When Rev. Roy Beth Kelley, senior pastor of Lakewood United Methodist Church, heard from her children’s ministry director, Jill Dillman, that she was planning a used book collection drive for Lent, she immediately connected the dots to the “bus stop ministry” of White Memorial United Methodist Church in Little Rock.
While talking to White Memorial UMC’s Rev. Renee’ Willet about their ongoing bus stop ministry, he explained that they were giving children free books to take home each week and build their personal libraries, and therefore needed a lot more books.
This made sense to the Lakewood UMC leaders to donate all of the books collected during Lent to the bus stop ministry. As of today, Lakewood UMC has collected and delivered almost 800 books to White Memorial UMC.
Dillman shared, “We are so incredibly blessed by the relationship that has formed between our churches. We are receiving so much encouragement and support to grow our outreach ministries from Rev. Willett and Virginia (Ford), who is a member at White’s Memorial and one of the coordinators for the bus stop program. It’s great to be able to work together for a common purpose. This is what United Methodist connection is all about.”