Finally Finished
We finally finished redoing the stairs from floor number two to floor number three at the Discipleship House. This was a huge job as it is a very old house built in 1925. The entryway looked very uninviting
and needed sprucing up. We put some flower decals and Amazing Grace so this is what you see when you come in the door. Much better than the dingy stained carpet that covered the stairs before. We pray that all that enter here are blessed and not just by what they see.

Easter Blessings!
We were very blessed to be able to do Easter Baskets for those in need. This was amazing. We were able to bless many families as we had 60 Easter Baskets for different age ranges. We took the leftover baskets out into the low income neighborhoods and the Lord had a plan. We saw a lady sitting outside with two small children and we prayed and went to see her. I asked if she had everything she needed for the kids for Easter and she immediately started crying. I knew we were in the right place at the right time. The children’s eyes lit up when they saw they were getting Easter Baskets. This made our day and reminded us of the reason we do everything.
 
Happy Mother’s Day
This is not always a happy time for mothers or children. In this ministry we see many situations where mothers are apart from their children. We have mothers in jail or prison and some that have just walked away from responsibility. Some of the women have turned to drugs. We also have some mothers that have children in jail or prison. This could be a time of grieving over what could have been. There could be mothers struggling to find forgiveness for abortion. Please keep this in mind while loving on people this month. If it is in your ability to offer the kindness and love to someone struggling, by all means, please do so. There is no condemnation in Christ. There is also no shame in a comeback. Sometimes we can be the helping hand of compassion to help someone heal from some of these devastating things. I know when I had a hard time getting over my past and all I could do was remember the bad things, God sent someone. A kind lady told me “That is not who you are anymore.” I couldn’t seem to see myself as forgiven and loved by God. It took hearing it from someone else to make it real to me. Let’s reach out and let people know that Jesus loves them, no matter what they may have done in the past.
     John and Tammy Savola

Ministry Needs!
1.      We always need help with household projects. We have several going at this time. We will post photos of every finished project as they are actually finished.
2.      We are in need of a volunteer that is able to drive. Preferably a male. This would be pre-arranged trips to doctors, probation and such. No side trips or last minute stop offs.
3.      We are looking for several volunteers that can commit to a regular schedule, whether it be 4 hours every week, or 40.
4.      We also need help with the food pantry in Norfolk as we have a huge need in that area. We need help separating the food when it comes in and packaging it for give away.
5.      We need help planning the upcoming banquet from people who have attended banquets in the past. We need ideas and pointers as we have never attended an Outreach banquet ourselves.
 
Banquet!
We are planning the banquet for the third or fourth weekend of September. Be on the lookout. Please hold some space for us!
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Discipleship House
We are making many much-needed renovations to the Discipleship House. We are grateful for our partnership with Operation Blessing. They generously donated enough hardwood flooring to do the entire 3rd floor of the home. We are most of the way finished with this project. It was hard to keep carpet clean in this very high traffic living environment. We are also about half way done with the new shower room. This turned out to be quite a massive job because we found many problems during the demo phase. The entire floor was unlevel as it used to be only a porch. We had to remove everything down to the joists and sister them. We also had to replace an exterior wall beam. We installed a huge capacity water heater for just this shower room as 8 men will be using it daily.  We also did all of the plumbing for the new shower. We still need to install an entire sub floor, shower and tile.  

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​Baptism
We had two gentlemen from our discipleship program get baptized in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean. Please continue to pray for these men as they commit to going deeper in their faith. 

Praise God for John Savola braving the cold to stand beside the men he disciples as they get serious about their walk with the Lord.

Easter
If you know any family in a financial struggle, we have quite a few Easter Baskets available. We know some families have a tradition of giving Easter Baskets to their children and if they hit hard times, we don’t want the children to feel as if they were not good enough or have somehow been forgotten. We used some of the leftover toys from Christmas and added candy and faith-based treats. Please reach out to us if you know someone that would be blessed by this new part of our ministry.
 
 
Building Excitement
We are excited about all the amazing things the Lord is doing at Outreach for Christ. We are thrilled about some new things we will be able to share with you over the next couple months. If you have free time, we would love for you to hang with us for a bit and see what we do every day so you will better know how to pray for us. We keep a very busy schedule and run in many different directions every day. We could always use volunteers that could help take these men to various appointments while holding them accountable and allowing no compromise. Surely the harvest is plenty but the workers are few. If you are retired and have some free time you would be willing to share, we would be so thankful. 

​Ministry Prayer Requests
1.      Please be praying for our health. We were unable to get a prayer letter out for this month due to an illness going through the ministry house.
2.      Please pray for God to renew our strength and continue to give us the ability to persevere through every obstacle.
3.      Pray for our family. We are about to have two of our sons join the military on the buddy system so we will only have our eleven year old left under our roof. This is quite an adjustment for us as we are a very close knit family.
4.      Please pray for upcoming partnerships with the ministry as we are branching out to do more locally and abroad.
5.      Pray for the multiplication of our finances and for many new donors to come alongside us in Jesus’ Name!
 
