Newsletter 8/14/10

Hi Everyone -

If you are anywhere near Spokane, come on out to the Garland Street Fair, today August 14th 10am-6pm! There is fun to be had by young and old. City Church will have a booth with a fun, “salvation” painting craft! We will be handing out water bottles, hosting the stage seating tent and just walking around greeting and meeting our neighbors! Come out and help us reach our neighborhood with the fun, free and everlasting good news about Jesus or just bring the kids and have some fun on a Saturday! Then join us for coffee, fellowship, worship and part 2 of “Dan the Man!”. A journey through the book of Daniel with Pastor Mike will assuredly “turn up the heat” in your life!

Next Saturday you will also want to join us for a FREE City Church Car Wash and BBQ! The emphasis on FREE! Last week our City Servants had a FREE Carwash and BBQ and people were just blown away by the fact that not only did we not want any donations we literally ushered people from their cars to a chair and put a hot dog and cold drink in their hands while they waited. Some people waiting in the traffic on Garland even received a FREE hot dog while they waited in their cars in front of the City Church parking lot. Why do we do this your ask? We do it because the FREE and EXTRAVAGANT love of JESUS compels us to show HIS love to others! JESUS love is FREE and Sacrificial. Our hope is to touch peoples lives in such a way that the get curious enough to come check out a crazy little church family that LIVES LIFE WELL through AUTHENTIC relationship with JESUS and each other. And that what they find there is JESUS, a REAL SAVIOR that loves them with a REAL and eternal LOVE!

When I last wrote you, we had yet to have the SPOKENYA RUN and the visit from David Opap from Adiedo, Kenya. The first annual SPOKENYA RUN was off the charts! There was over 580 runners, dozens of volunteers and over $10,000 raised for clean water in Adiedo, Kenya. David Opap from Adiedo and the founder of Spring of Hope International was our special guest at City Church that night. We are so privileged to be able to partner with David in reaching his village with the hope of JESUS, child sponsorship, provision of hens, roosters, goats, cows, chalkboards, latrines and so much more. This week we learned that a cow City Church purchased for an Adiedo family in December recently had a calf. What that means to that family is milk to drink on a daily basis, something that they are not accustom to. They do not have so many things that we daily take for granted. We felt called to ask our little church to give that night and all that was given would go to Spring of Hope and Adiedo. We were humbled and amazed by the generous gift of over $5200 for this little village. We look forward to not only continuing to help in Adiedo in the months to come but also of sending a team there in July 2011. Join us in praying for the people of Adiedo. If you want more information go to www.springhope.org.

On August 5th and 6th over 40 of us from City Church attended the Leadership Summit at Life Center church (our Mama church). Once again, we were not disappointed with the caliber of leaders who motivated, challenged and empowered us to lead where we are. To lead in the work place, in our home, our schools, our communities and the world. To make a difference. We were reminded that the “land in between”…that long, dry place we often find ourselves is a place where God does amazing work transforming us into the men and women HE fashioned us to be! We learned that not all tension is meant to be solved or avoided, some tension is natural and always present. That by learning to leverage and manage that tension our workplace and relationships can be more effective. We were inspired and reminded that OUR LIGHT, the LIGHT OF JESUS in us was made to go INTO the darkness! Sometimes that means we have to find some darkness to infiltrate with the LIGHT of his LOVE. This inspiration came from a 4-year old and a flashlight. And of course we were reminded to NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP, to LIVE REAL, AUTHENTIC, TRANSPARENT lives and to remember to ASK GOD for help in times of need. I have just barely touched on all that we received those two days. I want to encourage you if you did not attend the Leadership Summit this year, make plans now to be there next year. The dates are August 11-12, 2011! You won’t want to miss it!

At City Church, God has called us to BE REAL! TO LIVE REAL! To love and serve a REAL GOD! We do this through authentic relationship with Him and others. I was recently reminded that it is impossible to be inauthentic while focusing on God’s presence in our lives. If you do not know this kind of REAL LOVE from a REAL GOD or know someone who needs a place where they can come as they are and be loved as they are…visit CITY CHURCH today! Hope to see you soon!