In collaboration with DailyStrength.org, the Belmont Foundation is proud to announce the launch of an online support group for single moms. Click the link to visit the group and please pass it on to others who might benefit.
To visit the group, click here: Belmont Foundation Single Mom’s Community
Our friend, web guru, and all around good guy, Scott Andreas, created this widget and it’s rather fun to use. Just click, “Who are we” to discover new ways to describe your church.
At the end of each year I spend some time reflecting on the events that took place during the year; where God grew me, where I’m still immature, places that God showed up. This year I decided to search the Bible in hopes that I might find something that takes the year and encapsulates the events with truth. As I did this, I got the sense that God sat with me, whispered the book, chapter and verse into my ear and then put his arm around me while I read this from Isaiah 42:6-9:
“I, the Lord, have chosen you to do what is right. I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you safe… And you will be a light for the other nations. You will open eyes that can’t see. You will set prisoners free. Those who sit in darkness will come out of their cells. I am the Lord. That is my name! I will not let any other god share my glory. I will not let statues of gods share my praise. What I said would happen has taken place. Now I announce new things to you. Before they even begin to happen, I announce them to you.”
As you reflect on the past year and look forward to 2008, may you know that God has chosen you to do what is right. And in doing that, He takes your hand and leads you into what is right while protecting you. May you set people free this coming year, be a light in dark places and break down the walls that imprison others. May you look back and know that what God said would happen has happened and look forward knowing that God is announcing new things to you!
Many Blessings,
Wade
I met with someone recently who wanted to know how we measure results at the Belmont Foundation. It’s not the first time I’ve fielded the question, in fact, it is being asked more and more in the non-profit world. The question is a marketing question; a production question. It makes one major assumption, that is, that people are products and their quality as people must be measured in order to validate our work.
I struggle with the question because my mind isn’t wired that way. I don’t know how, for instance, to measure things like a kid I worked with who met Jesus, stopped smoking crack cocaine and now lives an amazing life. I also don’t know how to measure a kid I know who died of AIDS on the streets of Hollywood, California. I sat with him a few weeks before he died and kept him company, and told him that I loved him. Then there’s a kid that we work with now who’s dad died last year form the effects of alcoholism. We spent Saturday with him and took him on a hayride and picked pumpkins and talked about school and soccer. That, too, isn’t measurable.
At the Belmont Foundation, we carry around a different measuring tape. The thing about our measuring tape is that it always shows the same result. At every mark it says, “created in the image of God.” Because we know that, we don’t go around measuring people. While we desire to see the quality of our kid’s lives improve, we know that only God has the power to transform hearts and lives and that we are ministers of love and support; signposts pointing to the heavenly father.
So, while we won’t promise that 100 children will meet Jesus this year, or that Zach will get better grades next semester, we do promise that we will do our best to be faithful to minister God’s love to the fatherless. That, we think, leaves a good deal of room for God to work out his vision in a person’s life and it allows us to see Him at work and to follow Him.
Fall 2007
Fall has arrived! For my wife and I, it means getting our boys ready for a new school year, among other things. It’s no easy task. There’s shopping for school clothes and school supplies, going to school orientations and getting the kids in the swing of a new routine. Once school starts, it means getting the kids up early, making lunches, and helping with homework. It’s all worth it, but it’s a lot of work.
In the midst of all the busy-ness, I found myself wondering what it would be like to have to do it all by myself. What if it was just me getting the kids ready for school, making breakfast, making sure I was at work on time, working all day, coming home to make dinner, helping the kids with homework, then getting them in bed. It’s exhausting to even consider. There seems to be little, if any, time left over for “me.”
I wondered, too, what it would look like for a mom who’s child was being mentored. What if once or twice a week someone picked up the kids and took them out to dinner? What if someone else helped a few times each week with homework? What would happen if that mom had a few moments alone to care for herself or to pursue her interests, even if those interests involved just getting some sleep? I think life would be a bit easier knowing that someone is helping carry the load.
It occurs to me that some of you visiting this site and learning for the first time about the Belmont Foundation, might go away with the idea that this issue of fatherlessness is too big to get your arms around. Sometimes when we learn about social issues, it’s easy to become immobilized. It may be that we feel this way simply because we don’t know what to do.
So, in an effort to help us all along the path to mobilization, allow me to suggest a few things you might do in your community to help the fatherless.
1. Organize a prayer walk through an urban neighborhood. Pray for parents and kids as you go.
2. Be intentional about engaging children in conversation. Just letting kids in your neighborhood know you see them is a big deal.
3. Consider being a mentor, either with the Belmont Foundation or with an organization like Big Brothers Big Sisters.
4. Contact a community center or church and offer to provide free child care for a single mother. (We recommend this for women or married couples)
5. If you are raising school-aged kids, ask them if any of their friends are being raised by their mother only. I asked my son and now we have another 7 year old boy, Kyle, who hangs out with us a few times each week.
These are just a few things to consider. You might begin to dream of other ideas. I would just encourage you to keep it simple; just try to touch a few lives and let God work through you to bring healing and support to the fatherless.
Welcome to the Belmont Foundation blog. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be posting thoughts, ideas, plans, and stories that we come across. Keep checking back!
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