One of the greatest "un-secrets" of successful ministry is collaboration. We call them "un-secrets" because it's really a no-brainer to know that working together is a more excellent way. Unity in ministry gives greater reach to the hands and feet of the body in building up Love in the world.
          Compassion Ministries in Northern Arizona conducts servanthood beyond church walls, reaching folks who may never enter church doors. Outreach ministry is more than community service. It's about building relationships and getting personally involved in people's lives.
          Service projects have value, but people need to be our priority. Combining both service and relationship building requires commitment and duplication. We can't be a "one and done" ministry. Discipleship doesn't happen without relationship. We have to earn the right to speak into people's lives.
          If you're a church or ministry with a hunger for outreach, let's talk collaboration. We invite individuals or teams to walk alongside us beyond church walls. We can also provide Outreach Mentoring for folks desiring to learn more about going the extra mile outside of their comfort zone. Working together we do more to reach more.
          Here's a glimpse into our current servanthood activities:

•  "Grill & A Prayer" - Free lunch, clothing, toys, books, Bibles and Prayer on the 1st & 3rd Saturday of every month. 
• "LightBreak" - Flagstaff Shelter Outreach with dinner, clothing and friendship building.   
• "Overflow" - Hope Cottage Women's Shelter with dinner, clothing and friendship building.
• NAOMI House - Monthly outreach at a Safe Home for Navajo children. We bring a bounce house, provide lunch and play games. We have a blast with squirt guns and water balloons! We will do service projects as needed. We are scheduled on the last Saturday of every month.
• The Father's Fish Camp - Boys from NAOMI and other families camp for a weekend and go fishing. We have teaching times and talk about the Father's Love.
• Compassion Care Kits are delivered to group homes where folks with handi-capabilities live through a collaboration with Quality Connections. 
• Compassion Care Kits are available to anybody who needs one. Just call the Compassion Hotline at:

          903-917-9947   

• The Compassion Food Service Volunteers provide community meal services for a wide variety of venues including church functions, volunteer projects, neighborhood groups and tent revival gatherings.
• Coming in 2023 is a conference on Outreach & Human Trafficking. We need to train outreach volunteers how to identify and offer assistance to victims of human trafficking in all its forms. We'll assemble a group of experts who will help us become better equipped to battle against the evil abusing and victimizing innocent children and vulnerable adults in our neighborhoods. Whether you're involved in outreach or not, you'll benefit from knowing how to become a soldier in the war against traffickers. This will be a conference for everyone from all walks of life.           

To learn more about Compassion Collaboration, please call: 716-830-8240

          The beginning of putting a vision in action is always exhilarating.. Starting something new is energizing and is fueled by fast paced excitement. News spreads about a new gig in town and folks flock to it like birds at a feeder. Soon though, the newness wears off and volunteers begin to fade like leaves in autumn.
          Most volunteers will come and go as part of the natural cycle in the volunteerhood. There's no need to cover the reasons why, people give what they can give - life is busy and always changing. This article is only being written to provide a glimpse into one of the hardest parts of ministry is finding and keeping volunteers.
          The Bible talks about laborers being in short supply amongst an abundance of people needing to be loved. Here's how it reads from Matthew 9:35-38 in The Message:
  "Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages.
   He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news,
    and healed their diseased bodies,
     healed their bruised and hurt lives.
      When he looked out over the crowds,
       his heart broke.
        So confused and aimless they were,
        like sheep with no shepherd.
          “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples.
           “How few workers!
            On your knees and pray for harvest hands!”
          Here's what we're asking you to do. Pray for more volunteers who will meet the need and volunteer to love their neighbors through the activities of Compassion Ministries and Youth With A Purpose. We serve meals on the streets that are freely given. We're blessed by churches and organizations who donate clothes, toys, books and Bibles that we freely give away. Some folks give financially so we can buy socks and underwear for folks who live on the street or in homeless shelters. 
          Our ministry opportunities are growing and we need your help. Many churches are doing many good things in sharing the Good News of Christ. Does your church have an outreach team? Would you like to take your Bible Study and put some real life application to it? 
          In one of our recent outreaches at the Flagstaff Shelter, a young lady put her knowledge of the Bible into action. She went the extra mile to help a lady who was laying next to a sidewalk on a piece of cardboard near a drainage ditch. In her own vehicle, she took the lady and her wheelchair along with her dog to a motel. This is what the young woman said after her act of charity: "I was reading James in the Bible and it talked about doing more than just praying. If we see a need we can fulfill and only pray, we're hypocrites!"   
          You can read for yourself what it says in James 2:15-17 from The Message: 
                    Faith in Action"Dear friends,
 do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything?
  Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?
  For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say,
   “Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!”
    and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup--
     where does that get you?
      Isn’t it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"
          If you'd like to volunteer with our ministries or become a sponsor or prayer partner, please let us know. Leave a message below or call 716-830-8240. We will also help train your outreach team. Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody. Jesus loves you and so do we.
#compassionministries #ywap4Christ #JLYASDW

