Here’s a letter I wrote this morning to a group of men who are considering joining our first Faith of a Mustard Seed work team. My dream is to take seven men from the Northwest with me, and team up with other men in Indy. We have room for a couple of more men. Do you want to be part of planting this mustard seed and watching it take off?
Friends,
I wanted to get you an update on the trip to Indy to work on the “home base” for Faith of a Mustard Seed (F.O.M), a social purpose business whose mission is to build relationships between people of different races by working together on a common cause of empower African American’s through business and home ownership.
My friend Donteau is the owner of F.O.M. We will be working on his house that will be the home base for the business. He and I are really excited to get this program launched and you are the test or “pilot” group.
Some of you I’ve only spoken to briefly about the trip, but I wanted to keep you in the loop. Others have said they plan to go. My hope and dream is to bring 7 guys from the northwest and to team up with other men back in Indy.
We’re at the point that we need to have commitments of who is going and you’ll need to purchase your plane ticket. Once you’re there, all food and other costs will be covered.
Jim Gibons and I have booked our flights. The round trip for me was under $200.
Here’s some details.
1. Arrive in Indy on Saturday, Sept 12. We will arrange for youto get picked up from the airport. If you want to get a rental car that’s find but that cost is on you.
2. Staying at Redeemer. We’ll be staying in the youth room of thechurch I pastored in Indianapolis, Redeemer. www.redeemindy.org.I’m going to see if I can get congregation members to loan us airmattresses, cots, etc. I’m super thankful that Redeemer has openedher doors for us to stay.
3. Meals: We’ll eat breakfast at the church, pack lunch and eat lunchat the worksite. Volunteers will be making/bringing dinner to the worksite. As long as the weather is good we’ll eat our meals outside.
4. Program. Since the heart of this business is to bring people togetheraround a common cause and to build relationships, even friendships,we’ll be spending time in the evenings focused on that. I don’t want to go into details about that now, but this is going to be a really impactful time for everyone involved!
5. Cost. The cost to you is the cost of the airfare. It is also the cost of taking a week of your life and using it to work hard to serve people you don’t yet know, and in a community where you don’t live. There is a cost to your family to have you gone for this long. There is the risk of getting sick due to the pandemic we’re living in. There is the cost of stepping into a program that is just getting started and won’t be as wellorganized as it should be. There are a lot of other costs to that I won’t mention now. But as followers of Jesus, all of those costs pale in comparison to the cost of our Lord and Savior who left the comfort and glory of heaven to give his life up for us to make us spiritually rich. There will also be the joys of being together as a band of brothers. I’m excited to bring you into friendship with one of my best friends, Donteau. And I’m excited to grow in my friendship with each of you men. I’m excited to share with you the beauty, grace and hospitality of the African American community in Indy.
6. Finishing up on Thursday, September 17 We will be wrapping up by noon on Thursday, September 17. You can decide to fly out later on Thursday, or on Friday, or if you want to stay and checkout the documentary on Saturday, 19th, you’re welcome to do that too. Iwill be recruiting some guys who live in Indy to come in on the Thursday, 17 and Friday, 18, to work on the house so that we are able to get a full week of work done. But as I said, you are released at noon on Thursday, 17.
7. Cool Story: Last week I reached out to an old friend Kourtney Zahn who I knew from Redeemer where he attended for a while. He was trying to figure out his calling, whether to be a full time youth minister or to go full steam ahead in a masonry business he had started. He ended up starting Masonry Outfitters and his business has taken off. During Kourtney’s time at Redeemer Indy, he, my brother Jed, Donteau and Doug Jesch, a member of Redeemer Indy, took a trip to attend Redeemer New York’s Faith and Work conference. So Kourtney knew Donteau from that trip. Anyway, I shared that Donteau needed to have some work done on the foundation of his house. Kourtney said that he wouldbe happy to look at it, and if it was something that they could work on that he would like to donate it to the project. His generosity brought joy to my heart and tears to my eyes. I’m excited for you to meet Kourtney.
Please let me know by August 10 if you are willing and able to join us on this work project or not. Thanks Jim!
Grace, Jason
Identity Mapping 