Faith often becomes most visible through simple, faithful acts of service: feeding a neighbor, teaching a young person, caring for creation, or helping a community prepare for difficult seasons. In this conversation on Living My Faith with James Fenimore, Michelle Lewis, Executive Director of Peace Garden Project, shares how her work reflects a deep commitment to God, community, and practical compassion.
Peace Garden Project grows healthy food and healthy communities. Its work centers on growing food, teaching others to grow food, feeding seniors, developing youth leadership, and supporting environmental education. For Michelle, this mission is more than community work; it is an expression of faith in action.
Faith That Takes Root in Service
Michelle describes living out her faith through hands-on community care. In addition to growing food, she works with churches to help them set up resilience hubs. This kind of work reflects a practical approach to ministry: meeting real needs, strengthening local relationships, and helping communities become more prepared and connected.
Faith is not limited to words or beliefs held privately. It can be lived through the way people care for one another, steward resources, and create spaces where others can find help, nourishment, and hope.
About Peace Garden Project
Peace Garden Project is focused on growing healthy food and healthy communities. The organization grows food and teaches people to grow food, with a special emphasis on feeding seniors and teaching youth leadership. Environmental education is also an important part of its mission.
This work brings together several meaningful priorities: food access, community well-being, youth development, and care for the environment. Each part supports the larger vision of helping people and communities become healthier and more resilient.
Growing Food and Growing Community
Gardens can do more than produce food. They can become places of learning, service, connection, and renewal. When people learn to grow food, they gain practical skills and a deeper understanding of the relationship between the land, their neighbors, and daily sustenance.
Through Peace Garden Project, the act of growing food becomes a pathway to strengthen communities and serve people who may benefit from fresh, nourishing support.
Supporting Seniors and Youth Leadership
Peace Garden Project’s focus on feeding seniors reflects a heart for honoring and supporting older adults in the community. At the same time, its emphasis on youth leadership helps prepare young people to serve, lead, and engage with the needs around them.
This combination of caring for seniors and investing in youth creates a meaningful bridge between generations. It reminds us that strong communities are built when people of all ages are valued and invited to participate.
A Scripture for the Season: Psalm 103:1
When asked what encouragement or scripture has been especially meaningful in this season, Michelle pointed to Psalm 103:1 because it reminds her to bless God in everything with her entire being.
That message is both simple and profound. It encourages a whole-hearted faith, one that brings worship into every part of life. Whether in work, service, family, or community, Psalm 103:1 offers a reminder to respond to God with gratitude and devotion.
Seeing Faith Deepened Through Chaplaincy
Michelle shared that working as a hospital chaplain significantly deepened and shaped her faith journey. In that role, she witnessed miracles beyond the everyday.
Hospital chaplaincy often places faith in close proximity to vulnerability, suffering, hope, and healing. For those serving in that space, it can become a powerful reminder that God is present in moments of uncertainty and need.
Encouragement for Anyone Struggling in Faith
Michelle’s advice for someone struggling to live out their faith or looking to grow spiritually is clear and compassionate: know that God is with you, and you are not alone.
That truth can be especially meaningful for anyone facing discouragement, doubt, grief, or transition. Spiritual growth does not always happen in perfect conditions. Often, it grows through steady trust, community support, and the reminder that God’s presence remains constant.
Practical Ways to Live Out Faith in Daily Life
Michelle’s work with Peace Garden Project offers helpful examples for anyone who wants to put faith into action. You do not have to lead an organization to make a meaningful difference. Faith can be lived through consistent, practical choices.
Serve a Real Need
Look around your community and ask where people need support. Food, encouragement, companionship, education, and preparedness are all meaningful places to begin.
Use What You Have
Peace Garden Project uses food growing and education as tools for service. Your gifts may look different, but they can still be used to bless others.
Invest in the Next Generation
Teaching youth leadership is one way to multiply impact. When young people are equipped to serve and lead, the whole community benefits.
Care for Creation
Environmental education reminds us that stewardship matters. Caring for the earth can be one way to honor God and serve our neighbors.
Partner with Community Institutions
Michelle’s work with churches to help set up resilience hubs shows the value of collaboration. Strong communities are often built through shared purpose and partnership.
Why This Conversation Matters
Living My Faith with James Fenimore highlights stories of people putting faith into practice in meaningful ways. Michelle Lewis and Peace Garden Project offer a clear example of how spiritual conviction can guide community service, environmental care, and practical compassion.
In a world where many people are looking for hope and connection, this kind of work is a reminder that faith can be both deeply personal and publicly helpful. It can be spoken, grown, shared, taught, and lived.
Conclusion
Michelle Lewis’s story with Peace Garden Project is a powerful reminder that faith grows stronger when it is lived with purpose. Through growing food, feeding seniors, teaching youth leadership, supporting environmental education, and working with churches on resilience hubs, Peace Garden Project demonstrates what it can look like to bless God with one’s whole being while serving the community.
If you are looking for encouragement in your own faith journey, remember Michelle’s simple guidance: God is with you, and you are not alone.
Learn more about Peace Garden Project and its work in healthy food and healthy communities at https://www.peacegardenproject.net. To explore more conversations from Living My Faith, visit https://livingmyfaith.com/.
