Kick-off Dinner

Last night we had our kick-off dinner to launch Operation Homefront Support. Although we didn't have the crowd we had anticipated and hoped for, those that did attend gave us some tremendous feed-back. Universally the greatest need shared during the Q & A time was the need for getting together frequently for mutual support. After examining my wife's scrapbook she made during our son's first deployment, it was decided that this would be a great way for them to get together and have a covered dish meal and scrapbook once a month. A date for this has not been set as of today but I believe it will happen soon.

Another need expressed was in the area of lawn care. Several of them needed help with keeping up with the grass cutting and weed eating. Two women told of leaky roofs or shingles off. If anyone knows how we can get the materials please let me know. I know I can gather a labor force to do the work but the materials will be the problem. This ministry has no budget and therefore no money, yet.

All in all I believe the dinner was a success. Please continue to pray for this ministry and how God might have you get involved.

Dinner is ready

Plans are now set for the kick-off dinner Saturday, April 17th. We will be at Trinity Baptist church in Bedford, VA. The dinner will start at 5:30 p.m. Child care will be provided if necessary. If anyone would like to attend please contact me by April 10th. If you'd like to support this dinner please contact me and I will let you know what we still need. Basically the food is covered already but we might need some help with the cost. The meal will be free to the families. This ministry is still in its infancy so we do not have a tax exempt status yet. If you would like to be a part of this ministry please let me know.

God Bless,
Mike

Encouraged

I have received several e-mails of encouragement. I want so badly to see this ministry reaching out to our military families. In order to make this ministry a reality I will need some help. I will need to form a leadership team to handle setting up the necessary paperwork for a not-for-profit ministry so that those who wish to donate money and/or services can do so and take it off their taxes. I will also need volunteers to help with advertising events and making contact with news media to let the public know what we are doing. If you or your church group would like to help please contact me as soon as possible. Before long our men will be on deployment in Iraq and these families will be contacting me for help.

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9 NKJV)

Blessings,
Mike

Operation Homefront Support is gaining assistance. Recently I spoke with Becky Stanton at Thomas Road Baptist church in Lynchburg. She and her husband are also interested in working with the families of our deployed troops. I am excited that this ministry is taking root in the hearts of others. The dinner is still tentatively scheduled for April 17th. I am waiting for confirmation from the pastor of Trinity Baptist church in Bedford to use their fellowship hall for this event. Once confirmed I will need help spreading the word about the dinner as well as help in the purchase, preperation, and serving the meal. If you can help in any way please contact me.

God Bless,
Mike

Ministry Update

We are planning on having a dinner April 17th. The location and times will be announced later but it will be somewhere in Bedford City because that would be more centrally located. The purpose of this dinner is to introduce this ministry to the families of our deployed, Bedford, troops of Company A. If successful I would like to reproduce this dinner in Farmville, Danville, and Christiansburg. What we need to make this successful is, of course, for the families of Company A to be there. But we also need church support from our local churches. If we could get two or three representatives from churches who are willing to reach out to these families that would be fantastic. The third thing we need, which should also be the first thing, prayer support. We need prayer warriors who are willing to bathe this ministry in prayer. We cannot divulge the names of these families due to privacy reasons but we can pray for them as a group.

Keep the date April 17, 2010 on your calendar and pray for God's anointing on this ministry.

God Bless,
Mike

Operation Homefront Support

This is a project to raise the awareness in our communities that we have families of deployed military troops who may need help. With the increased use of National Guardsmen and Reserves the new military bases are our local communities. Many of these families do not have the opportunity to be located near an active military base. We, the community, need to recognize this and make ourselves available to assist these families while their loved ones are away.

It is also my desire that this be an opportunity for the Christian community to show the love of Jesus Christ by supporting our neighbors.

I want to see a network of churches and businesses who are willing to support these families by helping to meet special needs as they arise. For example, if a pipe freezes, is there anyone in that local community willing to go and help fix it for free or at a reduced rate? Does the family need help with childcare, yard work, major or minor repairs to house or car? These are things we take for granted but when a husband is away on deployment the wife is left alone to take care of these things. This then puts a burden on the deployed soldier who may not be able to complete his mission because his mind is on the homefront. By helping, we can ease his mind knowing that his family is being taken care of while he is serving our country.

Are you willing to step up and help support our hometown heroes, the families of our deployed troops? John F. Kennedy once made this profound statement, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." What are you willing to do for the families of those who have answered the call of duty?