Several months ago, I was approached by a staff member from a neighboring church about School Works–a cooperative ministry and community outreach. I was introduced by her to Half-Hour Heroes. I confess, at first I was a bit resistant–buying into other people’s agendas, feeling that I had too much to do already, but as I heard about an initiative of compassion to our neighborhood school children, and in our case, immediately next door, I gave the conversation my full attention, and I’m glad I did. I learned of the need: of school children disadvantaged by circumstances, and how a small effort on the part of a few people can make a great difference in the lives of our neighbors’ children—an adult giving a half hour once a week reading with a school child. The materials about Half-Heroes were compelling and I shared the idea with the people at our church, and was overwhelmed at their interest. A couple of weeks later we hosted a brief info session to share the basics with our people, and the enthusiasm only grew. The net outcome is that we have begun a substantive outreach of compassion in the local public school with potential huge significance and enthusiastic participation with a number of our people—and all of this in direct cooperation with the local public school—at their invitation! A group of our church people recently completed a simple orientation, and have begun to touch people’s lives. And out of this group, a leader arose to lead the ministry! Effective ministry, enthusiastic involvement, and minimal effort on our part–I’m a fan of School Works and its Half-Hour Heroes initiative, and commend it to you.
–Dale Patterson, pastor, Hackberry Creek Community Church