Compassion Coalition has always been committed to being involved with our public schools. The proposed Knox County Schools budget provides a great opportunity to engage in thoughtful dialogue on this important issue. We encourage our readers to become better informed. Possible resources include an article in the News Sentinel:  http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/apr/22/support-our-schools-budget-boost-would-help-a-of/; a video on the Knox County Schools website: http://knoxschools.org/; and the packet of information below:

• Commissioner Contact Info
• Bar Chart Graph of $35 million expenditure
• HOW TO SUPPORT THE SCHOOL BUDGET
• KCS Key Educational Investment Proposals
• KCS-United Way Prez Faith1
• Sample Wording

You can see from our calendar of events that there are always lots of activities going on at Compassion Coalition. On a regular basis we have a number of discussions, meetings, trainings, and presentations, and some of those get recorded either as audio or as video. We’ve created a YouTube channel specifically for all things Compassion Coalition. We’re going to begin uploading our recordings from Executive Director Grant Standefer’s Drive at Five Monday afternoon radio shows and the Salt & Light Community Luncheons. What else should we make available for viewing?

We hope you’ll tune in to the CompassionCoalition YouTube channel and that you’ll like what you see!

Here’s a link to our first video upload from the most recent Salt and Light Community Luncheon! On Thursday February 23, 2012 we heard from Lance Robinson, president and founder of the Equitas Group: Seeking justice for the vulnerable and oppressed, and Christi Wigle, president of the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking. If you were unable to join us, we hope you’ll enjoy the opportunity to catch up.

There’s been a great deal of interest this year as we’ve begun offering the 2-Hour Overview of the Bridges Out of Poverty training more often. On January 26th we taught a group of 51 at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church. On Februray 16th we taught a group of 28 staff members from Children’s Hospital Rehab Center. And on February 21st we taught a group of 13 at Sevier Heights Baptist Church. Here’s a little bit of what folks had to say.

… Our director is so excited about how well it was received by our staff and the impact that it had.  We are working on concepts of how to better “partner” with families and this fit so well with that emphasis.

[This was a] wonderful learning experience – helped me understand some of my own behaviors and how to relate to others better.

I really enjoyed this training. So much packed into 2 hours! Very organized. Just flew by!

If you haven’t done so already, we hope you’ll consider attending a 2-Hour Overview of the Bridges Out of Poverty training. Send a friend our way, too! Check for future training dates and locations on our calendar of events to the right, or sign up for our Bulletin Board to receive the announcements directly to your inbox.

This Thursday! Come to the Salt & Light Luncheon, February 23, 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m. to learn about human trafficking in our community. Our guests will be Lance Robinson, president and founder of the Equitas Group: Seeking justice for the vulnerable and oppressed, and Christi Wigle, president of the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking. Please join us at Messiah Lutheran Church, 6900 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, 37919. We ask a $5 donation for lunch, payable at the door. Please RSVP to Gina at 251.1591 x2 or gina@compassioncoalition.org.

Christianity Today contributing author Amy Sherman recently wrote an article about Compassion Coalition entitled “A Guide to Being Salt and Light in Knoxville.” In the article she shares how CC came about, quoting Grant as saying how [early on] “The churches admitted they were internal. They said, ‘We’re doing the holy huddle. We have all this religious activity but it’s all about our church and we know very little about our community.’”

Sherman highlights the labor of love that is the 3rd edition of Salt & Light: A Guide to Loving Knoxville. She describes the extent to which encouraging partnerships among churches is an essential value of ours. She also lifts up Restorative Justice, one of the ministries of Compassion Coalition, and she wraps up the article with a mention of some of the other communities that we have collaborated with.

We’re honored to be featured by Christianity Today, and we hope you’ll read the full article. It can be found here.

Compassion Coalition’s Executive Director, Grant Standefer, was invited to contribute to the Winter 2012 issue of enrichment journal, an Assemblies of God publication. You can read the full article here entitled “Mobilizing for Compassion: Moving People Into Ministry.” Below is a short excerpt from his article. At Compassion Coalition, we are so thankful for every opportunity to speak (with anyone who will listen!) about compassion ministry. Our passion for informing, preparing, and uniting the church to move from inside the walls of the church buildings and out into the community to serve is the heartbeat of our organization.

I hear people exhorting others to get involved in serving by saying, “I got so much more out of it than I gave. I went to serve, but I was the one who was blessed.” The motivation for serving becomes about me.

Others go into compassion ministry expecting expressions of gratitude and appreciation by those being served. We do not act in merciful ways to find fulfillment or receive thanks. We do it because the Christ in us calls us to do so. And, truth is, “Mercy is messy.” There are rewards, and there is often gratitude, but more often compassion ministry is about being a servant when no one notices or cares. It is about tenacity and perseverance. It is about getting dirty and sometimes even getting hurt. There is heartache, disappointment, pain, and delayed gratification from seeds you have planted and watered but may not bear fruit for years, and sometimes never.

…

I encourage churches to come alongside existing ministries in their communities rather than recreating the wheel. God raised up those ministries in your town. They have learned valuable lessons through experience. They are, more often than not, in desperate need of volunteers and financial resources. Such partnerships can be an incredible blessing to both the church and the ministry with which they prayerfully choose to walk.

…

In our increasingly secular and unchurched culture a huge chasm exists between the believing and the unbelieving. The unbelieving community no longer listens to what the church has to say as we shout across the canyon. We have lost credibility. We have lost trust. Through acts of lovingkindness, mercy, compassion, and service, however, we earn the right to be heard. Paraphrasing the words of Eric Swanson and Rick Russaw in The Externally Focused Church, loving acts of service and compassion are the bridge over which the words of the gospel can walk.