More Tools For Your Collection

I’m not much of a collector. My Dad collects rare coins. When I was a kid, several of my friends collected baseball cards. Stamp collecting used to be a popular hobby. A friend of mine collects selfies with famous people. People with lots of money collect autos, art and artifacts.

I don’t plan on starting any collections. But, if I did, I know what I’d collect. Antique tools.

There’s a tool for everything and it’s fascinating to turn an old tool over and over in your hands, to wonder what kinds of projects it was used to build and to marvel at how hard people used to have to work before the advent of electric- and battery-powered hand tools. Sometimes, it’s almost impossible to conceive how certain tools were even used – what on earth they could have been designed to do.

Handymen aren’t the only people with impressive tool collections. I’ve been blessed to know lots of pastors who have incredible collections of ministry tools. And, even more impressive, they know how to use them!

At Sheltering Wings, we’ve been busy assembling tools that are purpose-built for church leaders. Here are a few of them. We hope you’ll add them to your tool collection.

Power & Control/Equality Wheels

Whether it’s physical, emotional, verbal, sexual, spiritual or financial, all domestic violence boils down to an abuser actively attempting to gain and retain power and control over the person he or she is abusing. On one end of the spectrum of intimate partner relationships, there is abuse. On the other end of the spectrum, there are healthy and thriving relationships. Although they are general in nature, these tools are useful for identifying unhealthy relationship tendencies and helping people understand and move toward healthy relationships.

“I am a Faith Leader”

At Sheltering Wings, we envision a day in which every member of our community is not only aware of what domestic violence is but also engaged in helping us prevent it. If this vision is to be a reality, it has to emanate from the churches in our community. So, we assembled this web page as a toolkit for faith leaders. Feel free to take these tools, make them your own and use them to equip yourself, your staff, your volunteers and anyone else in your church who might benefit.

Church Leader Breakfast

Periodically, we gather church leaders for encouragement and equipping … food and coffee, too, of course. A church leadership breakfast is coming up soon. On Wednesday, September 9, we’ll gather at Radiant Bible Church in Avon from 7:30 – 9 a.m. In addition to breakfast, we’ll share tools for you and your congregations to use. We’ll also let you know about how your church can partner with us to raise awareness and prevent domestic violence through participation in Domestic Violence Awareness and Prevention Month in October.

Growing Up Strong – Summer Series

One of the most effective ways to prevent domestic violence is to build strong, healthy families. And, if we’re being honest, this has been a difficult season for even the most cohesive families. We produced a series of videos in which our prevention and education officer Melissa Echerd talks about topics like why kids need boundaries, how to set healthy limits on screen time, getting creative, making memories during quarantine and many more. The series is available on our website and it is based on the 40 Developmental Assets Framework. If you know families that would benefit, feel free to share!

Thank you for using the tools God has given you to build his Kingdom. The work you do is not in vain. If Sheltering Wings can serve you by adding one or two quality tools to your collection, we’d be honored!

Serving Him Together,

Kevin Carr
Communications & Church Relations Officer

P.S. Christmas in July is almost complete. With the help of matching funds provided by our generous sponsors, we’ve raised over $21,000 for use in providing life skills training for our residents and prevention and education initiatives for our community. There’s still time to participate in the wish list drive if you have items to donate. More information is available online.