First Presbyterian Church of Griffin

Caring House Women’s Resource Center – This organization works with young, expectant women to prevent the termination of unwanted pregnancies. Services offered are Free Pregnancy Testing, Mentor Mom Program, Post Abortion Support Group, Infant Care/Parenting Classes. Confidential Lay Counseling, Free Information about birth control, pregnancy, abortion procedures, etc., a Donation Closet, and Referrals for adoption, food, counseling, churches, and maternity housing. See Fact Sheet for ways you can help. Call 770-229-4474 to volunteer.

Christian Women’s Center – The center is an Interdenominational, non-profit organization whose primary goal is to provide a temporary home for women and children in crisis. The mission statement is that the Center “provides a living and accepting temporary home in which the love of Christ can minister to the physical, emotional, spiritual and educational needs of women and their children. They may have been abused, abandoned, homeless, dependent on drugs, pregnant or victims of other circumstances which constitute a personal crisis”. The women and children may be referred by hospitals, pastors, the police, the Salvation Army, the Department of Family and Children Services or family and friends. The Center has a 12-month training program teaching practical issues of Christian life, including character development, social relationships and good work habits. The Center is seeking monetary donations and always has a list of items needed for the mothers and children. For more information, call 770-227-3700.

Christmas Day Dinner – Our church and United Christian Fellowship of Griffin provide a meal and fellowship for economically disadvantaged individuals and families in Griffin. Meals are delivered to homes in Spalding County by church members and others. Many volunteers, including a coordinator, are needed to prepare the food and the take-out meals, deliver the meals and clean up.

Five Loaves and Two Fish Food Pantry – This organization is one “arm” of the All Faiths Christian Ministries. The Pantry provides groceries on a monthly basis to needy local families. It is staffed entirely by volunteers who record client information, package and distribute groceries. Our church focuses on a specific need at the Food Pantry and has set aside the first Sunday of each month as Cereal Sunday. Members are asked to bring in boxes of cereal to be donated to the Pantry. Other needs are financial support, special talents for specific projects and volunteer hours. For hours and/or more information, contact Kathy Steele at 770-228-1260 or Lester Gandy (770-990-8233 – cell).

Futral Road Elementary School - On April 11, 2000, First Presbyterian became a partner-in Education with Futral Road Elementary School. A variety of volunteer needs have been identified, including serving as mentors, tutors and reading buddies for the students. For more information, call 770-29-2735.

Habitat for Humanity – Habitat for Humanity International is a non-profit, nondenominational Christian housing organization. The Griffin chapter is very active. Volunteers are needed in a variety of areas including the sponsorship of part or all of a house, the donation of building supplies, land or homes for renovation, the provision of meals, building expertise or labor on work crews, the nurturance for homeowners, or work on various committees. For more information contact Mark Staples at 770-228-4827.

Hope Health Clinic – the Clinic is the second “arm” of All Faiths Christian Ministries. It operates on a full-time basis with a paid professional staff providing basic health care to Spalding County residents unable to afford private insurance who are not covered by government health programs. Volunteers may be needed to assist patients in completing the necessary paperwork: data entry professionals to enter patient information into their database; and physicians and nurses to fill in for professional staff during absences. For hours and/or more information, contact Kathy Steele at 770-412-1053.

Young Life – This organization was founded in 1940 by Jim Rayburn, a seminary student and part-time youth minister in Gainesville, Texas. He and his senior pastor devised a plan to reach kids who were disinterested in, or uninformed about, Jesus Christ. Jim went where the kids were, met them on their turf and found a creative way to share the love of God with them. Griffin now has its own chapter under the directorship of Slate Fluker. Griffin Young Life has various needs including volunteer leaders to work with high school kids. For more information, speak with Phil or Lisa Hopkins or contact Slate at 770-712-9670.

Young Lives – Young Lives is a recent addition to the Young Life ministry in Griffin. According to the Young Life web site (www.younglife.org/Young Lives) “Young Lives is a ministry of Young Life especially for teen moms and their babies. Through traditional Young Life activities like club, camp and Campaigners. Young Lives mentors come alongside young women in a way we believe Jesus would do; with compassion, support and hope….Young Lives teams up with mature Christian women to provide teen girls with timely encouragement, guidance and ongoing support. These caring women model Jesus Christ’s love by investing time and walking alongside them through their life situations.”

