08 Sep From Virginia to the Streets of New York

Dalton Jenkins, pastor of Bethel Temple of Praise, a UB church in Yonkers, N.Y.
It all began in the fall of 2007 with a call from then director of Global Ministries Gary Dilley. He asked if I was interesting in having a Youth Pastor, who was looking to do some missions work that summer, come and help us out with Vacation Bible School. I was glad for the opportunity and was later introduce to Pastors Dennis A. Sites, Todd Yoder, and Jerusalem Chapel.

This was around the time of the 2007 UB National Conference. Providence would have it that of all the places Todd and I could find in the hall to sit, we ended up next to each other. What made it more interesting is that we did not recognize each other until Bishop Ron Ramsey introduced me to the convention.

There we were, two guys from two different worlds, with the same passion, serving under the same banner. Little did we know that this was the start of a friendship built on the desire to mobilize the church to a missional cause, ministering to the total man.

Pastor Todd led a group from Jerusalem Chapel that summer to conduct a VBS for us at Bethel Temple of Praise. It was Virginia meets Yonkers. The spirit of the “We are brethren!” declaration of Otterbein and Boehm lived on. We put aside our differences and stood together as disciples commissioned to proclaim the Gospel.

This summer we decided to give back-to-school supplies to the kids in Yonkers. Qe were in the process of fundraising for the event when Pastor Todd called. He said they would love to buy supplies for our VBS this year. Since we were not planning a VBS, because we did not have the personnel, I told him of our efforts to give out supplies. He committed to contributing to our efforts.

With the contribution from Jerusalem Chapel and our own fundraising efforts, two groups of volunteers distributed over 70 bags of supplies at two locations–one group at a park near our church, the other in the middle of town. Two nurses did about 50 blood-pressure tests and provided other medical advice to persons who stopped by. This was done during two hours on Saturday afternoon, August 24. Thanks, Pastor Sites amd Todd and Jerusalem Chapel. This partnership is invaluable to the proclamation of the Gospel.

Reactions to our efforts were refreshing. Many were surprised that the church was giving away free supplies. Some people promised to visit our church.