Yes – It was a (Super) Super Bowl Party

Every year Serving in Love Hosts a Super Bowl Party in conjunction with the Mental Health Association and several homeless and crisis agencies.  The reason is to provide a party for some people who might not have the opportunity to be at a party otherwise.  The purpose is to show God’s love in a practical way.

 Everything is free.  Pizza, soft drinks, snacks, and desserts.  We use a home theater system to display the picture on a screen (of course, we never “measure” the screen).  We provide rides if needed and we have games – bingo, crafts, and activities.  This year was the largest party ever. 

We thought with the Colts in the game and the cold weather, our turnout and help would be less than normal, but we had close to hundreds in attendance.  MHA had about 160, we hosted four homeless families, and dozens of “walkins” from nearby agencies.  Morning Star Church (MSC) turned out about 30 helpers to serve food, conduct the crafts, games and activities, and (thank you) to clean up.

Were looking forward to a repeat in ”The Connection”  next year.  The Connection is the new community facility at (North side of parking lot) Morning Star Church.  The Connection has a theater size screen, complete kitchen (and the East Side Cafe) and a full gymnasium. 

Welcome World!!

Serving In Love

– A Servant Evangelism Ministry

Our Mission

By word and deed, to love the people of Metropolitan Kokomo into relationship with Jesus Christ and to show God’s love in a practical way as we work to give away to the world what we have been given by God.

Our Vision

We work to empower an ever-increasing number of surrendered and transformed people who love God and others to:- Commit to the idea that this is not about them, but all about Jesus. - Transfix participants and recipients with His story and His heart for their city.- Create are seed throwers and fire starters, hope peddlers and grace-givers, risk takers and dreamers, young and old. - Join in with anyone who tells the story of Jesus. - Empower the poor, strengthen the weak, embrace the outcast, seek the lost. - Serve together, play together, worship together, and live life together. - Change the community because God sent us..We believe that small things done with great love will change the world.  We Will Be:

·         A diverse, celebratory outreach of disciple-making small groups in every neighborhood we serve.

·         A relational citywide network strategically focused on reaching metropolitan
Kokomo.

·         Reproducers and developers of outward-focused churches worldwide. 

Our Values 

1.      Serving In Love is based on the generosity of God spilling out of our lives, and out of our churches into the lives of the people in our communities. The method we’re using is called “servant evangelism” which is offering people free gifts or services to show God’s love in a practical way – no strings attached!

2.      Serving In Love is based on the belief/assumption that church unity and cooperation is central in reaching our communities for Jesus. We are a ministry of Morning Star Church, but we believe in the concept that “spiritual waters” flow from every area church.  For this reason we ask that this outreach express the desire of a number of churches and denominations in the community and not just one or two.  So we do not pass out tracks and our gifts are always “no strings attached”.

3.      Serving In Love is based on two commandments and the Great Commission of Jesus – to love God with everything, to love our neighbor and to make disciples. The kindness explosion is our expression of these, and a community-wide worship celebration of giving is our expression of the ambience that will nourish the Great Commission. These work very well together!

4.      Serving In Love is based on the belief/assumption that experiencing the kindness of God is a key step in people moving towards rescue. For this reason we do not want to attach other messages, tracts, or church distinctives beyond that for our original purpose. We have a singular contact card that includes our sponsoring church’s name, phone number, website, etc. on the back of the kindness card to provide a helpful link for those wishing to take “a next step”.

5.      Serving In Love expresses kindness to people by giving people goods or services for free. Why? To express to them the free love of the Father. For this reason we do not receive donations from those we’ve served.

6.      Serving In Love is based on the belief/assumption that showing love needs to cost us something. It does cost us something, and we are confident that by faith, our needs will be provided. We say this because often our first reaction is to see what we can get donated to us, so that our outreach can be truly faith-based. We can only do what we can afford…the cost in time and labor is cheerfully given by all.  But it needs to cost us something! Having said that, businesses may donate some items or give them to us for a cheaper price, but with no expectation of advertising for them. All costs for the outreaches will be born by the participating churches and/or members within those churches – and any profit from mission owned and based enterprises.

7.      Serving In Love is done in the name of Jesus. We are doing this because of the kindness of God expressed through his son, Jesus. Although we make the use of products and donations toward this purpose, we desire to make the name of Jesus famous, not advertise or build up corporations or local businesses. For this reason we want to avoid the type of underwriting that many businesses provide if there is an expectation of exposure or promotion as a return benefit.

8.      All proceeds from every grant or donation will be used to support these principles, provide continuity and leadership, and advance our mission.  The sole determination for proper resource disbursement will be the members of the Serving In Love committee until a legal entity supercedes and designates new processes and leadership.   

When Life is Un”Bear”able

SIL provides new teddy bears to the emergency rooms at the hospitals in Kokomo.  The staff is free to hand a new stuffed bear to children (or anyone who needs one) who come into the ER for treatment.  We are blessed with world class staffing at the Emergency Rooms. 

We are so thankful for these caring professionals who often deal with crisis and heartbreaking trauma.  Doctors and nurses in the ER often come in contact with people who are facing unspeakable trauma and even eternity.  So we wanted to support them in any way we can.  These professionals tell us that a small stuffed toy is a physical representation of the love and comfort the staff is providing.

So we asked for help securing new teddy bears and beginning in 2004 we have tried to keep up with the demand.  Here is the sad news, we often run out of bears.  The need is great, but we are committed to being certain the supply is maintained.

Anything less would be unBEARable.