Churches Prepare to Serve

February 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

Churches in Sampson County, NC, are preparing to join the statewide Inasmuch event on April 28 and May 5. The following article appeared February 24, 2012 in The Sampson Independent on ClintonNC.com

Operation Inasmuch puts the hammer to Jesus’ words

by Billy Todd, Staff Writer

Putting the word of Christ into action has become very important to many local Christians who don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk, too, offering to put action behind the belief that it is important to reach out and help your fellowman.

The Eastern Baptist Association has signed up to build six wheelchair ramps on April 28 for the North Carolina Inasmuch event. They are hoping to exceed that commitment.

Opportunities for ministry vary from person to person and congregation to congregation. Jesus said in essence, “Inasmuch as you serve the least of these, you serve me.”

Operation Inasmuch is an opportunity for anyone who wishes to take an active roll in doing some type of mission work to expand the kingdom of God….

Operation Inasmuch started at Snyder Memorial Baptist Church in Fayetteville but is now a national organization. The goal of the day is to show the love of Jesus Christ in a tangible way by being involved in service projects in the local community. This year, North Carolina Baptist Men is encouraging their churches to build wheelchair ramps in a push called Rampin Up as a part of Operation Inasmuch. Their hope is to set a world record that day for building the most wheelchair ramps in one day in history and provide more mobility to hundreds of people across N.C., explained the Rev. Dr. Paul Langston, director of Missions for the Eastern Baptist Association….

Langston shared, “This year’s Operation Inasmuch One Day Missions Blitz will be held on Saturday, April 28 and the focus will be on building wheelchair ramps, but many teams will do a variety of other projects.” Ramp-building teams will coordinate with Sampson County’s Office of Aging Services, N.C. Baptist Aging Ministry, their respective denominations, or local churches to meet the needs of those who are limited in their mobility without an appropriate wheelchair ramp. Other teams will visit nursing homes, do yard work for the elderly, beautiful parks and other sites, make pillows for children in the hospital, and be involved in a wide variety of other projects limited only by the creativity of the volunteers.

“I have received requests from Sampson County Office of Aging Services and Duplin County Services for the Aged that our teams build wheelchair ramps for them on April 28,” noted Langston. “Both of these agencies will provide materials for ramps done for approved clients. If you are willing to coordinate a team and have not already made arrangements to build a particular ramp, or be a part of a ramp building team, please let me know as soon as possible. Some churches may already have agreed to build assigned ramps through N.C. Baptist Aging Ministry or a need they have become aware of in the community. For those who want to build but do not have an assignment, I need to know how many ramps we can commit to building for these county agencies,” asserted the director of missions.

The reach of Operation Inasmuch extends way beyond the one-day blitz. Pictured here are volunteers that received training through Operation Inasmuch doing repairs to a roof following this year’s tornadoes.

There will be a meeting for all interested at the EBA office in Warsaw on Thursday, March 22 at 7 p.m. “Even if you are building a ramp independently and are new to the process this will be a helpful meeting,” shared Langston.

Anyone interested in getting their church involved may call Carol Adams, who is the Sampson County coordinator for Operation Inasmuch, at Salemburg Baptist Church, or Langston at the Eastern Baptist Association.

“Throughout the Bible, God shows His compassion for the sick, the poor, the hungry, orphans, prisoners, and immigrants, in short, anyone in need.Jesus was the Great Samaritan who laid down His life to rescue us, his neighbors in deep spiritual need. And He commands the church to follow His example. We are overwhelmed at times to watch this Compassion Revolution move forward! We have been amazed as church after church moves outside of its four walls to serve the disenfranchised, needy, and hurting in its community. And we would be honored to equip many more churches to follow suit,” asserts David Crocker, executive director Operation Inasmuch, Inc.

Visit the folloiwng links for more information: http://www.baptistsonmission.org/Projects/North-Carolina/Operation-Inasmuch; or http://operationinasmuch.org.

 

Filed Under: News & Press

Inasmuch in 2020

February 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Enid, Oklahoma has been recognized as the Caring Capital of the Cowboy State.  As such, Enid joins Sumter, SC, Fayetteville, NC, South Western Region, CT, Danville, VA, Fort Collins, CO, Knoxville, TN, and Santa Clarita, CA for having been dubbed centers of compassion for their state by the Urban League. All these cities have something else in common: a local Operation Inasmuch Affiliate helped them grow into centers of compassion.

“It all began in 2012,” says Luke Thomas of Enid’s Samaritan House.

“One of the churches in town did this one day blitz of the community with all sorts of compassion ministry projects.  This ministry named Operation Inasmuch trained them to reach out into the community. Other churches heard about this Inasmuch Day and within a couple of years there were Inasmuch United Enid events twice a year where hundreds of church people from dozens of congregations were mobilized all over the city helping people in need.”

