As Christians we are called to love. To radically and simply love Christ and love people. 1 John 4:20-21 says if anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

This verse exemplifies what we did while working with Compassion 21 in Gibbs Village. The teens at Landmark Church of Christ went into this challenging situation with humble hearts full of compassion and no complaints. I never once heard an ounce of complaining from any of the teens. They were able to muster up the strength to get over the smell and get straight to work, simply the way Jesus would.

In Gibbs Village, our teens worked in a lady’s house that was not like anything we’d ever seen before. None of our teens had ever encountered a situation like this before. For example, there were more bugs than I’d ever seen in a house before. But the teens were able to get over their fears and go for it. We cleaned with basic cleaning supplies in the kitchen, living rooms, and bedrooms. At first, we continued to work hard cleaning as much as we could, but were-n’t able to see the difference we had made. By the end of it, we were able to make drastic differences in that house.

We were also able to send an email to the Landmark community and asked for help finding furniture for this sweet family. We were able to collect all of the items needed. The only way we were able to do this completely comes from God. He was able to touch hearts through this experience which allowed them to be gracious with what they had.

Our teens worked hard and enjoyed working hard. They cheerfully took the challenge and made something beautiful with it. God makes beautiful things out of the sand—us. Just like we made a family see the beauty in living in a clean home. I took a little survey about the service experience one day with the teens. I simply asked, “What was your first impression of the woman’s home where we worked?” The majority of them said, “I was nervous when I saw the amount of bugs and the smell was very overwhelming.” I then asked, “What was you’re favorite part of working to-day?” Again, the majority of them said, “My favorite part of the day was seeing the finished product.” They all loved getting to see what a difference we made by taking 4 hours out of our day to bless someone tremendously. Lastly, I asked, “Would you want to go back to Gibbs Village to work again?” All of the teens that did the survey say, “YES!”

I loved getting to spend my summer with a wonderful group of teens, but one of my favorite parts of the summer was spent in Montgomery when we worked in Gibbs Village. Thank You Compassion 21 for allowing us to work along side of you all! We loved the experience and I know Landmark Youth Ministry was blessed by their experience in Gibbs Vil-lage with Compassion 21.

-Camille Cross (Landmark Intern) To see the entire newsletter click here.

For more information please contact us at: 334.269.1992

On Saturday, November 5th, many Christians from the Landmark church came out to the Chisholm community and volunteered their time and expertise to make a difference in the lives of many needy families. For instance, one elderly, disabled woman was experiencing different types of small animals gaining access to her attic due to some rotten wood along the side of her house. She also had an overgrown yard and two broken window panes (a serious problem with the full brunt of winter right around the corner). She expressed to me that she simply could not afford to hire someone to fix the problems. Her monthly income was only around $600. Here is where the Christians at Landmark came to the rescue.

With tools in hand, young and old worked diligently to correct all the known deficiencies in this woman's house and yard. But they didn't stop there. They cleaned several yards, replaced a total of six broken windows, addressed electrical and plumbing problems and picked up trash on vacant lots to improve the aesthetics of the neighborhood. So many people were impacted by the kindness, thoughtfulness, and selfless service exhibited by these great Christians. And when it was all over, they gathered together to praise God for the privilege of serving in His name.

This is the block that has been adopted by C21. We are making an all-out effort to bring this neighborhood together in a way that will allow us to share the name of Jesus in an impactful way. Through the efforts of Landmark , the residents were able to witness the love of Jesus in the action. This service day will be another stepping stone toward creating trust in this neighborhood which will then allow us at some point to sit down and share the good news of our Savior with those who do not know Him.

For more information please contact us at:

334.269.1992

During the month of October, C21 and all its volunteers fed more families than at any time in our history. We were blessed to provide 451 families with 20-25 pounds each of groceries to help ease the burden brought about by a struggling economy.  We are finding that a common occurrence is for working adults to lose their jobs and be required to move back in with a parent just to make ends meet. The added burden of having adult children and grandchildren have caused many elderly to stand in food lines for assistance that otherwise would be unnecessary.

Beginning in October it became our goal to pray with each family that came through our benevolent center. While not all people were willing to pray, the vast majority (90%) did. Many prayers ended with tears flowing from family members as they unburdened their hearts with Christians who cared about their struggles. We were blessed to have many brothers and sisters from several area congregations to assist us. They have subsequently communicated to us how blessed THEY were in talking with these struggling families and offering prayer to God on their behalf.

It is our goal to not only feed the poor but to invest ourselves in their lives. Therefore we are always in need of "prayer warriors" who will spend time listening to people and thoughtfully pray with them as well. Please contact us if you feel as though God is calling you to this type of ministry. We also hope that you will pray that God will use us here at C21 to bring those battling with life's struggles into a greater knowledge and trusting relationship with our Lord Jesus.  For His Glory! Michael