December 2007

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

On a regular basis people come up to me and tell me how great it is that we are helping those in the community who do not come to our church. I also get questions periodically inquiring about what we do; how we decide and how do we prioritize our decisions as far as the “Share Some Jar” process. At times there are questions of concerns as to whether we should be prioritizing needs of those within the body instead of those outside the body. Its a viable question.

I have considered it and looked for some clarity for myself about that question. As I have considered the process is clear that over the last year we have certainly had the opportunity to do some incredible things for our people within the Church and outside the Church. We are truly learning to be generous and God is growing our heart toward each other as a body and toward our community. As I have thought about it and studied the concept; here is what I found have seen a consistent pattern within the Bible, about Gods heart and the pattern Jesus displayed during his walk her on Earth.

Starting in the Old Testament there are many stories and verses about Gods heart toward unbelievers; I can not put them all in this letter but here are a few to consider. Deuteronomy 14:28-29. “At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that years produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites who have no allotment or inheritance of their own and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”

It is amazingly clear how concerned God is about those who are not believers or may even be involved in false gods. Being an alien, fatherless or a widow has no definition attached to it all. In fact the last verse seems to make it clear that if followers of Christ want Gods blessing on their work, then people who live in their town regardless of beliefs, need to be satisfied in their hunger and that believers are the ones to do it!

God really does love all people and wants us to show our love tangibly to them. In fact it is the second most important Law in the Bible. Love God and Love others. There is No stipulation about their beliefs. You may find Deuteronomy 24: 17-22 helpful if you have any doubts about Gods heart toward anyone regardless of their beliefs, in fact “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God maybe even in spite of their beliefs. He says redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this!” Deuteronomy 15:11 makes it very clear how we are to be. “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.” Acts 2 has some good input also. It is clear that “ALL” people benefited from the Christians and that Christians gained favor with “ALL” men. In order to gain favor you have to do favors. Jesus made it clear He was bringing the “kingdom of God” to all men and he displayed it physically doing the miraculous.

The people in our body have far more favor and blessing then those on the outside. Although not every one in our body has experienced miraculous healing or miracles of other sorts, we in the body have access to our Heavenly Fathers resources just as the older brother of the “Prodigal son” had access to ALL of his fathers resources. Being aware of our fathers assets not only for us but also for others is a real blessing to those around us. I hope this helps develop our perspective about helping those outside our body as well as those inside. As I thought about how we prioritize our decisions, its not that they are the priority but a priority. I am open to any insights or thoughts others may have about what we do and how we use the “Share Some Jar” money.

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

The Share Some Jar Committee had two months’ of giving to do this month. So when we received the request regarding Adriana, Augustine and little Diego, it was obvious what God’s plan was for us. Adriana and Augustine have only been married a few years and 2 month old Diego is their first child. Adriana has recently been diagnosed with cancer and must begin chemotherapy and radiation in two weeks. Steve White was able to be the hand of Christ as he gave his young family our check for $2750 and the $500 gift card to City Market.

He was so touched to be given the opportunity to help them and to speak to them of God’s love and desires for them. He prayed with them for Adriana’s healing and Diego’s health as well. They believe in God and said they will be coming to our church. Hopefully we will all meet them and welcome them into our church family soon. This is truly what our Share Some Jar is about. How amazing to be instruments of God’s love and generosity!

Our global giving this month was dedicated to 10 water filter systems for families with unsafe drinking water. We bought 10 orphaned kids a month’s worth of lodging, meals, education and care. And we paid for enough emergency medicine for 1100 people. Can you believe it? 1100 people! We give the credit to God, our Father, for leading us to this beautiful sharing of His gifts and His word.

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

Want to help the needy? You already are! At the beginning of 2006, C@C began a ministry of mercy, the 'Share Some Jar'. Some C@C families have a jar at home that they fill with money so that they have the ability to help people in need. So, our Elders decided to do that also. They approved the Share Some Jar ministry by designating 2% of our monthly income to go to local people in need and 2% to go to global needs.

You may wonder:

• “Who decides who gets the money?” Steve White, our Outreach Purpose Leader was assigned to gather a committee to receive requests each month, pray over them and to determine where the money would go.

• “What are the criteria for who gets the money?” Local money goes to a person or family who does not attend C@C. The global money goes to meet crucial needs around the world, a different one each month. For example, to purchase Sudanese children out of slavery or to provide chickens for a poor village in Africa.