But it didn’t stop there.  The churches were empowered by these collaborative efforts and soon formed an Operation Inasmuch affiliate that now organizes each Inasmuch United event in Enid.  The affiliate also trains new churches every year to join in and serve. A couple years later Enid Operation Inasmuch began to equip some of the veteran Inasmuch churches to release their people to volunteer in the community on an ongoing basis through their Inasmuch Life process.  The organization then helps the churches by acting like a matchmaker between church and compassion ministry, bringing willing believers together with people in need year round to serve them and help them solve their problems.

“To say that Enid is a different place today because of Operation Inasmuch’s ministry would be putting it mildly,” says Thomas with a broad smile on his face.

Undoubtedly, some of  Thomas’ smile is due to the success of the Samaritan House where he is the Executive Director.  Sam’s Place — as it is affectionately called after its namesake, the good Samaritan — provides a place to live for 30 men who each have two chronic illnesses and were homeless.

Thomas and his meager staff of three manage the hotel-like facility. They also provide transportation and other basic services to their “family” as they refer to the men who live at Sam’s Place.  “These men had nowhere else to go when they came to us,” says Amber Nelson, a social worker at Sam’s Place.  “And we are privileged to serve them in Jesus’ name.”

As Thomas tells it, in the fall of 2012 a group of volunteers came from Eastminster Presbyterian Church during the Inasmuch United Enid to prepare and serve dinner to the 30 residents of Samaritan House.  The volunteers were so impressed with the men who live there and the care Sam’s Place provides that they came back the following month. It is now going on seven plus years that the same volunteers have been serving dinner at Sam’s Place.  Thanks in part to the organizing efforts of Enid Operation Inasmuch, there are now 20 congregations who send volunteers each month to serve dinner.  “And there is a waiting list of churches wanting to help,” says Thomas shaking his head.

“Here is the best part,” says Thomas, “every benevolent agency in Enid has a similar story to tell!  They are all more than fully staffed with volunteers. No, not just volunteers, but extensions of our staffs, people who practice compassion ministry truly as a lifestyle.  And that’s why we have been recognized as the Caring Capital of Oklahoma.”

(NOTE: This is a fictional — but visionary — story about where the Compassion Revolution could be in the year 2020.  Actually, it is derived in part from the story at Parkridge Harbor which can be viewed here.  If what has happened already with Operation Inasmuch is a sign of what is to come, then this story is more truth than fiction!)

Filed Under: David's Revolutionary Talk Tagged With: , , , , ,

NC Inasmuch United in the News

February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Photo Brittany Randolph/The Star In 2010, ladies of Elizabeth Baptist Church helped build a ramp at a home on Gatewood Drive in Fallston for a preliminary Inasmuch project.

The following article appeared online in the Cleveland County (NC) Shelby Star on Monday, Jan 30 2012.

Volunteers prepare to roll up their sleeves

Volunteers invited to participate in one-day missions blitz

by Jackie Bridges (jbridges@shelbystar.com)

While Operation Inasmuch is a ministry supported by the North Carolina Baptist Men, people and churches of all denominations are encouraged to participate, said David Brown, county coordinator.

The event, which gets its name from Matthew 25:40 — “Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” — is a one-day missions blitz that will be taking place in all 100 counties in North Carolina on April 28 and May 5.

In 2010, the Greater Cleveland County Baptist Association had 18 churches participating, completing a total of 230 projects with more than 2,400 volunteers.

“Our projects covered a wide variety of needs including construction and wheelchair ramps, backyard Bible clubs, clothes and food closets, health fairs, painting and yard work, to name a few,” Brown said. “We did make an impact in Cleveland County.”

A church coordinators/leaders meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at Elizabeth Baptist Church in adult room 7. Enter the doors on the cemetery side of the church.

Some of the topics to be discussed include “Rampin’ Up,” an event to set a world record in wheelchair ramp building. Project lists and ideas will be shared and T-shirts will be ordered.

Brown said everyone is welcome to attend, even if a church doesn’t have a project yet.

“It’s not too late to be a part of this special time of missions outreach in Cleveland County,” he said.

For more information, call Brown at 704 472-6252 or email dfbrn@bellsouth.net.

Filed Under: News & Press, Upcoming Events

Inasmuch Uniteds Planned

February 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Eighteen groups of churches worked together in 2011 to serve the needy of their communities, each on a single day. We now call this type of collaboration an Inasmuch United.

Three  2102 Inasmuch United events have set up a web presence (and maybe more – let us know):

We know that several other Inasmuch Uniteds are in the works, too!

Please contact us if you would like a custom-designed Inasmuch United logo for your event like the sample on the left.

Filed Under: News & Press