HEART of the MISSION SEPTEMBER 2015
H E L P, H O P E , A N D
Healing W I T H Y O U R H E L P, BRANDY RECEIVED ALL THREE
A LITTLE BIT GOES A LONG WAY You are a bright light of hope
REV. GLENN CRANFIELD PRESIDENT AND CEO
The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. PROVERBS 4:18 NIV
As you look at the numerous encounters Jesus had with people who might have felt very out of place—tax collectors, prostitutes, and many others—Jesus never let them feel that way. One of my favorite stories in the Bible is in Luke 7 that talks about the woman who shows up at Simon’s house. She was totally out of place, but that didn’t stop her from weeping at the Lord’s feet, and drying them with her hair. She was there for ONE reason … to see Him. Jesus explained to all who were gathered there, that she was there for the right reasons … perhaps more than the others who were present. You see—Jesus is in the business of meeting you where you are, right now, not where you have been or where you should be!
Each day, when lost and broken people come to us at Nashville Rescue Mission, we strive to show them the love of Jesus by meeting them where they are—with a heart that is truly glad to see them. People tell us so many times that feeling welcome at the Mission is what moves them to hope … and that little bit of hope can change lives, as the power of Christ transforms lives! Thank you so much for being that bright light of hope allowing so many to meet Him right where they are.
WE NEEDED HELP… AND YOU DELIVERED! We had a problem. The sheets at our Women’s Campus didn’t fit the beds. We took to email and social media to ask our supporters for help. Collectively, you donated enough funds for us to purchase sheets for women in recovery AND our homeless guests! We were blown away. THANK YOU! TO STAY UPDATED on online fundraising initiatives,
visit our website and enter your email in the right-hand bottom corner of the page. 2 HEART of the MISSION
SEPTEMBER 2015
Visit nashvillerescuemission.org and click stories to watch the video.
MISSION IN MY WORDS
A letter from RUDY GATLIN
Purchase your Music with a Mission tickets today! See back cover to learn more.
Three years ago we were invited to perform at Nashville Rescue Mission’s annual Music with a Mission concert— an event that has raised over $525,000 to help feed the hungry and house the homeless in Middle Tennessee. It is a marvelous event. The venue is beautiful, the symphony is incredible, and the artists who perform are some of the best in the music industry. The artists also care about the less fortunate and perform not just to entertain, but to make a difference by encouraging others to do the same. The event is truly a moving experience. Each year, a graduate from the Mission’s Life Recovery Program shares a few words. It’s amazing to hear the success story firsthand, directly from someone impacted by a donors’ gift. Larry, Steve, and I have been performing as Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers since 1976, but it really started in 1955, when we were 2, 4, and 6 years old! We’ve had several number one songs, been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, nominated for CMA and ACM awards, and are now on our 60th anniversary tour. We have been blessed! But our success means nothing if we haven’t used our platform to help others. Luke 12:48 says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” To us, this means we must invest our talents to give hope to those in need.
We’re commanded to care for the widows, the orphans, and those who can’t help themselves. And this concert is a very tangible way to do that. Serving meals at the Mission and singing Christmas carols in the dining room, alongside my daughter, is really where I saw the heart of this organization. Sometimes people think they can’t help because they can’t donate money. But they can—by giving their time and assisting on the front lines, serving meals to the homeless, and listening to them share their stories. It definitely changes a person’s perspective. My brothers and I look forward to this year’s Music with a Mission event. Those who attend won’t be disappointed, because once again it’s a lineup filled with talent and passion. It’s a chance to interact with the Mission on a different level and help the homeless of Middle Tennessee. I can’t wait to see you there. God Bless,
Rudy Gatlin LARRY GATLIN & THE GATLIN BROTHERS, have been dazzling audiences for 60 years. The road the trio has plowed has taken them to concert stages all over the world, and has seen their records top the charts and touch the lives of fans from eight to eighty. SEPTEMBER 2015
HEART of the MISSION 3
H E L P, H O P E , A N D
Healing W I T H Y O U R H E L P, BRANDY RECEIVED ALL THREE
