The Day Abu Got His Truck

Tracy Hipps helps a happy new truck owner with the paperwork

At Christian Service Mission, we exist to utilize our connective network of churches, partners, volunteers and resources to influence our city’s communities with the values of the Kingdom. Our mission at CSM is to provide opportunities for community engagement alongside of our strategic ministry partners to incite Gospel-centered heart change and to see our partnering communities develop into healthy, thriving communities.  We believe that this starts with the engagement with and preaching of God’s holy word through His church.

Abu's big smile while trying the
truck on for size

In a very tangible way, one example of how we have seen this played out this year is through one of our longest standing relationship with Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in West End, pastored by Dr. Michael Wesley Sr.  For the last year, we have partnered with Greater Shiloh through their YouthBuild program that seeks to invest in individuals ages 18 – 24 to prepare them for the workforce and to influence their lives with the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  It has been through this partnership with YouthBuild that we have formed a relationship with one of the students in the program and have come to see that his personal needs go much deeper than that of needing employment or job skills.
This young man exhibited great aptitude for the work and training provided by the YouthBuild program.  He proved to be a very quick learner with an incredible work ethic and desire to generate an income for himself and for his family.  However, this young man did not have access to reliable transportation and therefore did not have one of the major prerequisites for gainful employment. Once Aaron Parsons, our Housing Ministry Director, and his team found out about his situation, the need was quickly communicated back to CSM and then even more quickly we began to see the Holy Spirit at work in the hearts of several of CSM’s relational ministry partners.
The first to answer the call was the Specialized Landscaping company that just so happens to share a backyard with our Christian Service Mission warehouse.  This group of young entrepreneurs have converted an old warehouse space and a few pieces of lawn equipment into a very successful landscaping company and due to their quick success, they just so happened to be in search of some capable and hirable labor.  Once they connected with CSM, the Spirit led us to connect them with this young man through our partnership with the YouthBuild program through Greater Shiloh Church and he began work shortly thereafter.  However, one glaring problem still existed… the absence of a car and the reliance upon the public transit system.

Dr. Michael Wesley led Abu's family, Abu's new bosses
and staff from CSM and YouthBuild in prayer for Abu

After recommitting this need to our God through prayer, we once again quickly found the Spirit moving through yet another connection to CSM.  One of the members of another partnering church, Mountain Brook Community Church, felt the Lord calling him to donate a truck to CSM and asked us if we knew of someone who could use it.  We serve an amazing God who does some amazing things and we are blessed and humbled to play a small part in connecting God’s resources to the needs of His children.  Shortly thereafter, this young man received a free truck with a new transmission and fully equipped not only for his transportation to and from work, but also for transportation of the lawn equipment and tools needed for the work on his job sites.  We would have settled for a car, but God never settles.  God knew exactly what this young man’s needs were and he was gracious enough to bring all of these different pieces and partnerships together to prove to us and everyone involved that He is God.

"Check it out! I have the keys!"

Our relationship with this young man has continued.  He is quite literally in our backyard almost every day.  We are committed, alongside of each of our partners, to see stories like this continue to happen every day, every week and every year through us and through our like-minded strategic partners.  This is one example of many of ways that people, churches, organizations and members of the body can meet the needs of the least of these.  Through prayer, partnerships and listening to the Spirit of God, these connections continue to be made.  Through the faithfulness of a few, many have come to see the glory and power of an almighty God.  Praise be to the author and orchestrator of such happenings and praise be to Him for allowing us to witness and be a part of his grand story.
Your partnering to connect in this campaign allows CSM to be in this position to connect recourses with needs through our impact partners for the gospel to change lives.

Abu with his supporting friends and family

Abu thanking Aaron for pouring into his life

Abu with YouthBuild staff and Dr. Wesley (r)

Abu expressing genuine gratitude for the donation to CSM
that made his new vehicle ownership possible

Rhonda sharing the love

Housing Ministry Making Things New

Volunteer group from Grace United Methodist Church from Naperville, Illinois
beaming with a sense of accomplishment and connection to the community
after roofing this house for David King

What does it look like at CSM when a concrete mixer truck pulls up? A party, of course! Our S.W.A.T. (Serving With Available Time) team jumps to action, and you have never seen a happier bunch of fellas. All year around these volunteers come week after week to help Aaron with the Housing Ministry and all things construction and carpentry. Recently, they have been busy getting the back of the warehouse graded and the footings ready to build a stadium seating area off the back dock. This will be a meeting area for our volunteer groups, and a place where orientations and teaching can take place. You will see pictures throughout the current articles of large groups sitting on the floor or standing around. This construction project is actually a dream come true for our ministry, and will certainly create a better rally point for the camps and summer groups we host. 

