Upcoming Trip to Togo, Africa

Dear Friends and Family,

We would like to update you on the plans and progress for the work in Togo, West Africa.  The Lord has provided 50 acres for the mission.  Kossi and his new bride, Esther, have recently arrived in Togo to begin the processes needed to start building the Christian Missionary Center.  This past week they have been meeting with officials to finalize the documentation needed to start the center.

We are also waiting for plans to be drawn up for the land so we can know where to put the water wells.

Marci and I will be making an exploratory, vision casting and future planning trip there from January 22^nd – 31^st.   We are also excited about another family who is being led to partner with us in Togo.  We have always felt that it would be a huge blessing to have another family go to Togo with us for support and encouragement.  We are thrilled to announce that Kirsten Haviland-Phillips will be going in January with us.  You can read more about how God is leading their family in her personal  message below.

We would like to ask you for your prayers and support for this upcoming trip. The cost of this trip will be approximately $4,500.  If the Lord leads you to support us on this trip, you can contact us at 918-350-0205 or make a donation through our website at www.visiononward.org.  Make sure you note that the donation is for Togo.

We thank you in advance for your prayers and support!

God Bless You,

Jeff Holley

Greetings fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The Lord has placed it on my family’s heart to team up with Vision Onward / Togo, Africa.  We are hoping to join them in Togo to help make this vision come to fruition.  In doing so, we feel it is important for me to go to Togo, Africa in January of 2011 with the Holley’s to help prepare myself and our six children for third world conditions.  This trip will help determine if we will be moving over to Togo in due season.  Please come along the side of the Haviland-Phillips family in prayer for wisdom and strength.  Thank you for your prayer and support.

Serving Jesus,

Kirsten Haviland-Phillips

Red Apple Proceeds to Benefit Vision Onward

(click image to enlarge)

 20% of the entire proceeds will benefit Vision Onward. This includes all open bowling and shoe rental at Red Apple Bowling Center and all pizza and buffet sales at Game Time Pizza from 5pm until close.

Red Apple Bowling Center is Bartlesville's place for indoor family fun. The center is a smoke-free environment with 32 bowling lanes of which 12 have individually programmable bumpers. There is a spacious game room and some great eats from the Laneside Grill and Game Time Pizza. Game Time Pizza has a wide variety of specialty pizzas and is a great place to watch your favorite teams on the big screen TV's. 

Coupon is NOT necessary and mentioning Vision Onward is also not necessary.  Every purchase from every person who walks in the door on this date will be benefiting Vision Onward.  

Thank You Red Apple Bowling Center for your support!!

Survivor Fundraiser 2010

A huge THANK YOU to Ashley Rose for the photography for the evening!

The Survivor Fundraiser dinner was a huge success and we hope it was also pleasing to the Lord.  We had a full house and received a substantial amount of donations.  We are very blessed and thankful for everyone who attended and donated!

The volunteers at Vision Onward are the most giving, sacrificial, hard working and excellent group of volunteers!!!  Lives are being changed through this ministry and God has brought us amazing workers to assist in this great mission.  They did a phenomenal job in organizing this fundraiser and we are extremely grateful to them all!!

We were very proud of Trey and Nikai, two Refuge youth, who bravely shared their testimonies of how God has used Refuge to be just that. . . .a place of safety and Refuge for them on Friday nights. God has turned two hurting kids into strong leaders for Him.

Ronda Harris also shared her testimony and displayed many products from her new business "Cute as a Button; Decor, Gifts and More."  She is extremely talented in making diaper cakes, towel cakes or any kind of gift cake for all occasions.  Check her out on Facebook!  We hope to have a website up for her soon so she can share her work with everyone.

Refuge Has a New Home

After searching a few months for a new location for Refuge, we are so thrilled to announce that Refuge has a new HOME at West Oak Baptist Church.  Randy and Pam have been absolutely wonderful in opening up this church for us to use on Friday nights.  The facility is perfect for all the things we do on Friday nights with the children.

We praise God for His provision and for the generosity of His people.  We pray that God will be glorified through this partnership and that children's lives will continue to be impacted by the ministry of Refuge.

Examiner-Enterprise Article about Transitional Apartment Graduate Ronda Harris

Getting Ahead of Poverty: Opportunities Open for Local Woman Who Experienced Poverty

Saturday, November 27, 2010 10:21 PM CST

By Emily Droege E-E Staff Reporter

The well-known adage that things happen for a reason may well apply to Ronda Harris’ life. Even though she and her family were thrown into poverty, the experience of living poor opened an opportunity that is now providing Harris with national recognition.

