All posts tagged: Communities Service Outreach

Lesson learned from trimming vines

June 21, 2022 Merlin Gonzales blog, KIOM, Latest News

No, this is not about how to trim vines growing on your brick wall.

First of all, it’s a lot of work to have vines growing on your walls. However, it is pretty. My wife always tells me that we have the most gorgeous house in our little community. So, I have a mantra that I recite when trimming the vines… “I love my wife, I love my wife, I love my wife…” This is about life’s application based on simple practical reflection. During Spring, our Boston Ivy grows like the vine at Jack and the Beanstalk. Throughout the years, I have had to trim it at least 4 times! Yesterday, I decided to trim it for the 2nd time this year. I was very meticulous. Then, after I finished the entire trimming, I noticed a small vine that I missed!!

You can be so particular in details and miss the big picture. This is similar in life, we can be so into the nitty-gritty, and in the end, our wasted exhausting emotion was not necessary.

Let’s not go too extreme on this notion. Details are very important in life.

My message is Balance. We are imperfect people living in an imperfect world. It’s ok to be imperfectly perfect. There’s always room for improvement, learning, and acknowledging our humanity. It is more exciting to know that there are always new things to learn as we go through life being imperfect than assuming we have arrived at perfection.

Session 5: Time Changers

June 1, 2016 Merlin Gonzales a Study on God's Dominion, blog, KIOM

The signs of time is changing because you are a TIME changer!

“In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream through it.” – Isaiah 2:2
Our 5th session started with worship led a Midtown worship team led by Najwa Loh with Tim Taylor. We learned the 7 cultural mountains that influence a nation. However, God has called us to be salt of the earth and ambassadors of heaven. It is God’s desire for us to influence the way people live and to shift their worldview to the Kingdom reality. We are to change the culture and to mold our society according to the teachings of Jesus.

For Session 6, we will look at several Bible verses to learn how we can “Take it to the Streets” and be in the world but not of the world. We will have a Guest Speaker who will be sharing God’s power in His ministry that is now serving millions of dollars worth of food to Indiana. We will learn how to apply heaven’s principles in practical ways. Some class participants will also be presenting their projects/outreaches. If you haven’t yet, please make a “Wish List.” Who knows, God may answer all or some of them so dream with God.

Assignment for Session 6

Read pages 140-173 of “The Kingdom In Our Midst”and answer Questions 3-5 on pages 174-176.

Contemplation: Meditate on Hebrews 13:20-22 and be reminded how the Lord has uniquely equipped you.

Experiential: Invite your friend to spend some time in the streets to prayer walk. Be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is doing and act on what you sense God is revealing to you at the moment.

Listen to Session 5

Session 5

God bless you!

Merlin

Beyond the busyness

November 29, 2014 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, blog

After Thanksgiving, things seem to accelerate in our lives. From work, to home and to the marketplace, most of us are rushing to get things done. Let’s slow down for a few minutes; hope the stories below would bless you.

Remember the church I wrote about in September? They were at a crossroads of selling the property or giving it back to the bank? The new congregation moved in a few weeks ago and they had their first service last night. Together with the reduced monthly payment, increase giving and rent from the new congregation, they are able to implement simple plans that are workable and effective.

This all happened because God had already put things in place. We were able to plug in with His divine plan and watched how things unfold before our eyes. We are truly God’s co-laborers and ambassadors 2 Cor. 5:20, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

Today, Nov. 29, 2014, I visited my office to meet someone who is interested in buying one of my vehicles (2000 Nissan Maxima). After meeting him, the mailman came. In the mailbox, is a small white envelope. I opened the envelope and was surprised to see what’s in it. A check for an entire year pledge to the ministry! This donor made a pledge in Nov. 2013 to contribute on a monthly basis. However, after the first month, we were not able to process the monthly donation. He also had a hand-written note saying that he would like to continue to give on a monthly basis.

In April, 2012 we had a donor who pledged to give to the ministry. However, we did not receive any since then. Just 2 weeks ago, we received a check from her! With the check was a copy of the pledge card that she filled out in 2012.

Three days ago, a donor stopped by our office. He was so excited to hand us a Christmas gift! He was so stirred that he cannot wait till Christmas to give his gift to us! It was a baking pie plate with “Faith Hope and Love” printed on it!

I don’t know about you but I have been guilty of unfulfilled promises. I thought that my pledge for an organization would not make a difference – WRONG! God is making His appeal to us to let your Yes be yes and your No be no. My hats off to the 3 people who honored their words beyond the busyness of the season and, during the busiest shopping month of the year!

I pray that during this season, we become more in tuned with the Kingdom reality rather than the world as we know it.

God bless,

Merlin

Remember the Fire?

September 18, 2014 Merlin Gonzales a Study on God's Dominion, blog, KIOM, Testimony

Remember when you first commit your life to Jesus Christ?

Remember when you first experience God?

Two months ago, I posted about a house fire that happened to a Pastor who is friend of mine. Many people have helped him in terms of some donated money, furniture & appliances and most of all, prayers. I have been helping him in finding out the best solution for the future of the house that was burned. I have a sense that this tragedy will end up to be a blessing for him and his family. I kept encouraging him and praying for him in the past several weeks.

