The Rev. Reggie Longcrier is seen in his office at Exodus Homes in Hickory, N.C. preparing for his trip to Washington D.C. on February 28, 2012 to participate in a national forum for faith leaders to brainstorm strategies to end mass incarceration hosted by The Sentencing Project. To prepare for the forum, he has been studying national trends and current research on the subject such as a 2011 Pew Charitable Trust report called "State of Recidivism, The Revolving Door of America's Prisons", and "The New Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander. The Rev. Reggie Longcrier, founding executive director of Exodus Homes is going to Washington, D.C. to participate in a planning meeting of religious leaders convened by The Sentencing Project to develop a long term vision and strategy for ending mass incarceration  The meeting on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012  in Washington, D.C. is part of a 9-month process of exploring the dramatic rise in the prison population in the United States, and has included state based advocates, formerly incarcerated persons, and national organizations working towards reforming the nation’s criminal justice system. Faith leaders play an important role in calling for significant changes in the criminal justice system because of their ability to expand the constituency engaged in reform. 

Exodus Homes is a faith-based United Way agency that provides 63 beds of supportive housing to homeless recovering people returning to the community from treatment centers and prison in Hickory, N.C. This is not the first time representatives from Exodus Homes have been invited to help shape national policy in Washington.

The goal of this convening is to bring together faith-based leaders who can help identify the structure and framework of a national campaign to end mass incarceration. Faith leaders play an important role in calling for significant changes in the criminal justice system because of their ability to expand the constituency engaged in reform. Longcrier was invited because of the national reputation of excellence at Exodus Homes which includes his work as chaplain of Catawba Correctional Center in Newton, N.C. 

The Exodus Homes' "Giving Back" Gospel Concert is an annual event of thanksgiving to the community for supporting the faith-based United Way agency that provides supportive housing to homeless recovering people returning to this area from treatment centers and prisons. The renown Exodus Missionary Outreach Church Gospel Choir under the direction of Minister of Music Zack Martin will sing contemporary and traditional gospel music sprinkled with testimonies of thanks from Exodus Homes' residents. For many people, the Giving Back Gospel Concert is an upbeat way to close the holiday season for another year.

Exodus Homes will give a special thanks to Greensboro artist William Mangum, creator of the Honor Card program which has raised over three million dollars for programs helping homeless people over the past 24 years. Each year, Mangum creates a special painting with a message for the Honor Card which is produced at no charge to the nonprofits who receive 100% of proceeds from card sales. The Honor Card program is a major fund raiser for Exodus Homes every year.

William Mangum is seen today with Bonnie Harris who is now the director of Hanah's Haven in Greensboro.The 2011 Honor Card titled "Change the World" features Bonnie Harris, a formerly homeless woman who Mangum met at church in Greensboro. He was impressed by how she had overcome addiction and homelessness to become the founding director of Hannah's Haven, a Greensboro program that helps homeless recovering women get back on their feet again. In the "Change the World" painting, Harris looks out the window at a homeless person in a scene that Mangum hopes will inspire us to do for one what we would like to do for everyone.  During the Giving Back Gospel Concert, Harris will perform "He Loves Me Anyway" with her liturgical dance team made of up of residents and graduates of Hannah's Haven.

When considering how God has brought her from homelessness to community leader, Harris said, "There are only two words that I can say - praise Jesus. I never imagined that God would use what almost destroyed me so that I could help others." Since 1998, Exodus Homes has helped thousands of homeless people like Harris become productive, tax paying citizens. The Giving Back Gospel Concert is a celebration of life and the amazing ability to change with God's help.

The concert is free and followed by a lively time of fellowship and light refreshments.

For more information, contact Rev. Susan Smith at revsusansmith@gmail.com or 828-962-8196.

Jingle Bell Parade  •  Union Square, Downtown Hickory  •  4:30pm

Dress up for Christmas with Exodus Homes and Exodus Church along with youth from the Young People of Integrity, Soldiers of Christ Step Team, Church of the Master United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Unifour Christian Fellowship Church and others for a walking holiday parade from Union Square down 1st St. SW to the Exodus Home campus area in Ridgeview. Sing Christmas carols all the way through town, arriving at Exodus Homes just in time for the start of the seventh annual Christmas Lights Festival and Holiday Feast. This is fun for the whole family! Anyone who wants to be in the Jingle Bell Parade needs to assemble in downtown Hickory on Union Square at 4:00pm, leaving for Exodus Homes at 4:30pm. Come early and do some shopping before the beginning of the parade!      

The Jingle Bell Parade is new this year! We are excited to bring people to downtown Hickory as we reach out to the whole community with the love of God. Rev. Reggie Longcrier never rests in expanding the vision for the Exodus Movement saying, "We appreciate all the community has done to support us, and we want to give back just a little of the joy we have experienced in our work."       

