February 2019
Volume 26 Issue 2
Love is…..
Valentine’s Banquet
“I need all of the men in the room to make sure they have a couple of ice cubes and a straw in their cup.”
This was the opening statement Pastor Sam Hill gave as he spoke at the SOS Ministries’ Annual Valentine’s Day Banquet.
On Saturday, February 9th at the SOS Ministries Center, couples and single people arrived dressed in nice attire and filled the beautifully decorated tables in the gym. The night began with the men in the room serving the women a delicious dinner, and was followed by a raffle drawing of different gifts that could be used as date nights. Later, during the banquet, there was also a panel of four different couples, from all different walks of life and lengths of marriages that answered questions about love and relationships.
“Love Is…” was the theme of the evening. Love is a word that may be translated and understood across the world, however, people seem to have difficulty defining it. Often times, the people SOS reaches are ones who come from lives filled with broken families, absent fathers, and a distorted version of what love is. Many of the people who attend our events have never experienced what love looks like. Our hope behind the Valentine’s Banquet is to seek what God says about love and marriage.
If we look to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 we find the truth of what God says “Love Is”. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no
record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
Pastor Sam Hill tied his talk into this theme through a simple phrase: “Seek to know, and then because you know, show you know and love will grow.” He spoke of being married for almost 42 years, and how both he and his wife had changed so much over that span of time. Pastor Hill emphasized the importance of being willing to change with your spouse in order to meet each other’s needs. However, in order to change, you had to first really know your husband or wife. He used the analogy of how an ice cube may originally fit inside of a cup, but what if that cup changes to a straw? An ice cube says, “I am staying the way I am,” but water says, “I am moldable.” Pastor Hill pleaded with us to be more like water.
SOS Ministries is grateful that we get to help teach and show how two people in a marriage under God can live as one. It is our prayer that by starting at the core of a family, that these loving relationships will overflow into their children, and their children’s children. That the love of God would be the center of all of our words, actions, and thoughts.
In the end, love is about sacrifice, service, and intimate relationship. We can look to Jesus for an example of how to love because He came to serve, sacrificed His life on the cross, and wants an intimate relationship with you and I. Let His model of being the groom, and us the bride, set a standard of what “Love Is.”
Did You Know?
At the end of January, we took 70 women that participate in our SOS Women’s Ministry to the YOU ARE Conference! “This 2 day event is an intergenerational, interdenominational women’s conference with the main purpose of encountering God in freedom and truth.” Thank you to all our donors who made this possible!
26 Annual Basketball Tournament
It’s time for the 26th Annual SOS Ministries Basketball Tournament! On February 23rd and March 2nd, people from all over Bryan and College Station will come in hopes for their team to earn the title of Champion. This year, in addition to our basketball tournament, we will also be having two new contests for the players to participate in. The first is a Slam Dunk Contest, and the second is a Three Point Shooting Contest.
The basketball tournament began in spring of 1993, a little bit before S.O.S. Ministries officially began. J.J. Ramirez started the event in hopes to minister to the people who lived in a drug and gang infested environment where abuse, poverty, and violence were a way of life. To this day, that is still the vision and heart of S.O.S. Ministries.
Each year we are excited, not only for teams to come out and play, but also for lives to be changed. Before the games begin, J.J. shares the Good News of Jesus Christ. Like always, we are expectant for God to move in the hearts of these young men through His powerful testimony of love.
Please join us in prayer for our tournament participants. “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever,” 1 Corinthians 9:25. Pray that the players would turn from chasing a life filled with things that do not last, but a reward that lasts forever.
To contribute to this year’s tournament, please considering giving online at www.saveourstreetsministries.org.
Teen Retreats
I think we can all remember what it was like to be a teenager. You start feeling pressure of what your future will look like, friend groups change, your crush becomes a relationship, school becomes more challenging, and you begin to see the world through less rose colored lenses. Above all these things, as a teen, you feel lost. You want to know who you are. Often times, people will begin searching for this answer in the wrong places, and it is easy to stumble into darkness, later wondering how you got there.
At SOS Ministries, we love being the platform that ushers Jesus into the lives of young men and women in our community. One way we do this is through our Teen Retreats. Every year we have the wonderful opportunity to pull the SOS Ministries teens from the pace of everyday life, and take them on a retreat. This year, the teenage girls will travel to a local camp for the weekend, while the boys will go on a fishing trip.
It is during this time that we help navigate all of those twists and turns of being a teenager. SOS staff and volunteers spend time praying and pouring truth over their lives. Questioning the future? God holds it in His hands. Feeling lonely or depressed? God will never leave nor forsake you. Wondering who you are? God says you are loved, known, and created with a purpose. The world does not define who these young men and women are, but God does.
Be a part of raising up this next generation. We want them to be bold men and women of God who lead our communities, churches, and country with the light of Jesus. As J.J. Ramirez says, “Change is inevitable. But whether we let change lead us, or be the ones that lead change, is our choice.” Join us in helping empower teenagers to lead the change we want to see the Gospel make in the world around us.