What Difference Do It Make? by Ron Hall Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ron Hall
and crawl back in the bed âcause it ainât never gonâ happen. Jesus donât need no help from no perfect saints. If He did, He wouldnât aâ gone up yonder and left us down here in charge.
ASHLEY
Heart Knowledge
By 2004, Matt and Ashley McNeeleyâs marriage had followed a similar path to mine and Deborahâsâtroubled and marred with adversity. Matt, then twenty-seven, was an alcoholic who had compromised the marriage. With their daughter only eighteen months old, Ashley, also twenty-seven, was desperate to keep her marriage from crumbling and set a low bar for her expectations. All she wanted was for Matt to be faithful and get sober.
âOnce God got me out of the way,â Ashley says, âHe did so much more.â
Matt not only got sober; he also began to lead the Celebrate Recovery program at the McNeeleysâ home church, Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, Texas. And the coupleâs marriage grew strong through their mutual commitment to each other and to their faith.
When Ashley read Same Kind at the insistence of her brother-in- law, Josh, she saw in Deborah a kindred spirit, a woman who had decided to ride out marital storms instead of abandoning shipâand who found peaceful waters on the other side. But the book also opened Ashleyâs eyes to a void in her life.
Her marriage was going well. She was thriving professionally. With her sister, Jesse Ihde, she had launched Minerva Consulting, a small but successful marketing and communications consulting firm. But what was she doing to help those who were hungry and homeless and hurting?
âI told my family, we need to get involved ,â she says. âWe need to make a difference! Weâre not doing anything. â
Through Joshâs passion and an uncle who lives in Phoenix, Ashley learned about a program called Open Table. The nonprofit started with a group of men at a Scottsdale, Arizona, church, who worked with youth groups serving at a local homeless shelter. These men realized that their interactions at the shelter werenât really helping to break the cycle of homelessness. So they formed the group that would become Open Table, a community of mentors and life coaches who work with individuals and families, creating step-by-step economic stability and wholeness plans to help them get back on their feet.
âThe goals are attained through an ongoing management process,â the Open Table Web site says, âas well as drawing on resources from the congregation, personal networks, and solutions already created by other Open Table groups.â Ashley learned that City of Phoenix officials were backing Open Table and heralding its methods as âbest practicesâ for ending homelessness.
Ongoing management process?
Best practices?
Tackling a social issue through a carefully planned business-model approach seemed to Ashley and Jesse like an ideal fit for them. The sisters decided to launch an Open Table in the Dallas area, and they hit the ground running, creating a business plan, a marketing plan, and a prospectus. They recruited an influential advisor, made the right political connections in the city, and met with Open Table CEO Jon Katov.
Ashley had previous experience with nonprofits, having worked with Verizon on their cause-related marketing programs. She knew people on the boards of several foundations. She was certain she could tap into these connections without the slightest hiccup. âI thought, Iâve done this before. Moneyâs just going to fall into our laps, and this isnât going to be any trouble at all. â
Thatâs not how it went.
At first, every charity Ashley contacted expressed enthusiastic support. But the economic decline of late 2008 was taking its toll on nonprofit organizations, and enthusiasm did not translate into dollars. One by one, each of the board-member relationships Ashley had counted on to help
ASHLEY
Heart Knowledge
By 2004, Matt and Ashley McNeeleyâs marriage had followed a similar path to mine and Deborahâsâtroubled and marred with adversity. Matt, then twenty-seven, was an alcoholic who had compromised the marriage. With their daughter only eighteen months old, Ashley, also twenty-seven, was desperate to keep her marriage from crumbling and set a low bar for her expectations. All she wanted was for Matt to be faithful and get sober.
âOnce God got me out of the way,â Ashley says, âHe did so much more.â
Matt not only got sober; he also began to lead the Celebrate Recovery program at the McNeeleysâ home church, Bent Tree Bible Fellowship in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton, Texas. And the coupleâs marriage grew strong through their mutual commitment to each other and to their faith.
When Ashley read Same Kind at the insistence of her brother-in- law, Josh, she saw in Deborah a kindred spirit, a woman who had decided to ride out marital storms instead of abandoning shipâand who found peaceful waters on the other side. But the book also opened Ashleyâs eyes to a void in her life.
Her marriage was going well. She was thriving professionally. With her sister, Jesse Ihde, she had launched Minerva Consulting, a small but successful marketing and communications consulting firm. But what was she doing to help those who were hungry and homeless and hurting?
âI told my family, we need to get involved ,â she says. âWe need to make a difference! Weâre not doing anything. â
Through Joshâs passion and an uncle who lives in Phoenix, Ashley learned about a program called Open Table. The nonprofit started with a group of men at a Scottsdale, Arizona, church, who worked with youth groups serving at a local homeless shelter. These men realized that their interactions at the shelter werenât really helping to break the cycle of homelessness. So they formed the group that would become Open Table, a community of mentors and life coaches who work with individuals and families, creating step-by-step economic stability and wholeness plans to help them get back on their feet.
âThe goals are attained through an ongoing management process,â the Open Table Web site says, âas well as drawing on resources from the congregation, personal networks, and solutions already created by other Open Table groups.â Ashley learned that City of Phoenix officials were backing Open Table and heralding its methods as âbest practicesâ for ending homelessness.
Ongoing management process?
Best practices?
Tackling a social issue through a carefully planned business-model approach seemed to Ashley and Jesse like an ideal fit for them. The sisters decided to launch an Open Table in the Dallas area, and they hit the ground running, creating a business plan, a marketing plan, and a prospectus. They recruited an influential advisor, made the right political connections in the city, and met with Open Table CEO Jon Katov.
Ashley had previous experience with nonprofits, having worked with Verizon on their cause-related marketing programs. She knew people on the boards of several foundations. She was certain she could tap into these connections without the slightest hiccup. âI thought, Iâve done this before. Moneyâs just going to fall into our laps, and this isnât going to be any trouble at all. â
Thatâs not how it went.
At first, every charity Ashley contacted expressed enthusiastic support. But the economic decline of late 2008 was taking its toll on nonprofit organizations, and enthusiasm did not translate into dollars. One by one, each of the board-member relationships Ashley had counted on to help