Party on! A great way to share the Christmas story

Posted by Christine Hall

Most of us have a desire to share the Gospel, but we don’t know how. A very easy way to do that is by hosting an evangelistic Christmas Gathering—a holiday party featuring seasonal treats, sharing of Christmas traditions and a brief, non-threatening gospel message.

When I began my walk with Christ I attended a Bible study that came out of a Christmas Gathering. I had never studied the Bible before and the materials were very easy to use. I have since hosted Christmas Gatherings for co-workers, neighbors and mothers at my children’s school. This year my husband and I are hosting one for an apartment complex in our city. I am convinced that hosting a Christmas Gathering is one of the easiest and most effective ways to share my faith.

I will say that I don’t know if sharing my faith is ever comfortable for me. But it is worth it. I’m glad someone took the risk to tell me about Christ. I was very afraid to share Christ with the people I knew. But I had to be willing to risk what other people thought of me if I really cared about them and where they’re spending eternity. Are you willing to risk your reputation for the sake of the gospel?

We provide training, which will be held from 6:15-8:30p.m. on Monday, Nov. 9th at Sonshine Center in Menasha. You will see a demonstration of what actually happens during a Gathering and discuss everything from spiritual preparation to follow up. The cost is $12 and includes a detailed instruction manual.

A trained speaker will be provided for your Gathering (or you can choose your own speaker and have them attend training the same night). Speakers are given a clear presentation of the gospel which they personalize and share at your Gathering.

To register, please call Doris Steinberg at 751-3855 or pick up a brochure at the information station in the CTR lobby.

CTR’s Food Pantry takes a new approach

Did you know that CTR’s Food pantry started out the year serving about 16 families each month? The number of people in need of the Food Pantry’s resources is growing, according to staff ministry leader Tracy Komassa. “We have seen an increase in the number of families coming to CTR’s Food Pantry in the summer and now the fall months, and we’re getting many more voice mails requesting food,” she says.

Faces behind the forms

In order to meet people’s physical as well as the spiritual hunger, the Food Pantry team is taking a new approach to how people are served by consolidating the food pickup hours to just one day a week. The idea is to ensure that families and volunteers can meet face to face and begin to develop personal relationships with the families while helping them find community resources they may not know about.

Komassa says many of these families have never been inside our doors before.

“We want them to feel comfortable with us and know that we here to help. By getting to know them, our volunteers are also better able to meet additional practical needs as well as their spiritual needs. We are open to giving them tours of our church and hope they feel welcomed,” Komassa says.

The need

CTR’s Food Pantry Team has almost a dozen volunteers—not nearly enough to handle the influx of food and people in need. Komassa says it would be awesome if more volunteers could be available during the new Food Pantry Hours on Tuesdays from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. or 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

As for food, the pantry can always use donations to help meet the hunger need in the Valley. “Most of us think of canned goods, but what we always run short of is the grains like boxes of breakfast cereal, pastas and rice,” Komassa says.

If you can help, please call 730-8383 ext. 416.

For men: faith and friendship is a comfort zone thing

No game face required!

As guys, we need to be purposeful in building friendships with other men. Yeah, I can call up my high school or college buddies or pop over to my neighbor’s garage, but expanding the friendship circle is something women are good at. me, not so much.  And then when we think about hanging out with new friends from church, it takes tremendous effort for that to be comfortable. Especially when it comes to talking about spiritual things.

CTR’s Men’s Reaching Farther Conference Oct. 4-6 will give us the environment and the comfort level to make it a whole lot easier.  It’s a weekend away at Green Lake Conference Center about an hour east of here, and they’ve got an amazing campus on the lake with outdoor activities. There are a number of accommodation options at Green Lake with different pricing, and we’re registering by phone this year. Check out our CTR Web site for more info.

Our guest speaker Mike Yankoski, who wrote the best-selling book Under the Overpass. It’s a chronicle of his 5-month experience as a homeless man, living on the streets of six American cities and taking great risks of faith to bring Christ’s love to the neediest of God’s people.

If you have questions about room or cabin rates or are ready to sign up, call (920) 294-3323.

Green Lake Conference Center is located just west of the city of Green Lake on State Hwy. 23 in south central Wisconsin.

