Benevolence: Ministering to the Poor and Needy--Do You Have the Tools Necessary?

Teena has been my long time friend and critique partner, as well as someone who has co-authored columns with me. We have been in a group of friends/writers for many years and know each other's secrets, pains and joys. Not only is she gifted in many areas of writing and art, but she and her pastor husband, Jeff, have been involved with ministries their whole married life and now are running the innovative Java Journey, a coffee house ministry in Hickory, North Carolina full of life, art, music and people. If you're in the neighborhood, do stop by! (Tell 'em Crystal sent you!) 

She just published another book with Beacon Hill Press called Benevolence: Ministering to the Poor and Needy, and she also will give away a copy to one commentator here, which I will draw from on this blog. Leave your questions and comments below and your contact email and this weekend I'll draw one name to give to Teena (she will send it out early next month.) If you have trouble posting, email me at crystal.mrsinewaATgmailDOTcom with your email and comment and I'll enter you and send your comment to Teena. YOU MUST sign your comment if sent by email. Please leave your email on comments below.

Many people want to help others, but do not always have the know-how of what to do. Ministry or benevolence teams go through many starts and stutters, burning out in the process, and Teena has much experience in how to avoid pitfalls and well-intentioned mishaps. This book will help you, your church or group to find ways to minister in effective and healthy ways. I asked her some questions to help us to understand just what it's all about.

Author and My Friend, Teena M. Stewart

In Benevolence, Teena Stewart shows us how to start a benevolence reserve in a church, helps us recognize charity opportunities, considers how different ministries can work together, and gives us ideas on how to manage those benevolence opportunities and ministries. With this book, learn everything you need to know about starting and keeping a ministry going.

Teena realizes, and points out in this book, that benevolence is a practiced, harnessed skill and one that needs accountability, and will change our lives. The truth is that we do have the capabilities, organization, and passion to start a benevolence ministry; it's just a matter of keeping it.

Crystal:  What motivated you to write this book?

Teena: At the time this book was conceived I was on staff at Northgate Christian Fellowship Church in the San Francisco Bay area. I saw the needs of the hurting and broken as they came in or called in and how they were handled.  I also helped organize a special event where we coordinated multiple opportunities for our church members to get involved in area charities and service projects. I learned volumes.

People often want to help the needy or local charities but do not know who to help, or how to go about it in a healthy way. Individuals might give money to someone in need in order to cleanse their conscience but without thought to whether it will truly help them or not. I am a natural encourager and equipper and I wanted to share my knowledge regarding how individuals and churches could have a positive impact on helping hurting people.

CLM:  Why should we care about the poor and needy?

TMS:  Many people claim to follow the teachings of Christ. A sign of Christian maturity is our willingness to look beyond our own needs to care for the needs of others. Scripture references more than 2,000 passages regarding the poor and needy.  Giving back is clearly important to God.  

Teena (third from left) has been a part of service and ministry since she was small. This is Teena's Baptist GA group as a young girl

CLM:  What has your present work for a women’s rescue mission taught you about helping the needy?

TMS:  I have worked in a number of capacities at Safe Harbor Rescue Mission in Hickory, NC, most currently as their Resource Warehouse and Gallery Director. The experience has been amazing. I’ve learned so many things. First, that sometimes people have landed in difficult life circumstances because they had no choice. Some have had really difficult upbringings. In other cases it is because of poor choices. Sometimes they remain broken or in need because of emotional illness or physical disabilities. It has taught me to look at the underprivileged and hurting with new eyes. It used to be I would see a homeless person and think, “why don’t you just get a job?” Now I look at them and consider the myriad of things that may have brought them to that point.  I’ve also learned how many hands it takes to turn one life around.

CLM:  Tell us a little more about your book.

TMS:  I spent a lot of time interviewing different people involved in benevolence ministry for this book. So you will find those accounts in the book. The book also includes advice for developing benevolence teams and boards, sample mission statements of charitable ministries, guidelines, policies and procedures for handling benevolence needs, resources, outreach ideas, promotional ideas. It also has an appendix of benevolence resources, and chapter questions to help readers reflect on best benevolence practices related to benevolence ministry.