The Housing Ministry is also assisted by groups that come from around the country to help create

David King

lasting change in Birmingham. One of the individuals our Housing Ministry has longed to help is Mr. David King. He worked alongside the S.W.A.T. team to help rehabilitate Howard Morris's house with such a generous spirit, and has shown deep appreciation for the new roof the summer volunteers helped to replace on his house. These connections with individuals and families in the communities we serve are life-changing and life-giving experiences for the teams who come to Birmingham to work with us. We are blessed to be a part of it and to be a steward of your support. If you are skilled in construction, engineering, or carpentry and would like to join the S.W.A.T. team, please contact Kirsten Agee: kirsten@csmission.org.

SWAT 

SWAT teaching YouthBuild

Aaron rallies the troops to assist with endless projects around CSM

SWAT digging the stadium footing 

Thankful For An Amazing Summer!

Volunteer group from Glenkirk Church in Glendora, California

We would be remiss to let the summer end and to make ourselves busy with our plans for the fall without looking back on everything that God did through his hands and feet here at Christian Service Mission.  God sent us over a thousand volunteers during June and July and we put them all to work!  As a volunteer driven ministry, we have accepted God's call for us to steward the resources with which he has blessed us.  

Summer camp at New Rising Star

Our most valuable resource is the thousands of volunteers that come to us from all over our city and all over our country.  CSM is a Gospel-centered, volunteer driven and relationship oriented ministry that seeks to build the Kingdom of Christ here in the city of Birmingham.  This summer, we were blessed with so many opportunities to invest in the lives of our interns, our ministry partners and our volunteers.  Several of those opportunities came in the form of kids' camps, where our volunteers worked with local students (kindergarten through 8th grade) to further their education in math, reading, science, technology and scripture memory!  

We also worked with several community gardens to continue our initiative to produce healthy food for communities through our gardens and our cooking programs. Our housing ministry continues to work closely with homeowners all over Birmingham to build healthier homes and families through the restoration of houses in our partnering communities. Our volunteers worked all summer-long to advance CSM's relationships with our homeowners and communities.

Youth group from 6th Avenue Baptist Church pitching in
to help prepare the CSM gardens

And as always, our ministry center ("The Warehouse") was well taken care of by our volunteers as well.  Group after group came through to help us in our warehouse to sort, count, catalog and distribute resources to our communities of need through our local partners.  As CSM continues to stand in the gap to connect resources with needs, we know that we would not have near the ability or impact without our supporting Church family! Thank you to everyone who has volunteered with us this summer to help advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our city and to our partners around the globe!

 
A taste of summer at CSM:

Volunteers helping us with Summers Camps:

New Rising Star Summer Camp

True Vine Summer Camp

CSM Garden Center Volunteers:

Young gardeners ready to learn from summer gardening expert,
Tony (horticulture intern from Clemson)

Garden volunteers here all the way from California!

... and Tennessee! Franklin UMC Youth Group

Trinity UMC

Volunteers working in the CSM warehouse:

6th Ave Baptist

Aldersgate UMC

Bells Baptist, TN

Franklin UMC, TN

Haiti and Trinity UMC

Alabama Governor's Class

This list will give you an idea of how many groups were here from out of town (usually for a week at a time) and volunteering from around our city. A HUGE appreciation goes to Michael Bowen for his leadership and awesome management of these volunteer groups from around the country to make such a huge impact on our city!

Michael casting a vision for community development with summer volunteers

Out-of-Town (242 volunteers)

Boones Creek Christian Church (Johnson City, TN)

First Christian Church (Johnson City, TN)

Grace United Methodist Church (Napersville, IL)

Aldersgate United Methodist Church (Slidell, LA)

Glenkirk Church (Glendora, CA)

Bells First Baptist Church (Bells, TN)

First United Methodist Church of Franklin (Franklin, TN)

Poplar Ridge Christian Church (Piney Flats, TN)

First United Methodist Church of Cullman (Cullman, AL)

Church at Sandhurst (Florence, SC)

Local (610 volunteers)

Trinity United Methodist Church

Redeemer Community Church

Love Fellowship Christian Center

6th Avenue Baptist Church

Cornerstone Middle School

Junior Master Gardeners

BigTime Ministries

Samford Alabama Governor’s Class

United Ability

Riverchase Church of Christ

Church of the Highlands

Faith Presbyterian Church

Cahaba Park Presbyterian Church

The Church at Ross Bridge

Riverchase United Methodist Church

Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church

America’s First Federal Credit Union

Hillsboro School

Projects Included…

Housing – painting, roofing, siding, caulking & repair

Gardens – planting, harvesting, weeding, fertilizing, decorating, composting

Partners – kids’ camps, landscaping, thrift store, dormitory, painting, cleaning, demolition, outreach events, food packing & distribution

Schools – cleaning & school supply packing/delivery

Ministry Center – donation sorting, painting, demolition, landscaping, food distribution, diaper bundling, cleaning

Summer send-off for Michael and Jamie from interns, Caitlin and Corey