“It’s one thing to give a kid a backpack at the beginning of the school year,” said Chris Woolard (pictured above), pastor of Venture Church in Wilmington, North Carolina. “It’s another thing to teach that kid how to read.”
Woolard planted his church, Venture, 10 years ago with the intention of reaching people who are far from God with the message of Jesus. Last year, his church was in the midst of renovating its first building when he enrolled in Leadership Foundations’ second Charity to Change cohort alongside 13 other Wilmington churches and seven local grassroots non-profits.
“Coming out of COVID, a lot of people were exhausted with doing crisis response instead of being involved in sustainable change,” said Emma Baltezore. Baltezore’s organization, One Christian Network is a Wilmington Leadership Foundation partner working to build connections among city leaders.
She extended the invitation to join Charity to Change to Woolard. “The problem is that it’s difficult to get leaders to work together,” she added. “But, with Charity to Change they had a focus and a curriculum and built the relationships they needed to collaborate.”
“As our cohort went on, my staff and I began to examine our city and our own outreach work differently. We even began to change the language and vocabulary we used to talk about all of it,” said Woolard. “I am a white pastor in a white church and to be educated by and in relationship with black pastors and leaders really filled a need for me.”
Woolard’s church bought its first building in the heart of Wilmington. “We deliberately chose the location because it’s right across the sidewalk from a Section Eight housing development, down the street from a bunch of luxury apartments, and right in the heart of the city.”
Even as the Wilmington Charity to Change cohort was beginning to make plans to address the city’s needs for affordable housing and wrap around support for residents, Venture’s staff changed its focus.
“We began to ask ourselves, if we want to invest in the kids around us, are we doing things at our church to feel better about ourselves, or are we helping to create real change for them? And if we want to be a part of real change, who can help us? Who is already investing in this kind of work? And that’s when someone at Charity to Change introduced me to Kim.”
Kim Ceasar is the founder and executive director of Soaring As Eagles Outreach Ministry and works to impact and empower the families whose children are enrolled in local Title 1 schools. A school qualifies as a Title 1 school if a significant portion of the children enrolled are designated as living in a low-income household.
Since Kim has been providing programs and support for the past twelve years to kids of all ages and their families, she is well-known and loved in the housing development across the street from Venture Church.
Pastors and church members from
Venture invest in their neighborhood
through tutoring, block parties and
relationships.
“Chris and I walked through the doors of that housing community together. And I think some people we talked to go to Venture now. To bring unity and reference to race, that was powerful in that neighborhood. If he had gone by himself, he probably wouldn’t have been accepted.”
But the relationship between Ceasar and Woolard has spilled into changes in Venture Church’s outreach, now a partner in Soaring As Eagles’ work. Recently Venture’s youth pastor led the prayer that kicked off one of Ceasar’s community events. Church members volunteer at Soaring As Eagles’ Saturday Academy tutoring program and support neighbors in that housing development as they navigate health challenges and addiction.
“When I think about Venture Church decades from now, I really hope to see a biblical version of community,” said Woolard. “I really want to see mature followers of Jesus and see that we love our city and we love our neighbors and we all take care of each other.”
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