Mission: Possible! Austin Fall Newsletter

Fall 2014

I N T E R C E P T O Rmission statement: Mission: Possible! Austin exists to

connect the Body of Christ across the

greater Austin area with individuals

in under-resourced areas for personal

transformation through life-on-life

relationships.

vision statement: Mission: Possible! Austin’s vision is to see

generational transformation in under-

resourced areas through Christ-centered

community development.

BOARD OF DIRECTORSTim Pinson, Sr., Executive Director & Founder

Craig Parks, Chairman of the Board

Tony Budet

Brett Horvath

Deborah Leverett

Rick Villani

STAFFTim Pinson, Sr., Executive Director & Founder

Megan Canney, Organization & Development

Beau Hamner, Street Ministry Director

Bill Schreyer, Operations & Community Outreach Director

Lyndsey Sweeney, Child & Family Outreach Director

Mike Featherstone, Street Ministry Liaison

Cameron Post, Facility & Maintenance

Billie Robinson, Office Manager

Shelley Schreyer, Restoration Art Center Director

Donna Schubkegel, Accounting Services

Dale Swafford, Facility & Vehicle Maintenance Coordinator

IN THIS ISSUELetter from the Executive Director 2

Project Intercept - Ingrid Ang 3

Community Outreach- B.A.G.S. 5

Street Ministry Update - Beau Hamner 6

Get Involved Announcements 7 mpaustin.org

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A LETTER FROM OUREXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TIM PINSON, SR.Dear Friends,

This past year was an incredible testimony to what God has been doing and continues to do through Mission: Possible! Austin. At the end of every year our Staff reflects on God’s faithfulness to the ministry. Once again, we are overwhelmed by the ways in which He is working.

In 2014, we were able to see the Mission: Possible! Community Center used for great purposes. Not only have we been able to see families and children reached more deeply than ever before, but we have experienced volunteers and individuals from our Community building deeper relationships for the glory of God! Project Intercept, our venue for Child and Family Programs, has expanded as we have added multiple programs a week to connect with parents and children of a wider age spectrum. B.A.G.S, our grocery delivery program, is developing and reaching more homebound and elderly in our community. Church Under the Bridge remains focused and transformational in lives. We are blessed to continually see families restored and people living in freedom that comes only from Christ!

In Fall 2014, we will be deepening our focus and implementing a plan of ministering to the Street Community through the training of individuals to be “Street Pastors.” This outreach program will equip and empower believers to interact on a personal level with those that continue to live and operate in the Street Community. Many individuals refuse to enter the doors of a church or religious facility because of shame or a lifestyle. “Street Pastors” will come alongside and minister to the spiritual and physical needs of these by tangibly demonstrating the love of Christ at a felt need level.

As well as finding hope in our work, we also have faced challenges to overcome. Our 12th Street Development Plan continues to be challenged with permit and change of use issues. As many of you know, we challenged you to be involved in raising funds to build out the corner of 12th & Chicon so that we could bring in businesses such as food trailers, a coffee shop, and a bakery as empowerment opportunities. You were faithful to give to this project and fully fund our original projection of funds needed. As we began to move forward, we quickly realized that we had underestimated the scope of work needed of finish the project. The initial step in the plan, Haddie’s Food Trailer Court, has been fully renovated and we are building out our first food trailer to be operated by some individuals from the Street Community. In order to complete the coffee shop and bakery, we need an additional $92,000.

God is at work in all that is happening at Mission: Possible! Austin. Our passion and desire is to see lives transformed. It is a joy for us to partner alongside you to care for the “least of these” in the midst of our hurting world. We ask that you consider investing in this vital ministry. We are blessed to serve a supernatural God, to walk by faith, to inform God’s people of the needs of this community, and to ask them to invest. We rely completely on the Body of Christ to sustain and confirm our work for His Kingdom.

Thank you for believing in us. Please reach out as I would love to personally connect with you soon!

In Him,

Tim Pinson, Sr. Executive Director, Mission: Possible! Austin

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PROJECT INTERCEPTA NOTE FROM INGRID ANG, VOLUNTEER WITH MISSION: POSSIBLE! AUSTINMy name is Ingrid Ang, and I have been regularly serving with Mission: Possible! Austin’s Project Intercept since September 2013. Aside from serving with Project Intercept, I am also the Internal Coordinator for InterVarsity’s Asian American Campus Ministry, an avid reader, a zealous lover of puppies, and organization containers, and at times, an over-enthusiastic computer gamer. I’m studying

Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, while also receiving my teaching certification through the UTeach Program.

