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.