Another short thank you...

There are so many good ones from the students at Park, so we decided to post another.

Dear Christ's Place Church,
Everyone loves what you did. I just want to say thank you. When they gave dollars at the car wash away, I couldn't believe it. You guys are the nicest people that I know of!

Sincerely,
Sean

Thank yous from Park Middle Students

We received a stack of hand written letters from students at Park Middle School thanking us for volunteering at their school and cleaning up their courtyards on Sept. 30. There are many great letters, but this is one selection.

Dear members of Christ's Place Church,
I can't thank you enough for being so kind as to help our school look nice. We spend eight hours a day there, so I'm glad you were kind enough to clean ut up for us. Our school looks gorgeous. We are so thankful for our now clean courtyards and grounds.

Our teacher said she was glad to hear good news in our neighborhood. I also think it was a nice change of pace. I bet everyone did.

Again, I can't thank you enough for helping out my school and community. I can't think of anyone who is grateful for your help.

Thank you!
Kimberly

A follow up to the car wash project

Lori Renaud, her family and a friend worked at one of the car washes on A Day to Serve. They were able to bless 18 different cars with a wash and an extra buck. The church provided them with $50 for their car wash. After about 1:30 pm, they still had some money left. They didn't feel right about just giving that money back to the church, since the purpose was to bless the city. So, they decided to get rid of the money by blessing more people. They drove thru a couple of fast food restaurants and instead of ordering something, they gave the cashier a dollar, a card and thanked them for serving people. They went to a gas station, gave the people pumping gas a dollar as well as the person working there. Then they went to the Hy-Vee parking lot and stopped people as they were going in the store to give them a dollar and a card.

They got a lot of unexpected reactions - people were surprised by what they were doing. The Renauds had more fun as a family serving other people and being creative giving that $32 away than they would have had going out and spending money on entertainment. Lori said the family would like to do something like this again together!

Stretch the Benjamin Projects

All of the five teams chosen for Stretch the Benjamin are hard at work making an impact in the community. On Sunday, September 4, we'll have the opportunity to see how all of the projects went and who they impacted, as well as hearing testimonies from people impacted by a day to serve and the entire fall series.

We need some help with a couple projects...

thepoint is doing a service auction to raise money for City Impact's Gifts of Love. 20 young adults are using their gifts and talents to donate services that you can purchase. All of the money will help buy Christmas presents for families in need. Services being sold are things like 30 minute massages from a licensed massage therapist, drum lessons by a drummer on the CP worship team, carpentry work from a licensed carpenter, as well as things like babysitting, cleaning and manual labor. This Sunday, you will receive an insert in your bulletin with the services being sold. Stop by the table in the foyer to make your purchase.

We were mentioned on KLIN

Roger Larson mentioned CP and our Day to Serve on NewsTalk 1400 KLIN on Tuesday, Oct. 9. Here is a portion of what was said.

"A weekend ago, several events happened that indicate Lincolnites and Nebraskans are fine people who care about their fellow citizens." He mentions the Red Cross at the NE game, the Alzhemiers Association walk, the walk for Juvenile Diabetes Research and "Safe Quarters" for the Friendship Home that all happened on the same weekend as A Day to Serve.

"Meanwhile, one of Lincoln's churches, Christ's Place, held a non-traditional worship service in which the members fanned out into the community to do good deeds wherever they saw a need. That was a wonderful gesture, one worthy to be copied by other churches."

Thanks from Park Middle School

Christ's Place Volunteers,
Thank you for all the hard work cleaning up our courtyards at Park Middle School. The improvement has been noticied by students and teachers alike. Your volunteers went above and beyond any expectations we had. Our kids in Courtyard Crew especially appreciated the work because they can now focus on garden art and planting fall bulbs. I look forward to working with your church again. I hope we can find more ways to work together.

Adopt a Block Project

I think the event was a grand slam for both CP and the community. I witnessed was people who generally don't get out in the neighborhoods too often (or ever) blossom during this project. This last thing that Lisa (the single mom we ministered to) told me was: I can't tell you how much I appreciate this. I think I want to come to your church - check you guys out.

The people in my group were wonderful. Three of the women picked a different block than the one others of us were on and they knocked on doors to pray for people. They prayed for a lot of people and their rejected rate was 0. I know that we made an impact on our neighborhood.

Two of the men that I minister to came out on their porch and without any encouragement from me and testified how God was answering the prayers we had prayed together. What I realized is that God is ready, willing and able to use folks who make themselves available for His use.

- Paul Firnhaber

Handing out dog treats...

Randy and I love dogs, so it was a no brainer which project we would do on A Day to Serve. We handed out water and dog treats at the Dog Run along with a couple other families. When we arrived and started to carry our stuff into the area, we met a man in the parking lot. We asked him how he was and he explained that he is a bouncer at a bar and an incident the night before had left him sore that morning. We all entered the dog area and he mentioned that his wife was already in there with their dogs. We offered him some water and dog treats, which he graciously accepted.