Several years ago, Harris and her husband were enjoying a slice of the American dream, living comfortably with their two children in Louisiana and holding steady jobs.

Then, a series of unfortunate events suddenly struck the couple, and they soon found themselves struggling to make ends meet.

“We moved to Bartlesville in 2006 and were doing fine financially,” said Harris. “Then two years later, I started hurting in my right arm.”

She proceeded to go to the doctor and was eventually diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in an individual’s muscles, ligaments and tendons. As a result of her medical issue, Harris’ workload at Sitel lessened.

Around the same time, her husband, Ivan, suffered a heart attack, causing him to work less as well. A major surgery soon afterwards resulted in him no longer being able to work. The tumbling blows pushed the couple into a spiral of deepening poverty.

“He became ill and wasn’t able to work as much either,” she said. “He then had a triple bypass surgery and was hardly able to work at all.”

Because of the couple’s limited working hours, the paychecks also lessened, while unpaid medical bills began to pile up. Harris said that the financial responsibilities and stress soon became overwhelming, and her family found themselves struggling to make ends meet, such as paying house payments.

“We were becoming victims of situational poverty, and it was something that I was determined to get my family out of,” said Harris.

Several Bartlesville resources came to Harris’ aid as she and her family tried to pull back from poverty. In particular, she credits Vision Onward and community-minded individuals like Jeff Holley, who helped her family move into a transitional housing program.

“If it wasn’t for the transitional housing program, I don’t know where my family and I would be today,” said Harris. “I’m so thankful for those involved that make a program like that possible.”

Harris explained that while she and her family were in the yearly housing program, she took the required Getting Ahead program. Under this six-month course, Harris was able to examine the impact that poverty has on individuals, families and communities and discovered theories of change to get out of poverty and become a productive citizen.

“During my time in the Getting Ahead classes, I really changed my way of thinking. My whole mindset changed. I learned so much about what I needed to do to take my family and myself out of the situation we were in,” said Harris. “I was determined to manage our budget more responsibly and pay off all the high interest loans.”

While in the Getting Ahead class, Harris created a “mental model” as an end of the course class project. She said the mental model is used to deepen and reinforce what students learn as the sessions unfold in the class.

“The classes were so inspirational to me. I kept visualizing the program as a road map, and being a visual person, I wanted to show what I learned on paper,” she said.

During a sleepless night, Harris put pen to paper and started sketching out the beginning of a board game, incorporating everything she learned in the 20-session class in her drawing.

She said she based her sketch off the popular Parker Brothers board game “Life,” with the intent to help people, particularly middle-class and above, understand what it’s like to live in poverty.

“The game shows how anyone can fall into the trap of poverty, whether its through paying fees, being bonded out, not having enough money for a lawyer, being convicted of a felony or falling prey to things such as pay day loans,” she said. “It’s also a way to raise awareness of why people fall in to poverty.”

Shortly after Harris showed her model to one of her class facilitators, M’Liss Jenkins, it was passed on to the hands of Philip DeVol, a developer of the Bridges Out of Poverty effort, a national poverty alleviation movement.

DeVol was clearly impressed by Harris’ mental model, as it soon will be used as a tool for the national Getting Ahead curriculum. As a result, the board game will be manufactured and distributed nationwide by aha! Process, Inc., which is the driving force behind the Bridges Out of Poverty movement.

As further proof of what she has learned and gained from the local Getting Ahead program, Harris also has shared her family’s story and showed her “Building Bridges” game at a national conference in Indianapolis.

“The game is a learning tool for understanding the daily struggles for those who live in poverty,” she said. “It’s also a way for players from poverty, get out of poverty, and for players of middle class and wealth to see the lack of resources and its effect on certain situations,” she said.

As a graduate of the Getting Ahead class, Harris said she is inspired to spread the word and change mindsets of falling into the trap of poverty.

“I want my children and others to know the situation out there,” she said. “I want to be one of the voices who are helping others understand and get out of poverty.”

“I’m so thankful for the Getting Ahead program and all the allies who are part of it,” Harris continued. “It’s not a handout — it’s a hand-up. It helped me take responsibility and strive to get out of the situation my family and I was in. It was a very positive experience and an all together win-win program.”

Harris has recently started her own specialty cake business, Cute as a Button: D/cor, Gifts and More in Bartlesville. She and her family has moved out of transitional housing apartments and now have a home of their own.