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I was blessed by God to become a Christian in a church where the pastor was driven by his love for God and his love for God’s people. He gave whatever it took to see people meet Jesus. Whether it was his energy, his time, his finances, he was and still is motivated by this biblical call.
When Nancy and I came to Redding in ’97 and started this church this same passion flowed in our veins and to this day remains as a fundamental part of our church philosophy. We do everything based around the biblical concept of “making and maturing disciples of Jesus.” Which simply means loving God and loving his people.
And with this deep-rooted desire in our hearts to see people meet Jesus and to be a church that is God’s hope in the world, we’ve stayed committed to community outreaches and practical acts of love. We have held Easter-egg hunts where over 5000 people were reached with God’s love. We have given away free gas. Purchased lunches and books for college for students. We have had Valentine dinners for single moms and monthly outreaches to those who struggle just to have everyday needs met. All of these outreaches have been successful in showing a lost world a type of Christianity that is not hypocritical and selfserving.
But even with all of these
successes my heart is still saddened because we usually only
see these people one time. We have addressed their immediate needs but
have fallen short in developing deep, life changing relationships -- until
now!
For the last two summers I traveled out of Redding to make extra money to cover the church bills. But this summer God gave us a chance to start this coffee outreach and it literally took off. We went from 80 coffees per week to almost a 1000 per week in just 2 short months. There was intense discipleship taking place with our over 30 volunteers. But even better than that we were able to reach out to over 100 people every day, week after week, through a cup of coffee. We got too know them personally; their kid’s names, their struggles, their victories.
There has been more fruit in terms of: discipleship, people coming to church, people meeting Jesus, and authentic meaningful relationships being developed than any other outreach we have done. We are literally touching 100’s of people’s lives daily with the hope and love found in Christ alone. This window of opportunity, this coffee ministry, has expanded the walls of our church more than we could have ever dreamed of.
However, with such incredible Kingdom success comes equally frustrating challenges. Our adversary does not stand idly by as we impact our city with the love of Jesus. Recently a local official called us and said, in so many words, that our fundraiser had reached small business status and we would have to jump through some hoops if we were to continue operating. Well, the best estimates show that hoop to be about $70,000 wide.
After you have picked yourself up off the ground consider a few things with me. Think about it.
For 70k we can transform the
pharmacy building next door into not only a delivery coffee service but
also walk in business as well. This will be a totally covert operation
from a Kingdom perspective.
IT'S
SO MUCH
MORE THAN A MOCHA!
So this story is to bring you up to speed as to our plans for reaching our goal of raising 70K in five months all the while building out the pharmacy. We are asking each one of you to pray and ask God what he would have you sacrificially give above and beyond your tithe. I use sacrificially cause this is going to stretch all of us. We are going to experience some discomfort, but anything worth having always costs us something.
Now it would be real simple if 100 of you just came up with 7 grand each and we could just call it good, but I figure we will end up having participation at all sorts of levels.
So, we are going to take 5 months to raise this money and I am asking all of you to pray and seek God’s direction as to how much you can sacrifice monthly for 5 months.
For some that might mean turning
off your cable and cell phones for 5 months. For others it might mean
postponing buying that big screen , x-box, or new car. It will look different
for all of us, but if you can see this opportunity in the same way this
churches leaders do, you will, along with all of us, do whatever it takes
to see this ministry happen.
Thank You