¶ Serving God's People With Care Portal
Hello and hello everybody . Welcome back , God's diamonds in the rough . We are so glad to be back with you one more time , amen . Those of you that are here and watching on video we have a guest today with us Amen .
Do , first and foremost , we must have to pray first , and obviously you don't see Michael , but you know , uh , y'all know we're recording early morning . Y'all know he works late at night , so , um , he'll be here the next time with us , amen . So before we get into it and pray , I will tell you who this is .
This young lady is Amy Foster , amen , and she's really basically going to be co-hosting with me and sharing some things that God has given her for us , amen . So let's quickly pray and then we will get into the conversation . Father , we thank you so much for your grace and your mercy . Thank you so much for allowing us once again to come together .
I pray God for every diamond that is here , every diamond listening . We pray for Miss Amy and we pray for just everything that is happening in the spiritual realm , here in the physical realm . God , we pray that you would just have your way , have your way . I thank you so much . We thank you and we praise your holy and your , uh , righteous name .
We just pray in jesus christ's name , amen , amen and amen , hallelujah . So , um , today , you guys , we are , we are talking about , uh , why is it so important , um , that we are serving , serving god and serving God's people ?
And Miss Amy I met her recently through a company called Care Portal and with this company , the whole idea is to get people more directed back to the church versus an out of government programs to some extent . So , but , miss Amy , she will further elaborate .
Miss Amy , will you please say hello to our diamonds and whatever the spirit is saying to you right now .
Absolutely . Thank you for having me on . I enjoy to talk about care portal , to talk about our whys , and it's like man , if we can't know our why , then we kind of lose the vision right Of why we do what we do . You're in this kind of space all the time serving people .
Your doors are open , you're just ready and willing to say all right , holy Spirit , I need and um , that's the , definitely the posture that I long to have you know with with my heart , and um , and just the . Uh , the weight of need in these spaces that you and I work in is so vast .
Right , and so just to live in that constant heart posture of who is it , holy Spirit ? Who is it today , who is it now ? Because it can feel so overwhelming .
I mean , I've got four young children and all of their crazy stuff too , but it's like the Lord knows my capacity better than I know my capacity , so I just really just live in that posture of prayer in service constantly , that uh , he's going to bring me to people and guide me with that .
You know , like how much I'm supposed to do versus how much someone else is supposed to do , and uh , so , so , yeah , so the why of it . All right Is just you , just when you partner with the spirit in that way , in a prayerful way . It's just that . The why is that you get to do this .
We get to be co-laborers with Christ , you get to reach out to the vulnerable and then you get close to the heart in this way that I just don't think you can get any other way is when you're serving the vulnerable , when you're stepping out of your comfort zone and being like , oh , I don't know if I have the resources , but I'm willing to try , like I'm
willing to be there , I'm willing to say yes , um , as the Lord leads , and um , so it's just such a gift to partner , you know , with a heart in that way and you just feel the love that he has for um , for the vulnerable . And the passage that I've been in um um lately is Isaiah 58 .
And it talks about isn't I'll just read it here Isn't that the fast that I do to lose the bonds of wickedness , undo the straps of the yoke , to let the oppressed go free , to break every lobe Yoke ?
Is it not to share your bread and bring the homeless and poor into your house when you see the naked , to cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh , then your light will break forth like the dawn and your shall spring up speedily . Your righteousness shall go before you .
So God is saying in that passage you do these things , then your light will shine . So he just has this way that he wants us to operate alongside him and and then we get to experience this experience , this blessing , but it's , you know , it's a hard journey , but it's the one he calls us to .
So , saying all that , to say kind of ask a couple of questions , you know , like that's what the Lord has on my heart , is this this giant gift of partnering with him to serve vulnerable ? But then how is kind of what we can talk about , you know , with Care Portal . If I pack that now , I can explain more of the Care Portal side of things .
Right , more of the care portal side of things , right . So that means I mean how this is opening it up . It's just , it's powerful , because oftentimes we don't understand our position . You know , once we get saved , once we receive Jesus , like what do I do next ?
And I love how you just how you took the scripture and just really quickly , briefly explained you know what it is . We just really are partnering with God and that is really how we shine . This is how people see our light partnering with God , connecting with Jesus . The relationship is said here all the time .
The relationship is so , so important and vital to what the next step is Amen . And if you are going through things and you're going through issues and you know you feel , uh , oppressed and you feel like you're burned down and heavy and weighed , you know um and um , you feel like you know things just aren't working in your life .
I love this program of Care Portal and how they have designed it to for the church to really be the church , and so you can either be , you know , you can be like myself I was . Let me get my words right y'all . Elcm has partnered with Care Portal and we are working with them to help people . You might be one that need help .
