monday - Thursday and have just increased their donation to every Monday - Saturday.

What a blessing.

We have several people that pick up and deliver to the mission every day but with the increase in days we could still use another driver or two. If you are willing to take on this project once a week please call 334-224-1460. Thanks and have a great day. Please, if you patronize these places of business, tell them thank you for giving to the mission.

God Said, “I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was naked and you clothed me. When Lord, did we do these things? When you did to the least of these, you did to me”.

Reality and Truth Ministries does this every day through One Church Mission: located at 515 South Court St. Montgomery, Al. Come join us!

God also said: “you have not because you ask not”. We are asking in prayer and love that you would continue to partner with us.

The testimonies of lives being changed are heartwarming and continue to move us to help people get off the streets and help them grasp their God-given plan and purpose for their lives.

 Mark your calendars: Annual Tennis for Truth fund raiser planned for

Saturday June 29th at O'Conner tennis facility Montgomery, Alabama 8-12

Welcome to Reality and Truth Ministries Blog:

 

Thank you for joining us here. Come visit us at 515 South Court Street Montgomery Alabama. We serve the homeless and needy of our community Monday through Friday from 1-6; Saturday and Sunday from 5-6. We provide food, clothing, showers, laundry facilities and supper every night from 5-6.

 

Immediate needs:

 

Prayer: Please pray without ceasing for our ministry. If you are a prayer warrior and would like to be on our list for prayer updates please let us know. We also have a daily time of prayer that you are welcome to join either in person or set your alarm for 12:30 Monday through Friday and pray with us for the ministry. We pray each day before we open for a hedge of protection around our complex, for safety for the workers and those we serve and for the needs that are before us.

 

Work Projects: We are in the process of building and remodeling our new building at 506 Montgomery Street and hope to move to that new location soon. If you would like to help paint, build, or clean please let us know. We are working every Saturday to get the new building ready for our move and would welcome anyone who wants to come. Other times are also available.

 

Day Warriors: We are composing a list of people who may want to donate a day of service. This may include taking someone to the social security office, moving donated furniture, picking up building supplies or food and delivering to the mission. Or just come and spend time by playing cards or checkers. The daily needs are great and we currently only have a handful of workers. We would love to have a large list of daily servants to call upon.

 

Clothing and Food: We are always in need of clothes and food. We have organized suppers every night from 5-6 (with all slots being filled at present). If you would like to be put on a waiting list or as a sub let us know. If you have leftovers from your church or group dinner you can always bring food by from 1-6 Monday through Friday. We are always in need of coffee, sugar, creamer, cups, plates, silverware or hygiene items. If you are out and have a 2 for 1 offer always think of us as a place for your donation.