     Each day seems to hold more opportunities for the Compassion Ministries Team to infuse some hope into the Flagstaff community. An opening to serve dinner at Hope Cottage brought heart smiles to a great group of women.

     The dinner and the heart smiles were so good that the Compassion Team is now scheduled to cook up some love on the 3rd Sunday of every month. Marvin and Teresa Johnson are a dynamic duo that leave no stone unturned in their search to serve people. They're great mentors raising up an army of hope planters all over the mountains of Northern Arizona!

     Would you like to get involved in Compassion Ministries as a volunteer or supporter? We're the church in action spreading hope in the highways, byways and alleyways in anyways that we can!

     Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
Jesus loves you and so do we.
#JLYASDW #compassionministriesflagstaff #ywap4Christ #cftnflag #nacc   

Compassion has no boundaries in Flagstaff! Inflation and food shortages have hit many organizations hard. The needs have become greater, but the finances and supplies to feed the need are shrinking.

The family at Compassion Ministries goes the extra mile to collaborate and serve as many people as possible. We stretch our resources to the max while using our provisions responsibly. Last month an organization with group homes  that serves people with disabilities in Flagstaff needed help with boxes of food. The Compassion Ministries Team found one more way to serve the community.

Want to get involved as a volunteer or supporter? do you or someone you know need help? Call the compassion line at: 903-917-9947. Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
​Jesus loves you and so do we.
#JLYASDW #compassionministriesflagstaff #ywap4Christ

LightBreak is an outreach of Compassion Ministries at the Flagstaff Shelter in Arizona. Folks end up at the Shelter for countless reasons. Sometimes we’re in awe of the staff who work there . They meet the needs of destitute people in so many ways. Around every corner is a different problem and they go the extra mile to solve it with compassion.
The folks who made this an extra special day came from as far away as Buffalo, NY. Some donated money to purchase underwear and socks. A thrift store donated clothes. A local retailer gave a $50 gift card to buy personal items. The team of Compassion Ministry purchased and prepared a ton of food that provided up to three helpings for hungry folks. This was a significant collaboration with a heart-touching impact.
A lot of faith in action is easy to see through people serving, but sometimes a special request pulls us away to a more personal space. One of our volunteers is a young lady named Marlee. A man asked her to help a woman who was laying by a sidewalk in front of the Shelter. Marlee asked a team member to go with her.
We found the woman behind a blanket held up by a stick tied to a wheelchair. It provided shade from the hot sun. She was lying on a sleeping bag on top of thin piece of cardboard covering a wooden pallet. She had just been released from the hospital and was in pain and unable to do much to help herself. Marlee sat in the dirty sidewalk and began to minister and give comfort to the woman.
It’s one thing to pray for a person, but it’s another to back up your prayers with action. Marlee went the extra mile in so many ways. She entered into a discovery process that lead to a plan to meet the woman’s needs. The night ended several hours later with the woman, her dog and a friend comfortably nestled in a hotel room. Marlee will meet them again this morning to help them board an Amtrak train that will take her to a place where she can get the help she needs.
​ Marlee will tell she did all of this because of what she read in her Bible.
​ “My dear brothers and sisters, what good is it if someone claims to have faith but demonstrates no good works to prove it? How could this kind of faith save anyone? For example, if a brother or sister in the faith is poorly clothed and hungry and you leave them saying, “Good-bye. I hope you stay warm and have plenty to eat,” but you don’t provide them with a coat or even a cup of soup, what good is your faith? So then faith that doesn’t involve action is phony.”
‭‭James 2:14-17‬ ‭TPT‬‬
We’d like thank the long list of folks who collaborated to make the seen and unseen acts of compassion happen. A kind lady from Flagstaff who always reaches out with clothing and financial donations. A people from Buffalo who support our efforts through online giving. The Northern Arizona Collaboration of Churches, Urban Hope Church, Youth With A Purpose, Sam’s Club, Coconino County Health Disparities Program and the Compassion Ministries family. Compassion is truly a many-collaborative kind of neighborly love.
​ Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody. JLYASDW

