Turkey's giving away turkeys

above video for our thanks to all who served at a pretty good church.

what a buzz...over 300 people showed up for our outreach...mostly newbies...

we divided up into three teams and car pooled to the area housing apartments where we have been serving and caring over the last few years...It was planned chaos...most handled the chaos well...we are hearing story after story how the people we touched were overwhelmed by God's love shown in a piratical way...

some wept.

others hugged.

some thanked.

most received prayer.


one mom on our team stated, 'we went to a single mom's door...all she had in her apartment was a table. it put my life in perspective...i'm not going to complain about my old couch any more.'

...I often say, you can't really care until you've been out there....

we left at 10:30am and were finished by 12:00 pm just in time to see the Ohio State and the Michigan game.

a great buzz...in the end we served near 400 thanksgiving dinners to those in need. not a bad day for a pretty good church



here's a great song we sing often to remind us of why we are living on Terra firma.

Let Us Be
Robbie Reider


Verse 1:
Take our hands
Move our feet
Break our hearts
With the things that make Your heart break
With the things that make Your heart break (2nd time)


Chorus 1:

Let us be Your hands Let us be Your feet
Let us be the love that longs for those in need (repeat)


Verse 2:
Spirit move
Across the land
We invite You
To move on earth by Your sovereign hand
Come and move on earth by Your sovereign hand (2nd time)


Chorus 2:
We will be Your hands We will be Your feet
We will be the love that longs for those in need (repeat)

©2002 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing (Admin. by Music Services)

Saturday turkey give away

Satruday 17th @ 10am

Kindness to Go Turkey's giving away turkeys...

this year we changed form...we placed boxes in the lobby with an attached shopping list and encouraged our people to grab a box...gather some friends or their small group...and go with others to 3 apartment complexes we have been serving for several years.

to our surprise over 300 people grabbed a box and saying, 'We'll go.'

One guy who had never been on an outreach sparked my interest...I said, 'Hey thanks for choosing to help.' His reply, 'This is what we do isn't it.' I thought, wow. Outward focused thinking is working...

here is the list and instructions attached to box.

Join your friends, small group or as a family
helping others this Thanksgiving.

It’s simple:
Take this list to any store and purchase the items listed. Pack the items in the box provided and place the frozen turkey in the bag provided.

Then come to the Vineyard Saturday, November 17th @ 10am. After some instructions we will head out to an apartment building or two, and surprise the residents with a free turkey dinner.

Tip: this outreach is fun to do with a few friends or family. If you want to participate... or are short of cash, why not grab a few friends or invite your small group to pool resources and then shop together (grab some ice-cream after) and then serve together.

Shopping list:
__ 2 cans of corn
__ 2 cans of green beans
__ 1 large can of yams
__ 1 box of scalloped potatoes
__ 1 can of cranberry sauce
__ 2 boxes of mac and cheese
__ 1 box of brownie mix
__ 1 package of brown and serve rolls
__ 1 medium Frozen Turkey

Option:
Be creative and add your own treats to the list
Throw in a pie or other fun items

funfest 5

for pictures click this link Dayton Daily News

Without His favor, His blessing and His presence upon us...
all is folly.
steve bowen

Many thanks to the 250+ volunteers, our take a risk staff, Nicole our new (thrown in the deep end) outreach assistant...all went beyond the call of duty to serve our community joyfully...

• the set up team did a fantastic job the night before,
• the kids worship team and great parents who came at 5am for Channel 2 news,
  
• the grill, snowcone, and popcorn team 3k hotdogs, the patient snowcones and popcorn people,
  
• the game people were caring, and creative,
• the inside pingpong fish bowls were a huge hit and the team had a great ab work out,
• the face painters painted,
  
• mom's muffins (500 caringly made homemade muffins for moms),
• the medical team and lost parent team thankfully had a slow night,
• the artist small group carved many a pumpkin,
• the helium balloon people are now nursing bruised fingers,
  
• the candy runners ran often,
  
• the volunteer care team cared well,
• the security guys hospitality people solved problems, like having too many cars, our grass became a car lot, getting people in the parking lot then out safely,
• the clean up crew cleaned up the mess in one hour...the reserve clean team the next day 2 hours.
  

Most people commented on the peace people felt on the campus. Our prayer team prayed, literally, walking the property, worshiping, and believing from Oct 1 ...we had several joint times of prayer during he month.

Believe it or not, I believe that prayer is the engine behind whatever we attempt to do in His Kingdom. Without His favor, His blessing and His presence upon us... all is folly. steve bowen

The wind...we didn't count on wind...

all day the our set up was blown all over the place...
...67 degree weather clear sky and wind...all day.

During the day i pondered how Jesus just spoke to the wind and it immediately died down, I asked. 'how did you do that?' you can't see the wind or the source!'

So, I also spoke to the wind all day, noting the wind seemed to increase as yet another safety barrier was knocked down. O me of little faith.


at 7:00pm I was walking to solve another minor problem when i sensed what friend calls 'flutterby' a small slight impression, possibly missed if you are not aware of a still small voice speaking in your heart...

I sensed, heard, had a slight impression...'Steve, what do you notice?' I paused...slowed down on the inside, stood still and listened...I heard a simple statement 'no wind'. In the moment I noticed it was dead calm... an encouragement for my heart, a sense of God's love and favor that is worth more to me than gold... what I call a God moment.

once again i realized ... 'Me Father is in heaven and He is quite fond of me' old irish priest quote....

the wind did pick up to a gentle breeze a short time later but there were no more knock em down gusts.


In the end...
all the noise of the event, the sense of success, the joy of seeing an autistic kid take 20 minutes to climb a rock wall, then grin from ear to ear on his first ride on a ferris wheel...seeing thousands of people enjoying God's generosity through His people was amazing.

For me personally...Hearing His voice in the midst of all the craziness was the highlight of my long day. That one 'God moment' filled my spiritual, emotional tank.