CLM What is the exact book title and where can people purchase it?

Benevolence: Ministering to the Poor and Needy by Teena M. Stewart

TMS:  It is called Benevolence: Ministering to the Poor and Needy by Teena M. Stewart (Beacon Hill, 2011) and you can find it at most book stores including online entities such as amazon.com or on the Nazarene Press website .( It is available after June 1, 2011.)

 TEENA M. STEWART has served in ministry leadership for years, most recently at Northgate Christian Fellowship in Benicia, California and at Java Journey Coffee Shop Ministry in Hickory, North Carolina  where she and her husband, Jeff, an ordained minister, currently serve in market place ministry. Stop in for discussions on all of life's issues and a good cup of coffee your way!

Java Journey on Facebook.

Teena's published articles have appeared in Leadership, Discipleship Journal, Ministry Magazine and many other publications. Book credits include Successful Small Groups from Concept to Practice (Beacon Hill), co-authoring The World's Easiest Pocket Guide to Money and Marriage with Jeff Stewart and Larry Burkett and contributions to several anthologies, most recently Follow Your Dreams (Thomas Nelson.)

For more info on Teena's writing visit http://www.teenastewart.com where she has also designed logos for writers, web sites and can do any writing services.

Teena is also an artist and jewelry designer. Visit her art website at http://www.serendipitini.com. I happen to own several of her jewelry pieces, which are beautiful! Do go check this out and do contact Teena if you'd like to commission a piece of jewelry or art.

In addition, she has used her administrative and creative skills to oversee and launch Safe Harbor Rescue Mission's Resource Warehouse and Gallery.

The Java Journey 2011 from Jeff Stewart on Vimeo.

How About a Cuppa Coffee with that Book?

A few of you left comments on Teena Stewart's Kid Interview to have a chance to win her free book. Well! She decided to "sweeten the pot," due to getting ready to leave for a new adventure in missions soon.

Not only will you win a free book, but also free coffee and a mug! See, Teena and her husband, Jeff, are selling out in California and moving across the country to open a coffee house ministry. What if you could minister to those who might never take a chance to walk inside a church, but would go to a coffee shop to talk about Jesus?




Jeff and Teena wanted to do this and have years of experience as pastors and in ministry (thus, Teena's book on Small Groups) and now have taken a huge leap of faith to do this. You can help here, but Teena wants the winner to get the first cuppa coffee, thus throwing in the extra treat with her book.

SO WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Sign up for a chance at that book and the coffee and pass the word along. Click here to sign up--I've added a few more days and won't draw a winner until Friday.

Successful Small Groups: From Concept to Practice(Beacon Hill) on small groups in stores and available right now.


Teena's latest book is for leading small groups in church and ministry:

Teena M. Stewart...Kid Who Grew Up to Be Expert in Small Groups Ministries

This photo shows Teena with her siblings before her baby sister entered the scene. She's the skinny kid in the dress.

Teena remembers about the photo: "We had a neighborhood 4th of July parade and there was a contest for best theme. My dad chose To Market, To Market to Buy a Fat Pig or something about a farmer taking pigs to market. I was the farmer's wife and my older sister, Vicki, was the farmer. I really didn't wear glasses. I think those were an old pair of sunglasses. Dad made pigs out of Clorox bottles and stuck them on my brother's and sister's heads.

When Teena Stewart was growing up in Virginia, she never expected she would ever leave. But one day she met an exciting American-Scotsman and married him, and it was off on adventures with her pastor-husband from Virginia to Pennsylvania to Colorado to California to Scotland, and who knows where next? Moss doesn't grow under the Stewarts' feet, and certainly not under Teena's. No matter how long she stays in one place, she is moving. Her next move? To head up a coffee shop ministry on the East Coast! She and husband Jeff are pulling up stakes in California to follow God's calling once again.

Today Teena, a writer who has penned over 1000 articles, as well as short stories, fiction and ezines, and then finds time to head up ministries from one ocean to the other, still finds occasions to dress up. If we could get her three grown-up kids to talk to us, they'd tell us of the many funny skits and "dress-up" occasions, like posing for the famous Stewart Christmas cards, to be much like what Teena's dad instigated in a Fourth of July parade.