Jobs for Life – Jobs for Life is a Biblical Based Program which teaches practical skills in finding a career, writing a career plan, dealing with road blocks, writing a good resume, interview skills, a better way to do a Job search to get the job students want. Most important Jobs for Life emphasizes the student’s discovering God’s plan for his or her life and teaches Christian qualities of character. This program is offered monthly at East Griffin Baptist Church. Volunteers are needed to teach the classes. Call Theo Engelmohr at 770-227-7847 or e-mail engelmohrbellsouth.net.

International Mission Agencies and Missionaries

PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS

Medical Benevolence Foundation (www.mbfoundation.org)

MBF is an independent Presbyterian mission agency that concentrates particularly on the medical needs of people in the Third World. We have supported the Delatorres’ work through MBG for many years in Zambia and now in Kenya.

Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship (www.pff.net)

PFF spearheads PCUSA efforts to establish viable, evangelizing churches among over 00 different unreached people groups. As part of that effort, PFF seeks to promote and support partnerships between PCUSA churches in the United States and churches in developing countries. We support Cody Watson in his work with PFF and the MeKane Yesus Church of Ethiopia in its outreach to at least a half dozen different unreached peoples in Ethiopia. We also support PFF’s overall and general budget in developing new outreach to unreached peoples.

Rivers of the World (www.row.org)

Started by Ben Mathes, who has spoken many times at our church, ROW concentrates on providing medical supplies and taking the gospel to villages in the Third World that can be reached only by river. In the last few years ROW has been seeking to eradicate river blindness, a serious and widespread illness caused by the guinea worm along rivers in Africa, Asia, and South America.

Presbyterians for Renewal (www.pfrenewal.org)

PFR is an organization of committed Presbyterians seeing renewal in the PCUSA. Through conferences such as the Christian Life Conference at Montreat, through a strong presence at annual General Assembly meetings and at presbytery meetings, and through publications, PFR asserts the authority of scripture and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. PFR also sponsors Great Escape and Fun in the Son, renewal conferences for youth, as well as, Son Servants (see below).

Son Servants (www.pfryouth.org)

Son Servants organizes and leads service mission trips for youth in such places as the Texas-Mexico border, Jamaica, and Appalachia. We have been sending youth on Son Servants mission trips regularly since 1992.

*Duvall Home (www.duvallhome.org)

Located in Glenwood, Florida, the Duvall Home is a place where more than 140 individuals with developmental disabilities live in a private, countryside setting allowing each resident to lead an independent and fulfilling life. The home has a Covenant of Affirmation relationship with the Presbyterian Church (USA) through the South Atlantic Synod. In addition, the home has relationships with several area presbyteries including our own Presbytery of Greater Atlanta. In the fall of 2008 our church sent 13 members to the Duvall home to build bunk beds and a wheel chair ramp. Our members also spent time interacting with the residents. For information please contact A.C. or Sue Hutson 770-228-7818.

OTHER MISSION AGENCIES

Campus Crusade for Christ (www.campus crusade.org)

As its name implies, Campus Crusade evangelizes and disciples college students throughout our country; it is probably the largest and most influential campus ministry in the world. But, Campus Crusade also has strong international ministries. Several of our members have worked with Crusade in East Asia while others have spent summers working abroad on Crusade outreach. The Jesus film is another Campus Crusade project supported by our church. We also support a Campus Crusade missionary to an Asian Muslim country.

Gospel for Asia (www.fga.org)

Gospel for Asia uses only indigenous missionaries. These missionaries are trained in local Bible camps, then sent, usually by foot or by bicycle, to remote villages to spread the gospel and plant churches. Because they do not have as far to travel and because their standard of living is far lower than those of Western missionaries, these missionaries often require far less support. They also have less difficulty with language and cultural barriers and can often survive in more remote villages.

International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org)

IJM works to seek justice for some of the hundreds of thousands of children who are abducted into sexual slavery as well as working to help free some of the millions of slaves and to liberate other victims of oppression. Its highly trained attorneys work with local authorities throughout the world to prosecute oppressors and provide long-term care for victims, thereby through God’s grace transforming the lives of its clients, the clients’ families, and even whole communities.

