Pastor KR Mele and Family Life Church

Tuesday, March 23 Pastor KR Mele joined us in our class to share about his ministry and what lead him to where he is today. KR grew up just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, not in a Christian home. He gave his life Christ at the age of 21. KR has his degree in Business and owned/managed a couple of businesses before coming on staff at Sarver Assembly of God in charge of children as well as administrating their Christian school. After some time there God called KR back to the State College area in Central Pennsylvania where he attended college at Penn State University. From there God called him to plant a church in that same area. Pastor KR has been at Family Life Church in Penns Valley, PA for the past six years. The church meets at the Penns Valley Intermediate School in Spring Mills. Pastor KR's current church has been involved with many cool ministries, however the coolest thing, a ministry KR began, is Light the Night. Light the Night is a ministry to reach out to our communities on Halloween rather than hide ourselves. KR's logic says, Why would we turn off all of the lights and hide in the basement on the one day of the year everyone in our neighborhood comes knocking on our door asking us for something. Light the Night is set up like a 'mini-fair' in a yard of someone form the church. A church can have as many sites as they can handle. The sites have food, games, candy, an introduction to the church, a gospel message for kids with puppets, and most importantly, plenty of light, as to not make it a dark scary place, but a warm, happy, welcoming environment. My church started doing Light the Night the year after KR thought of it and we have done it in my yard for the past five years, I love it. At first we received some disagreement from some of our church body about whether doing this outreach would just be justifying the celebration of halloween, but after the success and progress of the first year, mostly everyone came around to the idea. Light the Night is a great ministry, if you do not already participate, present the idea to your church!

Jack Belin Feeding The World

We were privileged to meet Jack Belin on Tuesday, March 16 an Assemblies of God missionary working with The Convoy of Hope. Jack grew up in the pentecostal church, he says he doesn't remember a time in his life when he wasn't serving God and received his call at the age of five years old! I can relate to Jack because my parents were very active in children's ministry and many other ministries in the church. I was at the church Sunday - Saturday, it was my second home. I grew up with the view that ministry is not an option, I feel so blessed to have grown up with such great parents who instilled a good foundation in me, I am sure Jack feels the same way. Jack is a graduate of Valley Forge Christian College, he attended the school back when it was Eastern Bible Institute. Jack married his wife, Georgia and they pastored in Pennsylvania before they served for a while as missionaries in Bolivia. God did a lot in Jacks hear at that time and changed His life. In Bolivia Jack worked with the unloved, with the hungry, disease, and prisoners, they even started a school for prisoner's kids as well as a ministry school for prisoners. Jack understands the worlds need in a greater way than most people. He is now the Director of the World Food Program with the Convoy of hope and travels all around the world providing food for the hungry, and of course providing them with the opportunity to know the Bread of Life and the Living Water. Jack doesn't view the church as a building, but as a body of believers, and says "Any church that does not lead people to Jesus has no right to call itself a church." His number one ministry is love, he talks about the kind of love in the Bible we know as agape, the way we should love unconditionally how Jesus does.

The Network of Hope

I have been blessed throughout my life with the friendship of Deana Leone. A close family friend from church, Deana is the Executive Director of the Network of Hope. Started in 2002 by Pastor Jeff Leake and Allison Park Church, The Network of Hope is an intra-church, community, non-profit organization reaching the city of Pittsburgh. Though started in 2002 and made known by their great assistance in the floods of 2005, NOH has grown, changed, and shaped into the organization that it is today. NOH is an intra-church foundation because they do not function individually. NOH currently partners with eight churches across Pittsburgh to reach their communities. By this I mean, NOH is not free standing, nor do they desire to be. The effectiveness of their ministry has been brought about by their desire to help churches reach out to the specific needs of their community in as many ways as possible. Primary hardships that NOH is actively bringing assistance to include addiction, low income, hunger and food insecurity, and lack of childcare. They are meeting these needs through, recovery groups and recovery homes, practical helps, food banks, and youth enrichment. NOH works to find solutions for problems and needs of the people in the community. Each of the eight churches partnering with NOH has a site director, someone who attends the church and is not on paid staff with NOH, but employed by their church. They like to consider all of their dedicated employees staff, not just the few paid ones. On the board of NOH there is the executive director, pastors, bankers, accountants, consultants, a lawyer, and a licensed counselor. NOH is a 501(c)3 and an approved member of United Way. They are also funded by tax-deductable donations, churches, businesses, fundraising events, grants, and gifts in kind. The churches often individually raise funds for events or ministries specific to their community. NOH is powered by dedicated volunteers, over 500 a year! Site coordinators for church partners are selected both by leaders of the church and by NOH, these leaders then go through a training for their position. The goal of the Network of Hope is to promote lasting change. Their website is full of great information and media, so please visit http://www.networkofhope.org/