First Year Anniversary

It is amazing that it has been a year since we officially launched this project called Vertical Church. My wife and I have laid our money, family, and our very lives on the line to follow God into establishing a new spiritual family in the toughest community in Atlanta. This process has transformed us, and the community for the better. In 12 months times we have accomplished what I hoped we would have in 3-5 years.

Before someone can get a good picture of the work that God has given us to do they must first understand the community in which we exist. We are serving the statistically worst community in the city of Atlanta. We are located in the historical West End and Vine City neighborhood. These areas house the Atlanta University Center, which has the largest amount of Historically Black Colleges, and University in the world. Immediately surrounding the campuses, there are very high incidence of home foreclosure, child sex trafficking, and crime in general.

In our community…

Murder: 10x the national average

Rape: 3x the national average

Robbery: more than 10x the national average

Assault: 7x national average

Burglary: 4.5x national average

The educational system is struggling as well, high schools in the area graduate only
56% general education students. The numbers are scarier for African-American boys at 45% and in Special Education only in 22.3%. There is a lot of work to do. We don’t necessarily believe that we will be able to “fix” every problem in the area, but through God we will be a part of the solutions that are critical to make a significant impact.

In one year’s time we have been able to become a vital part of the community. We have build relationships with local officials and even been able to welcome one into our church family. We are asked to give voice major issues in the neighborhood. We are also a certified community service agency for both Spelman and Morehouse Colleges. Below is a quick glimpse of what we’ve been able to accomplish.

In one year we have…

Helped sponsor Easter Egg Hunt serving over 200 children with Greater Vine City & English Ave. Association

Co-sponsored Community Wide Back-to-School Event serving 350 children with backpacks and supplies

Participated in Community Back-to-School Vigil and prayed publically for campus police

Blessed 13 local businesses with thank you cards and meaningful gifts for campus police, apartment complex offices, gas stations, restaurants, and a tattoo shop.

Adopted a local school and donated well over 2000 books for their library and currently cataloging them for immediate use; served their staff; provided a financial gift for library

Distributed over 1900 meals during community events, worship gatherings and service opportunities

Provided comprehensive support for a single parent family for 12 months (prayer, resume writing, coaching, home care, food)

Provided 20 Thanksgiving meals to college students and community members

Coordinated a Adopt-A-Child Christmas Opportunity and served 21 children at a local school and 2 community organizations

We have helped start 7 churches in the in Tanzania some among the Masai people

Helped fund new churches around the North America

Yes, we measure our service and this is just the beginning. The simple truth is that God loves us and our response to His love is to serve others. We believe that service is a verb, something to be done, not attended. We have so much more work to do to ensure the kind of impact we believe that God wants to bring about in the area.

We are by no means finished. There is so much more work to be done in the community. There is still a desire to actively participate in key community revitalization efforts. One major desire is to help stop child sex trafficking, which is a major issue locally. We are also turning our eyes toward the world as we are sending roughly 10 people to China this summer on teaching missions. This year we will also continue to help fund the launch of new churches throughout North America. Not bad for a small church, in the roughest area of the city of Atlanta?

You can help us continue this mission of changing the city and world. For our 1 Year Anniversary we are trying to raise funds to continue this amazing work. As you can imagine it is a major challenge financially to lead a church on a college campus in the midst of the urban poor. But it is so worth it!

Visit www.verticalATL.com/giving and making a donation. I hope you can see that your investment into God’s Kingdom via Vertical Church is one that will make a great difference.