Two for the Price of One: Ministry Center & Ministry House – We want it!

Inspire Ministries wants something really big!

We began working full time with Inspire Ministries just over a year and a half ago. As part of the ministry we began having several events in our home to help inspire others to live a life of passion, purpose and praise.  These events included:

• Titus Tea Time: a monthly sit down tea for moms to be refreshed, renewed and encouraged as they learned from mentor moms who came and shared with them
• Passionate & Purposeful Parenting Workshops: Quarterly workshops to help parents raise godly children
• Traditions Seminars: held three times a year to teach & inspire families to begin faith filled (and fun!) traditions as they raise their children
• CASA Events: Several times a year we host informational events to promote the CASA program and how they can help foster children
• Couples Coffee Club: a monthly Friday night “date night” for couples wanting to strengthen their marriages by learning Biblical concepts and connecting with other couples
• Mom’s Night Out: A new quarterly event we were inspired to begin this summer to give single moms and their families a chance to be spoiled & pampered
• Men’s Bible Study: a group of men getting together to study the word of God and grow in their faith

We are happy to report that these events have been successful in many ways and that several of them are “filled to the brim” with people!  God is using this ministry to profoundly impact lives not only through these events but also through multiple counseling and mentoring appointments; daily ministering to couples with marriages in crisis, young people looking for direction, discipleship and helping people break free from bondage. It truly is a life changing ministry!

BUT….here is the challenge! We do most all of these events in our home which means we continually have to move around our furniture (and sometimes put it outside) as well as “displacing” our kids while we host the events.

We do however want to keep the “home” feel of our events as we see a different atmosphere than if they were held in a church or community center (not too mention for some of the events …like the Tea Time… it would take too much energy, time and effort to lug supplies back and forth.)  We have often thought…

• “Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if we had a home we could use for all these ministry events?”

The answer is YES...it would be awesome!  Not only for the events but also for the multiple counseling sessions which we currently do at Starbucks, Peets, Boudin, Mimi’s or Panera’s. Overall, that is ok but just this month alone we have had requests for a “non public” meeting place from those needing counseling.  We usually resort to our home again…but with multiple kids running around it is often not very private. In fact tomorrow we are meeting with a couple who are struggling intensely with unforgiveness and pride and we want to do a foot washing with them…not exactly conducive at Starbucks.  There are many times to we need to really pray over someone which is uncomfortable to many in a public setting. And again we have often thought…

• “Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if we had a place where we could do counseling that was private as well as a more comfortable atmosphere than a sterile professional office?”

Again the answer is YES it would!

Through a very recent and providential turn of events….which we will someday share with everyone…we have found the perfect house to meet all these needs we have for Inspire Ministries.  It is in a perfect location on Ben Holt & Gettysburg – easy to find and with lots of parking including Lincoln Center right across the street.  It has…

• a separate entrance for ministry events
• large room for those events that could easily be reconfigured for teas, couples group, seminars & workshops
• a “guest” bathroom easily accessible
• a large storage area for tables, chairs, tea sets, coffee pots, drink containers and more (don’t even try to figure out how we currently store all that in our current home…just let me say there is not a corner of our home unused)
• a kitchen that looks like it was made to cater large events (check out that refrigerator)
• and multiple places to do private counseling.

We want it!

But there’s more!

For many years now we have desired deeply to have a home – a ministry home – where we could house young people who have “aged out” of the foster system or single moms in crisis. We have committed a large part of our lives already to housing people in these similar situations, but unfortunately they have had to sleep on our couches or pile in a room with many of our children as we helped them to grow, mature and teach them not only about the Lord but helping them navigate through this season of life until they can get up and out successfully on their own.  We have taught them everything from basic life skills – house cleaning, cooking, schedules, banking, budgeting, learning to drive, getting into college, time management, interviewing for a job and more….to helping them learn to be a good parent, moral values, decision making, conflict resolution, goal setting, prayer, cultivating a relationship with God, attending church, tithing, giving and of course applying the Word of God in their lives. We have often thought…

• ” Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if we had a ministry house where we could have a safe place for these young people or single moms to not only live but to be purposefully taught all these things?”

And once again the answer is resoundingly…YES it would!

