Hope Reclaimed: A Plan and Hope for the Future

Creating ways of hope for marginalized people through a faith-based ministry using the Social Security Administration's representative payee program.People sleeping in the parks, drifting down the streets, and standing on corners asking for help represent the thousands who are unseen, suffering abuse from others or self-destructing with drugs and alcohol. They feel hopeless, yet not all are helpless. Free food and lodging are needed for many, but many others have an income from the Social Security or Veterans Administrations that is not only wasted, but feeds an underground economy including the drug industry. This book is about how those who are unseen can be given the help they need. It is the story of Stewards Inc and how by working hand in hand with the Social Security Administration, it has been able to guide over 1,600 beneficiaries into better outcomes for their lives which also results in better outcomes for the city and county in which they live. Stewards Inc re-tooled the Social Security Administration representative payee program into a faith-based ministry to help beneficiaries use their income for their well-being and bring hope into their lives and to help them realize a more abundant future. The story of this journey also includes a "how to" section in order to develop a similar faith-based ministry for practitioners. It is written in such a way you can succeed in bringing this ministry to your city. John A. Marshall has been a missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Senior Pastor of two churches in the United States. For the last 13 years he has led the development of Stewards Inc, a ministry managing the incomes of marginalized individualsHe is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, earned a Rel.D. at the School of Theology at Claremont, and earned a D.Min. at Bakke Graduate University.