Encouragement will always, well, ENCOURAGE

One of the things we're learning is that in order for a particular ministry to continue, and continue well, there has to be some cheerleaders along the way. Not a lot of people, just the occasional one or two who take you aside and tell you what you're doing is valuable. This will inevitably happen when you are considering giving up. There were people we met on Sunday like Rob, Rusty (needs a kidney transplant), Andrea (artist at Urban Ministries and gospel singer), Rucker, Julia (works at Wendy's), Christian & son, Michi, and Dean.
Our blessing for this night was found in the person of Beverly. She was there with her son Dwayne. Beverly pulled Stephanie aside and began telling her she has seen us there every week. She moved here from Charleston and has gone through the alcohol treatment program at the Center of Hope. She has a job now at a cafeteria but realizes it is not a postive environment for her to be in as most of the workers are coming to work drunk or leaving work and drinking. She is hoping to get another job with the school system in their cafeterias thus getting out of a negative situation. We gave out four Bibles, 4 4 the streets magazines, and 175 cups accompanied by a bagful of snacks.
I say all of that at the beginning because I believe this is a learning experience and any good learning experience is better shared so others who attempt the same thing will know of a better way to do it. One of things about CharMin that we are coming around to realizing is that we never started our ministry at the bus station with an end in mind. "Begin with the end in mind" as Sue Miller puts it. The only way for us to know when our goals have been reached is if we know where we're going. We started the hot chocolate ministry in February as the result of a bunch of us just wanting to do SOMETHING to make a difference. When we started we said we would do it for a while and then build on what we've done. In discussing this with the other members, we were feeling a little guilty that our zeal has dwindled. Further discussion I think revealed to us, that it's not that we're losing our heart for ministry, but that we've arrived where we were going and didn't even realize it! In thinking back to those original conversations when we first started this, some things we said we wanted to do were:

• Offer a tangible gift (hot chocolate on a cold night sounds like a good gift to me!)
• Get comfortable in being with the homeless (we do it with ease now, nervousness is gone)
• Build relationships (have you SEEN the list of people??)
• Go further than the bus station (we've gone to Urban Ministries and Samaritan House but I think we were thinking further as in bigger in our offering)
• Gain knowledge of homelessness (we are more aware now than ever before)

Lessons learned: God will empower you to do SOMETHING whatever it is. Do SOMETHING with wonderful people around you can count on. Prayer and being in prayer with each other should never be outside of what you're doing. Begin with the end in mind. Know where you're going. Stats ARE important. Ministry that costs you will cause you to constantly evaluate it's effectiveness. Relationships are at the core of ministry. Deciding to change is never easy no matter how far in to something you are. Raise up leaders who will take your place. Encourage each other.

Through the ups and downs of this ministry we have grown closer to God and closer to each other. A pretty good pay off as far as I'm concerned.

Kristy