by Richard and Jessica Shore
![]() |
Jessica and Richard |
When we first moved into our
downtown Raleigh home, we knew we wanted it to be place of blessing and welcome
for our friends and family and we knew we wanted to follow Jesus’ command to
love our neighbor, but we had no idea what that would look like. The house God
led us to buy is conveniently situated next to eight low-income apartment
buildings teeming with kids. As we slowly met a few kids over our first year,
we knew we wanted to deepen the relationships, but we didn’t know what the
first steps needed to be.
Last spring as our Vine community
was planning our summer agenda, a couple of people felt that the summer would
be a good opportunity to expand our focus to include outreach. As we discussed
options, Ford and Lindsay approached us and said, “How about we meet every
Wednesday night at your house this summer, feed healthy meals to the kids and
just love on them?” Immediately, a few hesitations came to mind: “Will kids
even come over? What will their parents think? What will our neighbors think?
Will it feel authentic? How will our Vine community engage these kids? How do
we feel about opening our house to strangers?” Without having any clear answers
to these questions, we still knew it was a big push in the right direction!
Sure, we said, we’re in!
Almost every Wednesday night this
summer members of the Vine came over to help prepare and serve healthy food and
play all kinds of games with the kids. Throwing the football, playing kickball,
covering the sidewalks in chalk and jump roping were the typical activities of
choice. Some nights we only had eight kids while other nights we fed over
twenty-five. We slowly got to know a few parents and they became comfortable
coming over for dinner, too. Since the summer ended, we’ve transitioned to one
Saturday morning a month to continue the relationships.
More importantly, we’ve been given the opportunity to develop close relationships with most of the kids. They knock on our door on an almost daily basis. Sometimes we can play, sometimes we can’t, but we always try to make time to hear about a little about their day and provide a high five or hug.

I am so blessed to know and serve alongside you, Shores! You both shine so brightly for Christ and have encouraged me in so many ways!
ReplyDelete