Dora's Letter: A Runaway Shelter Story

Dear Leverage Ministry Partners, 

I can never say thank you enough for your faithful support of Leverage Ministries. Because of your financial gifts and prayers, we are able to continue to reach the least, last and lost young people of central Florida. 

Your continued investment in our mission means that we can go into the runaway shelter every week and share Christ with a hurting group of young people. Every kid in the shelter has a different story of why he or she is there. Some kids are there for a very short time, while others spend a long time at the shelter. We don’t always know the impact we have, but we know that God is planting seeds in these kids’ hearts.

A couple of weeks ago, as we were walking into the shelter, the director handed me a card. It was from one of the kids who had been released. Before she left, she made the director promise to give a handwritten card to me the next time we visited. I put it in my pocket and did not read it till I got home that evening. The card said:

Dear Pastor Scott and Leverage team,

I just wanted to say thanks for everything you do/did!  You opened my eyes to a lot, and most of all, Jesus (and I loved playing Family Feud). Thank you so much (all of you)! God blessed me by letting me meet someone as nice as y’all who can/did open my eyes to Jesus. You have no idea how this has changed my life.  

Thanks, 

Dora 

P.S. I also want to share the verse you challenged us to memorize: “For God so loved this world that he gave his one and only son and for those who believe shall not parish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) I am now part of God’s family because you came and shared that with me.  

Again, thank you so much for supporting Leverage Ministries. Because of you, we will continue to reach more people like Dora every day. Please continue to pray that God will bring more kids like Dora across our path and that we would be faithful to point every one of them to Jesus.  

In His Service,
Scott Hirdes