Last Monday, we heard news about the house and we did more negotiations. We were confirmed that there’s nothing else we can do, so we settled for what was agreed upon. Tonight, I received a message to call the main person regarding the house. We received great news; something that we did not expect!

In these past several months, God has been showing me things that are beyond my imagination. The unexpected things such as the pallet shelving, the launching of one-of a kind food pantry, the $70k walk-in freezer donation and many more.

There is another huge thing that has fall on my lap just 2 weeks ago. I ask that you pray for wisdom and discernment on my part. This one could impact thousands of people and may be an integral part in this particular community for years to come.

God is awesome! I would like to invite you come alongside with me in experiencing the goodness of God. Some people are experimenting with God to see what happens when you trust Him. I would like to invite you to journey with me in fully trusting God in every aspect of our lives.

There’s a difference between making Jesus as our Savior and making Him as our Lord. Our lives reflect who our Lord is – the way we conduct ourselves, react on situations, make decisions and our habits. Our reality is mostly based on our experience. I think many of us have knowledge of God but do not have much of experiencing life with Him – that’s why sometimes we find out selves asking ” where is God in this situation?” Unless we experience Him intimately, His reality in our lives would be fragmented.

Remember when you first experience God and felt that He is involved in your life? If you are like me, I was on fire! It seem like God is so close to me… not only during Sunday but every day of the week! What if we fully trust that every aspect of our lives is connected with our relationship with God…our finances, our relationships, our health and our spiritual life? This may be a silly question: “What if all of our life experience is directly interconnected with our relationship with God?” How would we cope with our failures and celebrate our success, treat our families, work with our associates and deal with our neighbors? If God is ever present in our consciousness, what would our lifestyle be, how would we react with every situation – good or bad, and what would be our perspective in life.

Here’s what I have in mind. I will share with you my experience with Him. Similar with what I have been writing before, I will continue sharing with you what God has been doing in the ministry of FHL. This time, I will be more intimate and share more of my personal experience with Him such as frustrations, praises and prayers, requests and dreams, questions and answers and, my experience. I would like to encourage you to share your stories as well, make comments, prayers and praises. Let’s experience God and share our stories to encourage and to uplift one another.

I hope you would consider joining me in learning more about ourselves and our relationship with the God that we profess – our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. What’s your story and what has God been doing in your life? Remember your passion for Christ when you were a new Christian? Remember the fire in your heart?

The blessings of serving

March 17, 2014 Merlin Gonzales FHL Food Pantry, FHL Indiana, Mobile Food Pantry, Prayer Groups

There are days when something amazing happens when you least expected. Here are a few examples that happened in 10 days.

Warehouse for re-distribution

On March 6th, I decided to move the re-distribution of food from the FHL parking lot to a warehouse that is being rented by one of our partnering food pantry Pastors. We normally divide the food that we receive from Midwest Food Bank to 5 food pantries. Because of the numerous logistics, I have to admit that I was anxious. However, many of my anxious thoughts were wrong! The training went very well at our partner’s building while we were waiting for the arrival of the 24-footer box truck containing the food. Our partner’s warehouse has at least 6 docks, a lift truck and a hand truck. The Lord worked it out that we were able to unload 9 pallets in just a few minutes. Within an hour, the food were redistributed to 5 food pantries. It normally takes us to do all this in 3-4 hours!

Forklift for unloading and loading trucks

In addition, our partner is considering allowing us use some space for storage! This may seem insignificant but the warehouse space with loading docks, lift truck, hand truck and more centralize location is huge for FHL at this time! I’ll share more on this soon.

On March 12th, I conducted a Latino refresher course for food pantry operation at Monte de Sion Hispanic Wesleyan Church. I ended the teaching with role playing to present the Gospel during food pantry days and also anywhere they see opportunities. The participants were all excited to use their newly acquired revelation.

Experiential training

A few days later on March 15th, I visited the food pantry at that same place, Monte de Sion. As soon as I got there, many people are being served and were being prayed for. One of the couples who participated at the training on the 12th shared with me that they led 2 people to the Lord! They were so excited and I noticed that their faith was rising up as they are experiencing the blessing of sharing the Gospel.

Earlier that day, I was expecting a hectic schedule for the opening of our newest food pantry at the corner of Washington & State streets. Opening a new site takes a lot of planning and preparation. When I got to the site, the Pastor of this mobile food pantry was already. The food were placed on tables, volunteers were at their station and were already engaging in conversations with people at this street corner.

At Washington and State St., Indianapolis

This particular food distribution area is one of the depressed areas in Indy. This site had become a “stand by” place for “Labor For Hire”. They hang out at this corner waiting for people to hire them for a day! This is a strategic place to give away food, offer free coffee and sandwiches for the men waiting for work. We’ll see how the Lord would have us serve in this place in the future – maybe more than just giving groceries once a month.

At Beech Grove B&G

My last stop that day was at B&G Pantry of Hope. I was amazed to see how they have become a self-sufficient. Here’s a video of their story as told by their current food pantry director who was one of this pantry’s recipients a few years ago.

I am blessed to witness His goodness and the miracles along the way. I told a Pastor who visited one of the pantries that I receive blessings through serving. I would like to challenge you this coming weeks to count your blessings as you serve in the Name of the Lord; it will revolutionize your outlook in life.

John 12:26, “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

God bless you!

Merlin