This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

2WordStory Campaign Spreads Out from Novi

More than 500 interdenominational churches have joined the campaign to uplift Detroit.

Ken Skinner knew he had a story to tell. So he began sharing it.

“I told it to a bunch of people,” said Skinner, 31, of Livonia. “I would tell my story, and then I would try to figure out what word or what idea or concept really came out as I told my story.”

With prayer, he said he found it: His story was about confidence—how he lacked it without Jesus, and, he says, how he gained it when he returned to the church four years ago. In two words, his story is: “Confident? Confident.”

Find out what's happening in Noviwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Skinner joins 18 other metro Detroiters at www.2wordstory.com who have shared their stories—all the same word repeated, first as a question, and again as an answer—as part of an unprecedented, multidenominational, 530-church campaign aimed at injecting faith and hope into Detroit and its suburbs.

The campaign originated in Novi but quickly expanded. Churches include dozens in Detroit and its suburbs.

Find out what's happening in Noviwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

An Idea Born in Novi

2WordStory has garnered attention for its catchy repetition, meant to symbolize the uncertainty that the storyteller had without Jesus, and how his or her life has changed with Him. The message can be seen on yard signs, buttons and T-shirts throughout the region.

Joy? Joy. Valued? Valued. Empowered? Empowered. Rescued? Rescued. 

“The second word isn’t a question anymore,” explained Ron Rischer, 54, of Northville, one of the campaign’s organizers. “The second word is, ‘I’ve come to know Christ, so I have hope, I have purpose.’ There’s no question.”

2WordStory was borne of another campaign called EACH, or Everyone a Chance to Hear. That was the brainchild of Pastor Bob Shirock of in Novi, said Rischer, EACH's executive director.

Shirock got the idea after seeing missionaries at work in the Phillipines and India, said Oak Pointe's Executive Director Jim Bahbah of Novi.

"After interacting with those believers that were having such a great impact in their countries, he came back here and said he was driving from his house to his church, about three miles, looking at the homes and thinking of all the people who didn't know what's going on inside the four walls of our church, let alone know anything about Jesus," Bahbah said.

The initial idea was for the church to reach out to residents living in a 12-mile radius to spread the gospel, but that soon blossomed into reaching out to other churches.

Bahbah said the church had seven other churches on board in January 2010; by April 2011, more than 500 had joined, including many in Detroit.

After all, Rischer said, “We’re all Detroiters.…We believe that Detroit still is the epicenter here. If Detroit can get turned around, so can the rest of the region.”

Novi churches in EACH include , Oak Pointe Church, , and Praise Chapel.

Giving Back to Detroit

2WordStory has piqued region-wide interest with its stark and enigmatic T-shirts and yard signs, but EACH is about more than one publicity campaign, said volunteer Mark Besh, 55, of West Bloomfield. It’s about reaching out to people in need, especially those hardest hit by the economy’s downswing.

Pastor Jeremy Gyorke, who founded the Wyandotte Family Church with his wife Julie in September, said he learned about the budding coalition in the fall and was immediately on board.

“It’s always neat to see churches of all different denominations come together,” said Gyorke, 32, of Wyandotte. “What we believe in together far outweighs how we differ.”

EACH began sponsoring job fairs and providing medical treatment. The goals were both micro—such as feeding the homeless for an afternoon—and macro—such as backing Life Remodeled, an endeavor inspired by Extreme Makeover: Home Edition that provided a needy family with a new home, as well as financial and psychological counseling.

But it has been 2WordStory that's had most people talking so far, said Skinner, a member of Ekklesia in Westland. Congregants were asked to wear their two-word story on T-shirts while doing good deeds for a 40-day span beginning on Easter Sunday.

The good deeds were appreciated, and the T-shirts always seemed to spark a conversation, Skinner said.

The ultimate goal, Gyorke said, is to uplift Detroit and the rest of the region. Even though the 40 days after Easter have passed, the campaign seems to be maintaining momentum. As of Tuesday, a Facebook fan page had 3,800 followers and counting.

"Christ is hope and light and healing and salvation and freedom," Gyorke said. "He's what a lot of people are looking for right now, and it's been phenomenal." 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?