Christ's Place

Can donuts change the world?

2007-12-28T16:03:00.000-06:00

At Christ's Place during December we've been talking about how Christmas is supposed to change the world and we've been doing some things that we hoped would have an impact on people's lives. On Christmas Eve, we challenged everyone who attended the services to take a box of donuts to someone working that evening. The donuts were provided, it was just a matter of stopping by and giving them away.

We've heard some great feedback. All the donuts we had were taken and given away. Seven boxes made their way to the fire department. One family gave their box to a cop who had pulled someone over:

"As soon as we pulled out of CP we were jacked up. "Who will we give our donuts to!!? Soon after crossing over 27th and Old Cheney, we spotted a patrol car that had a car pulled into an apartment complex. We pulled in behind and waited until they were done with their business. As soon as the officer headed to his car and tried to pull away, we tooted our horn and the kids started hanging out the windows. Mom jumped out with the donut box in hand and explained to the nice man that we were from Christ's Place and would like to bless him with a box of donuts because he was working on Christmas Eve. He was very appreciative and my kids were ecstatic! "We got a police man!!!" My kids are starting to understand how GOOD it feels to bless people. Thanks!"

We even received this thank you note in the mail today from Crestview Care Center in Milford:

Dear People,
Just a short note of thanks for thinking of us. Your kindness of bringing donuts brightened the day and night. This small gesture made a huge impact. My staff found it hard to believe that people who didn't know them would be so kind. You have shown them a bit of Christ's love.

Thank you!

A pillowcase for every child...

2007-12-27T14:01:00.000-06:00

Last year, Nancy Gerdes had a dream to give every child living at the People's City Mission a personalized pillow case - something that would make them feel special.

Just before Christmas, Nancy, mentor moms and other women from MOPS made that dream a reality. They purchased fabric in all kinds of designs, patterns and colors and sewed together funky pillow cases for 39 children. Then they had each case embroidered with the child's first name. Over 90 books were donated, so MOPS moms stuffed the pillow cases with age appropriate books and tied them together with rafia.

Nancy got together a group of families who took the gifts down to the PCM for delivery the week before Christmas. Kids lined up to receive their personalized pillow case gift. Some moms were there to pick up their child's case and commented that this was so nice..."to think someone took the time to put each child's name on this. That was very sweet. Thank you!"

Nancy was thrilled to see her dream unfold. "I prayed over each pillow case that each child would know they were special when they saw their name on it. And somehow, they'd find out there were precious to God."

There are so many ways each of us can use our skills and talents to bless others in Jesus' name. Nancy used her passion to ignite other women to join with with her in this great ministry. A little love goes a long way...

Thank you from F Street...

2007-12-21T10:31:00.000-06:00

Nathan & all of the members of Christ's Place,
Thank you for the two times you helped us at F St. The neighborhood looked great and the center on the outside was amazing. The inside of the center looks wonderful now. It's awesome what can be accomplished in about 2 hours! I had a lot of fun and hope you all did too. The kids loved the cookies as well as our senior citizens. Thanks again and Merry Christmas!

Dorothy & The F Street Staff

SERVE Saturday in December

2007-12-12T15:29:00.000-06:00

December 8 was another successful SERVE Saturday. The snow made it a little difficult to do yard work for single moms and widows, but the rest of the projects went on as planned.

A crew of people worked at Nebraska Family Council's House of Prayer. They cleaned, washed windows, painted, laid tile, installed a sink, scraped old paint and much more. Thanks to everyone who worked so hard.

NFC was blessed by the people of Christ's Place. We look forward to working with them more in the future to bless the whole neighborhood.

Another group of people went to the F Street Community Center. Some ladies and teenagers baked cookies that kids decorated and took home to their families. Some of the kids had never decorated cookies before - they had a GREAT time.

Some other ladies decorated the inside of the center for Christmas. It looked great.

Christmas Can Change the World...

2007-11-30T10:54:00.000-06:00

Christ tends to get overlooked at Christmas. Somewhere in the bustle of wrapping paper, shopping malls and endless shopping lists, there is a story we long to connect with. It's a story of a Savior who came to Earth wrapped in nothing more than human skin who would one day redeem the world one person at a time.

What if this year, was different? What if you could usher in a Christmas that put Christ's story at the center of our family's celebration? What if you could see beyond the presents and hustle and bustle to the manger and cooperate with the Lord at Christmas to help change the world in a real way, one person at a time?

