Lincoln Village Focus
In the last few weeks, we have heard a lot about FOCUS. What is and what should be the focus of our church as we move forward? To many the idea of ‘focus’ seems like a new idea. However, if you look back a few years, you will see that one of the great gifts Mike Honeycutt will be leaving Southwood and the Huntsville community is the focus he has placed on Lincoln Village.
A little over five years ago, Mark Stearns, Director of Mercy Ministry, saw a need. He met a mom with a young daughter living just a few miles from some of the most expensive real estate in our city in a house with no electricity and no running water. As outrage over the situation settled in, Mark drove straight to Mike’s house and asked him to come look at something with him. Mike went, not knowing what he would find. If you’ve ever heard the story from Mark, you know that he prayed that what Mike would see would make him uncomfortable, and what Mike saw did make him “uncomfortable.” Yet out of that discomfort came focus.
With the support of Southwood and other churches in the community, “concentrated interest and activity” began in Lincoln Village. What once was a run-down, desperate area has become a neighborhood of committed friends and partners. A group of men and women formed the Lincoln Village Preservation Corporation to purchase and renovate homes in the area. Another group began a food pantry and a clothes closet for the people in the neighborhood and the school. A partnership was established between the ministry and Lincoln Elementary School. An after-school tutoring program is in progress. And The Village Church has been planted in the area with Alex Shipman as pastor. Change has taken place and is continuing to take place daily.
One of my favorite Lincoln Village memories is of the day I received a phone call from one of the residents. She needed help with babysitting for a young niece who was living with her. It is difficult to find good childcare during the day! After making several calls, two people said they could split up the day to help; though it would be difficult for them, they were willing. When I called the resident back, she thanked me profusely but said that her next door neighbor, a retired grandmother raising her grandson, had heard her conversation and that she would be happy to help. A community of fellowship was being formed as neighbor helped neighbor, focusing on what they could do for one another!
Isn’t this what Christ has called us to do? To love our neighbor as we love ourselves? God has been gracious to the work in Lincoln Village. He has seen fit to bless not only the community and people who live there, but those who labor as well. By definition, focus is “an act of concentrating interest or activity on something.” That seemingly small act of focusing on one small area has multiplied as other churches and communities from across the United States come visit Lincoln Village and the work being done there. So while FOCUS may seem new to us, focus on changing lives and being part of God’s changing of hearts is happening at Lincoln Village. Thank you, Mike, for helping us focus on what is important: loving our neighbors as ourselves, caring for those in need, being the hands and feet of Christ to bring life to what once was a dying part of our community.