The Tomball Benevolence Network (or TBN) is a beehive of activity. Windwood Presbyterian, First Baptist Church of Tomball, and First Presbyterian of Tomball have recently officially joined the Network. We welcome them as TBN members! Karen Guiles, TBN Community Liaison, is continuing to schedule appointments with all TEAM supporting churches. If you haven’t heard from her yet, feel free to give her a call at 517-648-4159 or email Karen to schedule a date. TEAM currently has 19 supporting churches, so it’s taking a little time to reach each one. She looks forward to linking with every church to share the details of TBN and how each church can join in partnership.
In discussions with various churches the following question inevitably comes up: “Since we already have support ministries within our church, why would we need to join the Benevolence Network?” Great Question! Although churches may already have their own ‘internal’ caring ministries for church members, TBN brings a new perspective on outreach by opening up avenues of sharing the individual church resources and programs to others within the Tomball community. For instance, a church might have Financial Peace University, MOPS, or Parenting with Love and Limits that could be accessed by others not attending that specific church. Or, a church may have a group of men who help the elderly, widows or singles with car repairs, oil changes, etc. There may be business owners in the church family who would offer to assist in specific areas (i.e., car repair, plumbing, electrical, HVAC) for a low-income situation. Secondly, churches can send their own members to TEAM for caseworker assistance should the church not have an available resource within their own church. TBN is basically a two-way street that opens avenues through Service Providers (who are embedded in the churches) to assist others (primarily low-income) in the community, as well as using TEAM’s caseworkers and GRACE software system to help a church member should a need arise.
As TBN continues to develop in its growth, the financial need will also increase. TEAM oftentimes pays for car parts or other necessary project supplies when low-income clients have a serious need, with thankfully free labor provided. We anticipate that as the Tomball community continues to grow, so will the needs. Since TEAM is not funded by any governmental source, dollars will always be sought to fund the TBN ministry through TEAM. We are extremely grateful to all our current financial supporters because it takes a TEAM effort to enable TEAM and TBN to meet the needs of the community.