Thankful and Moving Forward!
/Wow! Where do I start? WE NEED YOUR HELP!!
Before I share those needs with you, let me take a moment to update you on some of the happenings in and through Moment of Truth Ministries and its’ affiliated ministries.
The first three and one half months of 2015 have come and gone in a flash. In our last communication in March we found ourselves in the middle of two weeks of hosting a total of 200+ college students from 9 different colleges throughout Texas and Oklahoma. These students had given up their Spring Breaks to join us in “The Hood” for a time of service and fellowship. The needs are always a bit overwhelming but we were able to accomplish much by sheer numbers.
It didn’t take long to for us to realize that maybe God had sent these students to us in order to encourage, strengthen and build up all of our faith. After all, we spend each day facing a giant mission in the inner city that seems insurmountable at times while these Christian college students will be sent back to one of the most hostile environments towards Christ in our nation, the college campus! We completed each week with a wonderful fellowship of praise and worship at God’s House which was led by Kim Ruiz a/k/a G.L.O (God’s Love Only).
I rarely am surprised by anything today, but God continues to show me that if you can understand a persons perspective you can more clearly understand how to share the love of Christ with him or her. During Spring Break, when sharing with a group of students who are attending a historically black college I was asked who was my favorite “ministry” person that I had personally spent some time with. I shared that I was blessed to spend 10 days or so in India with Ravi Zacharias and his incredible RZIM team. I asked them if they knew who Ravi was. About 75% said they had listened to his teachings or knew of him. While trying too explain to the others who Ravi was, I simply said he was the “Indian Billy Graham”. I thought that was a great answer until I was surprised to hear many of them ask “who is Billy Graham?”. Perspectives!!
In other news, after much prayer and consideration, Moment of Truth Ministries has accepted the role as the “faith based” partner in a “Resurgence Collaborative” which is headed up by The City of San Antonio. This collaborative is a proactive approach to dealing with the challenges of re-entry in society after having been incarcerated in prison or jail. Our role will be to assist in overseeing community service requirements assigned to the parolees as well as offering them spiritual guidance. We believe that for this program to truly be effective, the parolees should be accompanied by volunteers to mentor and disciple whenever possible. Maybe that could be YOU! We will will also offer limited assistance in providing housing and jobs (or job referrals). These parolees are in many cases the missing member of broken family units!
Our nation today is facing overwhelming social and political decay for which there is no answer apart from the cross that Jesus Christ conquered. We have THE power, but the challenge for us is to address the problems/issues with LOVE and TRUTH! Christianity is under attack but this is nothing new! It is time to stand, start asking some tough questions and then take ACTION!
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP!! PRAY FOR US AS WE CONTINUE TO PURSUE GOD’S DESIRES FOR HIS PEOPLE!!
One of the toughest things I have personally faced since God called me to my Moment of Truth almost eight years ago has been asking for help, especially financial assistance. As a successful businessman I was repeatedly asked to help financially for one cause or another. As an individual business owner when times were tough there seemed to be no where to turn for help. Everywhere I went it seemed I would be expected to pick up the tab. Pride was a big obstacle for me in asking for help. Then GOD reminded me of the blessings that I have received by investing my personal time and resources in THE KINGDOM. HE also reminded me of the accountability of making wise investments with those resources AND that HE would break me in half if I tried to do it by myself. THANK YOU to those of you who have faithfully funded the work that God has accomplished in and through Moment of Truth Ministries up to this point. Especially those of you who have been there from the beginning! You have enabled us to invest in an infrastructure on the east side of San Antonio that is allowing Jesus Christ to get all glory and it consists of very little administrative overhead. In fact, we have one “no cost” 12 x 12 office/storage room designated for use as administrative office.
Some of our immediate needs are:
House Raising Project – One year ago this month Moment of Truth Ministries introduced our vision of expanding an already proven affordable housing model. It has been a great success as we have received $439,000 of the targeted $495,000. While the completion of this initiative was projected to take up to three years, most was received in the first nine months. Very little has been received towards this project in the past three months. The final home which is a four unit complex, is possibly one of the most important of our homes as it will serve as a “safe house” for those attempting to get some distance between them and their “past life”. It is currently boarded up and awaiting the remaining $56,000 to begin the restoration. The acquisition of this property is a miracle in itself. We were blessed to get this property at a well below appraised value but it needs some serious restoration. According to an attorney friend, and 82 year old man “forgot that he owned it”. You are probably thinking what I was when I said I was sorry to hear of the man’s memory. The attorney quickly corrected me and said “Oh, there is nothing wrong with his memory. He is as sharp as a tack. He simply owns so much stuff that he forgot that he owned it”.
Ironically, another 80+ year old man after driving by very slowly a couple of times pulled up next to a ministry storage building where the college students were working very hard to unload many items during Spring Break. He called me over to the old Cadillac and proceeded to tell me that he attended the first “Black Barber College in San Antonio right next door and was touched by the college students of all colors working together. He then said he would like to make a “nice” donation to this ministry. He proceeded to pull out his wallet and gave me six one dollar bills. Well, now the total needed is $53,994! Have you ever felt like Jesus showed up in disguise to encourage you?
Kingdom Works Community Store – Many of you continue to bless our work ministry for women by donating gently used furniture, working appliances, clothing, bedding and household goods of all kinds! We have two locations (1730 East Commerce Street in downtown San Antonio and 7 Daisy Lane in Boerne) and will pick up large items or you can double bless us by dropping them off. Kingdom Works now offers Motorola 2-way radios rentals for your special events, short term and long term needs in addition to the bounce houses, popcorn and snow cone machines we have already been providing. If you or your organization make these purchasing/rental decisions, please consider getting them from Kingdom Works and invest your resources in THE Kingdom. Just another way of teaching accountability and responsibility which ultimately leads to sustainability!
Mind Your Own Business – Daily we experience hard working, very committed individuals with great talents and ideas but lack the funding, planning and direction to be successful in providing for their families or providing jobs for others. Mind Your Own Business is a Christ centered training and mentoring of those in “The Hood” that are currently or want to be entrepreneurs and need a little guidance towards building a successful enterprise. Maybe you have a talent that could be shared with one of these future pillars of the community!
One final need – In late June, I will be joining Greg Lewis and Danny Kreifels in leading a mission team to Uganda, Africa where we will meet with a young Pastor named Robert who Danny and I met while in Africa in 2011. Robert has a ministry called Reaching A Street Child Ministry and has been faithful to lead and minister to these kiddos with little support. Now my normal reaction is, there is much to do at home without the extensive expense of traveling for 3-4 days to spend 10 days on a short term “mission trip”. However, it was two separate trips to Uganda with each of my daughters that helped change my life, their lives and definitely strengthened my relationship with each of them!
Please PRAY for us to have wisdom and discernment as we spend time with Robert establishing a Christ centered plan where he and his ministry would not become dependent upon outside support but would become a sustainable and duplicable model within five years! The plan would include securing a piece of land, drilling a water well and building a dormitory type facility that will be close to the school. Oh yes, Robert reminded me of the need for a motor bike too!
Thanks to all of you who have traveled this journey with us over the past 7 1/2 years! Would you pray and ask God if HE would have you join us as we seek HIS will in all that we do!
God’s Richest Blessings,
Bill Morgan
Moment of Truth Ministries
www.momentoftruthministries.org
210-559-5181 cell