International Messengers (www.internationalmessengers.org)

IM is a small agency specializing in outreach to six formerly Communist countries in Eastern Europe – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Ukraine and Romania – countries which have far fewer missionaries per capita and some of which have a far lower percentage of evangelical Christians than China, India, or sub-Saharan Africa. In partnership with local churches and career missionaries. IM sets up and subsidizes week-long camps staffed by short-term missionaries, then invites local workers to attend the camps where they are taught English and Bible. IM offers excellent training for short-term missions. Several members of our congregation have made short tem summer mission trips with IM.

Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org)

Samaritan’s Purse demonstrates the love of Christ by ministering to the physical needs of desperately needy and hurting people. From providing food, shelter, and medicine in parts of India devastated by earthquakes to providing heat for freezing orphans in Romania or Mongolia or Moldova to providing much-needed medial care in war-devastated places like Sudan and the Balkans, Samaritan’s Purse has not hesitated to minister to people even in the most dangerous and seemingly hopeless situations. Operation Christmas Child is a project of Samaritan’s Purse. This is a unique project of Christian relief and evangelism that delivers gifts to hurting children while also telling them about Jesus Christ. Individuals, families, churches, schools and organizations fill shoe boxes with gifts to bring joy and hope to millions of suffering children at Christmas. Our church has participated in this project for two years filling almost 200 shoe boxes each year.

World Harvest Mission (www.whm.org)

George Mixon, who is the son of Bill and Louise Mixon and who grew up in our church, serves, along with his wife Martha and their family, as a missionary to Kenya with World Harvest Mission. The Mixons work to plant churches and spread the gospel through the telling of Bible stories, which, because of their concreteness, translate more easily, are more immediate, and are more easily understood than abstract explanations of doctrine.

International Teams (www.itemas.org)

International Teams has sent out over 200 teams to 66 countries. Area of ministry is determined by country, target people group, and team makeup. But in general is determined by country, target people group, and team makeup. But in general teams focus on evangelism by addressing local needs. For example, one member of a team in Timisoara, Romania, includes a ministry to street children. Our church supports one missionary to Timisoara, Kathleen Wintter, who teaches English as an entry point to ministry and who also ministers one on one to Romanian women. Kathleen has visited our church and is well known to several members of our congregation.

The Philip Hayden Foundation (www.chinaorphans.org)

The Philip Hayden Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization established for the purpose of helping China’s orphaned and special needs children. Once, Philip Hayden’s Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village will be the largest facility of its type in all of mainland China and home to over 125 special needs children. Our church ahs sent a team to work at Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village, and a Sunday School class sponsors a child monthly.

*Haiti Education Fund –

Worldwide Discipleship Association (www.disciplebuilding.org)

WDA (Worldwide Discipleship Association) serves the church worldwide by training people to disciple others. Led by Bob and Linda Duke, WDA is headquartered in Fayetteville, GA. Bob Duke has spoken at our church on several occasions.

Villa International (www.villa-atl.org)

Villa International Atlanta is a Ministry of Housing and Hospitality by the Christian community for international visitors located within walking distance of the Centers for Disease Controls and Emory University. Since 1972, Villa has served more than 20,000 guests, primarily physicians and health care workers, form 144 countries following the Biblical mandate to show “hospitality to strangers”. Guests have helped lead the charge to eradicate smallpox. Ebola virus, HIV-AIDS, cancer, multi-drug resistant TB, hepatitis and malaria. Studies have contributed and are contributing to cutting edge technology in the research of DNA, cell regeneration and robotic surgery and how it relates to diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Villa’s wish list includes gift cards from Home Depot, Target, Sam’s Club, Costco or Wal-Mart; computers; toilet tissue; paper towels; games for guests; gently read books for guests; light bulbs; and snacks for guests.

*World Serve Ministries (www.worldserve.org)

World Serve has been working with hard-to-reach people groups across the globe since 1976. Today World Serve has refined its focus to China and Cuba, bringing the good news to those in desperate need. World Serve provides both urgent physical assistance and long-term spiritual help and guidance.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." - Matthew 28:18 – 20