My heart to serve children stemmed from the six years I spent volunteering with the Sunday school at my church in Dallas. However, it wasn’t until college and after I had become more involved in my ministry, that I realized that God Himself has a huge heart for His children. I also realized, quite perplexingly, that God Himself has a huge plan for those who love Him and for those who commit their lives to following Him. God Himself has a huge plan for me to love the people around me with all of my heart and to demonstrate the amazing power of the gospel in all that I say and do. During my first two years in college, I served with ‘Kids at the Austin Stone’, but finally decided to commit to serve with Mission: Possible Austin’s Big Fish Club in the Fall of 2013. I transitioned to co-leading bible studies for middle school girls as part of Mission: Possible! Austin’s FUZE programs at the end of the semester, and I have been serving ever since.

I have fallen in love with these children, their families, and the East Austin community. God has given me vision to see them through His eyes — they need hope, they need love, and, most importantly, they need the Gospel. They need to be able to know and understand what it means that this all-powerful, all-knowing God loved each and every single one of them so much that He sent His own Son to die for them. Further, to know that Jesus Christ not only dedicated His life to redeem our souls through His death and resurrection, but to redeem us holistically through His ministry on earth needs to weigh on our hearts. As Christ followers, we need to speak truth through the Word

and prayer, but also show how the Gospel truth can be lived out in every, single aspect of an individual’s life. This includes in a child’s education.

I was inspired by a series at the Austin Stone in September, which focused around these verses of Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” To know that THE POWER OF GOD lives not just in the beautiful and the unnatural and the miraculous, but within us — that is amazing. Since then, I have committed to taking time on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to knock on doors in East Austin and spend time with the children, bringing snacks and helping them with homework. I want these children to know that God loves them, God is working in them, and that in all things – including their academics – they need to DREAM BIG for themselves and DO BIG for the Kingdom of God.

As I have been praying for God to show me how He can use me in greater ways for His Kingdom, I was inspired to go a step further and take on the role of launching an official afterschool program for Mission: Possible! Austin. The purpose of the afterschool program would be to serve elementary-aged and middle-school-aged students through Gospel-centered academic and character development, and also to encourage members of the community and their families to become more involved in their child’s academic life.

Honestly, it’s a bit scary, but I know that where I am lacking, where I am failing, God’s grace, provision, and love will abound. Despite all circumstances, His power is at work within me. His power is at work in the children, families, and communities in East Austin. His power is at work. It’s the Truth. Knowing that is enough.

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COMMUNITY OUTREACHA NOTE FROM BILL SCHREYER, COMMUNITY OUTREACH DIRECTOR

The past few months have been a time of change and continuous improvement for our Community Outreach “Bringing Assistance through Groceries and Service” (B.A.G.S.) ministry. The most significant improvement is an expanded delivery window. Volunteers are now able to prepare, pickup, and deliver boxes of groceries during most weekdays or after normal business hours.

This improvement, in part, has been enabled by the faithful and little known ministry of Ernest Godsey. Ernest picks up our food orders each week from the Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) and brings the food to our Pantry on Monday mornings. The Pantry, re-stocked with Ernest’s CAFB deliveries by midday Monday, increases delivery flexibility allowing volunteers to best align delivery times with our neighbors preference and schedules.

Ernest also “shops” while at the CAFB by carefully inspecting and selecting from the ever changing produce and perishables to cater to the taste of our community. Without Ernest’s care-filled service our B.A.G.S. relationship-building ministry would not take place – thank you Ernest.

Another improvement that was implemented over the past few weeks was that the B.A.G.S. volunteers worked together and completed the deliveries without the usual assistance of the Mission: Possible! Austin B.A.G.S. Coordinator. What a blessing it is to witness the Body of Christ come together from across Austin to serve our neighbors with the “hands and feet” of Christ. I am reminded of Matthew 25:31-40:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on

his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.“

Scripture quoted by permission. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L. C. All rights reserved.

What a blessing it is to partner with you and so love Christ!

