We at Cleveland Hope would like to thank South Carolina Baptists for their contribution to the North American Mission Board’s Strategic Focus City Initiative in Cleveland, Ohio. There were nine churches and ministries that sent missionaries from South Carolina to serve in the city of Cleveland during 2007, and we would like to send our deepest appreciation to those organizations.
Two collegiate teams were represented, including the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Lander University and BCM at Charleston Southern. CSU students came during spring break and worked with ministries such as Fresh Coat Cleveland, and various churches in the greater Cleveland area.
Four of the Charleston Southern students enjoyed their experience so much they decided to come back for the entire summer and serve 10 weeks as summer missionaries through the North American Mission Board. Those students included Nick Abercrombie, Dustin Bowers, Makya Byrth, and Danielle Singleton. In addition to these four students from Charleston Southern, four other college students from universities in South Carolina joined us in Cleveland. They were Amanda Wilkinson, Francis Marion University; Terri Gibson, Anderson University; Ashley Wheeler, Winthrop University; and Haynes Lewis, Trident Technical College.
The BCM at Lander University came for a week during the month of May. They worked alongside Mt. Hermon Baptist Church doing evangelistic projects in the community, including tutoring and stay-in-school assemblies. The team from Lander shared that this was the most rewarding trip they had ever been on.
First Baptist, Belton, ran an Upward Camp for Trinity Baptist in Mentor and at Eastlake Baptist. They also did some construction projects at Here’s Hope Baptist Church. First Baptist, Lancaster, brought more than 50 people on a multi-generational mission trip and worked with Painesville Baptist doing construction projects, a backyard kids club and a community block party to wrap up the week.
Again, we cannot say thank you enough to South Carolina Baptists for stepping up in such a huge way to support our work in Cleveland. By joining with us in serving the kingdom of God in the greater Cleveland area, they were a part of 1,152 professions of faith, 232 evangelistic events, 137 mission teams and 4,931 volunteers mobilized to serve in Cleveland.
This is just a snapshot of what God has done in Cleveland during 2007. The letter would be entirely too long if I took time to tell you story after story of people’s lives that have been changed through volunteers like those who came from South Carolina.
We appreciate your sacrifice and we would love to host any teams that would like to come and serve in Cleveland in the years to come. You can visit our Web site at www.clevelandhope.com for more information about opportunities.
May God bless you.
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