Whitney and Jacob: “It was surprising to learn there are so many people craving community”
By Mission 98
Coming to you from Chico, California, we’d like you to meet Whitney and Jacob Kovacs. Jacob, Whitney, and their three daughters serve an apartment community of 224 units. Jacob and Whitney love to lead worship at church, play any kind of sport, and serve their apartment community.
With the hope of telling the stories and amplifying the work of those who are engaged in apartment ministry, here’s more from Whitney and Jacob.
Tell us about the apartment community serve. We serve a large community with 224 units in the complex. We have a unique mix of college students, professinals, young families, and retireees. This lends itself well to meeting many people in different life stages.
Share one way you see God moving in your apartment community. One way we see God moving is in the amount of people who are open to us praying for them. Through our ministry of Caring Communities, we are able to show them kindness in a unique setting, lending itself to connecting with them on a personal level which has opened the door to speaking truth and love over them. We truly enjoy how relational our job is and that we can see God moving even in the smallest of ways amongst such a diverse people group.
What’s your favorite part about serving your apartment community? Our favorite part is seeing how much the events we host impact ourapartmetn community in such a positive way. We love that serving them as allowed us to truly get to know residents.
What’s the most difficult part of ministering to your apartment community? We can sometimes ask ourselves, “Did we do enough?” and it can be difficult to grapple with that question. However, our job as Christians is to plant the see and rember that God will nuture and ultimately save any who come to him is very comforting.
What scripture do you refer to when describing your apartment ministry? Matthew 25:40 comes to mind. It reads, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ We delight in our callig to serve our community. It’s no secret people are hurting. Whether it’s health issues, financial issues, work related issues, we are grateful to pray for them and get to know this community better.
What is something others may not know abut serving in an apartment community? We didn’t realize how welcoming residents would be and also how appreciative they would be for the events we put on. It was surprising to know there are so many people craving community. We are thankful that we get to offer that time of fellowship for many residents.
Thank you, Whitney and Jacob for your leadership in your apartment ministry! To meet more people like Whiteny and Jacob, head to our online community.
We truly enjoy how relational our job is and that we can see God moving even in the smallest of ways amongst such a diverse people group.
National Apartment Prayer Walking Day is a day when churches, individuals, small groups, families, mission teams, and nonprofits from across the country come together to prayer walk apartment communities near where they live, work, or worship. This day has grown into a national movement, and last year alone saw prayer walkers show up in 16 cities and 10 states, praying over nearly 7,000 apartment units. Here’s a message we received after the walk last year.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “love your neighbor.” But what does that actually look like today? This ancient phrase comes from a famous story in the Bible: A man, beaten and left for dead, is ignored by people who just walk by—until one person stops. He bandages the wounds, takes the man to safety, and pays for his care. From this parable we can see 3 simple ways to love your neighbor in everyday life:
