Letter to Pastors & Ministry Leaders

April 12, 2002

Dear Fellow Servant,

Serving Our Neighbors is a network of various Neighborhood, Church, Ministry and Business Leaders throughout the greater Portland / Vancouver metropolitan area (roughly 25 miles from downtown Portland) who are committed to mobilizing the Body of Christ to witness to our community with a united balanced strategy of Prayer and Service.   

Our mission is to ultimately provide models of Prayer and Service for you to utilize in your home, church, ministry and/or business, to provide networks of communication within neighborhoods, churches, ministries and businesses of the greater Portland / Vancouver metro area and to provide resources and opportunities for Prayer and Service within our community.

One such opportunity for Prayer and Service, that we are currently developing, is with the Portland Police Department.  Police Chief, Mark Kroeker, has already met once with local pastors and church leaders on January 11, 2002 to discuss ways that we can work together to address the issues of our communities as we strive to make our city safer for everyone.  The second no host Breakfast with the Chief will be held on Friday, April 19^th at 7:00am at the Tower Restaurant in the Wells Fargo Tower, located at 1300 SW 5^th on the 21^st Floor.  Please join us as we further discuss how our churches, ministries and businesses can express our appreciation for our city’s Police Officers, recruit our church members to be Block Captains of our neighborhoods and participate in the Adopt-A-Cop Project.

Chief Kroeker has requested that every Pastor in our city consider selecting a man or woman inside their church to be a liaison with their local Portland Police precinct.  These liaisons will meet weekly with other liaisons at the precinct to communicate the various needs of the Portland Police Department to their church for prayer and to facilitate the various service opportunities mentioned above.  S.O.N. Steering Committee Member, Chris Green of Chosen For Action Ministries & the Ministers And Police project will coordinate the efforts of these liaisons with the Portland Police Department.  If you have questions or already have someone in mind to represent your church, call Chris at 503-849-7704 or send an email to chrisgreen@chosenforaction.org.

If you would like more information about Serving Our Neighbors or discovering how your church, ministry or business can become a part of the S.O.N. network, visit our website at www.servingourneighbors.org or contact one of our S.O.N. Steering Committee Members listed on the left side of this letter. 

Finally, we encourage everyone to participate in this year’s National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 2, 2002!   Listen to KKPZ 1330 AM, “The Voice of Reconciliation” for the latest updates and information on the National Day of Prayer and/or the S.O.N. network.  God Bless!