Welcome to our August 2008 Newsletter!

This being the first issue of The Beacon we would like to say thank you for subscribing and we look forward to sharing with you about Safehaven. Something good is going on! There are some things this month we would like to address. You can always contact us using the information to your right we encourage you to do so. Please feel to browse the website Safehavenofnorthms.com and get to know us even better. We look forward to the relationships we will make and the lives that will be touched. Thank you.

901-634-3289

Safehaven ofnorthms.com

info@
safehaven
ofnorthms.com

The Day is Dawning!

by Trey Clenney

Six of us gathered around the pond, smelling the pine in the heat of the day, at the northeast corner of the prospective property and day dreamed. Larry asked us probing questions as we talked about future development of the land. Where might future staff housing be, or educational/congregational space, or guest housing? Could we cultivate the land and beautify it from our own greenhouse? We bowed there in the stillness of the woods on the pond bank as Brother Frank prayed for vision and steadfastness for the SafeHaven of North MS ministry.

I have been excited all over again, afresh and anew! God has placed an awesome burden on the hearts of His servants, and we must stay focused on the task at hand. SafeHaven is in the business of serving God’s people, whom He loves and died for. We can’t wait to see how He will provide as the starting point for receiving guests draws nearer and nearer. We still long for the first graduation day when goals become accomplishments; when men that love Jesus are released on the world with a heart for the lost to be saved. Please pray with us as we move forward seeking God’s direction and desiring to provide discipleship, accountability, and stability for His children.

Until Christ returns!

SafeHaven Moving Ahead

by Larry Logan, Director of Safehaven

About eighteen months ago a few men came together to form SafeHaven of North Mississippi, Inc. a transitional home for men coming out of the local jails of North Mississippi. We have deliberately taken our time and tried our best to be on time with God. We have tested the waters at times and had to back up and regroup. But God has been as always faithful. Our faith has been tested and we are better because of it.

We have accomplished a lot with God’s help and we are still in need of Him. We are moving now into another stage of this ministry. We have prayed, searched and found land that will be very suitable for the location of SafeHaven. This piece of land is in Marshall County Mississippi and is thirty three and one half acres. We have negotiated a contract and reached an agreement. We have notified the correct authorities in Marshall County and they said they had no problem with us placing SafeHaven there. We should close on the property Friday August 15^th, 2008.

There is dirt work to be done so there is a need for bulldozers and other pieces of equipment. The timber on the land hopeful can be used for pulp wood. I would like to have four to five acres cleared and put a three to four bedroom mobile home on the land. This will let us get up and running in a short period of time. The mobile home can be placed so it will not have to be moved and used as staff housing and or office space in the future.

In the future we want to see a facility large enough to accommodate 20 men and staff that live there, class rooms, sleeping area, kitchen and dining area. There also be enough acreage to have a large garden and room for some livestock.

I ask you all to pray for this ministry. There is a great need for facilities such as this. The financial needs are great and prayer is the key. Pray and do what God puts on your heart.

Mississippi RiverKings and Safehaven of North Mississippi, Inc teams up to raise funds

by Whitley Rives

Safehaven Ministries is committed to providing a “safe haven” for the most rejected of society – and to acquire the means to do so, this group of Christians and 13 churches will team up with partners including the Mississippi RiverKings hockey team.

At first, it was just a couple of guys visiting inmates at the Desoto County Jail,” says Larry Logan, Safehaven executive director. “Now we are hosting weekly worship services and Bible study there. All the guys who come, come on a volunteer basis. It’s not a required activity. But our services keep growing and we are seeing lives changed.”

The men being affected through these mentorship relationships at the jail run into problems when they leave the structured life of the jail and are thrust back into their former environments and relationships.

“They really struggle, and some of them fall back into their old temptations, and start running with the same crowd again,” Logan says. “It gets lonely and hard to cut yourself off from everything you ever knew.”

That’s why Safehaven is purchasing land and will start building a transitional facility with monies from fundraisers like the one with the RiverKings.

“These guys need someone to be accountable to,” Logan says. “Our vision is to have a place where up to 20 men could live for a year at a time in a structured environment that would include daily Bible study and help maintaining the house, yard, garden and kitchen. After 8-10 months we would encourage the men to get a job in the community, help them establish a personal budget and savings plan for their future.

“When they leave, our goal is for them to be productive citizens of society and most of all, to have a solid, working relationship with the Lord, and be plugged in to a local body of Christ.”

Safehaven will be the featured nonprofit during the RiverKings’ season opener, Friday, Oct. 17. The group will sell Gold Level fundraiser tickets to the game for $15 (a break from the $20 price at the box office). Additionally, the group will receive a table on the Desoto Civic Center concourse during the game, various publicity aids, and the opportunity to conduct a silent auction or raffle at their table.

“We’re really excited and hope other Christians will pray about volunteering or donating in some way to this ministry,” Logan says. “We have seen lives changed. But there are so many men who need help. We need the help of the community.”

To find out about tickets or learn more about Safehaven, call Logan at 901.634.3289 or e-mail larry@safehavenofnorthms.com.

The chief end of all mission work is the Glory of God.

by ???

Our greatest concern is that His Name be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun (Malachi 1:11), and that the Lamb who was slain might receive the full reward for His sufferings (Revelation 7:9-10). We find our great purpose and motivation not in man or his needs, but in God, His commitment to His own glory, and our God-given desire to see Him worshipped in every nation, tribe, people, and language. We find our great confidence not in the Church’s ability to fulfill the Great Commission, but in God’s unlimited and unhindered power to accomplish all He has decreed.

The Christian who is truly passionate about the glory of God and confident in His sovereignty will not be unmoved by the billions of people in the world who have yet to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If we are truly Christlike, the lost multitude of humanity will move us to compassion (Matthew 9:36), even to great sorrow and unceasing grief (Romans 9:2). The sincerity of our Christian confession should be questioned if we are not willing to do all within our means to make Christ known among the nations and to endure all things for the sake of God’s elect (II Timothy 2:10).

As Christians, we are called, commissioned, and commanded to lay down our lives so that the Gospel might be preached to every creature under heaven. Second only to loving God, this is to be our magnificent obsession. There is no nobler task for which we may give our lives than promoting the glory of God in the redemption of men through the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If the Christian is truly obedient to the Great Commission, he will either give his life to go down into the well or to hold the rope for those who go down. Either way, the same radical commitment is required.

While we recognize that the needs of mankind are many and his sufferings are diverse, we believe that they all spring from a common origin - the radical depravity of his heart, his enmity toward God, and his rejection of truth. Therefore, we believe that the greatest benefit to mankind can be accomplished through the preaching of the Gospel and the establishment of local churches that proclaim the full counsel of God’s Word and minister according to its commands, precepts, and wisdom.

Any mission work cannot be accomplished through the arm of the flesh, but only through the supernatural providence of God and the means which He has ordained: biblical preaching, biblical teaching, intercessory prayer, sacrificial service, unconditional love, and true Christlikeness.