Kirk Bowman's blog

Our church set out to make Christmas happen for 500 underprivileged kids again this year.

The latest update to that - we have sponsored 539 kids for Christmas!!!!

It's been such an amazing blessing to watch literally thousands of Christmas presents flow through this place over the last few weeks. We didn't just hand out a box with coloring books. This was major bags of presents being handed out.

Tears flowed freely from lots of moms (and from us) as we handed them loads of presents for their kids.

Every present had a sticker that said"This present was lovingly picked out just for you to show you how much God loves you".

An amazing team of volunteers and our paid staff and our hugely generous church made this happen.

Huge kudos to Coral Childrey who organized and coordinated the connections for all this to take place.

What a joy to pastor such a generous church.

Goals are funny things. They are targets we aim for. If we aim at nothing we hit nothing. They give us something to try for.

One of the primary pieces to the DNA and culture of our church is an atmosphere that inspires and encourages people to succeed in business and enterprise.

God has a plan for us to thrive in every area of our lives - spiritually, emotionally, relationally and in our work environment.

Work is not a curse. Barrenness on our work is a part of the curse. Jesus has broken all the curse for us!

Feeling unfulfilled in the work we give ourselves to is not God's intention for us. Finding our gifting and employing it in a meaningful way is so important to making work work.

At our last Business Breakthrough meeting one of our guys was sharing his story. His job had transitioned. He put out lots of resumes. Nothing. So he decided to print a few business cards and give it a go on his own. Doors started opening up like crazy from him. Favor over all his efforts.

He was expressing his gratitude for the environment and support of our church and specifically our Business Breakthrough team in helping him have the courage to step out there and take a chance on something new.

Awesome!!!!

Christmas for 500 kids is about touching 500 kids one at a time with the love of God.

One of our church members who is engaged in this project with us comes running into my office yesterday. "This is a freakin awesome church" she says. Then she tells me the story of a mom we just handed a carload of Christmas presents to.

The dad had taken the kids bikes and sold them to buy drugs. The dad was being put in the jail that day. The mom is feeling desperate for her kids. Our church took on the job of making Christmas happen for her kids.

We just handed the mom new bikes to replace the ones the dad had sold off. The Mom is sobbing with gratitude.

Awesome!!!!

Inoculate or Permeate. It seems either one of these views defines perspective on Christianity or even church life.

The inoculaters would have us huddled into "the bubble" never to be tainted with anything secular. While there are definitely some things to avoid associating with - this view can definitely insulate us from actually engaging in the real life context of the world we're called to reach. The salt can get stuck in the salt shaker.

Permeators are engaged in advancing the kingdom into culture and into individual lives. This is surely what God has called us to. The downside of permeation, that I have observed, is sometimes the salt can lose it's flavor. People become so much like their culture, in trying to relate to it, that their distinctiveness is almost completely erased.

One of our permeation projects right now is "Christmas for 500 kids". Our church is stepping up in it's usual generous way and so far we have 350 children sponsored. At close to $100 per child, do the math, it's already a sizable move from our awesome church family.

The stories of need amongst kids this year seems escalated. There are some really difficult situations that are in desperate need of a touch of the love of God.

We are still working hard to make Christmas happen for kids. Anybody wanting to engage with us on this - call our office and get involved. We still have a lot of kids that could use our help.

Last year our church heroically stepped up and made Christmas happen for 500 underprivileged children who would not have experienced any presents for Christmas without our help.

It was awesome to bless all those kids. And families.

We're doing it again this year. As of right now, we have pledged sponsorship for almost 300 kids.

Could I encourage you to get involved in helping us bless kids in Jesus name.

We just have a short window of time left to get this done.

The Bible is clear about God's heart for the poor. My heart always goes to kids, especially. They are the ultimate victims of poverty. They really have no options.

We are blessed to be a blessing! Let's rise up and do this.