DREAM AGAIN!    

Dear Friends,    

 

We've been on a journey of discovering the new vision that God has for the Dream Center. In the past, we used the tool of recreation to build relationships with the teens and young men. But, recently, we sensed a dissatisfaction and knew there were better ways for us to reach them; ways that could reach within the potential of who they are, ways that brought LIFE to their hearts and their community.

 

We began to DREAM AGAIN. After a few months of talking to God, talking to friends, brainstorming, spending time in Creation and creative environments, the light bulb came on! Through this discovery process, we decided to move in the direction of bringing more creative outlets to the young people. We are very excited about this new way of reaching them!

 

 

 

We also know that it will take a significant chunk of time to build these new tools into our existing body as a non-profit.

 

In February 2013, shortly after my Sabbatical, Janell and I went away for the weekend to pray. As I've shared in letters before, I was still very burned out at that time. I sat quietly to listen to what God was saying and this thought came to my mind, "Rachel, what if you took an entire year, put the outreaches on pause and spend that time building and strengthening the foundational parts of the Dream Center?" 

 
When we returned from the prayer trip, Janell and I talked through it and our hearts were saying, "This is right." God so graciously confirmed it by leading us to a very specific and pivotal scripture.
   
 

We meditated on these verses for over a year and asked God to show us exactly what He was telling us to do. We saw "the land" as symbolizing two parts. The land was us (the staff and volunteers) and the city of East St. Louis (the people we have been ministering to). We personally needed a rest and the people's hearts needed space and time to receive all the seed we had sown into their lives. We began seeking God about a plan.

 

In March 2013, we went from six outreaches a month to two. When we took this step of faith, our volunteer team went from 6 to 35 people within one month! God miraculously provided volunteers in a way we had never seen before! This gave us confidence that we were headed in the right direction. Another indication was that last year's outreaches were our most fruitful in terms of sweeter and stronger relationships built with the teens and young men. This couldn't have been done by striving and struggling on our own, but only by taking a step back to breathe and let God do the work.

 

In the Fall of 2013, as we evaluated our outreaches, the original thought while on our prayer trip came back to me ever so gently, "Rachel, what if you took an entire year, put the outreaches on pause and spent that time building and strengthening the foundational parts of the Dream Center?" It was as if God was saying, "If you will take this time to slow down, rest and let ME work, you'll see greater fruit and more changed lives than you've ever seen before." 

 

Shortly after this reminder, we stumbled upon Nebula Co-working in St. Louis, MO. Nebula exists to "provide space for creative professionals, small businesses, independent contractors, artists and non-profits looking for a place to build, create, develop, and collaborate." This was the perfect fit for us as we were moving into a new season of DREAMING AGAIN, re-writing the vision, networking and building the foundational parts of the Dream Center. We moved our office into Nebula in April 2014. This move has been wonderful for us! It has stirred up fresh vision and creativity for the Dream Center.   

 

 

We wrote a vision statement for this year in order to keep our focus clear. It says, "We will take a portion of time to re-discover what and who we are called to be as a non-profit. During this season, we will take time to rest, pray and let God restore the dreams He has for us and East St. Louis. We will also build the foundational and people-parts of the Dream Center, brick by brick. This will not be a rushed and thrown together season, but a season of preparation, creativity and delight. During this time we are transforming from a ministry-machine into a natural and creative non-profit organization that moves in the "unforced rhythms of grace" (Matthew 11: 28-30 The Message).                                                                                                                          

   

We have written out a fluid plan of how long we think it will take to build the foundational parts of the Dream Center. We project that it will take anywhere from 12 to 16 months. If God leads us to use more or less time, we will follow that prompting.  

 

CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEW DC BUSINESS PLAN

 

 

In the past, when we have paused our outreaches, God has always taken care of the young people. We have shared the exciting changes with them and we've assured them that they are free to contact us at any time. Also, there are other very faithful non-profits in the community that will take care of them, places where the young people can go on a daily basis.


Our outreaches will be on pause, but we will still be operating as a non-profit organization, working weekly on building the foundational parts of the Dream Center. We will still have most of our regular operational expenses (rent, insurance, staff salaries, web site, etc.). We ask that you continue your regular giving as you have done so faithfully. Your giving will help us to continue our work and complete this God given assignment to "Build the foundation."

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We know that you could choose to invest your money into any non-profit and we feel so honored that you have chosen to give to the Dream Center!  Lives have been changed and they will continue to be changed because of you! THANK YOU!

 

LOVING East St. Louis,

Rachel and the DREAM Center Team
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phone- 618.698.0898
email- esldc@eaststlouisdreamcenter.org
web site- www.eaststlouisdreamcenter.org