The pandemic of 2020 has forced our ministry, like many organizations, to innovate with our events and outreach. Going into the year, God led us to seek new church ministry partners, and we planned an informative luncheon for pastors in April called Sit Down for Susan. When COVID-19 closed down in-person events in April, we looked for a safe way to still host our event and share our ministry with churches. We hosted the event as a virtual luncheon in June and were able to extend an invitation to churches beyond our local community. The Lord really showed up and provided in ways we could not have imagined!
Sit Down for Susan has already led to two church partnerships, and we are in discussions with several more churches. One of our new church partners is Mars Hill Community Church, located in Powder Springs. We have been in relationship with Mars Hill for a few years now and the Lord finally opened the door for that partnership to begin. Missions Pastor Andrew Guerrier plays a key role in this relationship and has some thoughts to share:
“At Mars Hill we take very seriously the mandate that Jesus states in Matthew 28:19. Our desire is to spread the love of God in our community and around the world through local and global outreach. We currently partner and support a number of local, domestic, and global missionaries. Through these partnerships, we aim to help members of our church discover their gifts and passions and deploy them into meaningful ministry. We believe that the model and mission of Saving Susan will help us to accomplish some of the very things that we believe which is why we chose to become a partner. I think the Parent Partner program Saving Susan offers is a great and easy on ramp to serve orphaned children in Cambodia and Guatemala. The commitment and expectations to becoming a parent partner are sincere and will have a long-term effect on both the children and the parents who sponsor. This will also create an opportunity for parent partners to foster a relationship with the kids before they ever decide to visit them in person.We are excited about partnering with Saving Susan because of the relationships we have with the leadership team and their commitment to the gospel. Saving Susan also serves with a spirit of excellence which is really refreshing. We are especially grateful for the infrastructure and support from their staff and willingness to help educate our members on how they can get more involved with the organization. Our church has had a desire to expand our reach into countries that are undeserved or not really acknowledged. We feel that having the option to serve the children and people of Cambodia will become a great opportunity.”
Another exciting partnership opportunity the Lord brought our way came through Genesis Elevator staff member, Matthew Kempf. He is a member at Roopville Road Baptist Church, and introduced us to his Pastor, Stephen Peeples. Roopville Road Baptist is already partnering with dear friend and SSM partner, Pastor Sihok in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Through these connections, the door opened to invite Pastor Peeples to our Sit Down for Susan event and begin a new partnership with Roopville Road Baptist Church. Roopville Road is located in Carrollton, GA, and is a testament to God not being confined by boundaries. Pastor Peeples spoke to his church’s passion for missions, and how this partnership will better serve our orphaned children:
“I’ve been at Roopville Road 22 years this summer. When I arrived having answered to call to serve, there was zero mission activity, involvement or knowledge of Biblical missions. 22 years later, to God’s glory, we have an Acts 1:8 missions strategy (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Utter Most) with partnerships in each of those 4 regions (local, state, U.S., foreign). We have a strong passion to fulfill the Great Commission via Acts 1:8 in obedience to our Lord. Everything we do is gospel focused. Our desire is to possess a rather diverse missions strategy, meaning to have a variety of ways and means to share the Gospel. Serving, reaching and ministering to precious children who are orphaned or in foster care system is one of those “unique” ways to accomplish such. Our “Mission DNA” is that of ground-level work with new church plants, construction evangelism, basic medical missions, on-the-ground mission events (random acts of kindness activities, block parties etc) and hospitality missions. With that said, Saving Susan’s strategy of “fostering” a child in his/her home country is a great plan. Not only to reach with the gospel, but to in turn have that child make a positive change in his/her home country, without up-rooting them out of their culture. Again, only through the life-changing gospel message of Jesus Christ can that be done.”
Church partners like these are essential to our goal of partnering each child in our orphan communities with a loving Christian family. If your church is interested in partnering with our ministry, however that may look, please contact us! We’d love to bring you along the journey.
Written by Kristi Laughlin, Saving Susan Ministry Coordinator
