Mission Houston Newsletter

We are committed to "do-overs!"...

From Our Executive Director, Steve Capper

Dec, 2008

I want to share some stories with you. But first, a couple of thoughts. As this year of 2008 draws to a close, amidst the uncertainty of the economy and global conflicts and the mixed optimism attending a new presidential administration, our Hope is certain. God is and will be at work! And with your help, Mission Houston gets to join Him as He offers do-overs to disciples eager to live into His transformative power and purposes, to elementary school students and staff, and to His Church in every community.

In our recent letter to supporters (which I hope you received and read) we shared of an opportunity you have to double the amount of your gifts that come to us before January 1. Several of our Board members have provided a matching grant up to $25,000 in donations. Thank you for praying for us and for God to be "changing greater Houston for good!" And thank you, too, for considering increasing the impact Mission Houston can make in 2009 by your timely gift to us before the end of the year.

I first learned to play at basketball on a gravel driveway under the tutelage of my dad. I progressed from dribbling to passing to free throws to H-O-R-S-E (ask me about it if you don't know that game) to going against him in one-on-one contests. Occasionally when I messed up, or didn't perform the way I wanted to, he'd ask me "Do you want a do-over?" Unless I wasn't pouting in frustration, or was being just plain stubborn, I'd take him up on the offer, and I'd do over the action I had failed to do the first time.

One of the reasons I'm excited about Mission Houston is that our focus is on providing people and our communities "do-overs."

· Today I had an appointment with Principal Bill Buck of Shearn Elementary School. I asked him for his assessment of our Bellaire-SW Loop volunteers serving as mentors or doing campus improvement projects. His reply included this: "You can see it in the faces of the kids! Most of our 460 students live with a parent or parents who work 2 jobs and don't have much in reserve to give their children. The Whole & Healthy Children mentors are giving these kids new chances to learn life from a healthy adult instead of from siblings, peers and gang members."

· Many of those who have participated in Faithwalking (our ministry for developing life-changing leaders) report that for the first time they are experiencing genuine and sustained freedom from persistent personal patterns of failure to be the person they've known God wants them to be. In their homes and workplaces, and in their circles of relationships, they are getting a do-over and beginning to live into new levels of Life-giving influence. (See the interview with one of them in this newsletter.)

· Last week I was with leaders in the communities that are part of the Cy-Fair Independent School District. Hurricane Ike was a powerful force for good as well as one of destruction: it brought home to these leaders how much need there is for uniting forces if they hope to meet both unexpected crisis needs and pervasive chronic needs in their area. One pastor told me, "It's as if God used "reality" to smack us in the side of the head to remind us that our purpose isn't to compete with each other so that the ones with the most members 'win' but to collaborate with each other in loving our community so that everyone wins. It's a chance to 'do church' differently than we've been doing it. It's just what you all at Mission Houston have been saying to us all these years."

New Year's Day arrives pregnant with hope for new beginnings. I thank you for supporting us, and participating with us, as Mission Houston extends to individuals, communities, and the Church, the perpetual do-overs that God is delighted to offer and make possible ... in 2009 and beyond.

Steve Capper
Executive Director ... for all of us