"So then as we have the opportunity, let us do good to everyone". Gal. 6:10

A Strong Hand to Many
Strong Life Ministries has been pressing into summer with full force this June. We have filled an unprecedented number of gas vouchers from referring agencies in the community, packed food boxes to help with the overflow of hunger in our area, paid copays on medications, and grown in grace to keep loving those in greatest need.

We continue to grow with our structure as we just finished extending and painting our parking lot. This added over 15 spaces for people to park and provided a shaded area for those living in their cars to come rest during the daytime hours.

Thankful for Growth
Summer Jam has started. This past Friday was wonderful with over 35 in attendance and we are just getting started! Every Friday this summer our friend James, a retired veteran will be setting up under the pavilion to sing contemporary Christian music to our folks and help us refocus from the long summer weeks.

At Strong Life Men's program, we have 2 men close to graduating and would ask you to pray for them to finish well as they both have found options for permanent housing they are trying to solidify to move forward and graduate!

We are so incredibly thankful for our support in the community. Twice this past month we have nearly run out of supplies and before we could even post the items we were lacking, truckloads were at our bay with the exact things we needed. We can attest to God’s provision through His people!

We are looking for help this July 4th and 5th to serve lunch for our friends in need. If you or a group is interested in providing or coming to serve, please contact us by replying to this email or [email protected].

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Galatians 6:9

Paving the future!
We are thrilled to announce that our efforts to cultivate a thriving community have borne fruit in very tangible ways. Thanks to the support and agreement of others with Pastor John Hays' vision for the disenfranchised sector of our society, we have made significant improvements to our campus. The installation of new asphalt and the teamwork involved in the completion of the project is a testament to the power of unity and collective agreement. These enhancements are operationally necessary and present us properly to our clients and the surrounding community.  It is a welcoming environment for all who come through our doors seeking solace and spiritual nourishment.  

Your assistance as a community in this venture has "paved" the way for "Improved Accessibility" considering that asphalt provides smooth and durable surfaces, facilitating easier access for vehicles and pedestrians. This can enhance accessibility to businesses, making them more attractive to customers and increasing foot traffic. Your care fosters "Economic Growth" because the presence of well-maintained roads and parking lots can stimulate economic activity by attracting businesses and investment to the area. Improved infrastructure encourages commercial development and can lead to job creation and increased property values.

Your resources present an "Aesthetic Appeal" in that freshly laid asphalt enhances the overall aesthetic of a business district or community. Neatly paved roads, parking lots, and sidewalks contribute to a clean and attractive environment, leaving a positive impression on visitors and clients alike. Your actions promote "Durability and Longevity" as asphalt is known for its durability and resistance to wear and tear. Properly installed and maintained asphalt surfaces can withstand heavy traffic and harsh weather conditions, reducing the need for frequent repairs and saving both time and money in the long run. So we say thank you for your continued support and for putting your resources into the vision.

Sowing Bountifully!
The past few months have been astonishing and at the same time expected.  We are awe-inspired and delighted to share with you the great things that are happening at “StrongLife”!

As we continue to sow seeds of hope and love into our community, we have witnessed the supernatural and bountiful harvest of God's blessings unfolding before our eyes. In Matthew 13:3-9, Jesus tells the parable of the sower who went out to sow. This timeless lesson teaches us about the importance of not just sowing seeds but sowing seeds of faith, hope, and love in fertile hearts. At Strong Life Rescue Mission, we strive to emulate the sower in this parable, spreading the seeds of God's Word far and wide, trusting in His provision and sovereignty.
 
Would you please help us continue to make Strong Life what it should be?  We need the friends of this ministry to get the word out to others who might be interested in making the provisions, partner with, and those who would volunteer. Strong Life has launched a campaign to attract a consistent volunteer force so that we can expand our availability to the homeless community.  Would you please take the time to forward this newsletter to those who might help?
 
For more information about volunteering, please contact John Hays at 828-994-4321 or email us at [email protected].

A Fresh Start
Strong Life has had the great honor of seeing several vehicles donated directly to individuals this past year. We can say our truck story is extra special due to how it came and who received it. Blake is in the last phase of our program and has overcome many challenges and met so many goals this past year. Getting a vehicle was his last major goal in our program.

The Caldwell family heard of this opportunity and were more than willing to give their family truck in loving memory of their late husband and father Robert Caldwell. This gift encouraged and blessed us all. The result is that Blake now has a more reliable way to get to work, to visit his family, and is finishing strong in our men's program.  All the while a family shared their faith and love in Jesus by presenting a precious gift and memory to make it all happen.

