Living as Servants

Back to School Drive a Huge Success

As people left Perimeter Church, they were handed an empty backpack. They were encouraged to return it in a few days, filled with school supplies. “I had no idea how this would turn out,” Debra Potter said. “We’d never done it this way before.”
Within days, backpacks filled with school supplies began showing up at the church.

Before it was over, 1892 backpacks loaded with pens, papers, markers and more, were returned and sat ready to be delivered to needy children in the community.

“We also encouraged families without the time to shop to simply donate $25 so that we could shop for them,” Jackie Deiter explained. “We usually raise $500 in that way, but this year we raised $7000!”

The backpacks were donated to children through Perimeter’s relationships with nearby schools and outreach ministries. Additionally, 150 bags for teachers were created from the excess school supplies and given into the classrooms.

While it is wonderful to recognize and celebrate the big picture, it is often the little picture, the impact of a single backpack, or three, that best illustrates the glory found in giving.

Jean Van Evenhoven took a few backpacks to work hoping to encourage her co-workers to help her fill them. Quickly they embraced the giving opportunity and began collecting money to purchase school supplies. And then it was discovered that a fellow co-worker had fallen on lean times and himself needed the backpacks for his children. “When we gave him the backpacks,” Jean said, “he was so moved and told me no one had ever done anything like that for him before. I told him we were simply responding to the opportunity God had given us to bless him.”

“I had only a few dollars in my pocket,” the man said, “and had no idea how I was going to provide my children with school supplies.”

“The experience taught me to keep me eyes open for opportunities to bless people,” Jean said. “When I received the thank you card his children had written, I realized what a blessing it is to me to be able to help others.”


Goldrush Food Drive Fills Garage

When Chelsea Sabo asked the young students participating in Godrush to bring in food for donation to the Salvation Army, she had no idea their response would be so overwhelming.

“At first I was stacking bags of groceries along the garage wall, out of the way so I could still get my car in and out easily. But the stack kept growing; every day more and more bags of groceries were brought in by the kids at Goldrush. Quickly it was obvious to me there was no space left for me to park in my own garage! I had no idea we would collect nearly a hundred bags of groceries during this drive.”

According to Deborah Wengrow, Social Services Director of the Salvation Army, the shelves of their food pantry were empty the morning the groceries were delivered from Chelsea’s garage. “It was an answer to prayer,” she said.


Kindergarten Shields Police in Prayer

Some kids carry Pokemon or baseball cards around with them. Others, like those in kindergarten at Perimeter School, carry cards depicting police officers.

The Shield-A-Badge with Prayer program asks people to commit to pray for an officer every day for one year, and to carry that officer’s photo and prayer request. “So often law enforcement officers don’t know if anyone appreciates what they do,” Kimberly Hicks, classroom volunteer, explained. “This program is a way to assure the officers that what they do is indeed appreciated.”

But the youth at Perimeter School wanted to take the program a step further. Each officer in the Johns Creek force received a small wooden cross engraved with Joshua 1:9. That verse reads - Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

“One officer teared up when a little girl told him she was praying for him,” Kimberly said.

“The children were very excited to visit the station to deliver the crosses,” Kimberly added. Since then, they have returned to the station to take cookies and cards and letters of encouragement. “They kids really enjoyed meeting the officers they were praying for, and having the chance to look through the one-way mirror in the interview room.”


Mom Makes Dresses for Children in Haiti

Katy Mulford, a stay at home mom with an infant in arms, has a degree in fashion design and a heart for orphans, but hadn’t figured out how to combine the two interests. She also hadn’t figured out how she could serve and care for her son at the same time.

“And then I read in the Pulse about ways we could respond to the crisis in Haiti, and saw the idea about pillowcase dresses. I knew immediately that was something I could do during my son’s naptime.”

Within a week Katy had sewn a dozen dresses from pillowcases of brightly colored flowers and polka dots. Before delivering them to the church, she prayed over the dresses, asking God to stir the little girls to realize the dresses were an expression of His love for them. “I was so impacted by making these dresses, I plan to recruit other stay at home moms I know to join me in helping those little girls who lost everything. I’m so glad God showed me something I could do to help.”