14 | March 2025
Over Two Years Later, Serve Tour Continues Gospel Impact in Dayton and Beyond By Send Relief Staff
There were a million reasons Julie couldn’t address the roofing issues in her home. Being widowed made house repairs difficult. Then there was her age and declining health. And with kids constantly scurrying around her house—two grandchildren she was raising on her own— roofing repairs felt as far out of reach as the sky. When neighbors reported that Julie’s roof was falling apart, the city code officer knew just who to call. Since the 2022 Send Relief Serve Tour in Dayton, Ohio, Grace Point Fellowship has earned a reputation for serving the community. The officer contacted the church, and last fall, they repaired Julie’s roof, opening the door to building a relationship with her. Eventually, Paul Bilunka, the local missions pastor at Grace Point, learned that Julie wanted to reconnect with God but believed she had committed the unpardonable sin. “She said, ‘I’m Catholic, and when my 21-year-old son died 12 years ago, I yelled at God, and I haven’t been able to talk to him since,’” Paul recounts her words. “I told her, ‘Julie, that can be forgiven.’ We prayed right then on her doorstep, and she just started bawling. It was like a bur- den was lifted from her.” Julie started regularly attending Grace Point Fellowship, and on a Sunday not long ago, she was baptized, with several of her family members joining the service to cel- ebrate. “She has been almost like the Samaritan woman,” Paul
shares. “She has been telling everyone about her story and how she found forgiveness. In fact, one person she’s impacted the most is the city code officer. But none of that could have happened without the Serve Tour and us having the resources to fix her roof.” Now, the city code manager directs Grace Point to three or four houses a month where people in difficult circum - stances need help taking care of their homes, just like Ju- lie did. And watching a church step up to serve their com- munity, seeking nothing in return, has touched his heart, too. “I don’t understand why you guys do what you do,” he told Paul several months ago, to which Paul responded, “Because of the gospel.” But helping people take care of their properties is just one of the ways that the 2022 Serve Tour came to stay in Dayton. During the Serve Tour, Grace Point Fellowship also hosted a ministry that builds beds for families in need by gathering volunteers in their church parking lot. Since then, one church member—a UPS driver from a neighbor- ing county—has started a new chapter of the ministry for his area. “Now, close to 1500 kids who would have been sleeping on the floor have beds,” Paul says. “So, the Serve Tour just spawned a continuation of those ministries. Two years lat- er, we’re still seeing the lasting effects, and it’s still going strong—which is a pretty good track record, I would say.”
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