We are 97-year-old twins and we can’t get out much anymore. But we can still do things to bring a smile to people. That’s why we started our ministry 12 years ago. We buy teddy bears and crochet handmade clothes for them and give these bears to children. My sister buys the bears and all the material we need. I crochet the outfits for the bears. It takes pretty much all day to make an outfit for one bear, but I don’t mind. I’ve got the time. We just want to bring some happiness to kids, some who don’t have too much. This all started when one of our church members had a child that was sick when we were 85 years old. We bought a bear, crocheted an outfit and we, as a congregation, prayed over that bear. Other children in our church saw it and wanted a bear themselves, so a tradition was started. We not only give them to kids going through a difficult time but also children as they graduate kindergarten. We’ll make them for newborn babies in our church—the outfit will be pink for a girl, blue for a boy. We even give them to high school seniors when they go off to college—the bears will be dressed in the colors of their high school, complete with a mortar board and tassel! There is a lot of prayer that goes into a bear before it leaves us. Since we know who will be receiving the bear, my sister and I are able to pray over the bear as… Read More
How Everyday People Live Out Their Christian Faith
Illustrating how men and women display their love for Jesus in their day-to-day lives.
Little things that may have an eternal impact. Might these stories motivate you to use your talents?
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We’ve always believed the Bible is clear that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Our faith was first tested in that 17 years ago when we were expecting our third child. I’d had some health issues which should have made pregnancy impossible. Several doctors advised us to terminate this pregnancy that was deemed potentially deadly for both of us. We refused, and our daughter was born healthy and beautiful. We knew our biological family was complete but we still felt a call to care for the orphans among us. So, in 2014, we became foster parents. It wasn’t long before God put the first of many girls in our lives. She was in our home for four years before she would officially become ours. Within a few months, we adopted another placement that had come into our lives. So we quickly went from a family of five to seven! Yet God wasn’t done with us. While we were out of state visiting a family friend, we came across two more girls that were in need of a family. Through God’s amazing provision, we ended up bringing those girls home the summer of 2018. We finalized their adoption March 2020, just before the pandemic closed down the courts. We have always sought to be used by the Lord, so when a call came in August for a “temporary” placement of a healthy baby boy, we felt we could manage something short term. Were we in for a surprise! Not only is that little boy still with us after eight months, but he came with… Read More
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Kids need to be loved, but also taught responsibility and respect for others. That’s what I try to teach them on my school bus. I approach it as my classroom but those kids have become my family. It all started a few years ago. I owned and ran a home repair business when my mom was diagnosed with COPD. She needed someone to take her to and from her medical appointments. I had driven trucks before, so I decided to become a school bus driver since it gave me the flexibility I would need. When I started, I saw some of the same ugliness on the bus that was in the outside world: intimidation, segregation, mean words, bullying. Things that shouldn’t exist anywhere, much less on an elementary school bus. I knew I couldn’t change the world but I could change the culture on my bus. After a lot of prayer, I formed a set of rules for the bus that dealt with respect, compassion and acceptance. Then, I set up certain jobs for the kids that mirror the outside world: police officers (to enforce kindness), fire department, doctors & nurses (if a kid scrapes a knee), a translator, even a president and vice president. Next, I thought of a way they could earn some things they needed for school to make it more like the real world. So I came up with a form of pay called bus bucks. I decided to pay each kid at least $5 in bus bucks each week (handled by the banker, one of the students on… Read More
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Ministry is nothing more than being willing to do the work that God calls a believer to do. Sure, you can try to do it in your flesh. But the result will never be what could have been if His hand is not leading. That is why everything I have ever focused on in God’s work had to have His stamp of approval. Whether that was my work as a Pastor or reaching others though providing a food bank and Thanksgiving dinners. As the shepherd of a flock, God ordained my steps to preach the Word and see many come to Jesus over the years. I was out of the pastorate for a few years when God spoke to me to do more in reaching out to the homeless and needy in the Denver area. In 1998, my wife and I started a work in providing food for the local low-income folks at the East Denver YMCA. Not only was it God's blessing to be able to provide Thanksgiving meals each year, but the outreach of the Foodbank became a reality. The Foodbank of the Rockies continues to be our “partner” in being able to physically feed the many in this area of urban Denver. The Lord truly has done amazing things over the years in allowing us to reach out to our community, both in feeding the flock and in seeing the Word touch many lives. Many individuals and families have come to know Jesus and His redemptive work simply by needing a meal. One thing we do at… Read More
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God led me to be part of a ministry I never imagined. Located inside a women’s shelter, Prodigal Pottery teaches women who may have been victims of abuse, addiction or trafficking to make pottery. It’s amazing to see how God put all the pieces of this ministry in place. I majored in fine arts and went to Rwanda for a year to work with women's craft cooperatives and teach art to children orphaned from the genocide. When I came home, I wondered what doors God would open for me. The King’s Home, a faith-based women’s shelter, had been given an industrial-sized kiln to make pottery. They had no idea what they would do with it, but someone associated with the home knew me and asked if I’d be interested in starting a pottery program for women who lived there. At first, I said no; I just didn’t feel equipped to work with women that had been through such rough experiences. And I said no a couple other times before finally saying I would just visit to see their equipment. But when I got there and toured the home, I knew God was calling me to work there. I started in 2014 with three women coming to learn how to make pottery. It became a time when I could minister to them, love on them and talk through anything that was on their minds. We made some pottery pieces that we brought to a small art show a few months later. To our amazement, we sold every single piece of pottery,… Read More
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We were making plans. The plans that ambitious teenagers make. The sky was the limit. It was the foundation we stood upon to reach our mega dreams. My brother had recently graduated from high school and I was excited to walk that same corridor to a brighter future. We felt like we deserved hope after enduring many hardships during childhood and adolescence. Then, a typical fun day at home with friends quickly turned into a fatal tragedy. I watched my brother slip away from me right before my eyes. Life seemed pointless. I managed to graduate and enroll at the University of Tennessee at Martin with a basketball scholarship. That opportunity was my access to college, but I did not have the ticket to sustain me. I was living my dreams, yet I felt alone and empty. I became depressed and was making plans not to live. Circumstances caused me to transfer to Union University located in my hometown of Memphis. My new college coach would have devotion every Monday with the team. One evening, I was in his office and his discernment prompted a profound question, “LaTesa, are you a Believer?” No one had ever asked me that question. He planted the seed that later gave me the strength to call out to God with a bottle of pills in my hand. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I received my ticket that granted me access to a new game! I started making moves with God on my side. Today, I serve as the district social worker for Millington… Read More