According to Miami's board of tourism, "Julia Tuttle, -- the "Mother of Miami" -- convinced Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler to extend his railroad from central Florida to Miami, build a luxury hotel, and lay out a new town. She did so by sending him perfect Miami orange blossoms during a crop freeze north of Miami. The railroad arrived in 1896. The City of Miami was incorporated on July 28 that same year. "
Today tourism is the number one industry in Miami metro area, which now has a population of 2.4 million people. However, with all the glam and glitz of the tourism biz, Miami has the 5th poorest population of any major US city. In this current economic downturn, foreclosures are up 21% and homelessness has increased 26%. With 1 in 4 people living in poverty and 1 in 2 households living on less than $35,000 a year. The median household income in Miami is $29,151.00 whereas the median household income across the US is $50,740.00. Over 1400 people are living on the streets of Miami.
Jesus said we will always have the poor with us and it was Ben Franklin I think, I don't know, I forget, anyway someone famous once said "necessity is the mother of invention". With all these things in mind, when we move to Miami to start a church, we want to invent new ways to serve those in need of Jesus. Please pray that God will use us to meet practical needs so we can demonstrate the love of Jesus for those with spiritual needs (if that makes sense).
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