Welcome to my blog and thank you for dropping by.
I chose the title Vision Hope Partners as I believe that embodies the message of the ReachGlobal Crisis Response team.
And as of September 12, I am officially part of the team. Thank you for all of you who have been praying with me for God’s leadership and direction. This is an exciting time for me and Cindy as we step out in faith to follow where God is leading.
Many of you know I have been involved with the Crisis Response Team as a volunteer on and off since 2005 and Hurricane Katrina. I have seen the power of this ministry to transform lives first-hand in New Orleans, Haiti, Houston, and Corpus Christi. I am excited to be joining the team full-time and ask you to come along with me on this journey.
My Role
I will be focusing on helping to raise awareness of the ministry, train and educate churches regarding potential crisis events in their own communities, mobilize churches and teams to serve at Crisis Response sites, and to help raise up teams to serve both domestically and internationally. I will also serve at specific Crisis Response sites as needed and will help support discipleship making activities and home visits to those impacted by crisis events.
PT-Dev
The timing for joining the ministry team was great in that I was able to attend the semi-annual PT-Dev (Personal and Team Development) meeting in Houston. This four-day meeting gave me a chance to meet most of the team and learn a great deal more about the ministry. It was a time of great teaching and encouragement to one another, focusing on individual growth and team building.
Ministry Focus & Locations
The Crisis Response team has found that when the normalcy of life is disrupted through crisis, there is a unique opportunity to be a tangible witness of Christ’s love in both word and deed.
There are five current crisis response sites in the US:
New Orleans, LA – Hurrican Katrina
Houston, TX (2 sites) – Hurricane Harvey
Corpus Christi, TX – Hurricane Harvey
Morehead City, NC – Hurricane Florence
Internationally the team is helping to respond to various crisis events in the Philippines –
Typhoon Haiyan, Jordan – Syrian refugee crisis and others as needed and led by the Lord.
Prayer Requests
I would appreciate your prayers for me as I continue my onboarding for this ministry. Pray that I can get up to speed quickly on all aspects of the ministry. Pray for me as I begin reaching out to churches to set up meetings to help them learn more about the ministry. Pray that God would raise up churches and teams that can serve at the various ministry sites. Pray that I can quickly raise up the necessary financial support for my ministry activities.
Become a Ministry Partner
I would like to ask you to Partner with me in this wonderful ministry. I need both spiritual support and financial support. To become a financial partner click on the following link: Partner With Me or go to the EFCA Website, https://www.efca.org/give for instructions on how to donate via credit card, check or direct debit from your checking account.
I would love to hear from you and know how I can pray for you. Email me at steve.smeltzer@efca.org.
Let’s partner together to share God’s hope and love through this unique ministry.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore spray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Mathew 9:37-38 ESV