A guide to restoring lives with those in material and relational poverty

 
 

The book includes a 4-week guide for personal reflection and/or group study, as well as powerful testimonies of lives that have been restored by a program practicing the restorative principles Change for the Poor presents.

 

Change for the Poor is for any individual, church, and/or organization desiring to learn more about how to bring long-term and wholistic restoration to the life of someone in relational brokenness and material poverty.

While anyone with a heart to serve the poor can benefit from this book, staff and invested volunteers in churches and nonprofits are excellent candidates to be deeply impacted by learning the three restoration principles of Relationship, Structure, and Accountability.

The restorative principles presented in Change for the Poor will help the reader understand and apply the resources and environment necessary for leading someone from extreme poverty into a wholistically restored life. My hope is that this book can be utilized as an effective tool to transform how we view and practice serving those in extreme poverty. 

 

  • David Stoeker

    “what being the hands and feet of Jesus should look like”

  • Jennifer Baker

    “restore men and women to health—spiritual, mental, emotional and relational”

  • Mark McDonald

    “total restoration of the people that God created them to be “

  • Jody Dow

    “There is no reason to recreate the wheel now”

  • Jack Smart

    “Want real results? Then apply these principles.”

  • Jason Hynson

    “This book will challenge most of your assumptions”

  • John Stroup

    “principles are Biblical and effective”

  • Selena Freeman

    “ I am excited to use this book as a resource in our Redemption Ministry”

  • Alon Fisch

    “The end products…are truly amazing”

  • Debra Hedgcorth

    Debra Hedcorth

    “genuine heart to facilitate the restoration process…overflows in his book”

  • Sean Ziverk

    “Some of these men have bounced back from a lifetime of challenges and adversities”

 

About
Mark McKnelly

First and foremost, I am a child of God, husband, father of four, and now almost fourteen years in recovery from the addiction that nearly destroyed my life, but that also brought me to faith in Christ.

On January 24, 2008, I became a Christ-follower. Before then I was a successful entrepreneur. In the final year that I spent with the company I started and co-owned it generated 5 million in annual revenue and employed over 50 people.

In 2009, I entered a full-time vocational ministry at Schweitzer Church in Springfield, MO. While on staff there I planted an outreach service called Church @ the Center and developed a one-year in-depth discipleship program called the Life Change Plan for men and women in recovery housing. Both of these ministries were successful and instrumental in an important season of learning how to serve the poor.

In 2017, I transitioned to the nonprofit world and became a Chaplain at Victory Mission + Ministry in Springfield, MO.  Since joining Victory Mission I have developed a program for men and women reentering from incarceration or recovering from addiction called the Restoration Program. As Director of Restoration, I now oversee a team of chaplains and chaplain apprentices that serve over three dozen participants while planning and preparing for the future expansion of the ministry.

I have over ten years of combined experience working in the trenches with those in extreme poverty. Having served seven years in benevolence ministry on staff at a church, and now four years as a chaplain at a Christian nonprofit. My passion for the subject of long-term life change for those in material and relational poverty has only increased over my time in this ministry, even with a success rate that most would struggle to see as successful.

 
 

Mark is available to teach in person either a 2 or 4-hour Change for the Poor workshop to your organization for information and inspiration beyond the book’s content. This training allows time for Q&A. Email Mark for pricing and scheduling details.

 
 

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