Volume 9, Number 22 | November 16, 2015 | www.agrm.org
This issue of Street Smart is sponsored by:
Don’t Miss Early-Bird Registration—It Starts Today! From now until December 16, you can register for the 2016 AGRM Annual Convention for the low price of $479. After December 16, the first-person rate goes to $509. Take advantage of this opportunity to stretch your education and training budget and get more of your team to the biggest event of the year for rescue mission ministry professionals.
As a reminder, the 2016 convention will be June 7–10 at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront in beautiful Jacksonville, Florida. The theme for this jam-packed inspirational event will be CounterCulture.
You can find convention details in a number of places: Check out the insert in the November/December issue of Rescue magazine or view the digital version here. Or head to our convention web pages at www.agrm.org/convention. And if you’re ready to sign up, you can go right to the registration page.
AGRM’s conventions have become highly rated and have seen capacity crowds in recent years. Make sure your mission is part of all that’s going on.
Ashmen Sees Europe’s Refugee Crisis Firsthand AGRM President John Ashmen was overseas last week, his first stop being the London City Mission for a Global City Mission Network planning meeting. He then headed on to Stockholm, where he observed the humanitarian efforts taking place in and around the Stockholm Central Station for hundreds of asylum seekers who arrive daily. John visited Stockholm City Mission and talked to staff members about what they are observing and learning in their work with these refugees.
His last stop was Berlin City Mission, where he met with the Director Joachim Lenz. Berlin City Mission has always been the city’s go-to agency for refugees. They’ve typically had about 300 refugees on any given might—until this past July when they started seeing 18,000 per day! They have opened several air domes at former sports centers, housing 400 to 1,000 at each.
John believes there is much for North America’s rescue missions to learn from our partners across the Atlantic, particularly with Middle Eastern refugees scheduled to reach our airports in the days ahead.
AGRM Webinar to Focus on Mental Health Issues On December 7 at 9:00 a.m. EST, AGRM will host a webinar for members that will detail how missions can provide mental health services without compromising their calling. The instructor will be Brooks Ann McKinney, director of safety net provider relations, Mission Health and Hospitals. More details on how you can participate in this webinar will be coming soon.
Photo Contest: Show Us Your Thanksgiving Events At AGRM, we love seeing all the wonderful things you and your mission are doing for people in need. Thanksgiving offers an opportunity for many missions to serve additional people in their communities. We want to see what you’re doing this year, so please share your photos with us in the following categories:
• Best Thanksgiving Smile • What You’re Most Thankful For • Most Delicious Dish • Hardest Working Volunteer(s) • Sweetest Family
Winners in each category will receive a $25 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card to share with their staffs!
Tag us in your photos on Facebook (@Association of Gospel Rescue Missions) and Twitter (@AGRMNews or use #AGRMThanksgiving), or email your photos to Communications Assistant Beth Hall at [email protected]. Please include which of the five categories you are entering each photo in. The contest ends November 30, and winners will be announced in the December 15 issue of Street Smart.
Members Show Great Interest in New Board Program AGRM’s new program for rescue mission boards called Ripple Effect—funded in part by a generous grant from the M.J. Murdock Trust—has generated significant interest from member missions in the Pacific Northwest.
The Ripple Effect program involves a nine-month commitment by two board officers and the mission CEO, and provides a framework for board excellence. As the name implies, the goal is to not only influence the current boards of participating missions, but to also affect each organization’s future board members. And the ripples won’t stop there: AGRM believes that each organization completing the program will also become a model for board completeness and competency, influencing other rescue missions and nonprofit ministries.
Ripple Effect is starting in January 2016 with eight missions in the Pacific Northwest, but AGRM is also offering up to three CEOs from any mission in our membership the chance to audit on-site events. For more information, go towww.agrm.org/rippleeffect.
