Have you ever been at a point in life where you are going through the motions, living life as usual, and then something happens. It feels like God rips away a curtain from your eyes and suddenly you can see something so clearly that to not react to God’s cue would be a sin in and of itself? That is how Love God Love People started. A moment like that, deep within my heart. In November of 2005, a couple of friends and I decided to start up a non-profit. Looking around, we realized that we live in an area filled with young adults who possess wealth, talent and time, yet so many are not involved in regular service ministry. I had spent a lot of time in the book of James, and in several of Paul’s writings, and was struck by how much the New Testament emphasizes living out our faith through our actions.

With that goal in mind, we started up a nonprofit organization. The Bible is very clear about our purpose on this Earth. When Christ was asked what the most important commandments were, he repeatedly answered with the same message: Love God and Love People. So that’s what we named it: Love God Love People (LGLP).

We registered with the state, filed paperwork, established our name, launched a website, set goals, and then organized our first service project, partnering with the Salvation Army Christmas Angels Program at Paradise Valley Mall. I remember spending hours preparing, but only a small handful of friends showed up. It was a flop. I failed. That’s what I thought, and that’s where I left it.

So life went on, and I didn’t really think about it.

Then, in October 2006, a friend from Highlands Church, Kathi Gable, invited me to go to Mexico with her. She and a few friends had been going with Association of International Ministries (AIM), a small nonprofit organization that had been doing work in Rocky Point and parts of Brazil since 1999. I enjoyed my weekend there, and found myself returning the following month, and the month after that. Soon, I found myself in conversations with AIM board members about LGLP, and I told them what it was and what our original goal had been. It had never occurred to me that God was going to use this as a platform to reintroduce what LGLP was intended for.

In January of 2007, I went down to Rocky Point with five other people on our first official LGLP outreach. In February, we had close to 10 volunteers, then 15 in March, and we have been growing since. Last April, we organized a large-scale trip for Highlands’ young adult ministry, and nearly 80 people came with us to volunteer.

God has blessed our time in Mexico more than I can express on this page, and certainly more than I could have ever imagined.

In hindsight, there were plenty of reasons that this ministry should never have left the ground. I was in over my head, we had very few resources, and no money. Yet, in the end, I find comfort in this basic truth: it was precisely because of those reasons that we succeeded. Our lack of…of pretty much everything forced us to rely upon God; it forced us to trust Him. In turn, God has blessed this ministry and blessed so many people through it. And He’s taught me a valuable lesson.

As we continue to move forward, we labor to never lose this truth, we strive to rely upon God fully, no matter how much or how little we have. We have such a faithful and amazing God; it is only by His grace that we have reached this point, and it is by His grace alone that we will continue to grow.

Currently, Love God Love People facilitates two major outreaches, one in central Phoenix and one in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico.

Homeward Bound

LGLP also recently developed a partnership with Homeward Bound, a Phoenix-based women’s transitional housing facility. Homeward Bound’s mission is to assist homeless families, or those from violent homes, to achieve economic independence, secure long-term, safe, decent, affordable housing and break multi-generational cycles of homelessness and domestic violence.

LGLP plans to take volunteers down to the facilities once a month to do activities with the children, provide positive role models and build relationships with the families living there.

Mexico

Every Month, LGLP takes a group of volunteers down to Rocky Point to work with children, assist in various construction projects and distribute food throughout impoverished neighborhoods. LGLP volunteers have helped build homes for single mothers, families with unemployed fathers, and helped to construct a special needs center for students with disabilities. Each month, the organization distributes between 500 and 2,000 pounds of food to neighborhoods with families in need, with an ultimate goal of building relationships that will provide platforms for more projects focused on long-term sustainability.

It is our current mission to help meet the immediate physical needs of people through our construction, food distribution and kids outreach programs. In 2009 we hope to add a second dimension to these projects which will allow us to expand our programs to help empower people through sustainable solutions. It is our aim and desire that through all of this we would be able to reveal and communicate the love of Jesus Christ.

Where we’re going

Ultimately, our goal is to train and equip volunteers, then connecting with ministries where they can meet both physical and spiritual needs.

There are endless needs throughout the Valley and so many hands willing to serve, but oftentimes what is missing is the connecting entity between volunteers and outreach.

Love God Love People aspires to be that connecting body.

Our vision involves three mains components: identify, connect and serve.

By building relationships with local churches, Love God Love People will identify Christian youth and young adults able and willing to give their time, talents or money.

We will then connect them to ministries or organizations whose goals best align with their passions, in order to serve others and carry out Christ’s greatest commandment: Love God and Love People.