What the Weather

So, in light of todays event cancelation due to weather…our team wanted to share with you what we take into account when we do cancel a Homeless Outreach Event. We get lots of questions about and it and so we wanted to share with you all how it works!

The thing that is always at the front of our minds when we think about our Homeless Outreach Events is the safety of our volunteers. Without our volunteers what we do wouldn’t be possible, and so we want to take care of them the best we can. The other big thing we look at is our meal prep. We on average prepare meals for between 150 and 200 folks per weekend. That’s a lot of food. And we don’t want to see that food go to waste. There are some parts of meals we can keep frozen until our next event…but most things won’t last. And so if we think there is a chance that weather could greatly interfere with a Homeless Outreach Event we consider a cancelation.
Our team really doesn’t like to cancel events. We hate not being able to go downtown and serve our friends. So we don’t take cancelations lightly.
We have also found over the years that when it’s raining or snowing…those we serve downtown don’t show up. They seek shelter from the elements. And so a Homeless Outreach Event in those conditions would just not work.
And the last thing we all know is that weather is unpredictable. We aren’t meteorologists. Our iPhones and computers do the best they can but aren’t perfect weather predictors. And so we may call a cancelation based on what we can see at the moment and in a matter of an hour the weather has changed all together! And that’s just how weather works! It’s a funny thing.

So hopefully that all helps. We do our best to communicate cancelations through our website and Facebook/Twitter…but we know we can’t reach everybody. And we apologize for that. Please let us know if you have any questions. We would love to talk to you about them!

Thanks for all your support and love. We really appreciate all of you deeply. You make The Andy Project what we are. So thank you.

Passion

As of late, I have fallen in love with the newest Passion CD…Passion:Here For You. It’s truly an anthem from the heart to God. I think part of the reason I love it so much is because I was at the Passion 2011 conference in ATL, but I think the other reason I love it so much is because the message of the album has so much to do with what we stand for at The Andy Project. Let me explain…

The opening track…by Chris Tomlin…is titled “Here For You.” This song talks about how everything we do…our praise, our songs, our actions, our love and affection…all of it is for Jesus, because we are “here” (Earth) to make his name known. And that is what we do at The Andy Project…we spread hope, love, and change in the name of Jesus. We want people to know how amazing the love and power of Jesus is…we are here for his renown and for his glory, not our own!

Let’s look at another track. Kristian Stanfill performed an original “Always.” The chorus goes like this…

“Oh my God, He will not delay, my refuge and strength always. I will not fear, his promise is true. My God will come through always!”

That is our message of hope at The Andy Project. Everybody faces difficult and challenging times, but when we rest our souls in Jesus, we have nothing to fear. The storms have nothing against us, because Jesus is our protector. He always has, and always will provide for us.

The more and more I listen to this album, the more and more I think about what Charlie Hall said in an interview during a Passion video. He said, “The hope would be that all of these songs that we keep singing, and singing, and singing would turn into affection toward God and action to the world.” And that is what these songs have been for our team here at The Andy Project. They are our affection for God, beautifully crafted into words. And we turn that affection into our action and our justice…our worship to Jesus.

That is what it’s all about. We want our volunteers to get that…our action is about worshiping God through justice for those who society has cast aside. We believe that Jesus is alive and is calling us to bring justice to his people!

So I truly encourage you to check out the Passion album if you haven’t. Listen to the words…let them rest upon your heart, and let them transform you life…in a new way.

The Power of Prayer

While I was in India I had the opportunity to heat many amazing stories of some beautiful people. And one of the stories we heard was of a girl named Monica. Monica had come to know Jesus through the work of Asia Partners (the ministry we were working with in India). After she became a believer she began to pray without ceasing for her family…that they would come to know Christ. She fasted for three months and continued to pray. And finally her family came to know the lord. All of them except her father.
Monica continued to pray for her father, and while prying he became very I’ll. He was taken to the hospital and was diagnosed with a stomach disease and was going to die. While in the hospital Monica came to visit him and he told her that if she would pray for him and of her god could heal him he would believe. And so Monica prayed for the healing of her father. And within a day the disease was gone and Monica’s father was healed. And he began to believe in Jesus. And he is now a pastor and teacher and church planter.
This story is amazing to us because all Monica did was pray. She prayed that her family would come to know Christ. And because she believed in that prayer god provided that for her. And that is what we want to challenge you with this week. It’s two fold. We challenge you to commit to praying daily. Start your day by said “Dear God” and don’t say a final “Amen” until you go to sleep at night. Make your entire day a conversation and prayer with god. The second part or the challenge is believing in what you are praying about. Don’t just pray because you should or because you feel it is the right thing to do. Pray because it is what you feel in your heart and it is how you are talking with God.
Let us know how it goes. We want to stand behind you in this, so please let is know how we can pray for you. Leave us a comment or shoot us an e-mail.
- Alex

“A Revolutio of Hope, Love, and Change”

Check out this short documentary by some of our good friends from Full Sail University! We are so thankful for their work and passion about The Andy Project.

Fresh Faith

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to meet a man named Tim at one of our events. He was a simple man…had been on the streets for only a few weeks and was trying to figure things out. Tim has received our services that day and was standing alone at the end of our line…so I decided to approach him and start-up a conversation.

