HIS Heart
Who we are-
HIS Heart is an inner-city ministry to the children, youth, and families of the West Park neighborhoods of Jackson, Mississippi. In the mid 90s, Calvary’s members chose to remain at their current location, though many churches in the area were moving into the suburbs of Jackson at that time. The mission of the church was at that time and remains to this day, to establish rel
ationships with the families and children of the community for the purpose of enriching their lives through love, faith, hope, and friendship. HIS Heart has been a non-profit ministry of the church since 2003. We are housed in the church, and many of our ministries happen inside the walls of the church. But it wasn’t until the church stepped out of its walls to reach out beyond itself, that the real purpose of the church was revealed. How we serve-
HIS Heart began in 1998 with prayer-walks through the streets of West Jackson. Prayer-walking opened the doorway to ask the people who resided in the areas around the church what their greatest needs were. It became apparent very quickly that the greatest need was to minister to the children and youth. Bible Clubs were started by taking games, Christian music, and the Word of God down the streets and into the homes of those in the inner city. Today HIS Heart students are ministered to on a weekly basis through Bible Clubs, Sunday School, Children’s Church, Worship Services, Wednesday night Bible Study, Children’s Choir activities, tutoring, and mentoring. We visit in the homes and schools of our kids and check on the elderly in the neighborhood. Calvary and HIS Heart hold a “Trunk-or Treat” each October on the Wednesday before Halloween. We hand out 100 turkeys in the neighborhood on the Monday before Thanksgiving, and host a Christmas worship service and HIS Heart Christmas party each December. Our youth are involved in several service projects in the community during the early spring months. HIS Heart’s annual Spring Bible Club Carnival is held on Calvary’s lawn in early May. Summers are busy and fun. They are filled with many Christ-centered camps. Some of these camps are held at the church, while others are held off-site. The Junior League of Jackson offers a week-long Arts Explosion Camp to the children of our ministry and other similar ministries in the area. Crossgates Baptist Church in Brandon leads a Music Camp just for our students in grades K-12. We transport our youth to Lake Forest Ranch each summer for an amazing week of prayer, Bible study, and fellowship in one of the most beautiful and peaceful settings in Mississippi. Our younger girls and boys in 3rd – 6th grade are taken to Camp Garaywa and Central Hills Baptist Encampment to focus on God and experience His presence in powerful and fresh new ways. And no summer would be complete without Vacation Bible School, but ours is not your typical VBS. Through donations from individuals and churches we are also able to help our students and their families with physical needs such as school supplies, clothing, food, and sometimes housing issues. Because the needs of the people are massive and overwhelming, they are met on a case by case basis. We have committed to the wise use of the funds that God provides through the selfless giving of caring people. We use prayer, caution, and discernment to guide our actions. How you can get involved-
HIS Heart desperately needs your prayers for our kids, their families, their schools, school leaders, teachers, civic leaders and political leaders of the city of Jackson. We ask that you pray for the demonic presence of poverty, violence, hatred, and hopelessness that reigns over the inner city to be destroyed. The biggest prayer need is that our kids and their families would come to know Christ and walk with Him daily. This one prayer, if answered, could change the course of many generations to come and could help to turn the tide of our city. Pray that HE will be the God of this city. Our staff and volunteers also need your prayers. We seek God daily for much wisdom, love, patience, courage, and endurance to complete the mission that God has placed before us. We also need willing, active and committed volunteers who can serve on a weekly basis to assist with Monday evening Bible Clubs, Wednesday night activities, and Sunday morning activities. We need quality Bible teachers for our youth and children. We need those who will fix and serve food for Bible Club on Monday evenings. We need young people and adults to help us tutor our students who have many educational needs. We love to enlist those with different talents such as music, dance, martial arts, athletes, seamstresses, cake decorators, chefs, artists, drama teachers, etc. to teach our kids new things. And we need those who will simply love a child by encouraging, affirming, and hugging them. Church youth groups are always welcome to join us at our annual events such as “Trunk-or Treat”, Thanksgiving turkey delivery, and the HIS Heart Bible Club Carnival. We also enjoy combining our HIS Heart youth with other youth groups to do service projects in the community, for example fixing up or painting a home, cleaning up yards of the elderly, working around our church, going on prayer-walks, completing community surveys, and teaching Bible Clubs during spring break or the summer months. We also need funds to continue our ministry in the inner-city. HIS Heart is supported by donations from individuals, churches, and grants received from the Junior League of Jackson and His Way. Donations are used to pay the two full-time staff ministers of HIS Heart, purchase supplies for weekly activities and annual events, and provide for the needs of our students, their families, and people of the community. HIS Heart is a registered 501-C3 state of Mississippi non-profit organization, so all donations are tax-deductible. We send an annual donation report to our donors for tax purposes and email a quarterly newsletter to donors and volunteers of whom we have email addresses. If you would like to volunteer with us or donate to our ministry, our contact information is listed below. HIS Heart
1300 W. Capitol Street
Jackson, MS. 39203
601-354-1300
[email protected]
Paula Stodghill Byars- Executive Director
Joel Weathers - Associate Director
