Employee Benefit Fair

Our annual Employee Benefit Fair gives us a time to share information and show our appreciation to those who share hope and love to countless others throughout the year as a part of their daily routine.  During this event we give each employee a small gift from our ministry along with a few other “goodies” from area merchants.  We currently employ 74 individuals in 12 different locations in the upstate of South Carolina and in Hartwell, Georgia.  We will be meeting with our employees on May 9^th and May 16^th.  If you should have any small items that you might be able to contribute for our Employee Benefit Fair, please call 226-6193 and ask for Sharon at ext. 106 or Nan at ext. 107.  We will need to receive your gifts by Friday, May 4^th.  A list of those who contributed toward this event will be given to each employee and published in a future news article on our website. 

Sharon D. Brown

Financial Director

Lord of the Harvest

Here at the Men’s Training Center we are very busy working fields that have not been worked for a very long time. We are cutting old and neglected ground, pulling weeds and breaking up hard dirt.

Yes, we are planting seed in the ground.  The part that always makes me stop and think is this seed is dead and we put it into the ground and wait. We pray for rain and for the power of the Sun to heat up that seed, to keep it warm.  All of a sudden we see an amazing thing, a very small and tender shoot starts to grow and the hard ground gives up its hold and new life begins to grow. I have to say it is exciting to see what was dead is now alive and as we wait and give this plant time, food and water we will someday see the fruit of all our hard work. Some say, "What good is it to try and farm that old ground? It has not done any good and there is no fruit in it." I think all we are called to do is show up and plant. The Lord of the harvest will do the rest.

Please if you would keep us all in prayer. As we get these fields ready to plant, we need you to ask God to send the fruit for the harvest.

Thank you!

Your fellow laborer,  

Gene Christian

The Promise of Easter: Hope and "New Life" in Christ!

How can we let a day that represents unending hope and “new life” for us be so heartbreaking for others? 

They need the promise of Easter…enduring hope and a “new life” in Christ Jesus.

       Will you please help give them hope this Easter?

Our goal is to provide a warm Easter meal for the homeless.  Plus, give them encouragement,  love, and the real reason to hope again.  To achieve this goal, we need your immediate help.  Can we count on your support?  You can provide a hot Easter meal to one person who is hungry for only $2.05.  Please consider feeding 10 people with a special gift of $20.50…$41.00 to feed 20 people…or$102.50 to feed 50 people who are hungry.

On Good Friday April 6, 2012, with your support, we will be able to provide a warm meal, heartfelt hope, and an environment to hear the truth about “new life” in Christ starting with hundreds of  people this Easter and throughout the entire year. 

No Worries

Why do we all get lost in the details and “what if’s” of life?  It is almost as if we forget about God’s promises and focus on the unknowns of our life.  Some people actually worry about what clothes to put on in the morning and they have a closet full of clothes to choose from.  Some people get frustrated on where to go eat for dinner and they have a full wallet to spend on ordering whatever meal they desire.  There are even some people who stay awake at night worrying about what might happen the next day at work, but they have a job to go to.  I promise I am not only speaking to some of you, but myself at times.  We must remember those who have no clothes or possessions, no food to eat, no warm bed to sleep in or a home to call their own, or even the luxury of having a job, any job.

As I teach in a “Managing Your Emotions” class at the Women’s Ministry, God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  We know the important parts of the story and God will reveal the details of our lives to us in His perfect timing and His perfect way.  God already provided the manuscript for our life in giving us His holy word the Bible, will He not also provide us with the details when He is ready to do so.

Remember to focus on what we know to be truth and not what we think might or might not happen in our life!

In Christ,

Heather J. Mabe
Development Coordinator

Resurrection Power

It is the time of the year when the world is thinking about Easter bunnies, colored eggs, and new clothes. For the Christian it is the time we set aside to reflect on the greatest event in history (apart from His birth) and that is the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We worship Him year around and realize that His resurrection sets Him apart from any other “religious leader.”  No other has ever risen from the dead.

Watch this, that same power that brought Jesus Christ back from the dead brought you and me forth from the dead and is continuing to do that today.  Before August of 1974 I was dead in trespasses and sin and like Lazarus, He walked by my grave and called me forth and I rose to a newness of life. Praise His Name.

He continues to do that through the Haven of Rest Ministries. It is exciting thing to watch Jesus speak life into the ones He is sending us. “For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, you are God’s building. (1 Cor. 3:9)

Have Faith in God

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

A.W. Tozer wrote, “…faith is not a once done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God…faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God, we do not see ourselves – blessed riddance.  The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the Perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things that he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do” (from The Pursuit of God).

Faith in God begins when we take the focus off of ourselves and bring the God of the universe back into focus.  He must be the centrality of all that we see and do.  Everywhere I look, I see His activity. Everything I do, I do because of Him. From this vantage point, I am freed from anxiety, and fear, and failure; because I am keenly aware that ALL is about Him and nothing is about me.  Ahhh, sweet release!

Believing God,

Theresa C. Allen

Women’s Ministry Director

Men's Training Center

In a few weeks around Easter and after we will be sending around 3000 tomato plants that are growing in our greenhouses to our thrift stores for sell. Our men at the MTC have been working hard under the supervision of Gene Christian who has stepped in to be our work project coordinator. This is meaningful work for our men and produces income for the ministry as well. After 4 hours of class and study each day our men participate in various daily tasks such as appliance repair, general maintenance, housekeeping, laundry, cooking and grounds. Our goal is to have a real working farm and to put the land to work producing crops for consumption and sell. As we cultivate the skills needed to produce a revenue stream at the Men's Training Center, we welcome Gene's heart and hands to the team, believing that a wholistic approach to body, soul and spirit will provide the answer these men need during these days in their lives. Would you trust God with us for that end? If you would be interested in a tour of the Men's Training Center campus just call 8642266193 for a tour.

                                                                                
Eddie Capps

Director
Haven of Rest
Men's Training Center