KCB Volunteer Spotlight: William Furlong
William has been furthering KCB’s mission by building relationships and leading morning prayer and devotions with our Good Soil Industries participants. Although he’s had to take a small hiatus from leading devotions due to COVID-19, we’re excited to have him lead again soon with some social distancing protocol. We’re super grateful for him and his heart for the community! Learn more below about his work as a volunteer with KCB.
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How did you get involved with Kingdom Causes Bellflower?
My oldest daughter began working at KCB when she was in High School and we started seeing the programs that KCB offered to the community and thought it looked very much like what the Gospel should look like. So, we started attending training sessions and then volunteering when ever we could. The Good Soil Industries (GSI) program has always appealed to me as great way to help men restart their broken lives, providing them with connections to a set of Christians who care for them and coach them into a more stable life. Over a year ago, my wife and I attended a volunteer meeting in which the different KCB program leads got up and talked about their programs and the needs. Jason, the GSI Director, and Todd, the KCB Development Director, spoke about GSI and happened to mention that they do devotions with the men, but needed people willing to do that. My work schedule allows me to be off every other Friday. So, I wrote down on the volunteer card that I would be willing to spend that morning leading devotions for the men. The KCB volunteer manager contacted me a couple of weeks later to set up a meeting with Jason and the rest is history. Before Covid-19 happened, I had been doing leading devotions for the previous 9-10 months, every other Friday morning.
What is your favorite part about leading devotions for the Good Soil Industries participants?
I have enjoyed getting to know the guys and seeing them 'get' Biblical principles. It is truly exciting to see the idea of Grace from a merciful God through the substitutionary giving of His Son Jesus take root in a man's thinking vs. the slavery of sin and the bondage of works based religion.
Is there a story that comes to mind when you think about your time volunteering at KCB?
There are so many stories, but one sticks out in particular and really shows the beauty of KCB and GSI in these men's lives. After several months of getting there early on Friday mornings, it just became normal to find one of the men, Henry, sleeping in the alcove behind KCB. He would get up and join us for the devotions. Henry was always attentive and had good insight into the application of the concepts that we had been studying in the Gospel of John. At the end of the devotion, I would ask for prayer requests and Henry would ask for housing to be provided for the men who live on the street. This went on for quite a while. Then one Friday I showed up and Henry was gone. It concerned me as some of the guys are in and out of jail, but as it turned out, God had provided Henry a nice Section 8 housing apartment that allowed him to live indoors in his own place for the first time in almost 14 years. It was both an answer to prayer and an encouragement to see God work in this way. Jason told me that they often have to place people in far away locations in order to find affordable housing, like Hemet or Victorville. However, Henry got a place locally and was able to continue to work with GSI. That was a great thing to observe.
What advice do you have for people interested in serving their community?
To quote the great shoe philosopher Nike, "Just do it". If Kingdom Causes Bellflower has taught me anything, it is this critical bit of connection to what I read in the Bible for many years, but did not put into practice, "love your neighbor". KCB showed me that the homeless folks in and around our city are my neighbors and Jesus commands me to love them in tangible ways. I love to teach the Bible. These men need to know the savior. That sounds like a pretty good fit. I just needed to go as He has told me to go. That happens to be right here in Bellflower.
What hopes do you have for KCB and the community?
I hope that more followers of Jesus will do what He has told us to do. It is my fear that many of those sitting in churches know about Jesus, but do not know Him personally. We need to trust and obey. God did the hard part of substituting Jesus in the place of His people and made us to be at peace with Him. Now we need to go be His ambassadors and plead with men and women to be reconciled to God through Jesus.
”All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” ( II Corinthians 5:18-21 )
If you’d like to learn more about how you can get involved and volunteer with Kingdom Causes Bellflower, contact our team at volunteer@kcbellflower.org.