By Gary Hardin
Geri Forsythe prayed for a ministry in which she could serve the Lord and give back to people during a time of difficult transitions in her own life. She had recently retired after 29 years as a kindergarten teacher. Then Forsythe’s mother, who had lived with her for 35 years, died. Forsythe found her opportunity in Serving You Ministries, a benevolence ministry in Trussville.
“When people come in, you can feel their pain,” said Forsythe, who volunteers as a receptionist for Serving You. “Their needs touch my heart. Except for God’s grace, I might be facing the same needs.”
The ministry serves seven zip codes within Jefferson and St. Clair counties. Thus far, in 2010, Serving You has helped more than 150 families and provided almost $50,000 in assistance.
According to Executive Director Rus Goodwin, the ministry helps with customary food and clothing needs and financial assistance but also helps with counseling, support groups and English as a Second Language classes. “In addition, we present the gospel to every person who comes through our doors and every person is prayed with even if we can’t help them financially,” he said.
What makes Serving You unique is that churches can partner with it and direct their volunteers and benevolence dollars to it.
Originally Serving You was a ministry of NorthPark Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association. And for many years, NorthPark, like many churches, attempted to do its benevolence ministry solo. The church dealt with typical benevolence ministry obstacles: budget constraints, time limitations and no system to track those who are helped and those who work the system by going from church to church.
So a year and a half ago, NorthPark birthed the unique nonprofit benevolence ministry and is now technically a separate ministry from the church, even though it uses space on the church campus.
Nearby Clayridge Baptist Church, Clay, and Hilldale Baptist Church, Center Point, also chose to combine their benevolence efforts with Serving You rather than go it alone.
“Before we partnered with Serving You, our benevolence ministry team attempted to provide assistance for all the benevolence requests that came to us,” said Ron Pate, pastor of Hilldale Baptist. “We found it next to impossible to contact the ministry team, gather information, determine if the need was legitimate and stretch our budget dollars. We weren’t able to provide assistance with perishable goods either. Regretfully some people scammed our church.”
Today the church provides food items and financial assistance for Serving You. “Serving You has a smoother system and a better physical setup for doing benevolence,” Pate said. “When we did our own benevolence ministry, we took as much as a day or two getting clearance for monetary help. With Serving You, a person leaves with immediate help or at least some direction.”
That’s something a single church can’t do, said Ray Walker, board chairman for the ministry.
“Serving You can do more than a single church can do,” he said. “A single church can’t put safeguards in place for being taken advantage of and typically does not have the budget to meet all benevolence requests that are directed to the church.”
Forsythe explained the Serving You system: “We are located in a facility behind — and separate from — NorthPark. When people come in seeking help, we greet them, fill out paperwork and conduct an initial interview to find out their specific needs. The people are then directed to a volunteer chaplain who shares the gospel and prays with them.”
Sylvia Gorbach, a volunteer interviewer for Serving You, feels she is joining God where He is at work.
“Through Serving You, we are stepping outside the church doors and offering hope. We are reaching our applicants with the gospel even if, in some cases, we can’t take care of their physical needs. We provide a helping hand and a human touch,” Gorbach said.
Goodwin wants to extend the ministry’s reach by expanding into other zip codes, enlisting more partner churches and even setting up satellite locations across the state and nation. For more information, visit www.servingyou.org or call Goodwin at 205-228-0030.
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