Church Members Doing Ministry When Not at Church

Bethlehem member John Sather was recently appointed the National Director of Here’s Life Inner City (HLIC), the compassionate urban ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. His wife, Chris, serves alongside him as women’s coordinator, mentoring women.

Here are excerpts from a brief interview.

What is the main part of your job?

To ensure Here’s Life remains Christ-centered, theologically sound and committed to serving the poor, the underserved, and marginalized through the local church.

I have formed a Servant Leadership Team of 12 key leaders in HLIC who serve, empower, and hold accountable the staff and city directors

How broad is your responsibility?

• To serve and partner with more than 1500 urban churches in 16 cities
• To oversee 130 staff in 16 cities throughout the United States, including Minneapolis
• To serve and lead HLIC and our Prison Ministry (under HLIC)

How are you involved at Bethlehem?

We are both “missionaries” from Bethlehem. I’m on the board of Bethlehem Urban Initiatives (BUI), mentoring via Life Coaches with Bethlehem; we are small group leaders; we’re generally involved alongside Bethlehem urban focuses—we simply love our church. Chris is a Titus Two Leader with the women’s ministry, and she mentors several other women at Bethlehem.

What does Here’s Life do?

We partner with inner-city churches that are committed to a Christ-centered, whole person ministry—body, mind, and spirit. At the heart of these partnerships is a proven 3-phase: Connecting, Empowering, and Developing)—a strategy called the “Circle of Hope.”

How can Bethlehem people pray for you?

• Pray that we remain Christ-focused and Word-saturated in all we do.
• Pray that the core of our ministry remains Gospel-centered in the context of serving those who are marginalized, underserved, and live in poverty.
• Pray especially for our church-based ministry among kids called the SAY Yes Center—Bethlehem Baptist/BUI/HLIC are in a partnership, for example, in South Minneapolis.
• Pray for our personal financial support.

How can interested people get involved with Here’s Life in our local region?

To find out more, go to hlictwincities.org or call 612-338-0999, ext 10. Our iHope Blog provides information on how to participate in our PowerPack outreach

Or … visit the Outreach table at this weekend’s Bethlehem 2010 Ministry Fair (all campuses, following each service). Take the ministry giftedness survey before you visit the Ministry Fair to help you see where you might best plug in.