Then again you might be one that can be a helper to those who need help . And so there we go . Miss Amy , can you please tell us how Care Portal can help people and how they can be a helper of people ? Oh , that was rough .
You've got it , girl . I understand every word you say . You're fine , absolutely Okay . So Care Portal is a website , it's a software platform that connects needs in the community to the local church , like what you mentioned . So , you know , in this day and age I think it's easy to just that .
Oh , you know well , there's this government program or there's these services , and , yes , all of those things are so true . There is no substitute to relationship . You know , there's no substance substitute to being able to connect with people in the way God called us to connect with people .
And in our modern , fast paced society , where we're pretty pocketed , you know , in our different spheres of comfort , it's hard to know the needs around us . Like , how do you know ? We can be driving down the street all the time and literally not know there's somebody absolutely just trying to survive .
And so this website allows you to know those needs , because the needs are put on there by people working on the front lines of this , this sort of need , every single day .
So the needs are put on the website by social workers at the department of social services , they're put on there by people working in the school system , they're put on there by people working at the hospital who see , you know , mothers go home or without the resources that they need to care for their babies well , and so the social workers put those needs on
the website and then the church gets to see that . So church signs up to be a part of it . They get emails in their inbox and then they can choose yeah , oh , I can help pay this light bill to keep their electricity on . I can help bring a car seat . I can .
You know , not all of them are like , if something is a really big need and you don't have the resources for that , you can help with part of the need . And so the idea , too , is that we get to be the body of Christ .
We're together too , so it's not one person doing all the things we get to , you know , we get to work with one another toward the needs that are around us , and so , yeah , it's a powerful tool and I , yeah , I'm , you know it's , it's just , it's like I said , it's it's a gift when it's easy to get siloed in our current context .
And , yeah , I've been able to , you know , through it , um , pretty actively , and our church is located in an area of Lynchburg that is , um , in poverty , a lot of the neighborhoods around . So it's like , as a church , we want to serve our neighbors Well . We don't want to just come in with our own ideas .
But this is serve our neighbors Well because somebody tells us a social worker tells us what these parents need and then we can go meet those families . So it's really unique and it's really different . It's not easy . I'm not going to sit here and say , oh , you know , walking stories in these spaces are easy . They're not . It's many layers and need .
But yeah , that's a tool and anybody can join and we need churches to join man Like . We just need people to to say yes to this , because there's immense need out there . There's immense need for tangible things , but there's immense need for relational needs too in this space Just absolutely be a light , just to be loved .
That's it , and that's the cool thing about it's the there's , no and not . So a lot of or there's , or you're not a paid professional . So a lot of times , people that end up on this care portal website have already been meeting with so many paid professionals , so many people , good people trying to help them .
But they're , they're , they're paid to do a job . You get to show up at this family's house . You're not getting paid to be there , you're just there . Why ? Why are you here ? Oh , I'm here because I love Jesus . Actually , we're called to do so . That's it . What a cool agenda , right ? What a cool motive .
Right , absolutely so , for those who actually want to be , you know , and they think that their church would be an awesome fit for Care Portal . How do they do that ? How can they connect with Care ?
Portal ? Yeah , good question . So Care Portal actually works under a nonprofit that's well established in Lynchburg . The nonprofit is Patrick Henry Family Services . So Patrick Henry is under that . So Patrick Henry is the one making sure that the system is operating well . So you can go to PatrickHenryorg and then click on the care portal button .
Once you're there , you can also just Google care portal and there's a way to make sure you're signing up for this area as well . So it's pretty straightforward . And then somebody from our Patrick Henry team will reach out to your church just to get you trained , because it is software and you know there's glitches , there's difficulties in technology .
You know , like learning how the system operates . I mean , it works . It works great , but it definitely . We want to be able to train you well , just to you know what to expect and what it does and all of those kinds of things . So , yeah , it's pretty simple . And I know the city , right , lynchburg has 400 churches , so wouldn't I 400-ish ?
Wouldn't it be incredible if every church signed up in this ? And then , once a church has signed up , we do ask that they aim to meet one need every month . That's just a good accountability . If you're going to be in the system . You know that you're staying active .
And yeah , if every church in Lynchburg meant one need a month man , we would wipe out a lot of poverty crises for sure .
Definitely that would be amazing , would be awesome . So this is national right . I did , I do have that right . Right , it's a national organization , right ?
So I'm speaking because I know the Lynchburg context , but you're totally right , the website is all across the United States In fact .