Banquet!
We have not found a location for the banquet. We are in need of a facility that can accommodate 200 people. Please help us out with this. It has been a year now and still no location. And we have not had a banquet in over three years.

This Year’s Focus
We are going into full swing of raising money for our Ann Skinner Home for Women and Children. This will be an amazing legacy for what Wayne and Ann started many years ago. We want to always honor their memory and be a continuation of their dreams and goals. We know we are seeing the answers to many of their prayers. We are excited to partner with new churches and we are open to speak and share at any church or group that will give us some time.
 
Speaking of Speaking
We were blessed to be a part of a recent women’s conference. The River Room Christian Coffee House’s very own Jill Eulo hosted the Healing Your Heart Women’s Conference. There was amazing worship by Cristabelle Braden. Awesome speakers, authors, counselors and more. Tammy Savola was asked to share her testimony of how God brought her into victory over addiction. It was an amazing time. We literally accept every invitation to speak because we want to be faithful in sharing what God is doing in this ministry. If you have never heard us speak, we will be posting more video testimonies on our website. We are asking you to speak to your Pastors about having us share. Women’s Ministry Director’s, we are available!
 
Mission Malawi
We will be having a new video on our mission in Malawi. You will be able to see it on our Facebook page at Outreach for Christ Ministries and our website at outreachforchrist.org.  We are excited about the opportunity to have 2 gifted photographers volunteer their time and talent to go with us. They are committed to raising funding for their tickets as well. We are hoping someone would have the desire and finances to help fund this trip as we are already on a tight budget at the ministry while raising funds for our Ann Skinner Home for Women and Children. We are going to be videoing the conditions there as well as take pictures of our 300 plus orphans so we can get them sponsorship and get them all back in school. We have done the math and we should be able to provide them with food, clothing, school supplies and tuition for $28 a month per child. This is a place of extreme poverty and hunger. Traditionally, Wayne Skinner gave $500 every month to foreign missions. We have consolidated our efforts. We know we can literally work ourselves out of a job in this area because in a short amount of time, they will be self sufficient. We do not spend even $200 a month there and you can see the huge results. We believe we will help them get on their feet and maybe move on to another area if the Lord leads. We will be in an area that does not have electric full time. There is no running water and certainly no air conditioning. (Pray for me!) We are raising money so as not to burden the ministry. Please prayerfully consider helping to make this happen.
Street Ministry- By Stacie Adams
The master said, “Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and bring in the poor, maimed, lame and blind.” (Luke 14:21) Every Friday night between 10:30 and midnight, godly men gather in front of the Virginia Beach United Methodist Church at the oceanfront in obedience to the master’s command to speak to some of the most deceived, hurting, self-absorbed or self-medicated people in our town. As you may have guessed from the time and location we have been called to fill a niche’ in the Kingdom by seeking and serving people in the bar district when people are at their most vulnerable, hopeless and sometimes most desperate moments in their lives. Their emotions are often magnified while at the same time they may experience decreased judgment because of drugs or alcohol. This is God’s perfect timing to send laborers into the streets to snatch such people out of the jaws of calamity. People under the influence do not make wise decisions but our God has made provision for their protection both physically and spiritually. Over the past 45 years we cannot possibly say how many lives have been affected by the love of these generous men of God but it is considerable. Please be in prayer for their continued courage and ask the Lord if He would like to use you in such a critical mission.

​World View
We know the world view of St. Patrick’s day is affiliated with drinking and partying. We are not part of this world. This world is not our home. As the late great Billy Graham said, we are just passing through. We see men come into our program where alcohol and drugs have literally ravaged their entire lives. They have lost family relationships, trust, finances, stability and health in many cases. There is nothing better than watching them grow in their knowledge of Christ. We push them, stretch them and encourage them. We help them to establish healthy goals for a great future. We walk them through a process of surrender and move them on to confidence in the Lord almighty. There is no better feeling than walking into the enemy camp where the devil has a serious hold on them and stealing people back for Christ. We love to see them have the victory over every stronghold.
Men’s Breakfast
We were blessed to host the Mighty Men of Valor from Freedom Church for a special prayer breakfast. The men in the program made sausage gravy and biscuits, fried spam, rice, bacon and over easy eggs for everyone. They love sharing their hospitality and talents with guests. Men are invited to come to the house in Norfolk the 3rd Saturday of every month to join in.
 

 

​2018 was a huge success!
     We are so excited for the things that have happened this last year at Outreach for Christ. It is such a blessing to be part of all the activities and see so many lives impacted for the Lord. Your investment in this ministry has meant that you are a partner in all of these amazing deeds.
     This last year was such a great success. The grand total of children that received Christmas this year was 531. On the streets and in the jail and prison, we have seen 188 salvations. You provided 50 holiday meals, gave out 60 bus passes and 92 blessing bags to the homeless. You provided us with the opportunity to minister to 3 inmates as they spent a night with us before we put them on a bus to return them to their families upon release from incarceration. There have been 12 men through the Men’s Program. 20 children received a backpack full of school supplies. The furniture ministry was able to bless 18 different households with furnishings for their homes. 1078 single meal boxes were distributed throughout the year to the homeless on our mission days. The Outreach food pantry has provided food to 147 families with a total of 482 people. There were 12 church services held at Indian Creek Prison, 24 ministry visits to Virginia Beach Jail, 51 worship services in a local nursing home and 50 lap robes given out there on Mother’s Day. There were 49 weeks of Street evangelism on Fridays and provided food to 8 different Christian Events.