Christmas Lights Festival and Holiday Feast  •  Free Family Festival!  •  Exodus Homes  •  5:30 pm - 7:30pm

Last year the recession caused us to cancel this event but this year we are back BIGGER and BETTER than ever! Join us for a fast-paced Christmas street festival with the Soldiers of Christ Step Team, Exodus Missionary Outreach Church Gospel Choir, Unifour Christian Fellowship Church Praise Team and puppet ministry along with multi- cultural Santas and fun for the whole family. Hickory Ward 4 City Council representative Hank Guess will officiate the lighting of the Exodus Homes rooftop ornament celebrating the birth of Christ and the let the fun begin! Come stroll around the festival and enjoy the free holiday feast provided by Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, Taste Full Beans Coffehouse, Pepsi, PIzza Hut, Exodus Missionary Outreach Church, Church of the Master UCC, Episcopal Church of the Ascension, and Unifour Christian Fellowship Church. Come get your Christmas on!  This is a holiday event you don't want to miss, so please join us.    

The Exodus Homes' 2011 William Mangum Honor Card "Change the World" will be on sale as well as Rev. Longcrier's new book "From Disgrace to Dignity". 

If you have a special talent you would like to add in the Jingle Bell Parade or Christmas Lights Festival, or for more information, please contact Rev. Susan Smith 828-962-8196 or revsusansmith@gmail.com

Wednesday November 9, 2011, 7:00pm

Exodus Missionary Outreach Church, 1763 Highland Ave. NE, Hickory, N.C. 28601

A joint service celebrating Veterans Day, and supporting the upcoming Foothills Homeless Veteran's Stand Down will be hosted by Church of the Master United Church of Christ and Exodus Missionary Outreach Church on Wednesday November 9, 2011 at 7:00pm at Exodus Church. Rev. Bud Zehmer and Rev. Reggie Longcrier will give brief messages, both choirs will sing, and Jim Starkey, Chair of the Foothills Homeless Veterans Stand Down Committee will speak about the event to be held at the Hickory Fairgrounds on April 20, 2012. The offering from the the service will go to support the Stand Down. Light refreshments will be served in the fellowship hall after the service, and information will be available about how the public can support the Stand Down with donations and volunteers. Please join us.

For more information about the service, contact Rev. Susan Smith 828-962-8196 or revsusansmith@gmail.com

For more information about the Foothills Homeless Veterans Stand Down, contact Jim Starkey at 828-294-0184 or foothillsstanddown@gmail.com  or go to www.foothillsstanddown.org   

Veteran's Anonymous, Every Wednesday, 1:30pm, Grace House, www.gracechurchnc.org, 600 Highland Ave. SE, Hickory NC 28602

Are you a veteran, or do you know a veteran who would like to fellowship and talk for extra support? Exodus Homes' Certified Peer Support Specialist Rev. Aaron Wells is a veteran, and is the facilitator for this new group that meets every Wednesday from 1:30pm - 2:30pm at Grace House, the local drop-in community day center for homeless people. Coffee and refreshments will be served in a relaxed and confidential atmosphere aimed to reach out to all veterans who need to know we care. Please join us. 

Exodus Homes in partnership with Lenoir-Rhyne University Lineberger Center for Cultural and Education Renewal is bringing a gospel play, "Pieces of a Dream", to the PE Monroe Auditorium on August 27, 2011 at 6:00pm. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by clicking the "Buy Now" button above or at the Exodus Homes office at 122 8th Ave. Dr. SW Hickory NC 28602.  A portion of ticket sales will be donated to the faith-based United Way organization. 

 
The play is produced by 3 M Productions of Charlotte, a professional theater company. "Pieces of A Dream" is coming to Hickory to help raise awareness about the mission of Exodus Homes. It shows how incarceration alters the dreams of a family, and how forgiveness can help mend their brokenness. It is the story of a father and mother pulled apart at the seams of their marriage by what has happened to their son who has been changed in many ways by being in prison. Harry McDowell, CEO of 3 M Productions, brought the idea to Rev. Reggie Longcrier, Exodus Homes Executive Director, after being impressed by the work of Exodus Homes and wanting to help increase support for the organization.

Dr. Rand Brandes of Lenoir Rhyne University agreed to sponsor the event as part of the Lineberger Center for Cultural and Educational  Renewal series. Dr. Brandes and his staff have been working with 3 M Productions to work out the details of bringing in the play to Hickory at no charge to Exodus Homes.

Gospel plays have been increasing in popularity over the past 10 years. They include inspirational music and usually have timely social themes that leave the audience with something to think about when they leave the theater. In this case, Rev. Longcrier is hoping the audience will leave the theater with a new awareness of the far reaching and long lasting affects of incarceration on the entire family. 

They represented a College of Faith at the Unity Day event on May 28, 2011 at the Hickory Regional Airport in Hickory , N.C. The College of Faith stood together in unity, offering an invocation in unison that was composed from themes in the Belhar Confession which is a statement of belief originally written in Afrikaans in 1982. It was adopted as a confession of faith by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa in 1986, and in other denominations throughout the world since that time.  The confession was named after Belhar, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa, where a general synod of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church was held in 1982.    

Twenty percent of proceeds from book sales go to Exodus Homes, a United Way agency that provides faith-based supportive housing to homeless recovering people returning to the community from treatment centers and prison. For more informaiton about the book, go to www.fromdisgracrtodignity.com.