And believe it or not this very same house that would be perfect for Inspire Ministries events and counseling also would be the perfect ministry house!  The house wraps around the corner and has…

• a separate entrance from the ministry door
• the perfect location for these young people who usually have no transportation (the bus stop is literally outside the front door) with grocery stores across the street, multiple businesses for job opportunities and a great elementary school one block away and it is in a safe beautiful family friendly neighborhood
• several bedrooms that could house a mom and up to two children or two single girls aged out of the foster system (we would not have a co-ed facility…but perhaps down the road we could have an additional home for young men)
• a full bathroom to share
• a family room for kids to play as well as having “family meetings” for the young people including Bible Studies, training times and mentoring
• a dining room to share meals together (and of course that fabulous kitchen to prepare those meals)
• and a master bedroom with bathroom to house an adult mentor mom or couple who would teach train, counsel as well as run both the ministry center & house (no we would not be moving our family into this house…it would defeat the purpose)

We envision a one to two year disciplined program for those that live here that would include a daily schedule & household responsibilities, a curfew, regular training & bible studies, church attendance and serving in the house through voluntarily working for the ministry events held there. This experience would be life changing and they would be well prepared to eventually move out and successfully live life in the community as a productive citizen, a good parent and possibly future spouse and above all a solid believer living out their faith daily. A program that would transform lives and provide practical hands on help, healing and hope for the future.

We want it so very desperately!

Yes….two different and yet complimentary ministries in one house.  Two for the price of one.  That price is $399,000 for the house plus of course getting it furnished and raising the funds to pay the monthly expenses that come with owning a home (taxes, insurance,utilities) And even after that we would need to have a salary to pay the mentor mom or couple who would live here. (we know, we know…we are crazy to be talking about an additional salary when Dan still hasn’t received a salary from Inspire yet as we have only secured enough ministry partners this year to pay Beth as the Executive Director and for our monthly ministry expenses. But we walk by faith! And perhaps at times that is crazy)

So what will it take? The owners are new friends of ours and are moving to Tennessee as soon as they sell this house. (and until last week we had no idea they lived in this house) They dedicated this house to the Lord and they are committed to seeing it become our Ministry Center & House.  Their hearts lept within them when we shared our dream.  They want this to happen as much as we do.  In fact we are typing this in the kitchen at the house as they have already opened up the home for us to use as we need it! (and even just handed us a key to the house)

All we need is to purchase the house. This could happen in many ways and we are open to however the Lord wants to make it happen. Some ideas to consider (and maybe the Lord is causing your heart to leap within you right now because you want to be a part of this)

• Someone could hand us $399,000 and say…go for it Inspire Ministries
• Several someones could come together as a “team” believing in this idea and each donate $75,000 – $100,000 for us to purchase it
• A dozen or more people could write a check for $33,000 each and make it happen
• A couple dozen local churches could each contribute $15,000 as part of their mission to reach Stockton for Christ
• Or how about 399 of you each donating $1,000  (or 798 donating $500 or 1,596 of you donating $250)
• Someone could purchase the house and then lease it back to us for $1 a month rent (keeping it in their name but ultimately getting back their investment if they choose to sell it 10, 20 or 30 years down the road)
• ___________________ give us your ideas (we are sure there are many many more)

We can’t wait to see how the Lord will use this post to inspire others to join us in this dream!  

We want it!  We really really want it!  

Do you want it for us?

Do you want it for the Lord?

Do you want it for Stockton?

Do you want it for all the people who will walk through these doors and be greatly impacted for life? (marriages & families healed, strengthened and living abundant lives, children in crisis cared for and ministered to, the homeless, hungry and hurting having needs met,  people of all ages and stages inspired to live a live of passion, purpose & praise)

We would love to hear from you about this ministry center & house…your thoughts, ideas and encouragement we welcome!  Obviously there is a time factor in all of this as the house is already on the market so please don’t “shelve this” or put in the “think about it later” category…we will need to move rather fast on this.  Email us  inspire@bethlambdin.net  or text us 209-518-2653  or message us on facebook with your thoughts ideas & encouragement.  And please share this post with anyone and everyone you think might be interested.  Thank you.

If you would like to donate online towards this ministry house you can do this at our secure PayPal link – https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=GTCGQAL43B3S8

Or send it directly via PayPal to inspire@bethlambdin.net