June 16, 2022
Love is one of the strongest human emotions in existence. We all need it, feel it, and can give it to others. But what’s the truest form of love? When you put love into action to help others. Mother Theresa believed that was true when she said this: “Love cannot remain by itself — it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service.”
This month, Shepherd’s Gate put love into action during Step Out & Serve weekend on June 4 & 5. Through Step Out & Serve, over 525 volunteers stepped out into the Metro Detroit surrounding communities to show the love of Jesus to others and served at 42 sites. Volunteers painted, landscaped, repaired bikes, updated houses, built ramps, made mats for the homeless and more.
Jesus calls us to serve others
As it says in Galatians 5:25, ‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.’ And that’s what the Step Out & Serve team does when choosing work sites. They take a look at the challenges people & organizations are facing and then step in to give them the help they need.
One of the work sites chosen was the Ross Family. Maxine Ross lives with her daughter, Gayle, and is one of Shepherd’s Gate’s founding members. They needed some assistance sprucing up the landscaping outside their house. Gayle is the full-time caregiver for her mother who needs constant care, and Gayle has some health issues which restrict her from doing that type of work. Gayle’s Life Group found out they needed some help and got a team together to build some garden planters and update some landscaping to make it easy to maintain. “I don’t ask often enough, but I’m so grateful for all the help. God’s hand is in everything and that is evident here.”-Gayle.
Step Out & Serve By The Numbers
This year Shepherd’s Gate had an audacious goal of attaining 525 volunteers, 99 more people than the 426 that served in 2021. During the weekend, God delivered in a big way and SG had 525 volunteers who spread out across Metro Detroit among 42 different sites.
Here’s what our amazing volunteers did:
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Repaired 30+ bikes & donated them for youth in Detroit
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Assembled 50 summer retreat bags for Turning Point.
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Distributed 50+ yards of mulch
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Assembled 200 Essential Kits for the homeless.
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Wrote 550 care notes for the bagged lunches, bicycles & essential kits.
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Made 250 sandwich lunches for Elevate Detroit & Franklin Mission-Flint.
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As a church, we are honored to have spent $16,500 through Step Out & Serve in our local community from Mission16, our fund designated for outreach.
