Our next Isaiah 58 Ministry will be held Tuesday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m.
We will be passing out fliers Monday, April 28 at 5:00 p.m.
Please pray that the spiritual tummies as well as the physical tummies of these people will be filled! Ask the Lord to prepare the hearts of our guests to receive the Gospel and ask Him to give you strength and courage to share the Gospel with them.
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Isaiah 58:7-8
Visit Nick’s Isaiah 58 Ministry Blog.
We will be having a Bible Study for our neighbors at 5:00 on Thursday, May 1.
New Life Baptist Church 
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are small group of Christians who live in Rapid City, South Dakota. God has been speaking to our hearts and telling us to go out and do the work that is laid out in Isaiah 58 and throughout the Bible. We know are commanded to feed and clothe the poor, and to reach out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the entire world. We also know that our mission begins first in our home town of Rapid City.
While visiting your website, we have noticed that you are also doing the work of the Ministry. So it seemed good to us to ask for any wisdom you can offer.
We will be beginning the ministry out of one of our members’ houses. We plan to take food, clothing, toiletries, and possible money donations. We have a group of diverse individuals that are blessed with various gifts; evangelism, teaching, fixing appliances, car mechanics, painters, mentorship, financial planning, and personal relationships–to name a few.
If there is any advice that you could offer us before we begin, it would be greatly appreciated. For example; non profit issues, money donations, receiving other types of donations, building leases, food permits to distribute food prepackaged and ready to eat, dealing with the day to day focus and operations. We are praying every step of the way to a reach a group consensus about what God has been putting on our hearts before any decision is made. So again, if there are any words that come from the Holy Spirit after reading this, please email us back with any advice.
May God continue to bless your organization and the servants who run it,
James Dettman and Aaron Knudson
Isaiah 58 Ministries Rapid City
Hello, James and Aaron!
Thanks for visiting us! It’s encouraging to hear how God is at work in churches all over our nation. We’re so thankful to have siblings in Christ like you all in Rapid City who desire to show His love by reaching out to your neighbors.
I don’t know how much advice I can share as we’re still learning ourselves, but I will try my best!
Basically we would have a cookout for our neighborhood on the last Tuesday of the warmer months (last of the month=the funds are running low) and simultaneously have what we called a “yard-free.” (A yard sale where everything was free…the name is real original, huh?)
Balance Physical & Spiritual
First off, I would suggest that you’re careful to keep a balance between the physical and spiritual needs. The people you are reaching out to are probably both physically and spiritually hungry. It often becomes easy to start looking at the vast amount of physical needs they have and forget the whole reason you’re meeting their physical needs in the first place: to share the Gospel with them and meet their much deeper spiritual needs.
Present the Gospel
With that being said, at our ministry we tried to make sure we didn’t neglect their spiritual needs by starting our cookout with a 10-minute Gospel presentation. The Lord has also blessed us with a Mexican brother who translated the main message into Spanish. Sometimes we had a separate presentation for the children, usually an object lesson with the Gospel and a couple of simple songs.
Our members are all really good about mingling with the guests and getting to know them, which sometimes sparks further conversations about the message or our church.
Food/Donations
We kept our food fairly simple, usually served in to-go boxes so they could be pretty much prepared in advance. Our typical menu: hamburgers and hotdogs with chips and we would have baked beans, applesauce, fruit cocktail, or cookies on the side. For drinks, we usually made up a big thing of lemonade and bottled water.
We have connections with a local fast-food restaurant (Sonic, I think) that donated ketchup and mustard packets. One of our members also contacted some local grocery stores about donations. A few of them occasionally donated some hamburger buns. We also had a member in our church who had a relative that was a manager of a local grocery store (a Sav-a-Lot, I believe) who gave us a slight discount on some of the food. Use any resources you may have! Even if it’s just a small donation, every little bit helps.
Permits
While we don’t know the regulations of South Dakota, we were required to have at least one person with a food-handler’s permit. In God’s beautiful sovereignty, we had several people in our church who already had permits (one was a butcher, one worked in a restaurant, one cooked at a nursing home). Be sure to brainstorm about the occupations of people in your congregation that might eliminate a step in the licensing process. There also had to be a permit registered with our city to have a cookout, but things might be different in Rapid City.
Clothes/Furnishings
Our “yard-free” was set up inside. We gave each person a number as they arrived and allowed them to “shop” for 10 items for about 15 minutes or so. Before they went in the room to shop, we had them give us their contact information. This paper also included a spot where they could let us know some of their more specific needs. We’ve looked for many beds and such on Craig’s List and at yard sales because of these sheets they filled out.
Money
When you said you’re possibly going to take money donations, I don’t know exactly what you plan on doing with the money, but we recommend that you don’t give money to these people you’re trying to help. Our neighborhood is very heavily populated with drugs. We learned the hard way when multiple people starting asking for the same amount of money. “I need $18 for diapers.” “I need $18 for baby food.” “I need $18 for gas.” So, just be cautious!
Other
It sounds like you have a lot of wonderful resources and ideas! We will be praying for you as you begin this exciting endeavor. May God be glorified in every little thing you do and may His Gospel go forth with great power! If you have any other questions or if there’s anything else we can help you with, please don’t hesitate to let us know!
May the Lord guide you continually, satisfy your desire even when it seems like things aren’t going all that well, give you physical strength to continue this ministry, and make you a refreshing outlet of His sweet love that quenches the thirst of the spiritually parched in Rapid City.
With much love in Christ,
Sarah Wainright
New Life Baptist Church
sarahcwainright [at] gmail.com