A Mile In My Shoes

Recently I have started to look into many of the different types of ministries out there to find out what is available and what types of different things are out there.

“To reach people that no one is reaching, you have to do things that no one is doing”

Three ministries that I have come across are listed below:

The Mentoring Project

This is a ministry that was started by Donald Miller and it aims to mentor fatherless boys and give them someone in their life to look up to and to be a role model. A video that I saw on this ministry started that over 70% of prisoners in American grew up without a dad…let that sink in for a second…over 70% came from a home without a father. That blows me away. This ministry hopes to be able to close the gap of children without father figures as it utilizes the local church for mentors. Please check out their website and check out the story about why they use elephants as their logo. It’s crazy how similar we can be to elephants.

Freedom 4-24

Slavery ended with the civil war right? Wrong! There are over 1.8 million girls being sold into slavery in Thailand alone. Girls that are being ripped away from their family and friends and thrown into a living hell to make money to live on. In Thailand you can “rent” a girl for $24 US Dollars a day. $1 an hour can buy someone in that country. That is sick. People don’t realize that these girls are someones sister, daughter, and grandchild. This ministry focuses on trying to give these girls hope. For $24 you can help to sponsor a child. Someone will go and buy her for the day and give her a place of refuge, take care of her, and show her the love of Christ and will be able to know that there is a better way and a love out there that they may not have known existed.

XXXChurch

This is a ministry that hits close to home. It is something that every guy deals with at some point and it is something that i had to deal with in my own life not too long ago. Pornography is one of the most disgusting and addictive sins out there and it is also one of the one that ensnares many boys and men alike because it can and is a secret sin in most cases. The porn industry is growing everyday and this ministry aims to do two things. 1) Take Jesus as he is, to people as they are by showing porn stars and addicts that there is a God who loves them and that there is a better life waiting for them. They attend pornography conferences and awards shows and spend a lot of time working with different people in Las Vegas because as their slogan says “Jesus Loves Porn Stars.” 2) Serves to provide accountability for people who have been porn addicts (like myself). I wasn’t the type of person who needed it to make it through each day but it was something that I looked at way more than I should have. XXXChurch provides software for your computer that will send alerts to people you choose when you look at something you shouldn’t online. It is a great program and I have been using it for close to 4 months now and have had a huge change in my life. Addictions to pornography are a very tough thing to deal with and it can be almost as bad if not worse than alcoholism or drug addiction and I am so thankful for this ministry because it has allowed me to have accountability and has allowed me to get back to where I need to be.

These are just a few ministries that are out there. There are so many people doing great things and thinking outside of the box to find ways to serve people and minister to people that haven’t been ministered to. I feel like that is exactly what Jesus would want. Jesus didn’t call us to spend all of our time with the doctors, lawyers, famous, rich people. Jesus was a friend to sinners and he spent his time around the dirtiest people when he walked the earth.

What are you doing to help? Any ministries or opportunities out there that you want to talk about? Please let me know.