AGRM’s Snapshot Survey Results Coming Soon Our contracted analysts are currently very busy crunching the data that many missions submitted as part of AGRM’s annual Snapshot Survey the last week of October. Member missions interviewed more than 16,000 mission clients and guests as part of the survey to provide a one-day look at rescue ministry on the local level and across North America. The survey represents AGRM’s most requested and used information on homelessness and poverty. Missions that participated will receive a detailed document that compares local results to overall results, along with a press release template that can be used to share your mission's findings with the media.
AGRM’s Job Recruiting Center Proves Popular Have you checked out AGRM’s new Recruiting Center? It’s easy—and it’s getting used! The Recruiting Center is a much-improved way to post jobs, collect résumés, and to view open positions at other missions—all as a member benefit with no additional charge. The Recruiting Center is made up of two components:
1. My Recruiting Center (www.agrm.org/recruiting) where you can post and manage your job listings for free. 2. Career Opportunities (www.agrm.org/careers) where applicants can go to view current job listings across the association. You can post as many positions as they like and manage how long positions are posted through a simple interface. The system allows missions to upload links to recruiting videos and to detailed job descriptions in .pdf or .doc formats. Another feature is the ability to specify a different job contact for each position posted, depending on the size of your human resources department. Applicants who view posts in Career Opportunities can apply online by clicking a “Send Résumé” button, allowing them to email the job contact an email cover letter and their résumé.
Click here for instructions on using the Recruiting Center. In addition to finding jobs at the Careers tab on AGRM’s website, we also post links to current jobs in the Market Street section of each issue of Street Smart
Looking Down the Street…
• New Orleans Mission (New Orleans, Louisiana) held an “Honoring Our Heroes” event at the World War II Museum in the city on Veterans Day. The event included dinner, entertainment, and a silent auction. Proceeds benefitted the renovation of the mission’s facility, where more homeless veterans are served than at any other homeless shelter in the region. For information on the event, click here.
• Last spring, Ball State University with the Indiana Writers Center worked with the women at the Center for Women and Children of Wheeler Mission Ministries (Indianapolis, Indiana) to create a compilation of their written works. The result is a published book titled Where Truth and Mercy Meet: The Homeless Women of Wheeler Speak. The book is a testament to their strength, perseverance, and faith. Read additional information and order a copy at Amazon.com.
• Jim Harriger, executive director of Springfield Victory Mission (Springfield, Missouri), has announced plans to retire effective January 31, 2016, after 22 years of service. Craig Heidemann, president of the mission’s board of directors notes: “When Harriger started work at the mission in 1993, he envisioned what the mission could be—a place for men to grow in their knowledge of Jesus Christ and walk in His transforming power. Harriger’s vision for the mission has been realized. Through his leadership, thousands of men have turned their lives around and realized their potential in the Lord. Harriger’s God-given ability to see the potential in others, rather than defining men by their circumstances, has enabled thousands of men to transition from lives of poverty and addiction.”
• Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission (Seattle, Washington) recently gathered key leaders from the entire region for Puget Sound City Advance. This two-day workshop was aimed at increasing the mission’s capability and commitment to the cities God has placed it in. Some 160 pastors/church leaders from 25 different cities attended. You can learn more via the effort’s blog.
• Please welcome AGRM’s newest business member PCI Waste and Recycling Equipment (Portland, Oregon). PCI is a distributor of industrial waste and refuse recycling equipment—balers, compactors, shredders, hydraulic lifts, and conveying systems. Learn more at http://www.pciequipment.com.
Paris Terrorist Attacks Elicit Compassionate Responses At least 129 people were killed and several hundred were injured in a coordinated set of attacks in the French capital city on Friday, with ISIS claiming credit. This NBC News link provides up-to-date details. Millions around the world took to social media to express condolences for the victims and pray for peace in Paris.
For those looking to make more tangible contributions to organizations providing resources and support for the victims of the attacks, there are several charities and other means of sending assistance. Check out this list of agencies from Mashable.
If you’re pondering a distinctively Christian response to what occurred in Paris, you might appreciate this thoughtful Christianity Today article by Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research.
Hawaii‘s Homelessness Sparks State of Emergency Over the last few years Hawaii’s homeless population grown to 487 per 100,000 people, which is the nation’s highest rate per capita, reports Fox News. State officials cite years of rising costs, low wages, and limited land as reasons for the increase.
