An Update on the Vineyard
As we approach our Christmas Eve services, we're excited to once again invite our congregation to give to one of our amazing ministry partners. Every year, we dedicate the entire Christmas Eve offering to a cause outside our church, and this year will be no exception. Today, we thought it would be meaningful to take a moment to reflect on where last year's offering went and the impact it had!
Last December, we gave to The Vineyard program, which is a part of a local non-profit called Love Made Visible. This initiative set out to provide two homes for older foster children. The dream was that these group homes would provide a much-needed routine for older foster children focused on sports and the arts. They would also provide steady relationships to act as a family for these young men and women. With a place to call their own, the teenagers could find a rhythm to life and begin building toward a better future.
We recently had an opportunity to sit down with GayBrielle Crawford, Love Made Visible’s executive director, who gave us an update, saying, “Both of our houses are off the ground, and we have 12 kiddos, which was our maximum capacity. The challenge is that we still get calls every day … and we have to tell them we're at capacity.”
Crawford was so thankful for Summit’s support, and the demand now makes it even more obvious that The Vineyard’s initiatives address a felt need in Central Florida. It helps that they came at this issue with a comprehensive plan and family-centered approach.
Having a home base for these children doesn’t discount the fact that many of them have family members and friends who are eager to be a part of their lives.
Crawford says, “They have aunts and uncles that love them, grandparents that surround them with love, and siblings who strive together to become successful adults. But now they’re experiencing a whole different world of what it means to be a family.”
The Vineyard, with Summit’s help, was able to reach their goals for 2024 and even hire a part-time administrator to help take some of the pressure off of Crawford, which she was very grateful for. Now, the focus has been on opening a third home dedicated to sibling groups and a fourth for at-risk children. Other significant goals include expanding psychosocial support and launching a community licensing initiative for foster parents.
On the topic of foster parents, Crawford stressed, “Not everyone is meant to be a foster parent, but everyone can do something—whether it’s being a volunteer, a mentor, or supporting financially or in prayer.”
That reality is a familiar one for us at Summit. We’ve committed to supporting foster families through care teams as a part of our ongoing ministry partnership with Commission 127. For years, we’ve encouraged folks to take meals or to offer to babysit for date nights. There are so many ways to support vulnerable children in our communities!
When looking toward the future, Crawford says she’d love to see more churches take on the commitment of supporting Vineyard’s outreaches. “With proof of concept, we can help other churches feel less afraid to jump in.” She’d especially like to be able to fund family vacations, “because core memories like that shape who they are and show them what it means to be a family.”
This is why we continue to do what we do—whether through our Christmas Eve Offering or through the 15% mobilized toward ministry outside our walls—because it’s clear people like Crawford and her team have been uniquely equipped by God for a purpose. Their experience and passion uniquely gifts them to take on the very important task of supporting vulnerable children in the Central Florida area. At Summit, we’ll continue to seek out partnerships like this.
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Christmas Eve Offering 2024
This year our offering will go to Josiah and Sarah Kirisuah and their work through the Christ-Inspired Pastoralist Initiative (CIPI) with the Maasai people of Kenya.