• “How can I submit requests?” There are forms below you can down load. They are also available at the info booth each Sunday or at the office during the week. Simply fill it out with the person’s name, describing the financial need and return to the church office.

• “What happens then?” People on the Share Some Jar committee research the need to determine the legitimacy, urgency and amount needed. Sometimes other avenues of resources are discovered as additional help! Then, the committee meets, reports on their research, prays to God for direction and decides who gets the money that month. A check is written and usually the person submitting the request gets to take the money to the person in need.

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

Share Some Jar Team: Roz Fowler, Barb McElwee, Sandra Gaddis, Joanne Glassier, Jessica Roberts, Collin Boyle, Kay Jacobson, Bonnie Mills.

OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS GIVEN IN THE LAST YEAR.

Global Needs Met:

• Missionaries in various parts of the world.

• Saved dozens of kids from slavery and from being used as soldiers and physical and sexual abuse.

• Paid for a few kids to have surgery that helped overcome disabilities.

• Bought dozens of families food for two months.

• Bought about a hundred of Tents for people in Pakistan to survive the winter after major earthquakes.

• Bought half dozen emergency shelters to house families in disasters.

• Bought hundreds of chickens that lay eggs.

• Bought goats and donkeys.

• Built a home for a family.

• Paid for Christmas gifts to be sent all over the third world.

• Bought a lot of water purification systems for communities.

Locals Needs Met:

• Dozens of people have been helped.

• Single moms in financial crisis’s.

• Food for families in crisis’s.

• Helped a guy who got in a head on with an SUV, he was on a moped.

• Paid to bury someone’s child who couldn’t afford the funeral.

• Provided an incredible Christmas for a young single mom who was in a serious health dilemma.

• Helped pay many hospital bills.

• Cancer victims paid for medicine and treatment.

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

Reaching out to our community with $100 bills. By now most all of you are aware of our “Share Some Jar” ministry and how it works. What you may not have realized is that one of our primary hopes is that we would develop the hearts of our people to be givers through experiencing what it’s like when we give and obey God about loving our neighbors. The stories I have told you about our giving over the last year are certainly touching and incredible. As I stand in front of you and tell you about the impact our giving has on those in our community and around the world; I see in your eyes that you really want to keep this going and do more of it. We are giving you a chance to experience it yourselves. This month we took $2000.00 dollars and gave 20 people each a hundred dollar bill with a 3x5 card attached to it. We asked that you give the money to someone in need by the following Sunday and write on one side of the card what you did with that money. Then turn the card into us so we can report on it. We told those with the money to be prepared to tell someone where the money came from and why. We asked that you consider anyone you run into or your children know about that have needs. We can’t wait to hear the results. Directly after the service someone came up to me and questioned whether they were the right person to have taken the money to give out. They really didn’t know how it was going to work and didn’t know anyone in need. I told them about an immediate picture in my mind of someone standing next to them in a grocery line that could obviously use some financial help, then handing them the $100 bill and saying this is from the Church at Carbondale and we want to help people in our community know that God really cares about them. The person I was telling this to got teary eyed and I knew they couldn’t wait to try it. I got an email from Pastor Doug today saying that someone came up to him at the Village Smithy and said someone from our church gave them a $100 bill to use toward helping others, this person was involved in a local service organization that might match the $100 donation. I am truly looking forward to hearing more stories and getting more of you involved in the heart of God for the people He loves.

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

We are happy to report that the Church @ Carbondale Share Some Jar committee has been able to award some very critical requests for the month of October.

After prayerful consideration, God led us to the following donations:

A request submitted by Sonny Canterbury was for monetary assistance for Dan Rauer who suffered multiple and severe spider bites. Because his insurance did not cover all expenses and he was unable to work, his bills were mounting. We were able to give Dan $712.00. A request submitted by Bonnie Mills on behalf of Jim Hageland who was involved in a very serious moped accident while on vacation. He suffered multiple injuries and fractures and has been unable to move or walk and so has not worked. He is in significant financial difficulty and we were able to give $1200 to the Alpine Bank Fund in Jim’s name.

