First Week in East Point

Where to begin. I've been living with Melissa and Nate Ledbetter and their beautiful 3 children - Levi (9 months), Shiloh (2), and Selah (3). Nate and Melissa both work for FCS (Focused Community Strategies), which is made up of several ministries working together for the inner-city Atlanta, GA. It has already been such a blessing getting to know them and learning more about their work with FCS. They live in a beautiful yellow house in a multi-ethnic neighborhood in Historic South Atlanta, which is about 5 minutes from East Point.

Last Sunday was my first church service at East Point Church (EPC). It was fun to see again some of the members, especially Pastor Tony (Anthony Carter) and his family, who I previously met a month ago when I came to visit East Point. The church is small, consisting of 25 members maybe (not quite sure) It is really nice to go to a church where everyone knows each other and where everyone is considered family, which the members themselves will tell you that J They have all been extremely welcoming to me and it has been a joy getting to know them. Several of the elders have mentioned numerous times to me that EPC is really here to serve me. They know that I will be helping them but they see my internship in a way of serving me first. I already feel very loved by EPC and I am extremely grateful for them.

It has also been a blessing working with Christy Norwood, who is a 2003 community development Covenant grad. She is a member of EPC and lives in my neighborhood in South Atlanta. She also works with FCS as a community organizer. We’ve been able to hang out a lot which has been very enjoyable. She has also been very encouraging to me and is teaching me about the history of Atlanta and East Point as well as other things. On Wednesday we took the public bus and train transit (MARTA), and went to an outdoor concert at Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. We later met up with Adriane (Pastor Tony’s wife) and their 5 kids – Ana, CeCe, Sarah, Rachel, and Tony Jr. Since the concert was extremely crowded (partly because we were 30 minutes late) we ended up sitting next to a water fountain, which turned out to be a water show –controlled jets of water synchronized with music playing from speakers surrounding the fountain. Some of the songs included: Circle of Life (Lion King), Chariots of Fire, and Twist and Shout (Beatles)…kinda random, I know. This is where I also learned how to play a new dice game called Farkle (one of my new favorites)