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I joined Literacy Connexus . . .
When I became Minister of Missions at First Baptist Church, Georgetown, sixteen years ago, one of our biggest ongoing ministries was our Literacy/ESL classes, and that remains true today. Over the years, we have also assisted people in preparing to take their Citizenship Test and getting their GED. Many lives have been touched, both students and tutors, through this strong Literacy Ministry.
Through all these years, our Literacy Ministry has expanded to reach even more people in additional venues--and more of our members have become involved. For the past three years, as part of FirstSERVES Day, our annual community serve day, one of our most popular ministries has been building bookcases to give locally, to one of our partner schools, and through Literacy Connexus' Books for the Border and Beyond. Our goal each year was to build 100 bookcases, and many father/son teams met that goal and had fun doing it! We also gathered enough books so that along with each bookcase, each child received at least five books. For many of these children, along the border and right here in our own community, this was the first time they had ever had a bookcase and these were the first children's books in their home. It has been a win-win.
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Several years ago, we began partnering with five elementary schools, a middle school, and Head Start, looking for ways in which we could serve them as they served their students, faculty and staff, and families. Each year, we prayer walk every school in our district, praying for the students, the faculty and staff, and the families served by that school. We also adopted the faculty and staff in each of the seven schools - serving in multiple ways throughout the year to encourage them. In one school, when we asked the principal how we could help them, she suggested we become "reading buddies." Their goal is for each student, Kindergarten - second grade, to read fifteen minutes each day outside of class. Since many of the students in this Title 1 school don't have that support at home, our team became that much-needed reading buddy. This has been a blessing to the reading buddies as well as a benefit to the students involved.
Another way we have been involved in our community schools has been through the Backpack Buddy program. Ours was begun through the Ministerial Alliance, and our church has been involved from the beginning. Many local churches partner with specific schools to "kit" foods the children on free and reduced lunch take home on Friday so they'll have food to eat on the weekends. The teachers report that these students now return to school on Monday mornings more alert and more ready to learn. What a blessing it has been to know we are showing Christ's love to "those who are hungry."
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This is FBC Georgetown's twentieth year to serve our community at Christmas through "Merry Christmas with Love." We not only serve families in the multi-housing communities where we have ongoing ministries, but we touch many other lives throughout our community as well. One of the gifts given to approximately 200 children each year is a package of books. For many of these children, these are the first books these children have ever had to call their own.
For many years, we have hosted Back-to-School Block Parties in our adopted multi-housing communities before the school year begins. Not only do we provide games and food, but we also provide much-needed school supplies, age-graded for the students who live in each community. As part of Merry Christmas with Love, we again give school supplies as part of each family's Christmas box.
Another partner ministry is with the Literacy Council of Williamson County in providing paperback books and dictionaries for inmates in the local jail who are participants in the literacy classes while they are incarcerated. Our members love to find a new home for books they have already enjoyed reading.
What a blessing it has been to see our members involved in serving others through the many aspects of our Literacy Ministry. God gets all the glory for all that has been accomplished in and through all of these ministries.
Charlotte Watson, Recently Retired Minister of Missions
First Baptist Church Georgetown, TX
(In case you missed Charlotte's Praline Recipe, click here!)
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The thing we love almost as much as giving books to families is encouraging others to do the same.
Nuts over Reading is one way we do that. It's an opportunity for you to participate in the work of this ministry, and, at the same time, spread the word to friends and loved ones.
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Save the date . . .
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Lester Meriwether, Executive Director
Offices at Henderson Hall - Agape Baptist Church
3954 Southwest Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76116
817-696-9898
lester@literacyconnexus.org
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Trivia Challenge
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1. Casket--or Casquette--girls arrived in New Orleans from France in the 18th century. They were originally called fille à la cassette (girl with a cassette). Recruited mainly from church-run orphanages and convents, they landed in Louisiana to become:
a) above-ground tomb tenders
b) cooks' apprentices c) musicians d) wives
2. When Job's health, family, and fortunes were restored, he had three daughters and seven sons. The eldest daughter's name was:
a) Jerusha
b) Jemimah
c) Joanna
d) Judith
3. The word pecan is of Native American origin (Algonquin) and was used to describe all nuts requiring a stone to crack. About how many pecans does it take to make a pie?
Problem accessing the answers? Reply to this email and we'll shoot them your way.
These instructional links may help:
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