In declaring a state of emergency, Hawaii Governor David Ige gave details about how this issue turned into a crisis. The list includes not enough room in shelters, the need for more affordable rental units, the sometimes nearly five-year wait for public housing, and changes in mental health services. Many homeless citizens live in encampments that are sometimes swept by the city of Honolulu. Even though 40 percent of Hawaii’s homeless people have jobs, it still may not be enough. A two-bedroom apartment costs an average of $1,800 a month. City officials have set aside $16.8 million for services and to secure apartments for homeless people in 2015, including plans to develop units out of shipping containers. And the city is also backing at least $32 million in bonds to finance other housing for homeless people.
Advocates Say Stop Tracking Homelessness on Social Media From apps to Facebook and Twitter, people have begun to track where homeless people are using social media. However, homeless advocates say this is more harassment than help, reports The Salt Lake Tribune.
Social media pages and apps have been created by communities and even the police who claim their sites help public safety. This is especially true for those in cities that have large homeless populations. Homeless-services advocates say the social media pages, many that include photos, humiliate homeless people by portraying them as unsightly—and sometimes even include harsh comments such as “scum” and “human trash.”
In New York City, mayoral spokeswoman Ishanee Parikh asked residents to use the city’s 311 complaint system to report issues with homeless people instead of turning to social media. Meanwhile, an app called WeShelter is trying something different; with just a tap of a button, it sends a small donation to homeless-service agencies from corporate sponsors. The app has had more than 30,000 taps in nine months.
Heroin Use Skyrockets Across U.S. A recent survey by the Drug Enforcement Administration finds the growth of heroin abuse to be the top drug threat for the nation’s police, beating out methamphetamine, reports NBC News.
“Heroin availability is up across the country, as are abuses, overdoses, and overdose deaths," says the 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary. Seizures of heroin by law enforcement officials have nearly doubled in the past five years, with the number of users up by 51 percent, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
While roughly half of deaths caused by drug overdose are from the abuse of prescription drugs, another 8,000 involve heroin; combined, these two factors account for two-thirds of the overdose deaths.
Report Shows Percentage of Smokers Declining Federal health officials announced last week that the number of smokers has plummeted by nearly 20 percent in the past 10 years and dropped a full percentage point in the last year alone. According to an NBC News report, officials aren’t sure of all the reasons why the rate has dropped, but credit anti-smoking campaigns, better insurance coverage to help people kick the habit, and tougher laws that make it harder to smoke in a growing number places.
“The percentage of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes declined from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 16.8 percent in 2014,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team wrote in their report. “Cigarette smoking was significantly lower in 2014 (16.8 percent) than in 2013 (17.8 percent).”
Among the findings: Men are more likely to smoke than women—18.8 percent versus 14.8 percent. And people over 65 are the least likely to smoke—just 8.5 percent of them do.
Believers Firm in Faith Despite More Americans Rejecting Religion The 2014 U.S. Religious Landscape Study by the Pew Research Center found that as a whole, Americans have become less religious. However, those who do consider themselves part of a religion are just as committed to their faith as always, if not more so, reports The Huffington Post. The study also found that nearly all major religious groups have become more accepting of homosexuality since the first landscape study in 2007.
Very little has changed for believers since 2007 as far as attendance, prayer, and Scripture reading go. Overall, belief in God has gone down by only 3 percent. Pews’ associate director or research says the U.S. is still a nation of believers, with 9 out of 10 adults saying they believe in God.
The study also found the number of evangelical Protestants who agreed “homosexuality should be accepted by society” increased 10 percent from 26 percent in 2007 to 36 percent now. For Catholics it went from 58 percent to 70 percent.
Jingle All the Way!
