Board of Directors & Tributes

A Dedicated Board

Christ Cares is blessed to have an awesome Board of Directors composed of dedicated Christians from our supporting churches and also Urban Ministers. For the past seven years Scott has been checking in with at least one Board member on a weekly basis.

Tributes

We are all running the race together that God sets before us. (Heb. 12, Phil. 3) Some of us reach the finish line before the rest. We are so grateful for the many people who have helped us through the years that are now in glory… 

We thank and honor the memory of a few that we have lost recently:

• Rev Sam Williams – was a close friend and co-worker of Scott Reese for about 25 years. Sam was one of the urban ministers that we’d resource and encourage during those 25 years… Some years ago Scott introduced Sam to the Agape Center (CRU) where he ended up joining staff and had a powerful ministry there. For the past several years Sam was teaching our large Homeless Bible Study in the library and helping Christ Cares minister to the homeless in other ways. He had a huge impact . Sam served on the Board of Directors of Christ Cares and is greatly missed.

• Tom Braun was a homeless veteran that came across our ministry while he was homeless. He was a kind hearted guy even though he had a history of being an enforcer for the mob in his younger days. Christ Cares was able to help him get housing and one day at Bible Study Tom responded to the Gospel. Even though he grew up with no exposure to Christianity, God had his heart prepared.  Although not perfect, Tom grew rapidly in his faith. He was a powerful witness to the area’s homeless population because of his radical life transformation. He soon became one of Scott’s closest friends and was a huge help to the ministry. He had strong organizational skills (Scotts weakness) and was playing an important role in taking care of ministry details and setting up for our various programs. Tom would often text sharing his excitement over a scripture he read. When we visited church, he fell in love with the hymns – he had never heard them before and thought they were so powerful. Sadly, Tom passed of a heart attack – his funeral was a great witness as his family was astounded to hear the stories of life transformation… A video of Tom sharing his testimony is posted below.

• Pictured is Julia Spyksma – when Scott first started fund raising in the mid 1980’s so he could go full time as an urban minister he was blessed to meet and secure a handful of faithful supporters that has continued to support him for literally almost 35 years! That generation is now quite a bit older and we are praying that the Lord will raise up a new generation of supporters to take their place. In the past couple years we’ve lost Julia Spyksma, Lois Brown, and Edie Vos. We also recently got the sad news that Carole Knoles has passed. She also has been a faithful financial supporter for over 30 years as well as always mailing us school supplies and Christmas Toys. They, along with MANY others who have made the ministry possible over the past 40 years are now with Jesus and I think of the words of Ray Bolt’s Song – 

THANK YOU FOR GIVING TO THE LORD…

Then another man stood before you
And said remember the time
A missionary came to your church
His pictures made you cry
You didn't have much money
But you gave it anyway
Jesus took the gift you gave
And that's why I'm here today

Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave

One by one they came,
As far as the eye could see

Each one somehow touched
By your generosity
Little things that you had done, sacrifices made
Unnoticed on the earth, heaven now proclaims
And I know up in heaven
That you're not supposed to cry
But I was almost sure
There were tears in your eyes
As Jesus took your hand
And you stood before the Lord
And He said my child look around you
For great is your reward

Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am a life that was changed
Thank you for giving to the Lord
I am so glad you gave
I am so glad you gave