A Year of Opportunity

No explanation can be given for what happened here at LifeBUILDERS in 2020 except to say that God was with us. All year long He directed our path, protected us, opened doors, and provided abundant resources so that we could be a Light and bring His love to open hearts. So, while we stood with so many who were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Lord kept us safe and provided sustenance, financial resources, employment and ministry opportunities, thousands of dollars of Christmas gifts to give to families, and so much more.

Marilyn, who was supposed to have begun her first year of retirement in 2020, led our efforts in food acquisition and distribution, along with securing and distributing Christmas gifts. Most importantly, she developed and cultivated relationships with a large number of new residents in Regent Park. It appears that the Lord had even bigger plans for Marilyn right here!

Some of our staff members are now attending Moody Bible Institute and Moody Theological Seminary. We consistently encouraged more people to grow in God’s Word, had increased meaningful conversations, and engaged more community leaders in this one year than in any other in our fifteen-year history.

We recruited three new board members in 2020 which brought about added experience, depth, and community knowledge to round out our team. We are so blessed to have a board that is invested in prayer, hard-working, generous, and serving. They are truly amazing!

While we were not able to have our Annual Gala as in previous years, we were able to host a virtual event where we honored a past board member, Pete Randazzo, who went home to be with the Lord in late 2019. We also had Dr. Richard Allen Farmer as our guest speaker, and Aaron Robinson as our MC again this year. Aaron is part of our family here at LifeBUILDERS, and he became the spiritual director of Power Company Kids Club in Pontiac, Michigan. We are now able to have a great collaborative opportunity with them going forward.

Speaking of family, our grandson Noah played a very significant role as he helped host our virtual event and was the overseer of all our social media platforms. He will also be beginning his junior year at Moody Bible institute. Our grandson Luke, along with two other young men, are producing all of our videos as they have formed a new media company called Turning Point. We are pleased to have them on the team.

A new relationship was formed with Positive You, led by Kenny Spear. He brings with him a heart for our youth and a team of godly men and women. He will be a strong member of our ministry team in the community going forward.

Our relationship with Parkway Christian School expanded as we now have eleven youth from Regent Park attending. As I see these young people thrive in this Christian environment, I only pray that all the kids in our community would be able to have this opportunity. Larry Keillor and his wife Nancy have taken a leadership role with this effort. They continue to cast vision and raise resources for these young people to be able to attend, and we are very grateful for them.

There are still things I have not written about that the Lord has done at LifeBUILDERS this year. He is worthy of all the praise. 2020 is another year we will long remember, as the Lord has shown us His continued favor. We are humbled, blessed, and feel a great responsibility going into 2021 with the opportunities He has asked us to steward. Please be praying for us as we enter into this New Year expectant for all that God has in store for our ministry!

In Christ,