New Life Fills Hearts
We introduced April and closed out the winter season with a huge cookout. We are very thankful to the church of New Life Downtown located at the corner of 2nd Ave and 3rd St. NE in downtown Hickory. They came and prepared a wonderful meal for nearly 90 people. We celebrated this cookout under our new picnic shelter and the day was as full of Joy as stomachs were with food. We were thankful for the faithfulness of this church which was willing to invest so much into us and the homeless community the day before Easter Sunday as it could have been easy for them to be focused on so many other things!

Strong Life is excited to share many improvements to come with our campus in the next few months in our future newsletters. If you can’t wait come by and see us for a vision tour and learn more about how you can help those in greatest need. Call 828-994-4321 to set up a meeting with John or Larry for a tour.

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases." Lamentations 3:22

A Love That's Seen
We have gotten off to a fast and nostalgic start to the year at Strong Life.  We see a lot of movement in people who are pressing forward in love. There have been 5 of our folks this past month, who have found housing outside of the city of Hickory, including 2 from our Strong Life Men’s program who just moved to their new home in Marion.

Recently we met with members of the St. Stephens Lions Club and they presented us with 2 vouchers for those in our homeless community who need glasses. Many don’t realize glasses and eye exams can be very difficult for those in poverty to achieve. Partnering with the Lions Club has provided free eye exams and a pair of prescription glasses for those in our community who have need. We help our folks make the appointments and give them transportation to help make it happen. We are very thankful for their efforts and look forward to continued success together.

We have had an outpouring of phone calls and testimonies from folks who have come through Strong Life the past few years and have re-established themselves with work and found their way home. We can’t say how excited we are to receive these phone calls and reports from folks we got to journey with at such a difficult time in their life.

There has been a movement of a revival in the air as many have made a fresh surrender to Christ with their lives and others who asked us if they could be baptized. We are thankful to our neighbors at Christ Church Hickory who allowed us to use their facilities inside during the cold weather to hold these baptisms.

A Love That Serves
We are growing! We just finished pouring a truck full of concrete to allow for a covered area to be placed for our friends to seek shade and be outside longer during the hot summer months ahead. We look forward to seeing the completion of this project. It will allow for flexible space that will allow us to deal with an overflow of high numbers and give opportunities for fellowship, picnics, and cookouts in the future.

This covered patio will help tremendously with our grounds and keep our folks out of the mud in the winter. Are you willing to come serve with us? There will be opportunities to volunteer if you have a group looking for a project, we will have plenty to do in our courtyard area between now and summer. We can be reached just by replying to this email or our website. We pray we can all move forward in love as we grow together this year.

"And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. 7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness." Colossians 2:6-7

Warmth and Faithfulness
We are excited to usher in a new year at Strong Life Rescue Mission. We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on January 11th. We have been extremely busy doing all our normal activities and making sure we are available as a warming center for folks to come during the artic temperatures we have been experiencing.

Strong Life has provided over a thousand meals so far this winter outside of our daily hot lunches dropped off by The Corner Table. These include hot breakfast plates and over 400 hot plates given by churches and individuals to help feed the needs before us on holidays and weekends. To help people stay warm we have given out nearly 120 sleeping bags so far this season and we are committed to providing as many as needed to keep people warm.

Strong Life also saw another milestone come and go this past Monday January 15th as we helped over 75 people at our facility. We made over 10 trips with our minibus in the morning and afternoon to get everyone around and no one left Strong Life cold or hungry. This milestone has come about through our continued structuring and added seating over the years to allow as many people as possible to be served.

A Growth That Matters
This time of year can be challenging as a lot of the pats on the back and benevolent giving from the Christmas season fade away, and we are left to face the bitter cold and help people negotiate difficult and sometimes life-threatening situations. One of our friends who was living in the woods, whom we just put on the bus to Charlotte to be reunited with family put it this way. " I am forever grateful and don't know what I would have done without your ministry....without Strong Life people literally would be dying out here".  This is both encouraging and a reminder of how serious this time of year can be for the homeless in our area. Please understand instead of feeling overwhelmed and overworked our staff is Strong enough to continue to serve.

The word God gave us for this year is to GROW. This is exactly what we plan for in 2024. We are strategizing with our staff to develop a growth mindset for more volunteers and interns. We plan to make drastic construction changes for growth at our facilities to facilitate larger crowds and more donations. Most importantly we plan to grow deeper in our relationship with Christ Jesus.

Thank you for your prayers and support for those in need and we pray you too experience the warmth of growth in the year to come. May you grow deeper with God as you mature in love for others and become a blessing to many.