“Although I grew up going to church, I didn’t know God,” said Brandy. “Nashville Rescue Mission’s Life Recovery Program showed me how to tell the truth from a lie. It was at the Mission where my journey of living in His will and healing from my past began.” Raised on a dairy farm in New York, Brandy’s childhood was traumatic. “I didn’t talk until I was five,” said Brandy. “I grew up in a family of alcoholics where feuding was common. When I was in first grade, my parents packed us up in the middle of the night and moved us to Ohio. We left everyone and everything I’d ever known behind—and it was never discussed again.” Brandy struggled in the midst of the mixed messages she received. “My mom babysat to bring in extra money,” recalls Brandy. “She verbally abused the kids, just like she did us, but then turned around and taught Sunday school. It was confusing to me. But, I’m thankful we went to church, because that’s where God put pastoral people in my life who loved me. Otherwise, I’m not sure I would have ever believed in God.” 4 HEART of the MISSION
SEPTEMBER 2015
BRANDY WAS 18 when she married Michael—AND when
she started drinking. “After being around alcohol as a kid, I had never wanted to drink. But I started hanging out with friends after work at a local bar. I was having so much fun, when the owner asked if I’d work at the bar, I said yes. Our daughter Julia came along a couple of years later and life got more complicated. Before I knew it, my drinking had escalated to the point I was out of control.” Much like how her family packed up and left when she was a child, Brandy left her husband and daughter—for a man she met while working at the bar. After suffering a number of devastating losses, including that relationship, Brandy lost herself in her addiction. “If I wasn’t drinking, I was puking, or passing out.” Things continued to deteriorate as Brandy found a new love—cocaine. She spent the next four years selfdestructing. “I wanted the madness to end,” recalled Brandy. “I knew this wasn’t who I was. But I couldn’t stop. Rock bottom came the night I hit someone or something with my car. I was so messed up, I had no idea who or what I hit. The thought that I might have killed someone and could spend the rest of my life in prison was sobering. I’m thankful I didn’t hit anyone, and grateful that it put me on a path to a Christian halfway house.” “GOD USED PAUL and Karon Rose to change the course of my life,” said Brandy. “I stayed five months at a halfway house where they worked in Indiana. When I relapsed,
“NASHVILLE RESCUE MISSION IS THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH!
I WENT BROKEN
and got mended,
I WENT WOUNDED
and got healed,
I WENT DESPERATE
and got rescued,
I WENT EMPTY
and got filled,
I WENT GUILTY
and was pardoned by the grace of Jesus.”
they loved me enough to tell me about Nashville Rescue Mission’s Life Recovery Program and to drive me to Nashville so I could get away from the environment I was in and relearn how to live.” Brandy vividly recalls the day things changed for her while at the Mission. “I was sitting in the chapel when a pastor preached on John 5. I didn’t want to be there. But when he asked if any of us wanted to be whole, it was as though God himself was asking me if I wanted to be well. I was ready to get whole. My answer was unequivocally yes!” She spent the next seven months learning everything she could about how to live a godly life. “I didn’t know God. The staff and volunteers at Nashville Rescue Mission … they served me. They were the mouth, the hands, and the feet of Christ to me. They showed me God.” IT WAS at Nashville Rescue Mission where Brandy’s journey
of healing began. She graduated from the Mission’s Life Recovery Program in March 2009 and over the last six years she’s continued to seek God. “God gave me a heart for the widows and the orphans,” said Brandy. “I enjoy studying the word of God and want to serve Him.” This decision has led Brandy to serve those in need in the Philippines and Brazil on short-term mission trips. She’s worked as a nurse’s aid to the elderly and a housemother at the same Christian halfway house where she first sought help.
“I had the privilege of reading the 23rd Psalm to a dying man in his final days, as well as help a blind woman use a fork,” said Brandy. “God is allowing me to be His hands and feet to those who need hope. The rewards are priceless—in fact, they’re eternal.” TODAY, Brandy is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with an emphasis on Addictions and Recovery at Liberty University. “I don’t know God’s plan,” said Brandy, “but I know there is no better place to be than in His will. Today, I want to be obedient because I love Him.” For the first time in her entire life, Brandy is living on her own and her daughter Julia recently came to live with her. “I’m so extremely blessed,” said Brandy. “God has restored so much in my life. But I’m still healing. Every day, God is working on me and my character defects.” “At the Mission, I learned a new way to live, and when I left, I took that home with me. God has blessed me with an incredible life. My 14-year-old daughter gets up at 5:00 a.m. each morning to spend time with the Lord. She’s seen a real God work a real miracle. There is no greater joy. I’m so grateful.”
Paul Rose supervised Mission Acres from 1985 to 2000, a rehabilitation farm operated by Nashville Rescue Mission from 1969 to 2001.
HELP SOMEONE If you know someone in a situation like Brandy’s, have them call us at 615-255-2475.