But Teena is shy and humble about what she does--even though her lifetime of work thus far speaks volumes about her talents. She has a B.A. degree in fine arts and paints portraits of pets, furniture that would make Mary Englebreit feature her if she only knew about her work, and she designs anything--from logos that appear on blogs, to web designs and web sites--well, Teena is an artist, too.

So what can we find out about Teena Stewart as a child that molded a woman so extremely talented who has a new book out--Successful Small Groups from Concept to Practice ? She's still shy, even though she can speak in front of groups with boldness about the God she serves, and topics that drive her passions.

Childhood Ambition: To be a ballerina

Fondest Memory (then): Riding my pony

Proudest Moment (now): Becoming a mom

Biggest Challenge as a child or teen: Extremely shy + severe asthma

My First Job: Clerical worker for the Department of the Navy in Arlington, VA

Childhood indulgence: Moravian Sugar Cake

Recipe from Chef Rick site:

Moravian Sugar Cake
1 package dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 cup hot, unseasoned mashed potatoes

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, beaten

5-6 cups sifted flour

Brown sugar

Butter

Cinnamon

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix together mashed potatoes, sugar, shortening, butter, and salt in a large bowl. Add yeast mixture and stir until blended. Cover mixing bowl and set aside to rise in a warm place until spongy. Stir in eggs and enough sifted flour to make a soft dough. Shape dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and allow to rise until double in bulk--about 2 hours.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Divide dough in half and spread out evenly in 2 greased baking pans, 13x9x2". Set aside to rise again. When double in bulk, use your fingers to make holes 1 1/2" to 2" apart all over the dough. Fill holes with brown sugar and generous pieces of butter. Sprinkle cinnamon over entire cake. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Because of the size of the cake, it is usually cut in halves to wrap for giving. Cakes can be frozen and reheated for serving. Makes 2 cakes, each 13x9".

Favorite Outfit as a child:Dress up clothes--my mom's open-toed black heels and white curtain sheers with red lipstick to match

[Crystal editor's note: Wish we had a photo of her in that! Scarlett O'Hara, move over!]

Favorite Childhood Movie: Pinocchio

Favorite Childhood Book: Little Black, a Pony

Childhood hero: My Dad

Childhood pastime: Playing Tin Can Hide



While growing up, I never expected to: move away from Virginia

Teena Stewart writes a monthly column for DreamBuilders Ministry in Motion's MIM Ezine, a place where those in ministry--whether pastor or other staff members in churches--can go to find solutions, support and materials and ideas and ministry resources. What she didn't include in her information for me is that she created and continues to develop this ministry, and she then was able to recruit others into keeping it going. Don't know what your spiritual gifts are? Teena has answers. If you need some help and support on raising your teen, Teena (alone and with her sometime co-author) covers that.

If you are interested in writing for Dreambuilders, check out the writers' guidelines.
She has published and written numerous suspenseful short stories and fiction, and started a blog covering the topic of suspense fiction called Whispers in the Darkness.


And look into Java Journey as Teena and husband, Jeff, are getting ready to embark on a coffee house ministry.

Whatever Teena turns her attention to, you can bet she will soon be an expert, and her blog explores the gamut on fiction books and within the genres of mystery and suspense. If you have an interest in this type of writing, check out this blog.

Here is just some of her work that is available in book form:

Soul Matters for Mothers

The World's Easiest Pocket Guide to Marriage and Moneywith Jeff Stewart and Larry Burkett

God's Way book series

Her publication credits also include but are not limited to: Discipleship Journal, Leadership Journal, Minister’s Family Magazine, Ministry Magazine, Woman Alive, Woman's Touch and many other publications.

Teena's passions have caused her to write so many articles, she seriously has lost track of the number, but now she is turning her writing to books and Successful Small Groups: From Concept to Practice(Beacon Hill) on small groups was released in November 2007.

Teena's latest book is for leading small groups in church and ministry:

Order this book now or leave a comment and enter a drawing for this book which I will draw on December 11th. The names will be drawn from this blog and also the When I Was Just a Kid blog. Sorry, you must have a U.S. address.