The Haven of Rest: Making the Holiday’s Brighter for the Homeless in 2011 – 2011-11-19

By: Katie Sobiech

As the snowflakes begin to fall this winter most of us will be blessed enough to have a roof over our head, sip a nice cup of hot cocoa if we’d like, and even sit by a warm fireplace. For others, this won’t an option. Instead of celebrating, they will worry where their next meal will come from and if they will stay warm enough and even make it through the winter.

Thanks to a local homeless shelter, The Haven of Rest, a huge burden is lifted off of the homeless.

The Haven of Rest began in 1943 with one couple who dared to make the dream that God placed in their hearts a reality. Rev. and Mrs. Charles C. Thomas’s burden for the poor led them to open their hearts and welcome the homeless to stay in their own home. Starting out as a small storefront rescue mission, it has blossomed into the largest homeless center in the Summit-Portage-Medina-Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne-Holmes county area – and a valuable asset to our community. This year they will celebrate 68 years of ministry.

Iron Sharpens Iron Testimony and Conference Review – 2011-11-12

By: Katie Sobiech

If you missed this past weekend’s Iron Sharpens Iron Conference there is still hope… Mark your calendars now for next year’s event! In the meantime, Toolbox Ministries and the Man Up Movement may be exactly what you are looking for. Both of these ministries are for men, by men. Year-round they offer tools for men to use in daily life, as well as accountability, prayer and godly friendships.

Mark Hardman, a member of South East Church of the Nazarene, and a man with a contagious enthusiasm for God says this weekend’s conference was “a success”.

“God was front and center through our speakers!” he said, referring to both key-note speakers as being “Dynamic”.

Iron Sharpens Iron Conference 2011 – 2011-11-04

By: Katie Sobiech

It’s that time again… The Iron Sharpens Iron National Men’s Equipping Conference tour has hit Akron. Every fall Toolbox Ministries hosts this conference put on for men, designed by men, targeting their specific interests and needs.

This year’s keynote speakers are Bill Perkins, President and Founder of Million Mighty Men and also senior pastor and author, and Rod Cooper, a Professor of Discipleship and Leadership Development at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Sixteen different equipping seminars will be offered throughout the day on a range of topics surveyed as being most important to men, including marriage and intimacy, spiritual leadership, sexual purity, fathering and financial management.

There will be a great time of praise and worship and 30 local and national ministries represented.

Faith Musicals: Music with Purpose (Part Three) – 2011-10-28

By: Katie Sobiech

As her musicals continued to succeed, Sharon Dobbins Alberson was able to give more financially to local charities. Over the last 20 years they have raised a quarter of a million dollars putting on musicals.

“Faith in Action”, a national organization that has chapters all over the United States, is one charity that has greatly benefited. They help homebound and isolated members of the community get services and help.

“We give it all. Everything is given away. I felt ‘You don’t get paid for this. This is your gig for God’,” Alberson said.

Other charities they have helped are Hope Homes (a residential facility for the handicapped), Operation Hope (a homeless shelter in Connecticut), Spices of Life (for inner city girls), Alpha Home (transitional home for displaced families), Hospice at Home, and Autism Spectrum Resource Center.

Faith Musicals: Music with Purpose (Part Two) – 2011-10-23

By: Katie Sobiech

“In some ways I could say that God allowed all of these bad things to happen, but what I’ve learned to say is God removed all of the obstacles,” Sharon Dobbins Alberson, Playwright/Composer, Minister and Lawyer, said of her trials.

“Oftentimes when we see things that are going ‘wrong’, God is removing obstacles for what He wants to do,” she continued.

This has been the theme of her life, Alberson says. She made plans, but God always has the last say.

“When things are going wrong, God is beginning to shape us and remove things in His love that He knows will not bring out what He wants for His glory,” she shared, “And it draws us into a larger community, because we can really only see one person, but God doesn’t call us to be one person, He calls us to be a part of the Body of Christ.”