The wind probably would have sent the Bounce House shuffling off to Buffalo, NY from the sandy flatlands of the NAOMI House. We had to tell the kids it was a safety factor in leaving the air out of our favorite inflatable toy.
The sad faces and deflated demeanors were quickly replaced by laughter and joy as the water follies began! The kind and generous folks came from Compassion Ministries, Urban Hope Church, the Man Cave Prayer guys and Youth With A Purpose.
​ NAOMI is an acronym for Native American Outreach Ministries Inc. It’s a safe home for primarily Navajo children whose parents need some assistance in raising them. Regardless of the circumstances that brought them here, the children are happy and phenomenally care for.
There are many needs and opportunities for youth groups and churches to get involved in greater ways of being loved and giving loved.. Building relationships with the children is the most important thing you can do, but there’s plenty of work projects as well.
It was Memorial Day Weekend and we made sure the kids knew the meaning of the holiday in the midst of having fun. We spoke about sacrifice and how folks who love each other are willing to lay down their lives so that others might live. Jesus did that. He’s the best model we know for loving God and our neighbors more abundantly.
Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody. Jesus loves you and so do we.
(Let us know if you’d like to get involved in loving more abundantly!)😎

          Our last visit to the NAOMI House was a blast! It was our first time in history that volunteers outnumbered the children. There’s a few reasons for that, but let’s just focus on one. The hearts of these children and the staff at the NAOMI House contain a contagious love that touches people in big way. Word is getting out that being around these children and their caretakers is a life changing experience. It was a great day all around with many special happenings, but the last few moments were the most precious because of Blue Takis.
          Mentoring builds relationships one precious moment at a time. It's wise to remember special moments and use them as stepping stones of wisdom in future relationship building. Last year as we were leaving, we asked one of the boys what we could bring the next time we visited. His answer was a Blue Gatorade and some Takis. We knew about Gatorade, but Takis was new to us. They taste like somebody combined a snack with a flame thrower! Kids like tasty heat! Most stores carry them so they were easy to find. On our next trip, we brought a case of Gatorade and a case of Takis. We gave them to the boy who requested them (planting the suggestion that he might want to share them!) His eyes lit up and he smiled. We had kept our word.
          To many children, commitment is a foreign word representing an unknown promise. There's a lot of parents and adults who say a lot of things and never do what they say they'll do. The Gatorade and Takis represented a relationship breakthrough. Keeping your word means you care. Children quickly recognize the difference between truth tellers and fakers.
          The last few moments of our most recent trip to NAOMI House represent an opportunity for greater relationship building. Several of the youngsters were having fun until something happened that hurt someone's feelings. One of the girls sat alone in the sand with her head down feeling sad. Kneeling down beside her at eye level, I asked what we could bring her the next time we came back. She said, "Blue Takis." I asked her to repeat what she said to make sure I'd heard correctly. "Blue Takis." Her answer was immediately imprinted on my heart. The sad feelings started to fade away. This moment too will fade away and probably won't be remembered until we show up with Blue Takis.   
          There were many beautiful and fun times that far outnumbered any sad moments. There was the bouncy house, face painting, squirting each other with water bottles, Bible stories and a wonderful lunch. We're grateful for all the volunteers from Urban Hope Church, Youth With A Mission, Hope Cottage, Youth With A Purpose and Compassion Ministries. Mostly though, we're grateful for the children and staff at NAOMI House who do something beyond anything we could imagine. They cause us to leave them with more love in our hearts than when we arrived.
​          Thanks for taking the time to read this. Go do something nice for somebody.
​Jesus loves you and so do we.

​It was a beautiful night in the mountainhood for LightBreak at the Flagstaff Shelter!
Socks & Stew were served up by the Compassion Ministries Crew (not in the same pot!)
We gave away lot’s of clothes, shoes, books, Bibles, Jesus Wristbands & smiles!

If you can help us out with some new white socks or men's briefs (underwear), please let us know. Some items are really valuable and appreciated. Please call 716-830-8240.

Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody.
JLYASDW
#bettertogetherflagstaff #urbanhopeflagstaff #cftnflag #compassionministries #ywap4Christ #flagstaffshelter #JLYASDW