It has been a long time since I have written anything as Living Ministries. In fact I wasn’t sure I would ever write here again. But since I have never technically been voted out of the Executive Director position, even though we really don’t have a Board of Directors, except for Karen G Clemenson, our President (and my wife), and our Secretary, Jamie J Holloway (my sister/friend), and we are in a position of strife right now in our country, I feel like it is time to dust off Living Ministries and see if she has some life left in her.
We began in 2010 because I was upset that the City of Longview didn’t have a lot of answers for our homeless community. Yet I really didn’t have any experience or first hand knowledge. I just loved Jesus and I knew He loved us all. I thought it would be easy. (I was so innocent then.)
I have spent a bit of time today reading many of our old meeting minutes and I see that on November 7, 2010, at our first meeting we decided that our original positioning statement would be: Unifying the Community to Heal Homelessness While Restoring Relationship.
We quickly began partnerships with other organizations and began making plans for a shelter, which did not work out.
Our next positioning statement was: Healing the Disease of Homelessness.
By April 2011, we decided that “Unifying the Community to Administer Hope” was a better fit for what we wanted to do because we didn’t see ourselves working alone, but continuing to work with other organizations, helping with marketing, making ourselves available with volunteers and fundraising.
We busied ourselves with fundraising. We built a Board of Directors. We got things done…in a much smaller way than I had hoped, but we saw people smile, I learned to enjoy the moments that people felt cared for. I loved watching people light up over a free bottle of water and snacks at a community event. I enjoyed watching my beloved committee members minister to people or be ministered to by people in the community.
But I was getting exhausted. I didn’t realize that I had taken on something that was bigger than me. I didn’t have enough people to do what we were doing and I was getting sick.
In 2014 I got sick. The kind of sick that you don’t get better from. My Board of Directors fell to the wayside and I spent the last 11 years learning how to live with chronic physical and mental illness. I even beat cancer.
I didn’t mean to leave Living Ministries alone. I just didn’t have anything to give her.
I still can’t do the fundraising and the events we once did. But I can pray for you. I can share scriptures. I can support you in writing. The events that we see unfolding in Minneapolis at the hands of ICE have shifted something in me. I have asked God if Living Ministries was done and He always said no, she is just resting. I think she is ready to rise now. But I need help. I need a Board of Directors and I should not be the Executive Director. I am not sure what I should be, but I think we need some new and young blood.
We also need some money because our account is about empty. And I don’t have anything to share. Our Board of Directors used to fund most of what we did.
I looked at our About Us page and I see that our Mission Statement is currently: Building Relationships & Filling Needs in Our Community. I am not sure when we changed that. I am sure it is in meeting minutes I haven’t read yet, because I always kept good notes and they are all on this website.
What can you do for us?
We need prayer. We need a Board of Directors? We need donations. We need people to help. Contact Us today if you have ideas.
Sincerely,
Summer D Clemenson
Executive Director
Living Ministries
I am praying for you.
My name is Summer. That is how you can call me. I hope that I am a blessing to you. I am not perfect. I will fail. But I am forgiven.
Do you know Jesus? Do want the Holy Spirit to fill you and give you understanding and salvation? Ask Him. Want someone to pray with you? Contact me.
If you would like to know Jesus as your friend, but want to make this amazing commitment by yourself please pray something like this:
Thank you Jesus that You are the Son of God, the God that created heaven and earth. Thank you Jesus that You came to earth in the form of a man so that You would be able to empathize with my humanity. Thank You that You did this in order to fulfill the promises You made at the foundation of the world.
I realize that I am a sinner and do things that hurt myself and keep myself away from you. Thank You that You died for my sins so that You could defeat death and bring me into Your life. Please forgive me.
I ask You to be Lord of my life. I ask you to heal my hurts and show me what my new life, empowered by You looks like. Thank You for Your mercy.
Amen
The Lord is with you always.
