New Rising Star and Redeemer Men Serve Side by Side

Pastor Thomas Beavers leads the men from both churches in truth and grace

Nothing quite like a beautiful Saturday of service with two great churches in Birmingham!  The second weekend of football season brought about the first weekend of service with New Rising Star Baptist Church (East Lake) and Redeemer Community Church (Avondale).  We had several projects in the East Lake community for the 80+ men that showed up from both churches and we had quite the day!  Arriving in the "cool" of the morning, this group of men gathered together behind New Rising Star's church building to shake hands, give a few "bro-hugs" and start our day off right by hearing from the pastors of both congregations.

Dr. Thomas Beavers of New Rising Star got us kicked off with a little pep talk and Pastor Joel Brooks of Redeemer followed that up with a few words of encouragement of his own. Both pastors then came together to pray for our day of work and then we were off!

The 80+ men that we had on site split into project groups and spent the next several hours working together to repair a house, pressure wash, landscape, clean, move furniture, pick up trash, clean gutters and roofs and all kinds of other projects.  By the end of the morning there was nothing sweeter than seeing two congregations of men, led by their pastors and assistant pastors, coming together from just 4 miles apart to serve their local community side by side.  Men of all ages, backgrounds and skin colors coming together over a common goal and under one major commonality... their love for Christ and their desire to serve their fellow man.  Anytime you can get a pastor sweating over something other than his preaching, you know it's a good day!

Words cannot encompass the joy and fellowship in the lunchroom at the end of this serve day together.  Yes, the cheeseburgers we shared together were very good, but that was not the source of the enthusiasm in the room.  Not on this day.  This day was about two churches coming together to serve their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to build his Kingdom here in the city of Birmingham!  We love the opportunity to partner with amazing churches and amazing pastors and this month we had the privilege to taste and see the Lord bring two of our primary partners together to serve. Thank you to these men, thank you to these pastors and thank you to these two churches for their partnership and reciprocal relationships with us at Christian Service Mission!

Helping Get Kids Back To School

Willie on the fork lift

Last week, Willie cranked up the fork lift and our truck to deliver 7,395 pounds of school supplies, water and snacks to New Rising Star Church for their annual Back-To-School Anointing Service. We strategically assist NRS in any way we can to support their Gospel-driven and holistic community development ministry that is intentionally moving in multiple, strategic ways to create lasting change for the East side of Birmingham. Every year at this time, we partner with Pastor Beavers to provide critically needed school supplies to 500 kids in the East Lake community.

FITS socks donated

This year, we were also able to provide FITS® Socks for the kids. FITS® is a premium sock brand resulting from the collaboration of third and fourth generation textile manufacturers who are committed to American-made products and supporting ministries on the ground. Bob Yoe, the Birmingham, Alabama-based owner of FITS Technologies, is the great grandson of Braxton Bragg Comer who built Avondale Mills in Birmingham, one of the largest textile operations in the world at the time. Bob says, “A good sock is nothing less than a finely tuned machine.” We are so thankful for the donations made to CSM by FITS® so that we can be a blessing to the communities we serve.

Pastor Beavers praying over and pouring into the East Lake community 

Where in the US is Noel Castellanos? And What in the World is CCDA?

We found him! Jamie Leo happy to welcome Noel to CSM

Christian Community Development Association’s (CCDA) mission is to create a strong fellowship and connection between those engaged in Christian community development. The CCDA supports and encourages practitioners and helps inspire Christians to launch new community ministries and/or become involved in existing work that is moving the needle like Christian Service Mission! 

We were honored to have CCDA president, Noel Castellanos, come to CSM to share why the work of Christian community development is so important. Noel is on a national speaking tour to thirty cities to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the CCDA in every city where the annual conference has been held. He is on mission to encourage  individuals (read Tracy’s story) and organizations to embrace the Christian community development model and understand the importance of partnering with the local church to bring true and lasting transformation to under-resourced and distressed communities.

CSM is a member of the CCDA, which emphasizes eight basic principles: 

Noel speaking to CSM ministry
partners, supporters and staff

• relocation to the community;
• reconciliation of the people to God and to each other; 
• redistribution of skills, education, and resources;
• development of leadership from within the community;
• responding to the felt-needs of the community; 
• keeping the program church-based; 
• following a holistic approach to problem-solving; and
• empowerment of the people of the community.

The CCDA makes available many resources for those interested in Christian Community Development. One of the more note-worthy books offered was written by CCDA founder, John M. Perkins. Restoring At-Risk Communities is a manual by Perkins and 14 other urban ministry professionals who give clear advice and guidance on how to effectively impact at-risk communities.

Noel learning about exciting things happening in our city

Noel Castellanos also invited everyone connected to the work of CSM to attend the CCDA conference in November. The conference will be held in Chicago and is a great opportunity to learn more about how organizations are successfully implementing community development around the nation and fellowship with fellow practitioners. The CSM staff will be attending, so let us know if you are interested in going! For more information, visit the CCDA website:  www.ccda.org

https://ccda.org/train-connect/ccda-national-conference/

https://youtu.be/GWbxLXFKK44 

Visitors signing in to join our first-ever luncheon in the warehouse

Everyone loves Full Moon BBQ from Fultondale! 

Happy CSM volunteers - Deborah and Linda

Bud, Willie and Aaron worked hard to get the warehouse
event-ready, and they even hung lights! 

Noel with Thomas Beavers and staff members of New Rising Star

Kirsten... our own hostess with the most

Two tall Brocks came to be challenged by Noel (and eat!)

Noel toured CSM and was fascinated to learn how the fish in our tanks
supply rich nutrients to the plants our aquaponics system.