Mission Malawi
We are asking that you commit to praying for our Mission Malawi. There has been amazing growth there just since July when we started supporting them. We are so blessed to be part of these amazing happenings. There have been 583 salvations, 39 healings, 38 pastors trained in evangelism and 22 widows ministered to. Christmas was provided to 120 people there, including 85 orphans and 35 guardians. There have  been 5 orphans sponsored for school fees. Also, 50 chickens were provided for eggs and meat, a field was rented that provided food for 100 people and our Outreach for Christ – Malawi headquarters building was obtained.

Our 50 chickens are really growing!

 

This was the beginning with our field. Those are local Pastors working the land. The field cost us only $25 for the entire year.
 
We desire to travel to Malawi this summer with a couple photographers and make some more progress. We will be having mission trips to the area eventually and bring back photos of the orphans in our area. There are over 300 there locally. We will make them available for sponsorship so they can continue their education. We believe $25 a month per child will make a huge difference in their lives and guarantee they will be able to complete school, have uniforms and food. We are asking our supporters to help us with the travel expenses to make this a reality. Please check the box on the donation turn around slip for travel to Malawi. God bless you always. Let’s make this year of 2019 even greater!
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Christmas!
Christmas was a great success. We helped over 500 children experience Christmas. It took many volunteers, churches collecting toys and money to make this happen and you  really outdid yourselves. We are in awe of the testimonies. We had toys left on Christmas Eve so we sorted and loaded the box truck again for one last blessing. We traveled to some very poor neighborhoods and knocked on doors. We told them Jesus sent us and we have toys for the children in this house. Everyone cried that day. There were homes with no sign of Christmas anywhere. When we looked inside, we didn’t see toys or decorations. When we were walking away from one of the houses, a little girl exclaimed in awe, “We got toys!”, as if they had never had toys before. It broke our hearts to see some of the conditions that are an everyday reality for some children. We have much work to do. No child should ever wake up on Christmas and assume they had been on the naughty list because Santa skipped over their house. We are having the Christmas photos compiled into a video that will be available on our website and Facebook page by the end of the month. We are so grateful for the opportunity to be able to participate in helping so many. May God bless each of you for your generosity for this favorite part of Outreach for Christ! Every year we are improving. We remain flexible and make changes where necessary and the Lord always seems to work it all out. We will share our complete list of people helped through the various ministries next month.
We have exciting things happening
It seems like every day the Lord is opening a new door for us. Please pray for us to have wisdom in making decisions for the ministry. Please pray that we will be busy about the Father’s business and not our own. We don’t want to be distracted doing good things when God clearly has great things for us to do. Sometimes we get busy in doing good deeds that we veer away from the original intention so pray that we stay fixed on the Lord and remain in the center of His will for the ministry. We will keep you updated as things become clearer. We are excited about all the new opportunities and we want to make the best use of our time and effort. We are thankful for our faithful prayer warriors keeping us lifted up in prayer.
It is the cold season!
 Please be mindful of people outside. We will be distributing coats and blessing bags throughout the winter months to our precious ones that are sleeping outside. We are always accepting donations of sweat clothes, socks, rain parkas, ready to eat food items, hats, gloves, scarves and hygiene items. Please be on the lookout for deals on these items. We are able to get most items at Dollar Tree. We then fill the blessing bags with items and keep them handy in all the vehicles. We also have several volunteers that keep them in their cars.
 
 
We never know when we will see a homeless person so it is good to be prepared. Our ten year old son gets very upset with us if we don’t have something to give away. He scolds us as ministry leaders that are not ready in season and out of season. He loves being the one to open the window and hand them a bag of goodies and tell them “It’s from Jesus”! 

​New Year, New Goals!
With the new year comes a time of reflection on what we will bring with us into the new year. We are reviewing every move of the last year and determining what works and what does not. We are prayerfully seeking God’s will for the next steps of the ministry. We are asking that you keep us in prayer as we make goals and plans for 2019. We are adding some programs for the men in the Discipleship Program and stretching them outside of their comfort zones. We have been diligently pouring into these guys for a while. We believe it is now time that they start pouring into others.
 
Mission!
We are motivated people on a mission here at Outreach. We will be incorporating more mission opportunities. We are excited to share those stories with you in some future newsletters. We will also be allowing the gentlemen in the Discipleship Program to share testimonies about their experiences at Outreach. We know that as you get to know them through these newsletters, you will become more committed in prayer for them. We will also work on posting our new schedule on our website. It is our prayer that more of you will join us in pouring into the lives of these amazing disciples.