His Hands Outreach has been putting down roots in our neighborhood since 2013. We are ordinary people following an extraordinary God. We are striving to make Jesus real and relevant in our lives and our desire is that all of us can experience how real and present God is in our lives daily.
in 2013 a group of us who wanted more out our christian walk, prayer walked this neighborhood asking God what we should do. One week later we rented a 10x10 Garden Plot, We picnicked in the park and planned to make it a weekly thing. The very next week the city gave us the whole Garden; equal to 30 plots! At the same time we were asked to take care of the flowers at the park in which we picnicked Every Sunday. God slung the doors wide open to give us a purpose and reason to be here. For 2 years we gave away our produce, made many friends, and beautified the Park. During that time we developed many relationships with our neighbors as we set roots in this neighborhood.
Our Sunday Picnic became Sunday-Funday to the neighborhood kids who joined us. We did a short devotional, shared thankfulness and prayed together before eating and games. The kids called this their "church". Between Farming a 40 x 100 lot, distributing the produce door to door, taking care of the flower beds and providing new park equipment we stayed very busy during the warm months. Our numbers and relationships were growing, some families from the neighborhood joined our activities, neighbors would come to the park for prayer and encouragement and we got to know the people and history of this neighborhood that many affectionately call 'Podunk'.
We were still outsiders, none of us lived there and when winter came our core group would meet in each others houses to keep the rhythm going, but we really needed a building to continue building relationships and trust; pouring into the kids and neighbors lives. We looked for a house to rent that was close to the park and within our meager budget without much luck. Then all of a sudden a for rent sign appeared on a house directly across from the park!
The house was nice and way out of our budget, but winter was fast approaching...After an impromptu board mtg. and a tour of the house we gathered in the park to pray and vote about it. The vote was a unanimous yes! Hope Grows Neighborhood Center opened in Sept 1, 2015
OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
"HIS HANDS OUTREACH EXISTS TO CREATE SPACE WHERE THE BODY OF CHRIST CONNECT WITH AND SERVES OUR NEIGHBORS"