Victory Lutheran of Chula Vista, CA is very grateful for the support and encouragement that they have received from the greater church through the LCMS Million Dollar Life Match Grant to help sustain and develop the Victory Resource Center (VRC). This volunteer-driven ministry exists to provide spiritual, emotional, and physical care for families vulnerable to abortion or facing challenges at the beginning of life. The VRC brings the Gospel and teaches about God’s creation of human life and the sanctity of that life while providing essential needs for women and families to provide for their babies and young children. This support offers great encouragement for mothers to keep their babies by supporting their basic needs as they pursue a better quality of life.
As with any volunteer and donation run organization, questions of sustainability come forward. This winter, Deaconess Dr. Tiffany Manor and other staff members from the LCMS International Center, toured Victory and other PSD congregations in coordination with the District office. On her tour she learned about the VRC and informed them about the grant. She took their information and later connected them to the application process. Pastor Tim Gerdes exclaimed, "We thank God for providing the right person to provide the right information to the right people at the right time."
The application process, including paperwork, forms, and reporting, can be challenging, but the staff handling the grant was extremely helpful in answering questions during the process. Their priority was to help to grant money away for ministry.
The grant will help Victory make progress on several goals for the VRC. "We need to secure a volunteer coordinator to increase operating hours and expand the community network of support. We need to secure a good source for food funding to increase distribution from once a month to twice a month. We would like to develop potty training program to help young children become accepted into more childcare programs," Pastor Gerdes shared.
The support of this grant is a fulfillment of Paul’s call to the greater church to raise money to support the poor in Jerusalem. Don’t underestimate the power of encouragement to those who encourage - God is @ Work through them!
Enable more stories of transformed lives through Jesus
Untold thousands are still in darkness, lost like “sheep that have gone astray”. But this is exactly the mission our Lord has created His Church for – reaching the lost for Jesus’ sake in as many ways as necessary. This is the purpose for which our 300 churches and 150 schools were founded in their many contexts. And “the fields are ripe for the harvest” right now!
Your gifts are critical and enable us to continue and expand our shared work together, fulfilling the PSD mission of effectively resourcing congregations and schools for transforming lives and making the Great Commission REAL!
Share Your Story
We love sharing the work God is doing in our district and would love to share what He is doing in your ministry!