"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." Luke 2:14

Overcoming the Cold
We have had a wonderful holiday season at Strong Life. Below are some updates and prayer requests during the holiday season.

It has been incredible to see such a vast outpouring of coats, backpacks, food, and clothing for those in need.  We have finished the construction in our multipurpose building to provide more office space and educational classrooms! We will certainly be sharing more about this in the year ahead.

We are available to be open this winter on Saturdays to keep folks out of the cold. We try to do this from December to April of every year to help the homeless community. It is costly and difficult for our staff but very worth it for those in need. We would like to thank The Service League of Hickory for providing the funding for us to be open on Saturdays all December and January. We are incredibly grateful for their generosity, and it encourages us on cold, challenging mornings.

Peace in Uncertainty
Unfortunately, we have had our share of challenges as well. The transmission in our van needs to be replaced. To say that the roads haven’t been smooth would be an understatement. Our homeless friends encouraged us greatly after a trip from the Salvation Army one morning. They all got out of the van without being asked and said we would like to pray for God to provide whatever is needed for this to be fixed. We were in tears at the certainty of their faith and so blessed to witness the picture above.

Since taking the van to the shop it has needed a new shifter and transmission. That will total just over 6 thousand dollars. We would like to ask that you pray about helping with this bill if you are able. We have faith that the finances will be there to fix this issue. We have a plan in place to provide extra public transit tickets to get people around while our van is in the shop getting this work done. We also know God can do more than we even expect in situations like this. In this time, we remember that Jesus came in the manger to give us peace amidst all our circumstances whether they be good or difficult. We pray God’s peace be with you this Christmas.

Would you please help us continue to serve those in need?  We ask the friends of this ministry to get the word out to others who might be interested in helping with Strong Life so that we can expand our availability to the homeless community.  Would you please take the time to forward this newsletter to those who might help?

 "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 107:1

Incredible Blessings
At Strong Life, we have so much to be thankful for as we enter this wonderful season. God led us to grow a team with a heart to serve the homeless community. We can certainly say that has happened over the past year. There have been 4 new members added to our team that wholeheartedly desire to help those in need and show the love of Jesus.

We are almost finished with the new construction that will allow our ministry to expand into 2 new office spaces, an education room, and an additional bathroom. This space comes just in time as we are preparing for the winter months ahead. We have partnered with several churches and community partners such as The Service League of Hickory to open on Saturdays for the winter season starting December 2nd.

Thankful for Transformation
As the transition of the season is taking place, we are incredibly thankful to see God transform the lives and hearts of the people dealing with difficulty and crisis. One such individual is Derek. He came to us a few months ago coming off a life of strife, hard drugs, and extreme family discord. We had the opportunity to see Derek surrender his life to Jesus and his heart start to take shape. While coming to the Rescue Mission, he worked hard towards a life of stability. Then, he entered our transitional program for men. He saved money to buy a scooter, reconciled with some of his family, and most importantly began to grow in his walk with Jesus. Derek made the decision to be baptized! After he connected with a military recruiter, we celebrated his military departure to the Army as he hopes to provide a more stable future for his family and serve our country.

With this season of Thanksgiving upon us, we invite you to give thanks and join us in what God is doing to transform many lives like Derek. Would you forward our newsletter to a friend or tell someone about what Strong Life is doing as you see them during this special time of year? You are welcome to call 828-994-4321 or go to our website www.stronglifenc.org for more information.

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people." Galatians 6:10

Ministering in Love
We would like to share what a recent Friday at Strong Life looked like. After getting everyone shuttled in from the Salvation Army and going through our morning routine of snacks, physical needs, and devotional.  One of our pastors was purchasing a Greyhound bus ticket to get a friend across the state for a fresh start at a drug rehabilitation center. He encountered a man at the bus stop who overheard his position as a minister and asked for prayer. His name was Sam and he shared he had a terminal illness and was in town to see some family as he awaited his final months in this world. Our pastor counseled and prayed with him right there in the bus station. They cried together as he assured Sam of eternity and Sam professed his faith in Jesus Christ.

That same Friday Afternoon we had 2 separate visits that left us filled with gratitude. The first was a single mother named Carole who came needing gas to look for work and food for her and her daughter. We got to talk, laugh, and pray about some things as we talked about ways we could help and encourage her in the situation she was in. We gathered her groceries from our food pantry as well as household and toiletry items and had a powerful time of prayer together.

Just behind Carole, we met Jessica another single mother of 4 children referred to us for help with gas. She had just found a job and we had an opportunity to encourage her with many connections and opportunities for help in the area. We had a very uplifting time together as we helped her with groceries and filled her car up with gas. 

