Transforming Lives One Life At a Time! * Phase 3 * April 6 and 7 2024 was our Grand Opening! And we are in *Phase 4* of this journey! After weeks of physical work on the building, hours and hours of prayer and continued trust in the Lord, we are now open! We are practicing the gift of patience as we wait upon the Lord! We are asking the Lord for missionaries, those called by God to serve at Emerald House with a willingness to do what is needed to have a solid foundation to serve those in need in our community.
How can you help? If you live close, you can help us with the “Million Cans for Jesus Campaign” collecting aluminum cans. They can be dropped off at 1844 Ira Turpin Way NE, Canton, Ohio 44705. Gather together at least 10 friends who would be willing to give 1 dollar a week or round it up to 5 dollars a month. Send the money to Emerald House of Valley Chapel BIC at the above address or you can give through the donation tab on the website.

Transforming Lives One Life At a Time! God gave me a vision and a plan of action while I was the assistant director of an inner-city ministry. The vision was not accepted by the director, but the passion and vision continued to grow. Recently our group watched a movie “One Life At A Time,“ the Mel Trotter story. I encourage everyone to watch it! But the one quote that stuck out to me was, ‘there are many homeless in the world, being physically homeless is much better than being eternally homeless.’ The story was about an individual who was making fun of a homeless individual and he did some pranks that caused him to have to do community service at a homeless shelter. He quickly learned his lack of empathy and ignorance of those who may be homeless and why. He also came to realize he needed God in his life.

I have been blessed to be called of God to expand my family to those others do not want to be around. Everyone has a story, and everyone needs to be needed. And LOVE is not an option it is a commandment. Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

We have moved from 1045 Trump Rd NE location and another church is leasing the building for their church services. The past pastor of Valley Chapel, Chuck Burkett led ministry to the Guatemalan people who came to live in the northeastern part of Canton. The families that were once attending Valley Chapel are now making the building as their Spanish speaking congregation, continuing the ministry that was begun through Pastor Chuck. The church is called “Showers of Grace” and are connected to the larger body of Church of God.

The VISION:

The Lord gave me a vision of a building and the name “Emerald House.” Emerald biblically means, “New life, resurrection, and new hope,” which is fitting for those whom we have been reaching out to. We began an outreach to the homeless by picking up individuals from a shelter, providing breakfast physical food), and family style Sunday School class and worship (spiritual food). In 2020 while every place was closing, we opened more and served more physical food, shared movies, and Jesus!

In 2021 we added twelve new members and more regular attenders. We may have had a couple hundred pass through our doors over the past five years, but thirty of those individuals are no longer homeless. They are attending churches and working either a paid job or volunteering with a ministry. What they do not have is much to put into the offering plate, thus we are in need for God’s people to join us in the “double your penny building campaign.”

How does this work? The first week everyone puts in one penny. The second week we doubled the one penny to put in two pennies. The third week we doubled the two pennies to put in four pennies. The fourth week we doubled the four pennies to put in eight pennies. As the weeks increase, we will need to combine our pennies. We are putting together talents or skills to make money with the doubling of the pennies. You can help! Every dollar, every five, ten, or twenty dollars can quickly help double the pennies to help us purchase this building.

Think about anyone you know who has lost everything to an addiction, wouldn’t you like to see their lives transformed for Jesus? Drugs, alcohol, gambling, can truly rob individuals of so much and the consequences of our choices have lingering effects. Sometimes it takes someone outside of the family to reach them, but always it takes Jesus to bring healing and wholeness.

We are seeking to develop a mailing list to keep individuals informed of our ministry. If you would like a newsletter, please email us at psvalleychapel@gmail.com

We also have a prayer/praise “contact” tab and if you would like to financially support this campaign the “give” tab will direct you to do that as well.

I praise God for every one of you as you open yourself to be God’s vessel to help those who are lost to be found in Jesus! Blessings abundant from our heavenly Father!

Suzanne Mathie, Pastor