2021 was a year that stretched our faith as we continued to deal with a world of unknowns — medically, politically, financially and for many of us, personally. But without a doubt, we continued to see the goodness and grace of God as He walked with us through every step. Looking back helps us readjust our vision and reveals God's faithfulness. This report highlights some great numbers and figures from the past year, and stories of life-change. We pray that it will help you understand the role you can play in seeing people come to know Jesus.
I can't wait to see what God is going to do next. We are excited about this year as we surrender to the life-changing power of the Word and allow it to REVIVE us! We will continue to love our neighbors and welcome them home, encourage others to take Next Steps, and practice extravagant generosity throughout 2022. It's going to be an amazing year! I pray we never lose focus of the most important thing – the Gospel and engaging people in the process of knowing HIM! Thanks for all you do!
Blessings,
Pastor Bobby
At Journey, we take great care to create and implement policies and procedures to ensure the highest standard of stewardship with our finances. We set an annual budget from which we maintain day-to-day business expenses and ministry opportunities within the areas we believe God has called us to reach. From our in-house staff to our finance team and core leaders, we are constantly striving to maintain a level of excellence and become even better stewards of the funds with which we’ve been entrusted.
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After not being able to go on mission trips during the summer of 2020 our student ministry team was excited to get back to West Virginia in June of 2021! We've taken multiple groups to West Virginia each summer since 2014 and have continued to build relationships within the community of Fayetteville. Our team served through sorting legos for a robotics camp, painting at the home of an elderly couple & cleaning/light construction at a local youth camp. Also, we were able to shop for and bag up $5000 worth of groceries to deliver to almost 100 families at a local apartment complex! This was such a neat experience for our students to be able to knock on the residents' doors and share with them why we wanted to bless them with a little surprise! Plans are underway for our 2022 trips and will even include an adult trip!
The Care Center is a special place where our guests come to get clothing, toiletries and food but it’s so much more than that to me. It’s a place that allows me to have a deeper and more personal relationship with families. I love greeting them by name, finding out about their family, things they love and being able to help them fill a need. I love joking with them and making them laugh. Sometimes it’s something as simple as pajama pants making someone's day and sometimes it’s deeper, a hug or a simple word of encouragement. I’ve learned to take the time to get to know people. The things I used to take for granted are the very things these families need. It’s not just a shirt or a jacket to me anymore. When I am sorting clothes, I am usually thinking of someone that’s coming that’s going to love this. It’s a sacrifice that someone made to donate that could change someone's life. When you feel good about yourself you can have the confidence to do anything and that’s powerful. That’s life-changing. When I see families leave with smiles on their faces then I know that if nothing else they leave feeling loved and cared about and that’s what it’s all about simply loving our neighbors!
The musical drama camp was an amazing experience for me as a music educator. I had such an eager & cooperative group of children. They worked hard & learned our music very quickly. They also formed strong bonds of friendship quickly and I loved watching the children care for each other. The performance is a wonderful memory as the kids shone so brightly on the stage and put a lot of enthusiasm into their singing & dancing.
I am so happy to be back in JourneyLand after moving back home from DC to Evans in June! I get to hang out with the sweetest 3 year-olds on Sundays and enjoy learning from them as much as I do showing them God’s love. An impactful event for me these past few months has been seeing a new family find community at Journey. They brought their child to JourneyLand, told me it was their first time to Journey and asked me all about what we do in downtown. Their child was apprehensive on his first Sunday but has quickly become a great friend in our group! He walks in with a big smile, teaches us about all kinds of animals and has the best dance moves in the Clubhouse! It’s been a joy to see their family finding a home at Journey!
As a volunteer for JLX Sherwood this summer, I had the opportunity to work with younger children that were pre-k and kindergarten age. We had a variety of personalities and it was a blast. I got to know each of the children and their families. They became a part of my family especially when they started to become a part of the Sherwood family. Now I get to continue growing and being a part of their journey as they come to know Christ all due to JLX. What a great experience!
Journey Students has the opportunity to mentor and lead 100s of students to walk in wisdom each week through our involvement in many local schools and through our weekly services. One of the students Patrick, our student pastor, has had the opportunity of building a relationship with unexpectedly lost his grandfather who was also his guardian. The family does not know Jesus and did not know where to turn to find hope in the midst of this grief. Thankfully, Patrick was able to encourage the young student through this hard time, share the Gospel at the funeral of the grandfather, and care for the family in the face of this loss. Throughout this year, we have seen that the time and wisdom we share with middle school and high school students does not just change their lives, but the lives of their families, too. We cannot wait to see how God will continue to work in Journey Students in 2022.
I started volunteering at Journey Celebrate Recovery in 2019 when asked by Michael Key if I could help. I can’t really tell my buddy Mike “No”, so I started attending every Monday, during Covid. God, moving through that ask, allows me the privilege of seeing what God is doing in the lives of the folks that attend every week.
It’s awesome to see folks’ lives changing over time as they engage with God! In the last year, I’ve seen countless people engage in the program to give up their hurts/habits/hang-ups and start new healthy habits…. and see progress in their lives every week! People from all backgrounds show up every Monday night and engage in the next step God has directed them to make.
A typical evening includes an hour worship, large group teaching or testimony time, followed by an hour of small group check-in time. The leaders of these small groups are what makes CR work. The leaders follow up with their small groups during the week, giving selflessly of their time pretty much every day of the week…. I couldn’t ask for a better group to be part of.
I’m fortunate to be part of this ministry at Journey to see life-change every week! If you have a lingering hurt, habit or hang-up, I’d invite you to join us.
This year, I’ve had the privilege of seeing two young men who have been coming to Celebrate Recovery take their next step and start volunteering in other areas of our church. I have also seen a lady that has been attending for a couple of years now, start teaching and leading a small group on Monday nights. It’s great to see our members maturing and growing in their faith.
We loved that everyone was so loving and made my granddaughter's night so special! All the way home she kept saying she was beautiful and special. She loved all the bright lights on the church, the signs, and the crowds cheering for her! (I must admit it brought tears to mine and her pawpaw's eyes) What amazed us the most was when we pulled in, the big screen showed Valencia getting makeup done from last year!!! It was timed just right for us! Everything was wonderful and so appreciated by us all...but mostly my granddaughter. Even though it only lasted a few minutes...she has awesome memories for a lifetime because of ALL of you! As we left, the parking lot volunteers were yelling "See you next year!" ..."You're beautiful!l" ..."We love you!" Thank you so very much for the awesome experience!!
I love Journey Sherwood because Journey Sherwood loves our community and South Augusta has been home to me my entire life. If there is a need then they are quick to find a way to fill it. The outreach has been amazing and to see GOD move and work is something words can’t describe. I love that all ages of people worship together, pray together and serve together. I love that we welcome anyone regardless of who they are or what they look like. I love Pastor Keith and the heart he has for others and that he is always willing to follow what God says. I love my church family, and the staff that makes me feel so appreciated and cared about. And I love my Sunday morning back row coffee club. It’s an honor to serve them each week. I love Journey Sherwood because it allows me to serve a GOD I love!
I love serving with this amazing team of women on Tuesdays. They each bring something to my life that makes me want to be a better person. They inspire me and encourage me and I love that all different personalities come together with one goal in mind, to simply serve God and our community.