Address correspondence ESA/Love INC1300 East Shaw Avenue, #136Fresno, CA 93710-7903Phone: 559-244-0105Fax: 559-244-0114

WeBsITewww.esali.org

MInIsTrIes of esA Include:Love In the Name of Christ

Loving Our NeighborsMen with a MissionMissions Network

Valley Communities for ChristCHEV

Citybuilders Roundtable

BoArd of dIrecTorsRick AriiShirley BarberPaul BinionNorm ChristensenMatt CookNaomi CoxAlan DoswaldDina Gonzalez-PiñaBruce McAlisterHenry PaulsBob Willis

HArVesT GATHerInGApril 17 & 18, 2009

The Missions Network is very excited about the upcoming Harvest Gather-ing. This “Gathering” will be the mission equipping event of the year for the Fres-no/Clovis area. The keynote speakers will be:

• pAsTor WAlly MAGdAnGAl – Filipino evangelist to the Muslim world

• dr. ferMIn WHITTAker – Ex-ecutive Director of Calif. So. Baptist Convention

• BoB sjoGren – President of UN-VEILINGLORY and author

36 workshops are included in the 2 day event covering many motivating topics.

place – Northwest ChurchTime – Friday, April 17th noon – 9:30pmSaturday, April 18th 8am – 4:30pmcost - $60 if registered by March 30registration and Information – www.theharvestgroup.netBrochures – (209) 848-2262

The Missions Network meets the sec-ond Wednesday of every other month. For more information contact Jan at jan@esali.org or 244-0105.

On Ramps tO seRvice

In a football game there are thou-sands of spectators in the stands and a few people on the

field playing the game. Christianity is not a spectator sport – we are all in the game. I

Peter 4:10 says that each one of us should use our gifts to serve others. Lets all get in the game by serving others.

If you would like to serve at ESA/Love INC please look at our website (www.esali.org) under “opportunities to serve” and if you’d like to check into serving in other local ministries, go to our website and look under “Community Resources”. Over 3000 volunteers are needed to serve in our 60 local ministries.

Matthew 20:28 says that Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. We are followers of Jesus. Are you serving others? Are you giving of yourself to serve others? Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. God has work for each of us to do.

We know you’ll be loving your neighbors if you’re a follower of Jesus. Let us know if we can help you or your church to serve by calling 244-0105. Our mission is to mobilize Christian churches and individuals to transform lives and communities in the name of Christ. Let ESA help mobilize you and your church to serve others. Don’t say, I don’t know what to do – pray and give us a call.

all Hands On deckBy Alan Doswald

The phrase “All Hands on Deck” is a maritime

term. It’s a command for everybody who can come and work to do so. It’s used in case of an emergency or any other time the captain needs all crewpersons “front and center”, where they can be counted and given commands. There are serious problems in our city and valley,

• Poverty • Addiction • Crime •Depression•Gangs•Homelessness

On the other hand – there are 500 churches in Fresno/Clovis with about 90,000 members. What a huge resource to serve others and transform our community. It’s a group of people with all kinds of gifts and abilities

There are so many people in need that are hurting and hopeless. It’s not only the poor but middle and upper class people are also hurting – many have lost so much. Think of the heartbreak, hopelessness and despair in our community. Many don’t know what to do.

There are Christians who live near these people, who work with these people and who attend school with these people. As followers of Jesus we are called salt and light, we can make a difference. We have the Good News of Jesus Christ that can change the lives of those living in bad news situations both now and forever. We belong to caring communities called churches that can come alongside hurting people – no one has to be alone. Jesus told us to love our neighbors – it’s time to do just that. Do you need another New Year’s resolution? How about this – “I will followJesusthisyearbylovingmyneighbors.Iwillprayformyneighbors,careformyneighborsandsharetheGoodNewswithmyneighborsasGodleads.” I believe that if most Christians followed Jesus in these ways, it would transform lives and our community.

I say “All hands on deck.” The needs are great, but the resources in the Body of Christ are greater. Will you stand up and be counted among the faithful who will follow Jesus by touching the lives of others? Will you do what Jesus did? He walked down the street, met people at their point of need, loved them, helped them and changed their lives. So should we, we’re followers of Jesus and Jesus expects His followers to follow Him. Why would people call themselves followers of Jesus and not follow Him? God has plans for all of us to serve others. Let’s do it! All hands on deck!

You don’t have to know what you’re doing to change lives. You just have to love others, reach out and follow the Lord as He uses you. You can help change a life!

In our Love INC article inside this newsletter you will read about Marsha and Brian – two people who stepped out in faith, ministered to others, got their church involved and made a huge difference in the lives of many people.

You too can make a difference in someone’s life. If we all follow Jesus and love others it will change our community. All hands on deck. You are needed!

from the desk of Alan doswaldExecutive Director

Mobilizing Christian churches to transform lives and communities in the name of Christ

contact us at www.esali.org

Evangelicals for Social Action/Fresno, Inc.1300 East Shaw Avenue, #136Fresno, CA 93710-7903

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ESA/Love INC can now receive donations through the following credit cards: Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Ex-press. To give to ESA in this way, please contact Jacqueline at 244-0105 for further assistance.

Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability

United Way of Fresno County

We are an endorsed organization of

Helping tHe Homeless

Imagine a single mom with a teen-age daughter inviting three homeless men to occupy

their couch and living room floor as the first steps to providing them shelter. None of us would recommend it! As I reflect on Marsha’s bold obedience and the incredible fruit that is still flowing from it, I think of other women that did what others discouraged them from doing, yet they were compelled to obey and go. Wom-en like Mother Theresa in Calcutta, Jackie Pullinger in Hong Kong, and Gladys Aylward in China - they would not be held back. Marsha just smiles at me when I suggest that what she has done is amazing.

Have you ever received a simple act of kindness and it changed your life? Romans 2:4 states that God’s kindness leads us to repentance. Marsha extended many simple acts of kindness that led three men to Christ and to freedom from drugs and alcohol. One has since passed literally from death to eternal life and the other two are actively running an effective church outreach to the homeless in Central Fresno. 72 people are no longer on the streets and are in a transformation process because of this ministry at Community Brethren Church, a relatively small church.

Marsha’s involvement with serving and loving the homeless began with one man. “Kentucky Dave” caught Marsha’s attention four years ago. She stopped to ask him what he needed. Within her limited resources, she provided socks, jeans, shoes, and lunch meat. Then Marsha heard God speak to her three times, “Love your neighbor.” As she wondered what God wanted her to do, she says God made it very clear that her ‘neighbors’ were the homeless in her neighborhood.

She then expanded her ministry from one to many. She began daily visiting a parking lot at Shields and Cedar, eventually going before work, at lunch and after work. She didn’t bring material help as much as she offered friendship, ac-ceptance and love. The men did not at first take kindly to her intense in-terest. In fact, Brian tells us that he began to hate seeing her come. The men wanted freedom to engage in their self-medicating addictions. Marsha cramped their style. There was a guilt and conviction that came with her visits.

Marsha describes her ministry as, “this ministry of love that God sent me on.” She points out that she needed these men as much as they needed her. Today, after four years of serving, she has the privilege of watching Brian grow the ministry into a partnership of seven churches that have two services a week that provide meals, discipleship and other supportive services.

Why did Marsha invite three men into her home? Because when they committed themselves to follow Christ, she knew they needed disciple-ship. The living arrangements didn’t last long, but it did propel Brian to enter the Salvation Army rehab program. Many of those coming off the streets today are being sent there by Brian. He is able to speak directly to the needs of others that struggle with the same needs he had when Marsha found him.

Brian's story“Marsha has always been my conviction. She just has to show up whenever I do something wrong and she helps to keep me on the straight path.” I asked Brian why Marsha had this influence on him. He answered, “She cared about me for who I was. She

made me feel I was really worth something.”

Brian never thought he would be homeless. However, a se-rious work-related accident incapacitated him with 5 herniated discs, intense pain and an inability to stand for more than 5 min-utes at a time. He could not face the reality of not being able to support his family and gave up on life. Eventually he spent five years on the streets.

Last November, Brian was a tour guide for ESA’s “Hidden Homeless” tour. In partnership with the Fresno Rescue Mission, 70 people participated in the tour and informational meeting. Dur-ing the tour, Brian emphasized that abandonment was a huge is-sue for many homeless. For this reason, he does not recommend ministry to the homeless unless there is a long term investment into relationships!

Community Brethren Church has made this commitment and there has been a cost. Brian commends former pastor, Ataloa Wooden and the current pastor, Jeff Sledd for the investment of the many hours they gave through mentoring, Bible classes and just being available.

Brian concludes by saying that his ministry has two primary goals: “To restore the lost back to God and to take them off the streets. If we achieve these goals, there will be no more home-less in our area.”

We are reconvening our “Homeless Network”. We are also developing Relational Ministries in order to give people a hand up and not just a hand out. We want to help churches help people get back on their feet. If your church or group would like to be a part of these networks, please email Kathy@esali.org or call Kathy at 244-0105. City transformation

We feel that “Loving Our Neighbors” through Prayer – Care – Share (PCS) is the most important thing we can do to transform our community and that it needs

to be ongoing and widespread, not short-lived with minimal involvement. Over the last few years, God has given us a vision of transformation called “Loving God and Others” (see our website www.esali.org click on “About Us”). I later noticed that this vision basically wraps around point #6 which is PCS. I began to share this Biblical vision with many pastors, leaders, groups and in our city. It was completely affirmed and supported, (I found no disagreement with it).

We called together two meetings with some influen-tial pastors that supported this vision. Out of those meetings we recruited a leadership team. This team meets monthly and has about 15 members which include pastors, ministry leaders and marketplace leaders.

