Community – LoveBeyondWalls

Terence Lester In Community, Community Service, Diversity, Get Educated, Serve, Serving

Displaying Empathy To Others

Having “Empathy” means:

1. Having the ability to “walk in someone else’s shoes” for as long as You need to connect with them in order to be able to feel what they are feeling.

2. Wanting to understand what they are going through and show them they are not alone.

3. Not judging their situation in any way, not making yourself the Saviour and them the Victim.

4. Seeing them as they are. Offering them the space of your empathic presence allows them to feel seen and accepted. From there on, change and healing can take place.

Be empathic and #lovebeyondwalls

LBW Team

Terence Lester In College Park, Community, Community Service

Next week, we are hanging out in the community with a group that is coming from Orlando, FL to serve with us! We are excited that this group from Genesis Church has chosen to come up here and serve with us.

LBW Team

Terence Lester In Community, Get Educated, Raising Awareness, The Doers Podcast, Transform, Voiceless Film

Jasmine Shepherd – The Doers Podcast

We are often asked, “How do you really get someone off of the streets?”

It is probably the most complex question we are asked because everyone experiencing homelessness doesn’t arrive at the experience the same way.

Some people experience job layoffs, some people lose family members, some women experience abuse, some teens find the experience because they timed out of foster care, some people use drugs and addiction to cope with life, and many other reasons.

We’ve come to find out that many people experiencing homelessness have several challenges, but the one of the greatest challenges is community.

Having community and people to catch you when you fall is important. If you could point to one person that has helped you through a difficulty—you will automatically know what I’m talking about.

This week we get to share the story of community with Jasmine Shepherd.

She’s a young lady that instead of talking decided to take a step to help a man (Mr. Philip) experiencing homelessness reunite with his family after 40 years.

When I asked her what pushed her to serve in this way, she responded with these words,

“My greatest desire is to travel to the ends of this earth serving the overlooked, the underprivileged, and spreading the Gospel. The Spirit led me to #lovebeyondwalls with Mr. Philip. After watching the documentary “Voiceless” and praying for God to use me to reach His people, I became intentional about making a difference in my community. Shortly after, our paths crossed and I saw a need. Once I got to know Mr. Philip, something about his story and genuine personality tugged at my heart and I just couldn’t give up on him.”

From her story, we’ve learned that sometimes getting to know people, and taking a step can transform someone’s life.

In the words of Jasmin, “to me, #lovebeyondwalls means to love one another just as Jesus loves us. It means we are responsible for meeting people right where they are, looking past their circumstances. We must build one another up, provide support, hope, and the greatest of all-LOVE.”

Check out her incredible podcast interview above.

Terence

Terence Lester In Be the Church, Collaboration, Community, Mission, Missions, Movement of Doers, Resources, Volunteerism

Spring Break & Love

Kentucky to Atlanta!

This week starts our “Spring Break & Love” days of service around the community and in the heart of downtown Atlanta.

We are excited to have a group traveling here from Kentucky to serve with us multiple days to provide love and hope to the many people we will encounter during our time together.

LBW Team

Terence Lester In Campaigns, Community, Community Service, Engagements, Life Change, Life-dares, Mobile Shelter, Resources, Vision, Volunteerism

You will not believe this!

Over the last couple of months, our organization has been intentional about giving people experiencing homelessness untraditional housing to get them off of the streets, and provide a place to stay that’s safe.

If we can be honest, it’s been messy, hard, confusing, and fun all at the same time. We’ve laughed with them, have had the privilege of celebrating successes, and have talked through struggles.

Long story short, we’ve just taken what’s in front of us and have used it to serve those who are forgotten.

Little did we know that a family was watching our work with using trailers to provide housing. Well, this same family reached out and donated our organization this RV trailer! Wow is all we can say!

We can’t wait to reveal what this will become for our next campaign.

LBW Team

Terence Lester In Community, Community Service, Movement of Doers, Poverty, Purpose, Vision

McNair Middle School – Resource

Last week, we partnered with FlyLife & McNair Middle to set up a resource closet to service students in need who are food insecure and have little to eat when they get home from school.

We were super grateful to have both the students and educators participating in setting up the resource closet for other students to access resources.

LBW Team

Terence Lester In Campaigns, Christmas, Community, Community Service, The Local Church, Vision, Volunteerism

Love Beyond Walls Christmas 2016

This year for Christmas, we partnered with Bronner Bros. Covered Bridge Church Revolution Church and Tyler Perry Studios to bring hope and dignity to hundreds of families.

Check out our recap video and share!

Love Beyond Walls Christmas 2016 from Love Beyond Walls on Vimeo.

LBW Team

Terence Lester In Community, Community Service, Reconciliation, Resources, Story, Vision, Volunteerism

Day of Love & Christmas Deliveries

This past Saturday, we partnered with Revolution Church, CoveredBridge Church, Bronner Bros. & a well-known studio to serve many families for the Holidays.

We had over 50 volunteers loving on 250+ families in College Park. Not only did we serve them, but we prayed for tons of people who expressed their pains, hurts, and fears.

This coming Saturday, we are delivering the gifts collected for the families we adopted for Christmas.

Check out some of the pictures below!

If you’d like to make a year end contribution, support our work [HERE].