Wanted: Volunteers for Mission
Our church can use all kinds of volunteers - people who drive our bus or teach a class or help fold and stuff the Sunday bulletin. There are also all kinds of opportunities for local service in places like hospitals, nursing homes, Habitat for Humanity, soup kitchens or ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organizations). Talk to Pastor Dave Sageser about short term volunteer mission opportunities.
Faith United is a Global Mission Partner Church. This means a missionary couple has been assigned to work with our church and we will be part of their annual support to continue their missionary work overseas. The couple who has been assigned to our church is Delbert and Sandy Groves, who currently work in Zambia. They recently transferred to Zambia from the Congo where the conditions of civil war have made it impossible for their ministry to continue.
In Zambia Delbert will be developing a United Methodist publishing and printing facility and will train local residents in printing and translating materials. He will also be available for assistance in construction of medial clinics and new churches. Sandy will have major responsibilities in Christian education with the children of that primarily English-speaking country. Click here to read Delbert's most recent letter!
Both Delbert and Sandy have been related to the United Methodist Church in Orlando. They have two sons who remain in Orlando and two sons living with them in Zambia.
Other projects
- Through the proceeds of the Spaghetti Supper and the Gloryfied Garage sale we are halfway toward the cost of a second Habitat for Humanity house.
- We are involved in support of the Jackson Area Ministry's Green Thumb Project in Appalachia
- Through the Heifer Project International we have send chickens, ducks, bees, a llama and a water buffalo to people in developing countries.
- We have presented more than $5,000 to our Trinity United Methodist Church in the inner city of Fort Myers to assist in their roofing and renovation program.
- Our children's groups have provided Christmas gifts & Easter baskets to inner city kids and have supported Samaritan's Purse, providing health kits to the children of Africa.
- We celebrated Blanket Sunday for Church World Service, sending the cash equivalent of more than 500 blankets to needy people.
- The church participated for the first time in One Great Hour of Sharing, a worldwide ecumenical program for relief of refugees and those involved in natural disasters. We took in about $1,200 for this worthy program, which is double what we raised last year.