Montgomery House Project
During my first deacons meeting in March, I met a modern day Mr. and Mrs. Nehemiah. Gary and Josephine “J.C.” Montgomery are the directors of Living Stones International, a faith-based nonprofit that ministers to children of inmates at Wakulla Correctional Institution. They reach out to children of prisoners and reunite them with their fathers through site visits. They tutor children of prisoners and other children who do not have fathers in the home, and they provide parent training for teenage fathers to be present in the lives of their children.
Gary and J.C. are already living out God’s calling. Our church provides transportation for children to see their dads. Now Gary and J.C.’s dream is to live among the families they minister to in Griffin Heights. They want to move into the neighborhood, be the presence of Christ less than two miles from our church, and help transform this part of Tallahassee.
Wells Fargo Bank donated a foreclosed home in the Griffin Heights neighborhood on California Street. The City of Tallahassee provided the funds to renovate this home. With the help of Bill Smith, Eris Wilson, and an army of volunteers, our church is providing the labor and construction management to keep the costs as low as possible. The team has already replaced floor beams and some siding. Several skilled laborers are working on plumbing and other issues.
Soon you will be able to help. In December, we’ll be organizing teams to serve on Saturdays to complete the home so that Gary and J.C. can move in during the first part of 2014. Volunteers can contact Sharon Cawthorne in the church office for the application form, or sign up online via fbctlh.org/serve. Please register by Thanksgiving so that we can have adequate coverage for each Saturday in December and January.
Like Nehemiah, Gary and J.C. want to relocate their hearts and their bodies and witness a different kind of lifestyle to their neighbors. Through partnerships with people like the Montgomerys, we are able to Love Tallahassee on location, right in the neighborhood.