I asked him how he was doing, how his day was going, how the service that day was…all the typical conversation starters that we ask. We go onto the subject of music some how, and Tim began telling me that he was a song writer. He had actually just finished writing a song, and asked if he could share it with me. I said that I would love to read it…but he wanted to sing it. And so I said let’s hear it.

This man…much like Andy if you know about his story…couldn’t sing to save his life. But he was belting out the words to this song that he had written about the love and saving power of Jesus. He kept coming to this chorus and when he would his volume would increase and you could see the joy light up his eyes. It was a pretty awesome sight.

What I noticed about Tim through our conversation that day was that he had a very fresh faith…like the faith of a new believer. He was so in love with Christ that it didn’t matter who heard, because he wanted everybody to hear. And when you are around somebody like this and you can feel their passion, its contagious. It makes you think about your life and what you are doing for Christ. And it gets you excited about doing something more! That’s exactly what it made me do.

It’s a simple concept that we learned while in India these past few weeks… “When faith is fresh, passion is contagious.” And it’s such a true statement, and so simple. So we encourage you this week to do something that will keep your faith fresh. Think back to when you found the love of Christ for the first time and remember what your passion was like then. And if you haven’t found Christ in your life yet, this may be a chance for you to do some exploring and ask some questions.

No matter where you are in life, we here at The Andy Project want to have a contagious passion for helping the homeless and less fortunate. And we hope that our passion rubs off on you! We believe in making a difference in homelessness in Indianapolis, and it takes passion to do that! We encourage you to join us in this revolution…and always remember. When your faith is fresh, your passion is contagious.

- Alex

Christmas Tears

This is an e-mail our team received immediately following our Christmas morning event. I think it best sums up the experience of that beautiful morning!

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CHRISTMAS TEARS!
This morning the boys and I along with my niece and nephew (totally unexpected…….but awesome) were up at 5am to all get ready to go help “The Andy Project” feed the homeless a Hot Breakfast and hand out Christmas back packs & gift bags with both necessities and holiday trinkets……already prepared for us by this devoted team in the wee hours of this special day. I really had no idea what to expect, but I just felt we needed to do this….it is time for my kids to start giving back and seeing life through eyes that the Lord has opened for them! The first tears came when the young man who helped in the founding of “The Andy Project” in 2007, went over the morning’s plan of attack… then before we left for downtown, ended with prayer and thanked us for being there and for helping to make a difference. What an awesome young man and what an awesome group of people that had assembled so early on this cold winter morning, when they could be at home snuggled in their very own warm beds. As I looked around I saw people of all ages, surprised at how many I knew in some way, all with their own hidden stories and reasons for being there. It was especially moving to see so many young people and even whole families. There were numerous times throughout our morning where I would find my eyes filled with tears for various reasons, being out there in the cold knowing that they, the homeless, LIVE in that cold. Making eye contact with some of the homeless and seeing both hurt and joy….one in particular, seemed to last a long, long time that filled both of our eyes! Singing Christmas songs with our own cold toes…..while at the same time observing what was going on around us! Some of them sat quietly and ate their meals alone and then some of them were singing right along with us with smiles on their faces! They had no warm home to go to when this was over, no family to be with, no glowing Christmas tree with beautiful wrapped gifts beneath it……….and yet they sang right along with us to Christmas Carols about snowmen, famous reindeer, bells that jingled and my favorites…..the songs about the birth of our Lord! Some sang softly in between bites of food, some just watched, some walked by without so much as looking our way…. and then some let their voices ring loud and clear….one even made us smile & laugh with his conducting skills as his fingers stuck out of holey gloves…….more tears for me! When the time had come to pack it up, the same young man ended with prayer and gratitude again. As we said our good-byes, they passed out yummy, homemade, frosted & decorated cookies for our rides home! We ran to our car, turned on the heat, and just sat there……….all five us us from 11 to 51 got very quiet as we rubbed our hands and noses and listened to the Christmas music that came on the radio. Did this group of kids in my car see any of the things I saw? Sure, I pointed out some stuff to them, but this was their experience as well! I first chose to do this when we found out my husband, who works out of town, would not be able to be home for Christmas so we might as well help, then go home and take a nap! I had NO idea the impact this would make on me. This has got to be one of the VERY BEST Christmases of my life!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
GOD BLESS!!
(yep………more tears!!)

Tis’ The Season

“Tis’ the season for (insert your phrase here.)”

It’s a very common expression this time of year. The origins of which are found way back in c1450.

But what is this time of year really about? Most think it’s a time to celebrate what we have been blessed with (Thanksgiving) and to remember the birth of our Savior (Christmas) which are very legitimate reasons to celebrate. But, what if we looked at this season in an entirely new light.

What if this season is all about serving one another, and being thankful to serve those around us. God send Christ to this earth to serve. The man washed the hands and feet of his disciples. He healed the sick and gave his life so that we may live.

How would our world look if we focused on serving others for this entire season…if we dedicated everything we had to make this time of year the most for the people around us? Can you imagine the true joy our world would experience??

I think that is what this season is about. Its not about the lights or the turkey or the gifts or even the get togethers with friends and family. It’s about serving one another as Christ would.

We encourage you to try serving with us this year at The Andy Project. Our door is always open. We hope to see you serving along side of us!