Yes , it started in , I believe , kansas , and so there's yes , there's a Kansas a conference for Care Portal coming up in April , and I just learned that people from Canada , people from all over the world , are coming to this conference , so it's starting to get even international , which is really , yeah , you're right , anybody in the cross ?
Awesome . I asked that because we have a lot of listeners that are international . So , um , even if you have never heard of it in your country , um , check out the website . Can you repeat the website one more time for the audience ? Yeah , Care portal care portal , care portal .
C-A-a-r-e-p-o-r-t-a-l care portalorg dot org .
It's just that simple . It really is that simple . It's not hard at all , um . I mean , we've been with it I think two years now , um , and it , like I said , it is not a difficult thing at all . And then there's also layers within Care Portal where you can be .
You can actually , like she said , actually be one of the ones that's giving the car seats or whatever have you . But then there's another way that you can be involved too , and our positions changed ELCMM , because we have a community center within our church , and so what is it called again , amy ?
Yeah , you're , you're now called a community champion . So your idea is that you're championing these causes , so you're providing resources . So , because you have a hub that has some items that people need , you're just , you're just saying , to care board , hey , I have these items .
Feel free , like I'm partnering with you , to come grab those items , but you're not the one , you're not the one actually going to the families , those are the responders . So , yeah , there's a lot of different parts
¶ Partnering With Ministry in Faith
. So , idea , with all the moving parts , I know it can get a little bit overwhelming , but the idea is what , what fits for the ministry context that you already have going on and let's partner together in that .
And you know , some churches are like hey , like , um , I don't , we're maybe , we're an older congregation , so we're not going to be lifting heavy furniture to take them to the family , but we can put money toward it . Oh , thank you . That's fantastic , right , every little bit helps . It doesn't have to be the .
You know , if you have a younger congregation with muscle , you know , perfect , you can help lift some , you know , a bed into a house . So there's really , it's really the willingness factor that we're after , just the willingness factor . You're willing to just partner with this .
It's not you know , it's not how much you can do , it's really just you know what God calls you to do and your willingness with it and work with that . And little bits , everybody . I think I'm amazed by this over and over again .
It's like um , I think you know we can not say yes to some things because it just is like , well , I can't do all of it , you know . But man , god can work with our little bits . Just take what you got , start with that and then watch him grow you , watch him grow your resources , watch him grow your abilities and things like that . So Absolutely .
So we're coming down to the final minutes . Y'all know I'm typically we're typically at least 30 minutes or more , uh , but unfortunately we're on a rush for time .
But , um , amy , I definitely want to have you back , uh , for a conversation more about serving and just your own , what God has put inside of you , uh , even outside of care portal , because I just feel , in my spirit strongly , that you will be a powerful voice for our diamonds here .
Um , but just because of time sake in the topic at hand , um , uh , we can't stay here that long today , but we will , I promise you , diamonds , we will have her back on another occasion for us to have a more in-depth conversation . But , amy , I want you to give us a final word , whatever .
Again , as we began with the word from the spirit , we want you to close with the word from the spirit .
Okay , all right , lord I , I , lord Jesus , what do you want me to say ? Honestly , I think the thing , I think , the thing that just keeps coming back to me , is just to encourage people to trust the Lord's expansion within you .
Self-preservation is of the enemy and in this modern culture it's just really hard to live by faith , to live , you know , letting the Lord expand our tent and really just like pull us into uncomfortable , difficult paces and stretch us , and I fully get that .
But I also just believe that for each one of you , he has an expansion available and whether that is , you know , to help somebody in poverty , or whether that is , take the step of faith that you know that he's been asking you to take . It's just that he wants to expand you . He just wants to just direct you . So much will you ?
Will you let him , will you be willing ? That's it , amen powerful , powerful father .
Father , we just thank you so much for this opportunity , for this time together , and I just continue to lift up amy and her um and her heart and her family and just everything that is attached to her and her role at Care Portal and Care Portal as a whole . God , we just lift up the diamonds .
We lift up everyone before you , god , that you would just do some magnificent things , continue to strengthen and build your body . I pray , god , that you'll continue to just do a work in our lives that only you can do . Father , we thank you so much for just again , another opportunity to be before your people and to be before you .
I pray , god , that your hand will continue to move in our lives , continue to make a way out of no way , continue to bless , continue to correct , continue to reprove , continue to do what it is in our lives that needs to be done . Father , we bless your name and we bless your people .
We thank you so much again and we pray this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ . We do pray Amen , amen , amen and amen , amen . You hang on . Thank you again for being here . We appreciate you . Y'all know what it is . Y'all just please remember that you are a diamond . You are a diamond in the rough . Amen , hallelujah , and until next week .
We'll see you on the next time . Amen and amen .