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Outside of the Gospel, two of the greatest gifts we can offer our street friends are hope and dignity. At the corner of 12th and Chicon and at Church Under the Bridge, it’s not hard to find someone who lives day after day in hopelessness while searching for self-worth. At the same time, too often all our friends are offered is a meal, maybe some clothes and quite possibly a bus pass or two. While each of those things (along with any other form of benevolence) is needed, they are only band-aids covering up an oozing wound underneath. Band-aids don’t heal wounds, and sometimes they can actually compound upon the wound and make it worse. Treatment of the wound is what is needed, and this treatment can only be accomplished through pointing a person towards hope and offering an individual a sense of dignity.

Pointing a person towards hope means helping them realize that their current situation isn’t their only opportunity. It means helping a person realize that there is more to life than what they know at the present. Hope supplies a person with an expectation, a longing for what the future holds, instead of a fear of it. As hope increases in a person’s life, dignity is a byproduct. When a person knows that their life can mean something, it forces them to be aware that their life has value and importance. While benevolence has value, it can, if abused, perpetuate a system of hopelessness and a lack of self-worth. Over the years, we at Mission: Possible! Austin have come to

know this, and with this knowledge have begun to make a shift in how we minister to our friends on the street. While at times we offer food, clothing, sleeping bags and even bus passes, we strive to offer them responsibly to those God has called us to care for. More so, we strive to help our friends become self-sufficient, and in doing so point them towards hope and offer them dignity. We do this through relationships. We want to invest in lives, and not just offer a hand out. We want to get to know people, and in doing so discover what a person’s real need is and help them overcome what has prevented them from taking hold of it. Through these relationships we are not only able to point people towards hope and offer them dignity, we are also able to reveal to them the source of all hope and all dignity, Jesus Christ.

While we have been making this shift for some time, we are beginning to see the fruits of these efforts. We have been making major changes to our facilities over the last three years to accomplish this, including setting up a vacant lot to host a food trailer court. Haddie’s Food Court should be operational in the next couple of months, and the first trailer to open will be staffed by individuals we met at 12th and Chicon and at Church Under the Bridge.

We are looking forward to the day God allows the people helping from the homeless community to be self-sufficient enough that they can in return point people towards the hope that they have come to know, and at the same time extend dignity. Thanks be to God for including us in His process of restoration and reconciliation.

STREET MINISTRYA NOTE FROM BEAU HAMNER,STREET MINISTRY DIRECTOR

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GET INVOLVEDGIVE!

PRAY!

Mission: Possible! Austin relies completely on faithful individuals and churches for its stability, ministries and programs. We do not receive government funding for any part of this vital ministry. We ask you prayerfully to help us serve the East Austin Community this Holiday Season.

$50 Give the Gift of a Sleeping Bag to 5 Homeless Individuals

$100 Deliver 5 boxes of Holiday Food through our B.A.G.S Program

$200 Sponsor a Big Fish Club Thursday Night Holiday Dinner

$500 Provide 100 meals at our Great Thanksgiving Banquet

$850 Produce one showing of the HIStory Live Nativity Christmas Celebration

If you are able to support this, please mail a check to: PO Box 142076, Austin TX 78714 or visit www.mpaustin.org/support.

Thank you for your faithfulness!

BiAnnual Prayer GatheringNovember 22, 7-8:00pm

Mission: Possible! Community Center

1190 Chicon // Austin, TX 78702

Join us for an evening of worship & prayer gathering.

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GET INVOLVEDVOLUNTEER!

SAVE THE DATE!

HELPING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

Project Intercept: Big Fish Club Dinner Hosts needed. Provide a meal for 100 Big Fish Club kids on a Thursday evening at 5:00pm. Meals may be prepared ahead of time.

Community Outreach: Adopt a family through our B.A.G.S program, grocery delivery and relationship building with the under-served in the 78702 zip code.

Street Ministry: Worship Leaders for Church Under the Bridge needed.

Great Thanksgiving BanquetNovember 23, 2014 from 10am-1pm

IH35 at 7th Street, Austin, TX 78701

HIStory Live NativityDecember 18-21, 2014

Shows Daily at 6:30pm and 7:30pm1190 Chicon, Austin, TX 78702

Free admission & refreshments

During the month of November, have your giving doubled by the Denver Mattress Company!Online only at mpaustin.org/dmcAll funds raised in excess of the amount will be used to support the ongoing programs of Mission: Possible! Austin.

Please contact us at [email protected] or 512.494.0953 if you are interested in one of these opportunities!

CONNECT.

EQUIP.

TRANSFORM.

P.O. BOX 142076 Austin, Texas 78714

mpaustin.org