a few years ago, it seemed like i was never in our worship service. being the children's director i found myself filling in a lot with the kiddos. while that is great, i found myself rather dry. somehow i found holly's blog which led me to here. i often listened to his sermons and still do on occasion.
one of the things i've loved about elevation's philosophy is that 10% of their tithe is tithed back to the community. they partner with many organizations. this winter, holly blogged about their Love Week. this year they partnered with several churches in the charlotte area and logged many hours of community service. they partnered with schools, agencies, and basically blessed the community.
our pastor has a heart for community involvement. it seems like us small town church-goers are pretty good at the one-anothering the bible talks about, but we often forget about one-anothering those outside our walls. so i took the leap and threw out love week at a staff meeting. i tend to find myself doing these crazy things....and of course the already overworked staff looked at me and waited for me to say, "i'd love to organize this!" and i took the bait and got to work!
our pastor jumped on board and created this logo. i put together a team of people to help organize. our youth pastor jumped on board and did a youth work camp locally the first half of the week. and i made many phone calls while our sweet secretary answered lots of phone calls!
this past week was crazy, busy, fun, exhilarating, intense, moving, and amazing all in one. i had the opportunity to see our youth do an amazing job leading a vbs to our local park day camp. oh wait, did i mention that we had a heat wave of every day high near 100?????? and that after vbs they worked outside all afternoon?!?!!?!?!
together, our body did some amazing things. we set out a goal to log 1200 hours. i wasn't sure if we could reach that goal, but my real heart in this whole event was that 5 people would find a connection and step out to serve beyond love week. i think, that prayer might have been answered!
shortly after we announced the dates of love week, our local wrestling coach (he attends our church) decided to lead a group of wrestlers to the Domican Republic with SCORE International. guess what - it fell on love week and 4 of our members headed out to love down there! so here are the somewhat final stats:
560 hours logged by our Youth at their Project Reach portion
640 hours logged by our members in the Domican Republic
599 local hours
for a total of: 1799 Hours!!
we connected with 10 local agencies!
some people got creative: paid for laundromat machines, delivered wood, meals, and cookies, visited elderly, provided transportation for those in need, babysat, cleaned houses, did yardwork, etc.....
we concluded our week with a service in the park. at the end of an extremely HOT week, it was quite moving to sit in the back of the amphitheater and look out and see people that worked hard all week worshiping God, while God so graciously hid the sun behind the storm clouds that He kept just beyond our area, until we were done!
what a joy it is to stop and think about the needs of others. so often i get sucked up in my own little world of problems and stresses and needs and emergencies that i don't see the real hurt and emergencies around me. i took our kiddos to play bingo at a nursing home. princess, my shy-cling to my leg-don't speak to a soul girl, hopped right up into a chair between 2 women and helped them play bingo. she even talked. and whizboy, he had a blast chatting with the women he sat next to. in fact, both asked when we would be going back!
it does a heart good to look beyond it's self.....
282. His hand holding back a summer storm
283. the smile from a lonely person
284. unending weeds
285. teens excited about God
286. the gift of giving
287. them asking when we can go back
288. knowing the One Who can heal
one of the things i've loved about elevation's philosophy is that 10% of their tithe is tithed back to the community. they partner with many organizations. this winter, holly blogged about their Love Week. this year they partnered with several churches in the charlotte area and logged many hours of community service. they partnered with schools, agencies, and basically blessed the community.
our pastor has a heart for community involvement. it seems like us small town church-goers are pretty good at the one-anothering the bible talks about, but we often forget about one-anothering those outside our walls. so i took the leap and threw out love week at a staff meeting. i tend to find myself doing these crazy things....and of course the already overworked staff looked at me and waited for me to say, "i'd love to organize this!" and i took the bait and got to work!
our pastor jumped on board and created this logo. i put together a team of people to help organize. our youth pastor jumped on board and did a youth work camp locally the first half of the week. and i made many phone calls while our sweet secretary answered lots of phone calls!
this past week was crazy, busy, fun, exhilarating, intense, moving, and amazing all in one. i had the opportunity to see our youth do an amazing job leading a vbs to our local park day camp. oh wait, did i mention that we had a heat wave of every day high near 100?????? and that after vbs they worked outside all afternoon?!?!!?!?!
together, our body did some amazing things. we set out a goal to log 1200 hours. i wasn't sure if we could reach that goal, but my real heart in this whole event was that 5 people would find a connection and step out to serve beyond love week. i think, that prayer might have been answered!
shortly after we announced the dates of love week, our local wrestling coach (he attends our church) decided to lead a group of wrestlers to the Domican Republic with SCORE International. guess what - it fell on love week and 4 of our members headed out to love down there! so here are the somewhat final stats:
560 hours logged by our Youth at their Project Reach portion
640 hours logged by our members in the Domican Republic
599 local hours
for a total of: 1799 Hours!!
we connected with 10 local agencies!
some people got creative: paid for laundromat machines, delivered wood, meals, and cookies, visited elderly, provided transportation for those in need, babysat, cleaned houses, did yardwork, etc.....
we concluded our week with a service in the park. at the end of an extremely HOT week, it was quite moving to sit in the back of the amphitheater and look out and see people that worked hard all week worshiping God, while God so graciously hid the sun behind the storm clouds that He kept just beyond our area, until we were done!
what a joy it is to stop and think about the needs of others. so often i get sucked up in my own little world of problems and stresses and needs and emergencies that i don't see the real hurt and emergencies around me. i took our kiddos to play bingo at a nursing home. princess, my shy-cling to my leg-don't speak to a soul girl, hopped right up into a chair between 2 women and helped them play bingo. she even talked. and whizboy, he had a blast chatting with the women he sat next to. in fact, both asked when we would be going back!
it does a heart good to look beyond it's self.....
282. His hand holding back a summer storm
283. the smile from a lonely person
284. unending weeds
285. teens excited about God
286. the gift of giving
287. them asking when we can go back
288. knowing the One Who can heal
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