The address is W2511 State Road 23 Green Lake, WI 54941

Destination Unknown becomes a powerful lesson in redemption

Last week’s Destination Unknown trip for our junior high students was an incredible adventure into reaching out to those in the community.  Unbeknown to the 29 students, their destination was Wausau, our neighbors to the west.  (Hence the name of the annual “Destination Unknown” retreat.) Lead by AMPED youth pastor Bee Vang, the group worked incredibly hard in ways that were physically and spiritually challenging!

Bee’s own story about his road to redemption as a youth is interwoven with tales of how our AMPED students spent their week. Check it out:
(Reprinted with permission from the Wausau Daily Herald)
July 25, 2009

Former gang member brings youth group to Wausau for good works

A former gang member’s road to redemption brought him through Wausau this week, where he has led dozens of acts of good work.

Bee Vang and 29 AMPED junior high students from CTR wrap up their Destination Unknown mission trip.

Bee Vang, 22, of Appleton brought 29 junior-high-age teens and nine adult volunteers from the Fox Valley on a church mission trip that started July 18 and ended today. The group stayed at Rib Mountain State Park and worked on a variety of goodwill projects throughout the area. Projects the youths from Christ the Rock Community Church worked on included sorting, moving and organizing goods at The Neighbors’ Place in Wausau; helping clean and maintain trails and other areas on Rib Mountain; sprucing up the area around the Phou Bia Oriental Market on Sherman Street in Wausau; organizing items for the New Day Christian Church’s garage sale; and helping a homeowner the group met do some household chores.

At night, the group worked on matters of spirituality, further developing relationships with God.

Ten years ago, Vang was on a vastly different path, participating in vastly different group activities.

“I was in my early teens, and I got into drugs, partying, stealing,” Vang said. “I was looking for love, looking for acceptance. I found them in gangs. They were my bros; they were my boys.”

Tomatoes: The Legend of Louie

A personal story shared by one of Christ The Rock’s master gardeners, Tammy Borden.

I confess, I’m not much of a vegetable gardener.  I much prefer the delicate beauty of flowers and using them to design a stunning landscape.  For some reason, a pepper plant swaying in the breeze doesn’t bring me the same delight as that of the tender blossom of a bleeding heart or daffodil.

But then there is the tomato… Yes, I know, to the true botanists out there it’s not technically a vegetable, but a fruit.  Although, in 1887, the U.S. Supreme Court did apparently rule that it was indeed a vegetable. So legally, it seems, the tomato is not a fruit. Ah, but I digress.

For me, it’s not the most attractive of garden plants, so that’s not why I cherish it so much.  And it’s not so much that I even like the taste of tomatoes.  I would much prefer a freshly pulled carrot after wiping the dirt off on my sleeve, or those sweet sugar snap peas plucked right from the vine.  Yes, my love of the tomato runs deeper than my taste buds.  My love of the tomato is because of love itself.

Compassion Gardens have begun!

Posted by Patty Dempsey

Our Campus Garden planting team digs in.

What a great morning we had planting our brand new Campus Garden!  On Saturday, May 30th, fifteen people (some not shown in picture)  joined together to help plant our 30×50 foot Campus Garden. Our vision for the garden is to invite anyone in our church to help.  As food becomes ready to harvest, we openly invite you to take some of the food if you need it, take some to give to a family you know who could use it, or help bring the rest to a local food pantry.  If you don’t have your own garden or simply want to work together on a garden with other people, here’s your chance.

Planting takes planning!

Last Saturday on our planting day, even in the on and off drizzle we had a lot of fun.  It was especially exciting to hear people connect through their own garden stories and sharing of garden tips.

We had beginners working alongside experienced gardeners, and everyone got down and dirty in the mud!

Gardening is for the shoe-hardiest among us!

The Campus Garden is just one of the gardens in our new ministry called Compassion Gardens.  If you’ve seen the grounds of our church lately, you have noticed the transformation that has been taking place not only with the Campus Garden, but the Hmong Gardens as well. 

Coming May 12: “God’s Equation for Joy”

Posted by Susan Campbell, CTR Sisterhood

We have had four great CTR Sisterhood events and are praying that our fifth and final event before summer break is one that will encourage women to reach farther in their families and communities.  Our guest speaker fits that bill perfectly!

