For fifty Beaches residents who recently became homeless as the result of a devastating fire at the Seawalk Hotel (which also houses the Beaches Rescue Recovery Mission), a Christmas miracle is definitely in order. Now these former residents of the Seawalk Hotel face the same dilemma faced by the family of the Christ child on a long-ago December night in Bethlehem … there is no room at the Inn.
“We need to bring them home for Christmas,” said James Stockton, Director of Adventures in God’s Creation and founder of the Beaches Rescue Recovery Mission. “Our prayers right now are for the safety of our people, many of them families with children and pets. We need our community to rally around and help.”
Beaches Rescue Recovery Mission (now housed in the Seawalk Hotel), under the auspices of Adventures in God’s Creation, a volunteer run organization, provides long term housing at a low cost with no credit check and no deposit so that people who may not otherwise be able to secure housing can get a roof over their head. Many of the long-term residents have jobs in the immediate area and are able to walk to work. The revenue generated from the long-term housing supports the discipleship training of the Rescue Recovery Mission, which provides housing, food, clothing and training to those who want to change their lives at no cost until they can get back on their feet and pay.
“This place is so much more than a hotel, so much more than a mission,” said Stockton. “It’s God’s word on the move the way it was meant to be. It circulates continually throughout the hotel and out to the Beaches between those who know the meaning of Christmas and those who are searching for true love, peace, joy, hope, healing and a new, inspiring life.”
For many decades, according to Stockton, churches have been trying to get a rescue mission in the Beaches community and now, for the first time in history, God has made a way at Seawalk Hotel, locating it on the highest pedestrian traffic corner in downtown Jacksonvillle Beach, on Latham Park, right across the street from the ocean. “It’s ground zero for the down and out (homeless) and up and out (party central),” Stockton noted. “We are in the trenches of front-line ministry here and now our rescue mission needs rescuing so that we can continue giving hope, help, joy and healing to others.”
Stockton thanked the Jacksonville Beach City Building Officials, Fire Marshall, Police, Churches and members of the community who have stepped up to help, adding that much more is needed in order to bring about a Christmas miracle. “Right now, as at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, there is literally no room for His people at the inn.”
If you would like to help bring them home for Christmas, visit: adventuresingodscreation.org and click the DONATE button on any page. For information contact James Stockton at (904) 699-0009 or [email protected].
