8-16-24

The Blessed Portion Friday Update:

Hello Everyone, I sure hope Everyone is having a wonderful Sunday. Gina and I are so very humbled and so VERY grateful for all of our volunteers and friends who have believed in us over the past 12 years – Gina and I cannot even believe 12 years have gone past, but most of all we praise our heavenly Father and give thanks to him for using us in a way I couldn’t have ever imaged.

So, this past Friday evening serving downtown Ft. Wayne, we fed maybe a record number of our homeless friends. I am guessing 130 or so – it took a good 45 minutes to run everyone through the feeding line and the food was just amazing. We had hot pasta with cheese and red sauce, with a fresh green salad, a dinner roll, and an assortment of cookies. HATS OFF TO Maria and her crew for preparing this past Friday’s meal. Many Friday evenings there is such a huge crowd among us in our gathering.

What Gina, I, and our team pray for each week is not only enough food and clothing, but to have opportunities to talk about Jesus. To share how He can change lives and circumstances in EVERY way !!!

I am sure some of you can imagine how challenging it can be to get everyone’s attention when you have 130 people who are hungry, hot, and thirsty. It’s not the easiest task by any means but when you do, boy it’s a “ MOMENT” to remember and hang onto.

In many circumstances when Jesus traveled through the towns He would speak – like in John 6:26-27 Jesus answered, “ I tell you the truth. The reason why you are looking for me is not the miracles. You are looking for me because I gave you plenty of bread to eat. Do not work for food that becomes bad. Work for the food that gives you eternal life. ( Jesus did not mean the food that you eat, here. The word “ food” really meant Jesus himself. “ Eternal Life” is the life that God gives to believers now, and which will continue in heaven.) The Son of Man ( Jesus) will give you this food.

Which brings me to the first 20 minutes of our Friday evening this past Friday. I had a very young man come to me after about 20 minutes of being in the church parking lot and he quietly spoke these words to me – “ Tommy, can we talk in private a little later? I knew it was somewhat serious, and not knowing what was on his heart and mind – I was thinking it could be anything. I was leaning towards it being a material need because most of them are tangible items that are desperately needed. This young man is almost 20 years old and has always been helpful with our Friday setup of tables, tents, and chairs whenever he has been present. There just seems to be peace to him. He didn't speak too much during our 2 hours on Friday. He usually just listens during our visits so getting to know him has been a bit more difficult than some of our other friends.

So this takes me to the story of Jesus when he would go to the towns of some 5000 per gathering and most of them wanted miracles but didn’t want to repent or even to follow Jesus. They needed to get their fix and get the heck out of there. To keep living in darkness and need, and being rebellious. I feel this way sometimes about our friends, but knowing what they need is Jesus if any of them would let him in and allow the Lord to start the work in and around them.

There is more to this story but to sum this one up he said he wanted to change his life but didn’t know quite how to do that – he wanted to get off the streets of Ft. Wayne and become a Christian and to learn to give God a chance in his life to learn to love like Jesus does – ALL THE ABOVE!!!

So Sunday, September 1st is 2 Sundays from now, our friend will be attending church with Gina and me along with some other downtown friends. These are the moments we wait for whether you're feeding downtown to the homeless, in your place of employment, or with the guys and gals that you tend to do things with – Movies, High School Football games ……………..

Don’t forget to give an invite to a friend or a stranger – it can and will change their life !! Jesus says so!

Gina and I want to thank all of our friends, volunteers, and the wonderful people who have supported us over the last 12 years. Our amazing home church Pathway Community Church, Grace Summit Church, Hamilton Church of Christ. Tracy and Dale Bullion, Joe and Renee, Michael Jordan, Rochelle, Granite Ridge Builders, Hallmark Mortgage, and all of their staff who volunteer every month.

But mostly Gina and I would like to thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Talk soon

Tommy