Margo Feiseler came to mind for two reasons:  1. She came highly recommended by many people.  2. She is very involved in her community and works diligently on behalf of the poor.

Then I spoke with her, and that sealed it.

Margo is very dynamic.  She is deeply passionate about life and especially about women and their walk with Christ.  She loves to laugh and bring the JOY of Christ into daily conversations.  It just flows out of her!

I sense that our entire Sisterhood  will immediately connect with Margo and her vast life experiences. Plus, she loves our Sisterhood theme and our outreach this ministry has to offer the women of Christ The Rock.

On May 12 she’ll share how she came to know the Lord in her early 30’s and has had to learn to be content in Jesus…and she’ll motivate us to do the same.   There is Joy in this Journey of womenhood and sometimes we need the encouragement and motivation to keep walking with faith.  Margo will give us some tools to journey on!

I hope you’ll come. And I think you’ll leave the event feeling blessed and feeling prepared to bless others. Register online at christtherock.org/sisterhood.

A Breakfast with impact

Last Saturday about 120 men came to Christ the Rock Church’s Reaching Farther Breakfast. The quarterly breakfast event is put on by HIScommunity, CTR’s new name for our growing men’s ministry. Kudos to the 20 leaders who put this event together!

Here’s what HIScommunity super-volunteer John Dwiggins reports:

MEN REACHING FARTHER

By John Dwiggins

After some great fellowship and worship time, guest speaker Greg Bourgond, founder of the Heart of a Warrior ministry, inspired us with a message on how to leave a lasting and pleasing legacy in the lives of people we are called to serve. Greg also urged us to have a laser-like focus in life, serving God and others with the gifts, calling and abilities that He has blessed us with

After Greg’s message, three men shared their testimonies of how God is helping them reach farther by mentoring younger men, leading men in a Heart of a Warrior bible study and by witnessing to others and praying for them in their work environment.

CTR’s new  Global Executive Director Norm Leatherwood shared how we can reach farther globally by meeting the physical needs of the hungry in the world, having compassion on others and by committing ourselves to have a real and sustained impact.

And Pastor John Slotten shared how in our local community, we can proclaim the gospel in our homes and neighborhoods, comfort others and meet physical needs through the OAKS ministry and the CTR food pantry.

Praise God for how He deeply impacted the men by all that happened at the breakfast! Eight men even signed up for a year-long commitment to learn how to become warriors after God’s own heart by completing the Heart of a Warrior training program.

We hope and pray that all that came will follow through on the “reaching farther” ideas the Lord gave them at the breakfast and that more men can be blessed by future HIScommunity activities in 2009.

Cool link!

A great church experience is always exciting to read about, especially by those who are passionate about sharing via the written word! More people are discovering the joys of journaling their thoughts electronically these days, in the form of blogs–like the one you are reading now.

A blog is simply two words (Web and Log) shortened into one. Bloggers are everywhere. By some estimates, there are 5 Billion blogs worldwide! But there’s no way to tally them precisely.

Some people in our own body are bloggers, like Jen of Wisconsin.

An empty feeling

Have you been wondering what it would be like to live as a refugee or as someone from a poverty-stricken nation? Last week our staff, pastors and elders tried out the 5-Day Hunger Challenge with their families, and many found  it more difficult than they imagined. Others didn’t go hungry, but longed for food that was more varied and satisfying. You can read all the comments posted so far in the Message Board.

Here’s one from earlier today:

I emptied our refrigerator of everything for 5 days except for one big tub of cooked beans and one bowl of rice.  I set the oatmeal, 1 bottle of olive oil and 3 spice bottles by the stove.  That was all I used.

I stayed out of the pantry all week, and every time I opened the fridge, I saw the same options for lunch and dinner.  It help sensitize me to what little choices the oppressed and hungry have, and the endless variety available to me. Plus, I have clean water out of the faucet to drink and wash with, a warm comfortable bed to sleep in, and I am healthy.

I keep thinking about those hungry people- they are not just lacking food options, but their portions are much smaller every day, and they are thirsty and often cold and sick as well. My desire is for God to give me a heart of gratitude for all I have and not to take anything in my life for granted. I want to live with less and less and reach out even more to those in need. I pray this desire will never fade for me or for the rest of us after we return to “normal”.

May we never be normal again!