City of Refuge

I went to church at City of Refuge on Sunday. Talk about convicting. It's with shame I have to admit that I have never been good about volunteering or giving of myself to those less fortunate than me. Reading Matthew 25:31-46 always made me uncomfortable, and I'd do anything to justify my unphilanthropic spirit.

Well, with God's help, I'm ending my selfishness now, and City of Refuge has prepared the way for me to do that.

First, I'll give my overview of it: City of Refuge is a church and community that's main mission is to aid homeless Atlantans in getting their lives together. Sunday morning, we showed up at 9, loaded up our vans with blankets, hygiene products and food and headed over to two locations to pass out the items to the crowd assembled. We didn't shove Jesus down their throat, we simply gave thanks for the food and then served it, passed out the items and left. The church audience ran the full gamut from homeless men and women to Fortune 100 business executives. But in that service, everyone was equal and there to do the same thing, worship.

Now, there are two types of programs offered through City of Refuge: LifeLine Programs and Resource & Training Programs. Each program focuses on a need presented by the homeless community. By taking a 360 degree view of the problem and attacking it in a smart way, from all directions, City of Refuge is slowly, but surely chipping away at the problem plaguing South Atlanta today.

I would love to go into detail and explain each individual program and the history of City of Refuge, but I know that's not what blogs are there for. But, if you are more interested, the Web site is an incredible resource and I would be happy to give you more information.

I can't promise I'll be in attendance at City of Refuge every Sunday; but I will be finding ways to give my money, useful items, time and talent to this incredible organization and I encourage you to do so as well.