Sent to SENT Seminar
Rev. Dr. Franshonn Salter, Restoration of Community Home, was a 2016 NBA Incubate SENT Seminar Participant.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend the NBA Incubate SENT Seminar. SENT renewed my faith, increased my passion, and invigorated my desire to reach homeless young people across the Chicago land area. I have desired to open a home for homeless youth and/or ex-offenders ages 18-24 for many years. I envision the Restoration of Community Home to be a place of love, peace, empowerment, support, and encouragement for the young people. I can see the young people engaging in the in-home services that we provide for them to help to become self-sufficient.
I have been bi-vocational, working in child welfare and in parish ministry for many years. I have worked with some of the most talented young people. I see their giftedness, but I also see firsthand the despair and hopelessness. SENT reminded me of the vision I have for ministry. Three years ago, I began a new church start that was to serve as a catalyst for the home for youth. I was injured on my job and unable to fully engage in the work of planting a church. I felt defeated. These last eight months, my health has improved. I am able to physically walk again without losing my balance or falling down. Most of all, I have gone from chronic pain to very little pain.
The opportunity to attend the SENT Seminar couldn’t have come at a better time. My job closed in May 2016, so I had the time to attend SENT. I had just started meeting with my team to re-launch the church start slated for September 2016. I believe God sent me to SENT so I could get back to the place of dreaming and believing again.
As I reflect, I felt a lot like the young people I have been called to serve. Thank God for SENT. As I sat in the various seminars, everything that I needed to hear to get the vision going again, I heard. I was given the tools and the resources I needed to make my dream into a reality. I am forever grateful for SENT.
The NBA incubates new ministries, supporting social entrepreneurs of faith who are serving their communities in a variety of innovative ways and empowering these Disciples-led health and social service projects to focus on growth, impact, and sustainability. Learn more at nbacares.org/incubate or by contacting Rev. Ayanna Johnson Watkins, Director of the NBA Incubate Initiative.