The Christmas series begins this Sunday at Christ's Place. And you can be a part of changing the world this year. To help you, we have several local and global outreach projects you can be a part of. From giving away free donuts to people on Christmas Eve, to buying gifts and giving money to people in need, to helping purchase a well in Darfur, Sudan so people can have clean water.

What if this year, Christmas changed the world?

SERVE Saturday

2007-11-15T13:34:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday we served in three locations in this city: F Street Community Center, People's City Mission Distribution Center and in our very own parking lot. From 9 am until noon, 31 single moms and widows pulled their cars into our lot to be washed, dried, cleaned and vacuumed, as well as have their oil changed and fluids topped off. Some cars had burnt out headlights replaced, tires filled up and more.

One car even received a new tire. Outreach Coordinator, Nathan Kroll, was afraid the woman's car would not even make it out of our lot, due to the shape of one of her tires. She had no spare and no ability to purchase a new tire. We were able to bless that woman last Saturday by paying for a new tire for her car!

We have received several notes of thanks by mail and email this week. One woman said that her car had never been cleaner. Another women expressed their extreme thankfulness and gratitude that people from our church would do something so nice.

A big thanks to everyone who volunteered last Saturday! A little love goes a long way...

Stretch the Benjamin Videos

2007-11-08T15:35:00.001-06:00

Thank you from the Friendship Home

2007-11-08T14:55:00.000-06:00

One of the Stretch the Benjamin projects was a makeover night at the Friendship Home, Lincoln's only shelter for battered women and their children. This was just one of the thank you's that was received from the Friendship Home.

Thank you so much for all of your work to help the women and children at the Friendship Home. The women had a great time being pampered and the products will be very useful for everyone in the shelter. It is only with the help of groups like yours that we can provide services in Lincoln. All the volunteers really made a difference with the women and boosted morale in the shelter.

Trunk N Treat - a success!

2007-11-01T12:10:00.000-05:00

The Journal Star highlighted Trunk N Treat and Pastor John was featured on Channel 8 news the night before inviting people from the community to join us. Because of media coverage and your help inviting friends and neighbors, there were tons of people at Trunk N Treat - many who were visitors to the church.

We put on fun events and activities, praying that God would use them to draw people to Himself and that they would be open to the idea of church and inviting Christ into their lives. We know seeds planted that we often never get to hear about. But...we received an email from a woman thanking us for what we did.

She said she has been praying for her daughter, her husband and their kids - that God would send Christians into their lives because she doesn't think they know any and they have never gone to church. She called her daughter yesterday - who informed her that she was at a "Halloween thing" in a church parking lot that she had read about in the paper. The mother was in shock and really felt that this was an answer to prayer.

She says, "Keep reaching out to your community, because I know for a fact God used your church with my family. Pray they keep hearing the draw of God to know more Christians. Thank you for your outreach."

Another short thank you...

2007-10-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-30T11:27:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-18T14:15:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-18T11:38:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-10T09:20:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-09T15:56:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-09T11:46:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-10-09T11:18:00.001-05:00

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

2007-10-06T11:33:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-05T14:03:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-10-04T15:17:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-04T15:14:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-01T12:47:00.000-05:00

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!

A Vision for Outreach

2007-08-21T13:30:00.001-05:00

Pastor Brad spoke about strategic issues at Christ's Place this past Sunday with some specific goals for the next three years. The first goal speaks directly to the series begin in just a few weeks: We will reach a greater proportion of Lincoln and the surrounding areas with the gospel.

"Talking about it won't get it done. It is the demonstration of the gospel matched with the proclamation that is genuinely biblical and has credibility. Without it, we're just flapping our jaw." - Pastor Brad

We're serious about making this a priority. Sharing the gospel is both show and tell. Everything at Christ's Place will align with this.

"We will teach and model evangelism and outreach like we never have before at CP. The longer a church exists, the more likely it is to become self-absorbed. We need to get out there, which is where Jesus went.

The evangelism and social action teams at CP will be structurally brought together because they are not different things. These teams will embrace talking and doing.

The Heart of a Missional Church series is NOT another program - it is the call on the congregation to get out of our building and into the community - to embrace that the biggest need in the city is to understand the mercy and forgiveness of Christ."

Our pastor is passionate about making ministry in this city happen. To hear his message from Sunday, click here.

What could happen?

2007-08-15T10:33:00.000-05:00

What if we had over 800 people engaged in ministry and service around the city all at the same time? What would our city think? How many people could we impact, build relationships with and touch with the love of God?

As a part of The Heart of a Missional Church series, that is exactly what we are going to do.

A Day to Serve - Sunday, September 30