God is on the MOVE!
Happy 2024 from Illuminate Hope!
We hope you all have enjoyed some special time with your family and friends while celebrating our Savior's birth. We are still rejoicing thinking about all that God is doing here in the East End - one life at a time! At our last gathering we got to celebrate our second baptism and decision to follow Jesus, with 10 year-old Chris! (**See more of his story, written by Jordan, below!) Chris started sharing his desire with us to get baptized after watching Coralie’s public declaration at the beginning of last month. At the end of our gathering at the park on December 17th, we walked back to our backyard and surrounded, cheered on and celebrated Chris as he made the best decision of his life! His baptism prompted another neat conversation with one of the neighbors on the drive home. So cool!!
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
This verse struck me this past week as I thought about Chris and his decision to follow Jesus. I’ve always wanted to be an international missionary, yet here we are in the East End of Lexington celebrating eternal life with families from the Congo, Rwanda, and Kentucky. Encountering people of different nations, just by opening the front door. I encourage you to try it sometime and watch God blow your mind!! :)
We will be gathering again for Pizza at the Park THIS Sunday, January 7th at 2pm. We would LOVE to have you join us!!
Thank you for all of your continued prayers and encouragement.
To HIM be all the Glory,
Joelle and the IH team
**Rand Ave. is a two block, dead end street in the East End of Lexington. It runs along Duncan Park, from N. Limestone through MLK, and almost connects to Elm Tree. Of the 80 or so houses on the street, there are homes that are rented, homes that are owned, there is public housing, large historic family homes, small duplexes, trendy rainbow homes, homes with bars on the windows, expensive AirBnB’s, and an old abandoned church that sits right in the middle. We live near the end of the second block. Each day when I drive home from work, I drive by all the homes, but 3. As I pass by, I notice the people. Every kind of person it would seem; it’s a glimpse of heaven somedays I believe. I try to wave and smile to as many neighbors as I can, especially the kids.
Last spring, I started noticing three new kids, two boys and a girl, playing in the street, almost every day. My interaction with them began with mere waves, smiles, and hellos. Day after day, week after week. Then one day, while walking out the front door of our house, one of the kids rode by our house on their bike. I quickly said hello, waved, and offered him an Ale 8. He said hello and kept riding. But… he showed up at our door a few minutes later with two other kids. I asked him his name. “Chris!” he said. And the other two introduced themselves as well, Chris' younger brother and their 8 year-old neighbor. Our four daughters are frequently at the door when people stop by. They love it and are super friendly with our guests. Our girls gave them Ale 8s and we told them to stop whenever they wanted a drink or a snack. In the weeks and months that followed, those three stopped by almost every day. Our girls became good friends with them and would play in the back yard for hours on end. Chris is super athletic - good at soccer, basketball, football, and pretty much anything. But I noticed something in him… he was almost always humble. He was well mannered and respectful… a person of peace.
Chris was a part of Illuminate Hope from Day 1. Helping to pass out flyers, attending the kids events, and inviting other kids. But pretty soon after we started gathering regularly for Illuminate Hope, he and his brother moved out of the neighborhood. Around the same time, the 8 year-old neighbor was taken away from her mother. Both households changed very quickly. This transience is unfortunately very common in our neighborhood. However, Chris and his brother still wanted to come to Illuminate Hope, so we would pick them up every other week. As much as they seem to enjoy coming, it feels like each time they come could be their last. On December 3rd, God prepared the heart of our 8 year old daughter Coralie for baptism, marking the first baptism at Illuminate Hope! As she was getting baptized, a dozen or more kids looked on to see her profess her faith, including Chris. He came up to me afterwards and said that he too wanted to get baptized. We talked about it over the next couple weeks leading up to our Dec. 17th gathering. During our conversation, Chris shared with me a great perspective on why he wanted to get baptized and allowed us to discuss the full impact of this decision. After talking about it one last time in the car, he decided to get baptized that day! His Mom was not in attendance… but thought it was pretty cool!! God is awesome!