All of our team are expected to personally pray, care and share the gospel on their own street. We want to lead by example. We pray for God’s direction, share what God is doing and saying to us and care for one another.

We plan to add more people to the team, be sensitive to God’s lead-ing to share our testimonies about loving our neighbors, challenge our churches to PCS, then challenge other pastors (both individually and in groups) to PCS themselves and to challenge their church to PCS.

We are hopeful that God will use His church to bring transformation to our city & valley as we continue to seek Him and follow Him closely. We want to be careful not to let this become just another event or ministry, which will not transform our community. We desire it to become an ongoing movement, led by the Holy Spirit to mobilize most Christians to follow Jesus and love their neighbors on their street, in their businesses or at their school. We continually seek God for direction. We will pray and do the next thing. Please pray for us and for our city.

“Loving Our Neighbors” is the title of a sermon that encourages Chris-tians to follow Jesus by loving their neighbors. Contact Alan for more information.

opportunities for you

Was your heart moved by the recent “Extreme Makeover - Home Edition” project which featured

a Fresno area family affected by disability? Did you help or wish you could have helped? You should know that there are nearly 30,000 other families in the Fresno area that are also affected by disability. The vast majority of these families are disconnected from the church and sadly are often languishing with-out hope or help.

You can make a difference in the lives of one of these families. Every day of every week year round, we here at ESA in partnership with Joni and Friends are striving to make a difference in the lives of countless families. They need EXTREME help and you can offer it in one of the following ways...

» Family Retreat - Serve as a Short Term missionary during a retreat for a Family with a disability.

» Respite Care - Spend an evening with a child with a disability giving their caregivers a well-deserved rest.

» Discovery Hour - Attend a FREE one hour informational session to learn more.

To inquire about any of these opportunities, please contact the office of Joni and Friends at 559-227-5664 today.

men WitH a mission (mWam)

The mission of MWAM is to mobilize church men’s groups to serve others and to show the love of Christ in a tangible way.

One of the projects completed was at Clovis First Assembly of God as shown in this photo. It is men from the following churches, Northwest, Palm Avenue Community, Northpoint and Northpark who converted a

breezeway into restrooms for the church.

The body of Christ is an amazing group as God unites His church to serve! We have seen so many practical miracles through God’s people extending their time, talents, gifts and treasures to serve others. We espe-cially thank God for our volunteer Project Coordinator, Jerry Owens who has done an outstanding job of coordinating so many projects in 2008

MWAM is here to serve. If your church, your men’s group or any men you might know of are looking for places to connect and serve with other men please contact us at 244-0105 or mwam@esali.org. You can find more detailed infor-mation about MWAM on our website at www.esali.org. MWAM needs both skilled and non-skilled helpers.

Valley Communities for CHrist

2009 marks our ninth year of reach-ing out with the vision to trans-form our Valley communities,

by connecting leaders, churches and communities to each other.

We have witnessed so many things in such a short pe-riod of time, and we thank God for giving us this vision for our Valley and the providential connections that have grown the ministry. There is a long way to go!

The following are some ways to connect: » Pray for our city/county/valley and ask God to reveal to you what He would have you do.

» Take your church leadership on a half day tour to meet some rural pastors.

» There are so many mission opportunities for your youth ministry for Easter week or any time during the year right here in our Valley.

» 2009 will be our third year organizing a medical and dental mission in the rural communities through CMDA.

» Your men’s group can come alongside a rural church and do minor building and re-pair projects for the church. » Churches in Fresno/Clo-

vis have connected with rural churches around a barbeque and a combined service. » Vacation Bible School.

So many of the larger church-es don’t realize how much

they have to offer by just sharing their VBS with a rural church. » Women’s groups can come alongside and teach Bible studies, have a women’s tea, or just be a friend, especially to pastor’s wives.

» Financial gifts are always a need.

The list can go on and on but in conclusion, if there is just one thing

that has stood out above anything else it would be to build a relation-ship. God blesses genuine relationships with His presence and where the presence of the Lord is there is life and hope. These are the things transformation is made of, lives filled with hope in Christ and supported in community with each other.

I would enjoy the opportunity to talk to you or your group about any of these ideas or perhaps you have an idea. Contact George at 244-0105 or email development@esali.org

CollaBoration of HispaniC eVan-geliCals of tHe Valley (CHeV)

In the past years, we have been able to offer the services of the Christian Medical Dental Association to the churches in the rural communities in our valley. We have also been

able to serve 400 families through contacts of churches and schools, including serving “65 homeless families.” They also gave new coats to the children of some of those homeless families.

Connections:In 2008, we received calls from 12 large churches in-terested in connecting long term with a smaller church in the valley. We also praise God for what he is doing through the youth pastors of these large churches.

In 2008, we had the privilege of hosting a Pastors Prayer Summit in Spanish at Calvin Crest with 24 pastors of small His-panic churches.

For more information about CHEV, please see our website, or contact Jim Reyes at (559) 240-7374 or jreyes@esali.org