Establishing a Team
Strong Life is excited to announce we have filled the position of our day program coordinator after 2 months of searching. Larry Williams has answered our call and will be a great fit for the program.

Pastor Williams is a collegiate graduate and a 21-year veteran of the United States Air Force.  He is also the founder, senior pastor, and general overseer of Living the Word Church formerly of Conover, NC now relocating to Statesville, North Carolina.  As the husband of one wife and father of three; the ability to fuse the necessary collaboration between family and ministry has become synonymous and verifiable by all who encounter him.  He has attributes of insightfulness which are guided by the smooth hand of encouraging calmness.

We are thankful for your support and prayers. We readily confess that we need your help to get the word out for continued support and encouragement as the winter season approaches. We have a litany of needs that range from finances to blankets. Please visit our website to learn more or social media for current needs. Would you take the time to forward this newsletter to those who might help?
 
For more information email us at [email protected]. 

"For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall" 
Isaiah 25:4

Staying Cool and Hydrated
This summer in the Carolinas has been scorching hot with high levels of humidity. For July, most days reached 90 degrees and above. This heat wave makes it extremely dangerous to be outside for long periods without an adequate water supply and shade from the sun. At Strong Life Rescue Mission, we have added pop-up tents to serve as additional shade for our picnic area while using a large fan to provide cool air. Inside our main facility, we use air conditioning and a few extra fans to increase airflow within each room. In addition to keeping our facility as cool as possible in the summer heat, we supply everyone with bottled water and Gatorade to ensure that no one gets dehydrated. 

Each morning our staff shares the weather forecast for the day and the coming week during our morning devotionals to prepare everyone on what to expect. This is essential for those who live on the streets so they can prepare for the elements. Each season comes with different challenges and opportunities for those in the homeless community and we are so thankful that because of our financial supporters, staff, and volunteers, we can help alleviate those barriers. 

Creating Refuge One Step at a Time
Since we began construction for our new building in 2022, it is incredible to see all the new opportunities the space has brought us. Our new building has been up for several months , allowing us to have storage space for donated items such as clothes, blankets, and more. The vision does not stop there,  we are ecstatic to share that our second phase of construction is making lots of progress!

Currently, we are now adding two new office spaces, a bathroom, and a classroom along with the already existing storage for donations. The Lord has been so gracious as we have been constructing this building. Our vision is this additional space will provide safe and confidential meeting spaces, an additional restroom facility, and a place to host informative classes for small groups. We are confident that the Lord will continue to bless this ministry as we help those experiencing homelessness find hope and restoration. This new construction helps us do just that, provide a refuge to those in need. 

Would you please help us continue to make this happen? Please continue to pray for us as we continue our construction and try to provide a cooler area for those in the homeless community. You can help our ministry by donating cases of bottled water, and Gatorade powder, or donate financially by going to our website at stronglifenc.org. 

For more information about our ministry, please contact John Hays at 828-994-4321 or email us at [email protected].

"And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9

Changing Demographics in the Homeless Community
Most people have a certain idea in their minds of what a homeless person looks like. We can certainly vouch that demographics change in different areas, but we have seen an alarming trend here in Hickory. There is a growing number of elderly and disabled people who are homeless or unhoused in our area. The extreme housing crisis consists of hardly any low-income housing being built despite a growing population in our area. The lack of housing becoming available is leaving more and more vulnerable folks on the street.

We pack our van full of walkers, canes, and wheelchairs every day as we make our way over to our day program Strong Life Rescue Mission near Conover. We take on the role of a CNA some days helping people with basic needs that are limited by mobility. It is a heartbreaking way to share Christ’s love for those that are truly in the greatest need in our community. We certainly ask for your prayer in this situation that doors would open to care facilities, senior housing, or we can find housing in other cities for those that are most vulnerable. Please pray for strength and patience for our staff as well during this season.

Back with Family
At Strong Life, we have seen two men in the past month transition back to their families. Due to the lack of housing in our area, both men were offered an opportunity to go back to family or extended family, who lived out of town and out of state. Peter is back with his family in Lenoir and came back to see us to get some of his mail and we were able to bless them with some food on their way back. Another young man Thad is back with his extended family near Charleston, West Virginia, and has started working and walking in newfound recovery.

We are reminded in our time with people that the journey seems a bit longer when you’re headed home with a limp. It reminds us that God’s grace is sufficient for the journey even when we don’t feel we have enough of our own strength to take another step. We can testify that God will give us strength and lead us home while showing us a way to a stronger life.