The Lord allowed us to begin our own Deliverance Victory Bible School, which is aimed at equipping the body of Christ with understanding their place in the divine purpose of God. In the Lumberton area, we are looking for the vision through a youth center to come to past, an entire camp that will equip men, women, boys and girls with a look towards changing their life for Christ.

THE STREET MINISTRY PROGRAM

The Street Ministry Program, which is sponsored by Outreach Ministry of Deliverance Jesus Is Coming, is a separate community-based program designed to uplift spiritual, social, emotional and physical conditions of the total person. Residents may participate in the ministry program without obligation to join our Church family. The program is composed of a Soup Kitchen, Fellowship Hour, a Women*s Support Group, and Outreach Youth Service.

SOUP KITCHEN FELLOWSHIP

A weekly Soup Kitchen will be sponsored for low income and elderly Cumberland County residents. This service will provide wholesome food for persons not employed and who are in need of physical nourishment. Residents will be required to register for this program and to provide evidence of need for food. This program directly addresses the need of elderly people propelled to stretch their budgets for food. It also will address the growing number of young men who stand on corners due to apathy, addiction and unemployment. This program will include a counseling session design to encourage and direct this targeted group to seek training, employment and legitimate means to make a living.  Low-income communities are literally held hostage by unemployed, addicted and undesirable people loitering in our communities. It is our hope to develop a core group form among these undesirables who will be peer counselors and examples of people helping themselves. Local nutritionist will be solicited to conduct budgeting and healthful eating workshops.

 

COUNSELING AND REFERRAL SERVICE

The Outreach Street Ministry will establish street counseling and referral services for County residents. This counseling and referral service will consist of peer volunteers who will assist in helping residents find needed community agencies and programs to meet their needs. The beginning focus or our counseling program will be employment and addiction. These two problems lead directly to crime and apathy in low-income communities. Peer counselors will complete training under the direction of the Street Ministry Director and local Mental Health and Detox agencies. These counselors, after training, will assist the director in referrals of low-income people to available programs, which address addiction and unemployment. We will also create a job bank and job referral network.
 

OUTREACH YOUTH SERVICES

A weekly Outreach Youth Services Program will serve to direct the energies of our youth toward positive paths and higher ambitions. The initial projects for our youths will get 1) tutorial services and 2) a writers’ project. A weekly tutorial program began in the summer of 1999, to encourage youth to read, write and enhance math skills. Students will be helped in areas of greatest weakness. Test will be administered to determine each child’s need. Homework assistance will be offered during the fall of 1999 for children in grades 1-12.  In addition, a Community Youth Writers Program will be sponsored during the summer.  The community children will participate in writer’s workshop, which focuses on poetry, grammar, and fiction writing. Teenage girls and boys will be solicited to participant in this project. The production of a Community Youth Newsletter will be an end product of this endeavor.

 HEALTH HELPERS

The Street Ministry will work in cooperation with the Primary Healthcare Center in Hope Mills to provide for health education and health maintenance of residents. The Healthcare Director will conduct community-based health clinics and workshops on the following health issues: Blood Pressure, Cholesterol Prevention and check-ups, Weight Counseling, Nutrition, Infant and Pregnancy Issues. The Primary Healthcare Services will also offer first aid, CPR and referrals to physicians.  The emphasis of this part of the Street Ministry will be on prevention of illness and quick response in cases of emergency or poor health. An annual community Health Fair will be sponsored by volunteer Health Helpers.

 

TENT SERVICES

The Street Ministry will sponsor weekly tent services to minister to the spiritual, emotional, social and physical needs of the residents. These services will be held weekly on Thursdays and Sundays. These services will be instituted to serve the spiritual needs of low-income people who feel alienated form mainstream Churches. These services will be emotionally and socially uplifting because they will provide opportunities for residents to interact with each other for the good of the neighborhood. It is our desire that these services will give families an outlet to do something positive together on a weekly basis. We believe that a God filled man cannot commit crimes, abuse his family and sell drugs. The Bible teaches us that all things are possible. With all the bad things happening in low-income neighborhoods, this will be a positive force for good deeds good neighbors in addition to positive examples of prayful people in our communities.