Spirit of Peace Church wraps up a year of service to Fayetteville

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

“Our ‘stepping out on faith’ has increased our desire to journey forward, looking for more things we can do in the community,” Rev. Mark Williams, senior pastor of Fayetteville’s Spirit of Peace Church told The Gayly. In 2016 they moved their worship and began providing other services to the community as well.

“We offer free HIV testing and counseling at the church for anyone that wishes to know their status and our testing is by appointment to ensure confidentiality. We use the Oro-Quick swab test which takes 20 minutes for the result. It is over 98 percent accurate.”

They have tested an average of four people per month since starting the program. Their work isn’t done with the test, however. “We attempt to make sure that people understand the methods and risks of transmission. We do require the person tested to be present for the results of the test so we can talk with them and answer any questions they might have and to ensure the validity of the test.”

In addition to their own testing, they helped out St. Paul’s Episcopal for two months when they had no trained testing personnel.

In addition, they are helping people living with HIV/AIDS by joining HIV Arkansas in a holiday food drive for clients of the Washington County HIV Clinic that are in need.

In the drive, completed before Thanksgiving, they assembled grocery boxes for 24 families/clients of the clinic. The boxes contain between $120 and $150 worth of food, as well as a $25 gift card for each family to buy perishable items.

“The clinic selects the recipients and we deliver the food to the clinic for distribution,” said Rev. Roy Lenington, Associate Pastor of the church. “We never know who they are nor do we get to meet them unless they need the food delivered to their homes. This has been a blessing for all the people involved in collecting the food items.”

They are planning to repeat a Christmas season drive to collect clothing items for homeless people.

Spirit of Peace Church is located at 93 W. Colt Square, Suite 1, Fayetteville. For more information about the church, visit their Facebook page – Spirit of Peace NWA – or call (479) 595-6161.

Copyright The Gayly – December 7, 2017 @ 9:15 a.m. CST.