The basic premise is very simple. You gather a group of people who will walk a certain distance or route and you raise funds for your mission through sponsorship donations. A walk is not necessarily a new idea. However, the fun thing about this event is its holiday theme and festive air. Every walker ties jingle bells to their shoelaces, and as they walk, the happy noise brings smiles to the faces of everyone involved, event spectators, and passersby. Like most walk/run events, participants or teams gather pledges from corporate and/or individual sponsors. For more info, visit the Jingle Bell Walk page at Fundraiser Help.
The following positions are currently open at AGRM member missions. Please visit www.agrm.org/careers to view full descriptions and to apply:
Assistant Culinary Leader, Open Door Mission, Omaha, Nebraska
Case Manager for Women, Children & Families, Open Door Mission, Omaha, Nebraska
Database Specialist (Proficient in Excel), Open Door Mission, Omaha, Nebraska
Development Associate, The Path of Citrus County, Citrus County, Florida
Development, Assistant to Director, Open Door Mission Foundation, Houston, Texas
Director of Development, Union Gospel Mission of Salem, Salem, Oregon
Director of Operations, Rescue Mission Alliance, Oxnard, California
Executive Assistant - Team Developer, Rescue Mission Alliance, Oxnard, California
Executive Chef, Open Door Mission Foundation, Houston, Texas
Men's Center Support Worker, Open Door Mission, Omaha, Nebraska
Men's Program Case Manager, Everett Gospel Mission, Everett, Washington
Men's Program Manger, Everett Gospel Mission, Everett, Washington
Men's Recovery Program Counselor, Spokane Union Gospel Mission, Spokane, Washington
Receiving Clerk, Open Door Mission, Omaha, Nebraska
Service Manager Technician, Spokane Union Gospel Mission, Spokane, Washington
Service Technician, Spokane Union Gospel Mission, Spokane, Washington
SR Help Desk Support, Open Door Mission, Omaha, Nebraska
Substance Abuse & Addictions Counselor, Hope Ministries, Des Moines, Iowa
Thrift Store Supervisor, Rescue Mission Alliance, Oxnard, California
Vice President of Facilities, Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Click here for instructions on using the Recruiting Center to post open positions for your mission.
Abounding Thanksgiving
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6–7).
Thanksgiving is just over a week away. It’s the time of year we get together with our families and friends to forget about our hectic life for a couple hours to just be thankful for what we have—mainly a big plate of turkey and stuffing sitting in front of us. A whole holiday centered on being thankful.
Ironically, we are constantly surrounded by non-thankfulness. We complain about our jobs, our living conditions, our bodies and image, and so much more. Why can’t we just be thankful?
Paul tells us that as Christians, we have all that we need to be thankful for through Christ. Receiving Jesus as Lord, accepting what He did for us on the cross, should eventually lead to abundant thanksgiving in our lives. Not constant complaining.
Paul describes three characteristics of the Christian walk that will lead to abundant thanksgiving:
1. Rooted. When you put your faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, you are rooted in him. Roots bring nutrition to the plant they are connected to. Your life is now being filled by Jesus and not the things of this world.
2. Built up. Becoming a Christian isn’t the end of the road. We need to continually allow Christ to build us up and increase our love and faith for him.
3. Strengthened. We should constantly come back to our faith. We should understand that our faith in Jesus and his death on the cross is the only thing that completely satisfies and that will never let us down.
These three characteristics of the Christian’s walk in Christ should lead to an abundance of thanksgiving. We should have enough thankfulness to spread year round. Our thankfulness doesn’t come from our external circumstances, but from our inward and spiritual circumstance that is now right through Christ.
Used with permission from Daily Devotionals, www.shortdailydevotions.com.
To contribute: If you would like to write a devotional thought for StreetLight, please make it about 200 words and include at least one Bible verse or passage, and submit via email. back to top
Is something unique and exciting going on at your mission? Share your news with fellow AGRM members by emailing items for "Our Street" to Brad Lewis.
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All Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, unless otherwise noted. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
Street Smart is sent to you as a member service of AGRM, and is published on the 1st and 15th of each month (unless those dates fall on a weekend or holiday). The content does not necessarily represent the views of or imply endorsement by AGRM. To submit items for publication, e-mail [email protected]. To unsubscribe, email [email protected].