SEPTEMBER 2015
HEART of the MISSION 5
FEED my SHEEP PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY—WE ARE CALLED TO FEED THEM
Reverend John Swyers didn’t set out to run one of Nashville’s largest food box distribution centers. With a congregation of 16 people, he was simply looking for ways to get his congregation more involved in the community. “I was following God’s command to ‘feed my sheep.’” With over 24 years of service as a prison chaplain, Rev. Swyers moved to Nashville to lead St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in 1981. In the heart of one of Nashville’s poorest areas of town, Rev. Swyers wanted to find a way to give people help and hope. “Nashville Rescue Mission became our neighbor when they opened their Women’s Campus in 1987,” said Swyers. “When an intern from Vanderbilt Divinity School was assigned to our church a couple years later, it was her suggestion that we start serving breakfast to the homeless women, one Sunday a month.” 6 HEART of the MISSION
SEPTEMBER 2015
Eventually this intern would become the Breakfast Coordinator at St. Paul’s, where they now serve breakfast every Sunday to the homeless women and children staying at the Mission and have done so for the past 26 years. “While our congregation is small, we have a collective group of nearly 100 volunteers representing seven different churches, a variety of denominations and civic groups, who take turns helping prepare and serve the women and their children breakfast every Sunday. Our serving is not only an outreach to the women in need, but it also provides us with an opportunity to give back to the kitchen staff at the Mission’s Women’s Campus who faithfully serve the homeless in our community every day.” ANYWHERE FROM 8 to 15 volunteers show up each Sunday
morning, ready to prepare and serve a hot, hearty breakfast to over 150 homeless women and children. “Over and over we hear how much this means to the women and their children,” said Swyers. “So many will stop to say ‘thank you’ and ‘God bless you’ after they’ve received their meal. Over the years, we’ve had some of the women return to worship with us after breakfast. They are kind, gentle people who need help and hope. We are grateful for the opportunity to serve them.”
St. Paul’s breakfast ministry serves over 150.
“I’M BLESSED AND WANT TO BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS. I’VE SAID IT MANY TIMES BEFORE, YOU DON’T HAVE TO REINVENT THE WHEEL, YOU SIMPLY NEED TO FEED THE HUNGRY. PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY—FEED THEM— ONE MEAL AT A TIME.”
In 1997, St. Paul’s became a food box distribution center for Second Harvest Food Bank. Today, they are one of Nashville’s most used food banks. “We hand out anywhere from 25 to 35 food boxes each day. In 2014, we distributed over 8,000 food boxes in our community. Our goal is to proclaim the Gospel, one meal at a time, one box of food at a time.” “ST. PAUL’S MIGHT be a small church with a small congregation, but they are making a big impact in this community,” said Carolyn Grossley, director of the Mission’s Women’s Campus. “Rev. Swyers, his church, and their volunteers have been such a blessing to the ladies who live at the Mission. Not only have they served meals, but they are constantly asking, ‘What can we do to help?’ It’s a beautiful thing when the body of Christ comes together to help those in need.”
Darlene Lawson and Billy Gittens, members of the local community, volunteer on a weekly basis with St. Paul’s breakfast ministry.
Rev. Swyers, who is 75 years old said, “God has been good to me and I’m having the time of my life. I don’t take these gifts for granted. I’m blessed and want to be a blessing to others. I’ve said it many times before, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, you simply need to feed the hungry. People are hungry—feed them—one meal at a time.”
HOW CAN YOU GET YOUR CONGREGATION INVOLVED? Learn more about volunteer opportunities at nashvillerescuemission.org and click on Get Involved.
SEPTEMBER 2015
HEART of the MISSION 7
LIVES YOU HAVE
TOUCHED
5th Annual
MUSIC WITH A MISSION
JULY 2015
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2015 SCHERMERHORN SYMPHONY CENTER | 7:00 P.M.
Hosted by LARRY GATLIN & THE GATLIN BROTHERS
Join us for a magical night of musical entertainment featuring some of Nashville's most talented singers, songwriters, and performers, along with the Nashville Symphony.
Featuring special guests
THE BEEGIE ADAIR TRIO
THE ISSACS
MO PITNEY
CLARK BECKHAM
Daily Avg
Monthly
Meals Served
1,659
51,419
Nights of Lodging
794
24,622
Chapel Attendance
540
16,752
Education Hours
94
2,913
Bible Class Attendance
22
686
Decisions & Prayers
38
1,168
Volunteer Hours
192
5,955
Travel n/a Assistance
15
Program n/a Graduates
9
is a proud member of
JIMMY FORTUNE
GARY MULE DEER
TEEA GOANS
CHARLIE McCOY
All artists are donating their time with proceeds benefiting Nashville Rescue Mission. Visit nashvillerescuemission.org/musicwithamission
TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE. VISIT NASHVILLESYMPHONY.ORG
639 Lafayette Street, Nashville, TN 37203 615-255-2475 | nashvillerescuemission.org