A Practical Guide to Re-Entry Supportive Housing God's Way: A Comprehensive Guide to Establishing Faith-Based Transitional Housing

By Rev. Dr. Tracy Lewis

Do you value human life and want to help those who cannot help themselves, but you don't even know how to get started? This book will empower you the reader with each step necessary to fulfill your dream of Re-Entry Supportive Housing God's way! Dr. Lewis will share insightful steps and guidelines that will speed up your process and alert you of pitfalls to be aware of. She will educate you with not only the things you need to do but define the significant needs you will need to meet when working with those who need you during transition from one stage of life to the next. Upon reading this book you will discover just what to do, who to help and learn just how to do it efficiently, effective and in a way that will lift your fellow man and glorify God.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 27, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098028411

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A Practical Guide to Re-Entry Supportive Housing God's Way

A Comprehensive Guide to Establishing Faith-Based Transitional Housing

Rev. Dr. Tracy Lewis

Copyright © 2020 by Rev. Dr. Tracy Lewis

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Establishing a Vision and Mission

Developing a Model

The Heart of the Matter

A Microscopic View of Personal Growth

Developing a Program

Establishing Policies and Procedures

Mode of Operation and Key Connections

Removing the Obstacles

Ready for Action

Counting the Cost

Rebuilding the Walls

Introduction

I have a passion! My passion is to provide opportunity for a better life for those who have not been afforded one. It is also to release captives and set the oppressed free. My heart is to reveal the true message of the Gospel by living it before others that they may see my good works and glorify my Father in heaven. My desire is to cause men and women around the world to be effective laborers in the vineyard of the kingdom of heaven and to serve the Lord in all that they do! It is my utmost determination that every person I come into contact with has a true encounter with God that translates into practice. To cause those who are laden with the disease of apathy to be resurrected to a life that impacts others in an eternal way and it is my prayer that my zeal for the Lord God is contagious!

So you have a passion to begin a faith-based transitional supportive housing program. This book will be a guide to help those who have a desire to assist others in critical transitions of life such as addiction, homelessness, domestic violence, and incarceration through supportive housing and accountability.

This mission you have is a noble ambition, yet it also comes with many variables that need assessment before engaging into such an undertaking. First, you will need to count the cost before you embark! Luke 14: 28 says, Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it? (Berean Study Bible) You must realize that the population that you are about to contend with have some very unique and challenging attributes that will take much patience, fortitude, tolerance, and compassion on your part. It is not just money that will be needed to succeed but also fortitude and diligence for hard work, and a love for people that are broken must be a part of your capacity.

After reading this book if you are still willing to lay your life down and are able, having ample sustenance to face this challenge, then we welcome you aboard as together we encounter life’s challenges with others who need our help! (Recognizing that some do not even know the level of assistance they are in need of.)

We anticipate that your participation in this venture will cause you to be an eyewitness of the power of support that produces change and not just temporary change but change that remains in the lives of the people you touch. We genuinely believe you will be amazed how your efforts will impact individuals in ways you never thought, dreamed, or imagined if we were to tell you! All because of God’s love that is within you, lives will be transformed before your eyes.

When I began this endeavor over ten years ago, I never imagined all the skills necessary to equip broken people to rejoin their community as a positive and contributing participant. I know now that it would have greatly helped me in my endeavor to have had a resource to refer to that would have softened the blow to all the obstacles I needed to be aware I was going to face.

There are people in the world that have situations that demand temporary assistance to get back up; others will need longer term assistance. One of those temporary situations is reentry after incarceration and the other situations that often come paired with this is recovery from addiction or addictive behaviors, education, and mental health care. There is also a high need for supportive nonmedical housing for the aged, veterans, and for the mentally challenged populations in society. This book will primarily deal with those who are returning citizens from incarceration and addiction, but it is a framework for any population that may have need for supportive housing.

None of us chose the family, ethnicity, nor geographical location that we were born into. Everyone does not have the same opportunities in life or experiences as every other person like our society would want us to believe. It is important that we come to realize we live in a very dysfunctional society that is extremely unequal and misaligned.

Through a transitional housing project, coupled with faith-based wholeness recovery, we can assist our society and our communities to restore a level playing field to those whose life events have been less auspicious.

A faith-based program allows us not only to level the playing field in the natural but also in the supernatural. Meaning that we cannot only replace the unproportioned opportunities with those more favorable and impartial, but we can also help to transform the individuals we serve to be better equipped to live the life they are worthy of. This will create a legacy of self-sufficiency for the generations coming after them as well because