On the global front, we felt compelled to help in a number of ways. We purchased 2 donkeys to help poor families work the land and perform heavy chores. We gave 6 goats which will each produce a gallon of milk per day, some of which can be used to make cheese, yogurt or butter to consume or sell. We sponsored 2 disabled children through the medical ministry in Kijabe, Kenya. We supplied 2 emergency shelters for families who have been displaced and have nowhere else to go. And last, but certainly not least, we provided 4 water filters to families in third world countries who have no safe clean drinking water to prevent water-borne diseases.

These gifts provide an awesome opportunity to share the Word of God in areas where it is much needed. Thank you, Church, for giving faithfully and making this happen. Please keep us in your prayers.

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

Local Share Some Jar: This month we are able give $750.00 dollars to Janie Nine a substitute teacher and home school mom who broke her ankle and ended up with over $20,000 in medical bills with no insurance.

Global Share Some Jar: This month we have been able to give $3000 for a home in south Asia for a family that is still homeless from the tsunami.

June 2006

by Steve White, Purpose Leader Outreach

Thanks, Church at Carbondale family, for being on the lookout for our neighbors in the valley in need of our assistance. This month your “Share Some Jar” committee has been considering and praying about numerous requests for consideration of financial aide from some very needy people in our valley.

After prayerful consideration, two local requests stood out in our discussions and these are the two that God prompted us to fund this month:

We funded the family of a six year old boy named Edward who has serious medical needs after accidentally drinking poison several years ago. He has ongoing and expensive medical problems and travels to a specialist in Denver at great burden to the family.

Our second local request to be funded was a young woman with a very serious and undiagnosed condition which is causing her great difficulty in walking, standing or sitting. She previously was diagnosed with MS and is now seeking answers to this new problem from the Mayo Clinic. She has recently undergone hip surgery and is in need of surgery on the other hip in the future. In addition, she has been living in an apartment which is not environmentally healthy. Her career as a counselor to at-risk youths in the valley has provided her the opportunity to help others in the past, but now she is in desperate need of help herself.

Our global funding this month will go to building a house (yes a whole house) for a destitute family through The Samaritan’s Purse. Our God is so awesome in giving us the opportunity to help where we’re most needed and to share his love in our beautiful valley and beyond.

Please continue to pray for our committee, our giving and for those we are helping. Remember to continue to be looking for friends and neighbors who are down and need some help and forward requests to Jessica Roberts (Hoge) at Church at Carbondale.

“C@C Share Some Jar”

Last May in a sermon Pastor Charley preached on giving, and challenged us that after we give our 10% tithe to the Church at Carbondale we ought to consider putting some money aside in a jar, and then when we see a need we are able to step in and meet it. It seems that we as a Church could really be a blessing if we took the same challenge.

For a long time Church at Carbondale has been tithing 11% of all the general fund offerings, divided as follows:

• 5% is divided up between a number local ministries in the valley (LIFT Up, Youth For Christ, Pregnancy Resource, Garfield Prison Chaplains) and our own church Needs Network.

• 6% is given to our Missions team, who distribute it amongst eight different global missionaries and organizations.

Our church’s tithe currently exceeds $4,000 per month.

We have decided by faith that we should create a “C@C Share Some Jar” by raising our tithe by 4% to 15%. 2% will be allocated for local/valley needs and 2% for global needs. Every month the Outreach Purpose Team will be given the responsibility of determining where we should share this money. The Team parameters are:

1. These are “one time” gifts for specific causes or needs (This is not short term or long term missionary support that will be handled by our 6 % tithe to the missions team).

2. The jar must empty every two months (This outreach effort must be fresh from our seeking God’s heart for present needs).

3. These funds must not be distributed to our own C@C people to meet their needs. We already have our Needs Network (benevolence funds) for that.

4. The “Share Some Jar” is a part of our church tithe and won’t be receiving specially designated gifts.

Imagine how much fun it will be to be deployed by God to purchase malaria vaccines for villages in Africa, buy the freedom of prostitutes in Bangkok, purchase drinking systems, or locally to send a check to some whose house burned down or to provide the deposit for a single mom.

The “C@C Share Some Jar” team will keep you informed each month in our newsletter, on the website and in the bulletin of what your giving is doing in the lives of Roaring Fork Valley people and the World. Stepping out in faith is fun. Just imagine, this tithe may some day be $10,000 or more a month.

Church at Carbondale is a fun place to get serious with God.

Share Some Jar Questionnaire