A weekend in the Shenandoah Mountains gave our ONE WAY youth group students more than a break from everyday life—it gave them a new perspective. For three days, they traded city streets for tents, campfires, swimming holes, Bible study, and a challenging nine-mile hike up Old Rag Mountain. What comes next? A move of God.

Fall is a fresh start at Greenhouse Project. From mentoring students to serving meals, joining outreach, or simply showing up consistently, there are plenty of ways to get involved and become part of the life transformation growing inside Chester.

Our annual Backpack Drive is here to serve neighbors in need of practical support with essential school supplies. Grandparent caretakers to multiple school-aged kids, single moms with limited resources, fathers committed to lasting sobriety who need a little help… These are the neighbors we get to serve with this effort! With your help, we can bless 150+ students with supplies and an inroad to life-changing relational community!

Behind every Greenhouse Recovery Graduate is a story of redemption. Here, we share three unique journeys that celebrate the daily committed choices of lives changed from addiction to recovery, and now to an even greater level of independence. From the high “highs” to sorrow-filled “lows” each man’s story is a reminder of why we do this work, and how every individual has a God-given capacity to impact others.

When we first launched six years ago, it was by faith that God was calling us to Chester. Through questions and difficulties, ups and downs, our calling remains steadfast. With gratitude that God has made a way to live in and serve our neighborhood every single day, here are a handful of powerful stories that remind us why we do this! Happy six years!

At our recent June Community BBQ, we blocked off our street to serve invited neighbors with free grilled meats, a water ice truck, a waterslide moon bounce and slip-n-slides, and most importantly, a chance to worship God through music and a life-changing Gospel message. This is where God takes ordinary moments and does extraordinary things. Our welcomed guest Buddy Osborn shared his testimony with an invitation that saved six souls forever!

For 15-year-old Mahki, Inspire Sports Camp has become a place that forever changed his life. He’s attended camp four times with Greenhouse Project’s Homework Club group and can’t wait to return this summer. We asked him to tell us a little bit about his experience at Camp, and why we can all be inspired by the impact-minded mission of this fun experience!

Lisa has faithfully served at Greenhouse Project’s Homework Club for three years, showing up with steady care for Chester’s students. She truly embodies someone dedicated to others and living a life of service. Born blind, she sees her blindness as “an inconvenience,” not a limitation. Lisa’s optimism and attitudes, despite her disability, are an inspiration to all of us!

Real life transformation here happens through ordinary faithfulness: meals shared, chairs set up, bathrooms cleaned, truth spoken, and relationships built over time. Be inspired by three unique perspectives from volunteer and staff who find the blessings found in the serving go both ways.

Pastor Donny reflects on how God has moved in his and wife Rachelle’s life after five years of full-time ministry at Greenhouse Project. With a posture of humility, one of the most important things they learned is how satisfying it is to reap the fruit of staying where God has you, and the Lord’s faithfulness through it all. Here, they share how God is growing their family, and what’s ahead.

We’re honored to share that Greenhouse Project was recently featured by 6abc Philadelphia in a local news spotlight on the work happening here in Chester through founder John Clifford’s own story of transformation. The feature also highlights a recent Coat & Shoe Drive outreach effort in partnership with (and thanks to!) Rafferty Subaru and Operation Warm, providing under-resourced neighbors with youth-sized items during mid-winter cold months.

Every Tuesday, food enters a story. What looks like a simple bag of groceries becomes nourishment, prayer, care, and gospel hope for neighbors carrying more than most can see—and now this vital ministry urgently needs support to keep going.

Our weekly Food Outreach is fertile ground for ministry. In this story, we reflect on how God used one relationship that grew over many Tuesdays as a doorway to something eternal. Not only are neighbors like Mr. Charles blessed by the authentic connections built at Food Outreach, our volunteers are equally blessed by the impact made through their consistent presence and love in action.

This is Pastor John Clifford’s week to celebrate the rich growth that lives inside of a lasting sobriety journey. Happy 19th Soberversary — free from addiction, anchored in Jesus. His testimony reminds us how the transformative power of the Gospel not only changes us into a new creation, but works through us to transform those around us. We pray these reflections inspire you!

Here at Greenhouse, we’re committed to providing an opportunity for men who are often written off. But to truly welcome them in with housing — and dignity — construction is usually a must. As we prepare to add a fifth house to our Greenhouse Recovery program, we’re face-to-face with the restoration process, both in physical space & relationally with men rebuilding their lives.

Four years ago, a lot of the kids featured in this story were just roaming the neighborhood after school. If you know Chester at all, you know that’s not a safe way to spend an afternoon. In fact, I know for certain that one of these kids was already being groomed by a local drug dealer when we first met him…

Pastor Ryan Vance shares a life update on his ministry and family as he reflects on how God shaped him for ministry at Greenhouse Project, and relocated his family from Uganda to serve in Chester. His own journey with addiction uniquely equips him to minister to the men seeking recovery here—a truly redemptive story!

Here’s a recap of the depth and impact that came from a weekend away speaking, leading and doing life with a large group of pastors, youth group students, and men from Greenhouse recovery programs to America’s Keswick in New Jersey for their late-fall, annual Delaware Valley Men’s Conference.

This new year, 2026, we step forward with renewed hope. Even though we have faced adversity and difficult times, we remain hopeful because of God’s promises and faithfulness. Here’s a full glimpse of the vision the Lord has set in our hearts to go all in with deeper faith, increased ministry, and expanding possibilities for Him to restore Chester!

There are moments when you hear someone speak about a mission—and you just know it’s not theoretical. It’s personal.
It’s lived. It’s rooted in truth that has changed real lives. Read how longtime Greenhouse Project supporters John and Krystal Wichard talk about this ministry from their own relatable journey.