As we were setting things up and awaiting other dogs and owners to show up, this man approached us and asked if we wre with a church. We told him we attend Christ's Place. He immediately said, "This is great! We've been looking for a church." He explained that he had survived alcolholism, a heart attack and a fire and knew that God saved him for a reason. We encouraged him to come visit CP, told him when the services were and where we sit, in case he wanted to meet us there.

We just could not believe this was happening - that God was using US on a day to serve! We went about handing out water and treats - soon the man returned. This time he was telling us how his boss had mentioned to him that he was thinking about having a Christian night and how it would be a good idea to have night with no alcohol. Is that amazing or what? We told him to talk to his boss about it again and to contact someone on staff at CP.

It was a wonderful experience and we had very positive feedback from people about what we were doing. The fellowship with our co-servers was great and the canine encounters were wet and wonderful. It felt great to be doing something for others! We are hoping to see that man we met come through the door of our wonderful church home. We are thankful for having the opportunity to serve!

- Mickey & Randy, CP attenders

A testimony from A Day to Serve

This email came into the church this week and we thought we'd share it:

I had a chance to look at the photos from A Day to Serve and got tears in my eyes seeing people from Christ's Place I am blessed to know having fun by blessing others. How many people did our church plant sees for? Thousands I pray!

I helped Sunday with the People City Missions mailer, we were done very quickly in the scope of the day. I looked at the photos and thought, "Wow! Why did I quit...I should have showed up somewhere else because the look on the faces of the people being blessed (and I mean those giving and receiving) touches my heart and brings me to tears...of happiness.

Thank you to everyone who helped in every capacity...because you show my children by example what a wonderful group of people who love Christ can do in just a single day. You show them rather than just telling the, what it is to be truly Christ-like. That visual example is worth more than any sermon or lecture or talk that I can give them. To hear my daughter talk of spending the day with one of her best friends and her family handing our dog treats and water and what she took away from that was fantastic!

Our church gave a day, and we walked away with more than I can put into words. I can only jope that we do this again and again, possibly more than once a year. Thank you Christ's Place for "teaching" me even outside of the sanctuary.

- Christopher & Jo Farabee and family

A thank you from Lincoln Parks

I would like to extend my thanks to you and all of the members of your congregation who helped with cleanup and maintenance in Wilderness Park, Filbert Park and the Rock Island Trail. It is nice to have people who are willing to put in the extra effort in order to volunteer to help our community.

Your choice to volunteer has helped make Lincoln's Parks even more special for the many people who visit them. Thank you once again fro all of your help on your volunteer day!

Another story from A Day to Serve...

Jeanette Lee was a part of the group that helped clean up Southwest. While picking up trash, she found a school ID from a student. She located the girl's mom and found out her purse had been stolen and items scattered everywhere. They of course were happy to have it returned. Jeanette returned the ID with her email address and an some information about Christ. She received this thank you note from the mom:

Jeanette,
It's no surprise that you are a Christian. I know from personal experience that God works in mysterious ways. Please accept our sincere thanks for going the extra mile to see that our daughter's ID was returned to her. It helps to restore faith in peole after the ugliness of having her purse stolen.

A Day to Serve Reached Seward

This email was received this week from a family in Seward:

We wanted to let you know that the Day of Service also caught the attention of people in Seward! Our son Grant's American History teacher was talking to the class about a church that did a day of service. (He had read it in the paper.) Grant raised his hand and told him that was his church. His teacher then asked Grant to tell about it and explain what he did that day. We thought that was pretty awesome!

-Troy & Lisa, Seward

Thank You From the People's City Mission

The following thank you note was sent to the church this week:

Thank you so much for making this such a successful event. Christ's Place has definitely blessed People's City Mission by your helpful, effective and outstanding service. Every group cheerfully accomplished their tasks, making a HUGE dent in the workload of our regular volunteers and staff.

Your team leaders did a remarkable job with their groups - Carl Marino's group did the best paint job PCM has every seen! Sonny Hill and crew were the most joyful grounds pick-up team we've known! And all the other teams did a fantastic job as well.

We've sent a large card that is signed by many of the clients we serve to say thank you for serving the homeless by helping PCM!

God's richest blessings to you!
Pastor Tom, Sarah & PCM Staff

In the media

Yesterday we completed a day of service in our community. The excitement was contagious. Some groups were done quickly, others worked until far into the afternoon. One thing is for sure, we made an impact. We had people picking up trash, washing cars, pulling weeds, grilling hot dogs, painting kids faces, painting a day care, working on a church downtown, striking up conversations with people and just loving our city.

Channel 10/11 stopped at several locations and aired a story on our Day to Serve on the 10:00 news. To read or watch the story online, click here. The Journal Star sent a photographer to the car wash and a reporter to a couple locations. To read that story online, click here.

At the end of the series, we will show a highlight video from the day. So, look forward to celebrating a day of service in our community!