When people give clothing to the Atlanta Union Mission it can serve several purposes-from giving our guests and clients clothing they need immediately to being able to provide financial resources through there selling at our Thrift Store and More Stores.  I wanted to share a story of a life being given hope by a pair of socks and pair of shoes.  On Saturday morning when the men were coming in for breakfast from the shelter and the street, around the corner comes an older gentlemen with one shoe and on the other foot just a sock.  He had a look of no hope and despair to be honest, one of our employees quickly ran over to him and asked him what size shoes he wore-size 10 and 1/2 he said, I came over and helped him to a seat as we went to get him shoes and a ...<< MORE >>

My first Thanksgiving at the Mission was a humbling, encouraging and special time to be Thankful!  During Thanksgiving week I had the privilege to visit all of our centers and the clients and guests in those centers. I thought I would highlight some of the weeks  amazing times that I had with people. Monday was a special day where I got to tour our Atlanta facilities with my youngest daughter Courtney and a dear friend Leslie.  As we had lunch with the men at The Carpenters House we heard the stories of how God was changing their hearts from one of anger to one of forgiveness, from one of dependency on substances to a dependency on Him.  We went from there to My Sisters House our women's and children's center where we got to interact with the staff and see the facility and also have the ...<< MORE >>

At our annual Agape Dinner where we recognize our members of the Agape Society we all got to see the power of God and the work He does at the Atlanta Union Mission!  This night was truly a very special night and my first time there!  The night centered around a very familiar sign of homelessness the cardboard sign written with a need for food, work, shelter or clothing that is held by a man, women or even a child on the road or on the street.  This night the card board sign however told a different story-the story of how God changes lives from desperation to hope and redemption to many of the clients of the Atlanta Union Mission!  From our opening prayer with a women holding up a sign on one side that said-"Abused and abandoned" then on the other side "God will never leave me", to ...<< MORE >>

During our weekly Senior Leadership Team Operations Meeting yesterday, Melissa Clayton was talking about our need for turkeys for Thanksgiving.  Donna Ellis shared with us about an idea  the stores have implemented to engage and give the opportunity for the people who are in our stores to contribute to the Mission in addition to what they purchase.   They have been focusing on having people help buy Turkeys for Thanksgiving.   Well our stores have been doing this for two weeks and people have contributed over $1800 and more is being raised every day!!!   Many of these gifts are for 50 cents to a $1.00 from people who have very little but are generous and caring for others.   I was reminded of, Mark 12:42-44 “And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny.  And he called his disciples to him and ...<< MORE >>

Well it has been a fast several weeks with many great things taking place at the Mission.  On October 22nd we had the dedication of our chapel in our new downtown Community Center for men.  We started the morning with the AUM staff together,  meeting for a time of worship and a message from Dr. Crawford Loritts on a "Call to Courage" from Joshua 1.  We as a staff then went into the Shepherds Inn and the new Community Center and prayed over every bed and chair that men would be eating at and sleeping in that night and left a card with our signature telling them we had prayed for them that day.  It was a special and moving time for all of us as we reflected back on the faithfulness of God for almost 70 years at the Atlanta Union Mission and the love of Christ shown to ...<< MORE >>

Over the past two weeks it continues to be exciting, heartwarming and overwhelming to see all God is doing in our community and in our ministry here.  Last week I started my week with a great day at The Potter’s House, where I had a chance to talk with our leaders of Thrift Stores and More and from The Potters House about leadership from my presentation on SALT!  It was an engaging time where we talked about leadership, we talked about our learning's and we got to share our hearts with each other!   I also got to talk and spend time with Kevin, Dean, Tony and Jeff to hear what they are doing and what their teams are doing-what a blessing these men are to the ministry and what a difference they and their teams are making every day in the lives of people and in the overall ...<< MORE >>

This week I want to share a couple of more highlights from my time around the Mission and I must say it was another great week watching all God is doing through all of our donors, volunteers, staff and Board members!! Our Senior Leadership Team had the joy of spending Wednesday afternoon at My Sister’s House where we got to pray together with the staff, hear their histories, hear great stories of what God was doing in the lives of our clients and their kids and then tour the facility together!   It was an inspiring, heartwarming and WOW GOD time together.   Jay Cory our Executive Vice-President and I then stayed and got to have dinner with our clients and their families (chicken wings, thanks to the generosity of Hooter’s). A special thanks to Melissa Clayton and her teams for the great work!   I got to hold a 5 week ...<< MORE >>

WOW!  Hard to believe I am closing out my first 4 weeks and is has been great!   I have had the chance to be at all the centers, meeting people, holding some meetings with the teams, getting to know some of the clients, getting into the community to begin to meet leaders there and just being blessed by all you do! I am humbled and very grateful for the number of people that give their time and talents to our Volunteer Ministry, give their gently used items for our Thrift Ministry, and the generosity of our monetary donors that ensure we will always welcome homeless men, women and children with open arms and God’s loving promise of a new life through Him. I had my first board meeting last week representing all of us on the team and I wanted to very briefly give you some of ...<< MORE >>