Current Happenings at HPCO

Boxes of Love

 Thanksgiving Food Outreach101_2029.JPG 101_2021.JPG 

This November, we were again able to bless many of our families with a Thanksgiving food box. These boxes provided the families with food for their Thanksgiving dinners. Along with the food, each family also received a New Testament and tract.

We were able to do this outreach because of the ongoing partnership with churches (Primarily Life Church and Highland Park Baptist Church). These churches blessed us with not only providing the food and money for the boxes, but also individuals came to help deliver them the Saturday before Thanksgiving.  As boxes are delivered, we enjoy taking the time to pray with the family. Not only is this a blessing for them, but also for those who deliver. Often times, families take time to pray for us as well. It’s a beautiful thing to see the body of Christ join together across racial and economic differences.   

We want to give you the opportunity to come check-out HPCO and see all that God is doing here. We will be holding an OPEN HOUSE at our ministry center. Come fellowship with us, see our facilities, hear inspiring testimonies of people whose lives have been touched by this ministry, tour the city of Highland Park and also hear how you can partner with us to help advance our cause.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FLYER FOR THIS EVENT.

Sunday, November 9th @ 1:00-4:00 PM
Please RSVP to John or Sarah at
313-883-1502 (leave a message)
Or email godrule242@aol.com
Food will be provided, please come and go as you
are able!

The fall was a busy and exciting time in Highland Park. We started Kids Club with a growth of number in our attendance. It was mostly due to kids we had met through out the summer and had attended day camp. It was great to have almost all of our volunteers return. The ongoing relationships are so vital as we reach the kids.

We had a lot of great opportunities available for our kids. Some of these include, taking our Jr High girls horseback riding, a huge Christmas party put on by a youth group from Grand Rapids, and a field trip to Wayne State’s gym (which including rock climbing!)

For me (Sarah) one of the greatest blessings was being able to connect with some of the Jr high girls in a more meaningful way. God opened doors for me to reach some new girls this year, and they have been very open to spiritual things and I can see God working in their lives. I’ve also been able to get to know their families and pray that God will reach the families through the youth.

We’ve been able to continue to build a partnership with Revival Tabernacle (a local church in Highland Park). We are bringing our teens to their Tuesday night youth group. The teens love it and we are blessed to have a place they can call “home”. It’s been a huge blessing to have male leaders to work with our boys and for our teens to have a safe and fun place to hang out. It is our prayer that this connection will encourage them to become more connected at the church and eventually, call it their own.

We are excited about what 2008 holds for the ministry and lives of our kids! Please pray that God would continue to work in this city and reach people for Himself!

This past week, we wrapped up our six weeks of day camp. What an amazing summer of ministry! It was so incredible to be working with a staff who loved God, loved the kids and were enthusiastic about being here in Highland Park and ministering. Each week, we had approximately 35 kids come to day camp, and many of them were new this summer- which was really exciting!

We saw God work in incredible ways…as He always does. First off, He provided the needed resources and people to make day camp possible. It was a blessing to see people from all over become a part of this ministery. We had multiple volunteers come and work for a week, many who sent money to send kids to camp, and also so many who were praying for camp! It was truly the work of the body of Christ pulling together to further His Kingdom.

I could share so many stories from camp! But I will try to limit it to some highlights :o) For me, it was such a blessing to watch the interactions that took place between the kids and staff. It was such a great example of the love of Christ being lived out in day to day interactions. It was so evident that everyone, staff and kids, loved being there and had fun being together. Even though discipline took place on multiple occasions, the kids knew they were loved and that we wanted what was best for them. They also knew how much we wanted them there. I had parents tell me how much their kids loved going to camp and how often they talked about their teachers…it was evident that they really looked up to the staff.

We were blessed to have volunteers come in and teach Bible time each week. The kids learned about God’s love for them, His provision, and how He wants them to live. The Gospel was presented on multiple occasions and we had a few accept Christ for the first time. Bible time also lead to conversations through out the day and it was a great way for the staff to talk to the kids more informally about what they had learned and also brought up a lot of questions from the kids.

Thank you all for your prayers this summer. We felt them each day! Praise God for all He has done! Please continue to pray as we head off to Bay Shores Camp this week with our 5th and 6th graders!!

In just over two weeks, HPCO will be in full day camp mode! Day camp is an amazing time for both the kids as well as staff who work it. This year, we are blessed to have four interns come on staff with us to join Sarah. Two of them (John and Mario) are returning from last year. And two are new- Alex and Kristen. Kristen has been volunteering over the last year with our Jr High girls and loved it so much she decided to stick around for the summer! Alex is a friend of John’s from Minnesota, who decided to come after hearing of John’s experiences last summer.

Our theme for camp this summer is sports and nutrition. We will be doing various sport activities as well as taking a field trip to the Wayne State University rec center. For nutrition, we have a lot of fun ideas such as making a vegetable garden, cooking classes, and creating a cookbook. We will also be visiting a farm and picking strawberries. This unique experience will probably be new to most of the kids, but we hope it will encourage good habits in their families. In addition to these two field trips, we will also be going to Belle Isle, The Rouge Factory and a waterpark

Bible time will be lead by various volunteers who will come in each week. This will provide a good variety for the kids, and also allow others to join in on the experience of day camp. Bible time is a great way to start off each day, and is the core of day camp. Our goal is that Bible time will extend beyond that first hour through interaction between campers and leaders.

Please pray for us as we prepare for and start day camp. The first day of camp is June 26th. Pray that God would work in amazing ways this summer, that kids would come to know Him as their Savior and that lives would be changed! Please also pray for our staff, that it would be a growing experience and life changing.

Please take a look around our website. Thank you!