Community Care Fund Update: Part 2

Part 2

Matthew 28:18-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

The Community Care Fund grew out of God’s provision and blessing on our church during the COVID-19 season in the spring of 2020. Shattering the original request, as of August 2020 $14,617.49 has been given to the Community Care Fund. This is over-and-above normal giving, while making regular budget in May and July!

To date, $10,500 has been given out on a requested basis at the discretion of our elder team. From funding an adoption, paying bills because of job loss or reduction, covering medical bills, and reaching out to isolated individuals because of COVID, our church has gone far and near to spread His love and grace. States Thang, “To us as the church, we get to in small ways express the goodness of God in our lives and express that this is how Gods economy and Kingdom works.”

Here are some of the ways the Community Care Fund has impacted our congregation and our extended community. We praise God for his glorious ways!

• Candace and Sean Leenhouts have been in the adoption process for several years and CCF was able to fund part of their ongoing costs to bring their child home.

• The Pham family’s neighbor expressed need related to this season and received help, allowing the family to share the love of Christ with her. “This community care fund has given us And allowed us to see a part of Gods abundant wealth and care! He truly does own the cattle on a thousand hills*,” shares Thang.

• A family member in South America needed help with medical costs, and our community was able to pray for healing and comfort. 

• Bridge Disability Ministries received help with care packages for many of their residents who are particularly isolated during COVID. Shares a Bridge friend, “My favorite part of the packages were the little cards that talked about Jesus and His love. I don’t know if that was anyone else’s favorite, but for me, it was perfect.” – Crystal

This list is only a few ways that God has worked through the Community Care Fund. Our friends, neighbors, and others we’ve never met have received provision through the generous giving of so many in our midst, out of the generosity received from Christ in this time. For that we say “thank you” to our congregation and our Father the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is still more available to share and funds continue to be welcome if God lays it on your heart to give to the CCF. May this spirit of generosity continue and may we continue to go where He leads.

*Psalm 50:10-11

For every beast of the forest is mine

 the cattle on a thousand hills,

I know all the birds of the hills,

and all that moves in the field is mine.

Community Care Fund Update: Part 1

Matthew 28:18-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Part 1

The church’s purpose: to share the Good News with the world. The Good News of our Lord Jesus, who went to the cross for us and took our penalty for sin. The Good News of freedom in Christ, not tied to our sin. The Good News that this world is not our home, while sin and death prevail here on Earth, our home is the perfection of Heaven. 

When our region, our country, and our world were rocked earlier this year with COVID-19, it left us abandoning Sunday gatherings, scrambling to understand God’s purpose. The sanctuary sat empty, the lights unlit, the classrooms undisturbed, the Commons stagnant. What used to be a gathering place quickly appeared asleep. Instead, worship took place in our homes as our gatherings shifted to Zoom, communion taking place with makeshift elements: Gatorade, juice, water, milk, tortillas, sandwich bread, crackers. 

When the church was sent home, the question remained: how can we fulfill The Great Commission while we are scattered? How can Jesus’ church be a light in a dark time? Our church elders, Brandon Hudson, Thien Lai, Thang Pham, Zane Sporleder, and elder-at-the-time John Hanson were approached with various needs within our body, from help with medical bills or job reduction or loss because of the virus. Desiring God’s will to provide for those in our midst, an initial decision by the elders was to give $2,000 from our operating budget and ask the congregation to match that gift, which would then be used to help those who had requested aid. This is how the Community Care Fund was born, responding to the needs presented before us.

God’s response through our member offering far exceeded the initial ask of $2,000. Within a month of sharing about the CCF, nearly $10,000 was given to the fund! In a time of deep need, God showed up and we weren’t even meeting in person. With this miraculous response of provision from God, it was decided to expand the scope of how these funds would be used, allowing our church to be the hands and feet of the gospel. As church members became aware of need in our communities, the CCF became a resource for relieving the burdens of this challenging season. States Pastor Brandon, “We realize each individual probably can’t take care of the needs we hear about, but partnering together as a whole church we can support one another and provide the care our family friends and neighbors need.” 

While our church was at home, God was at work just as He always has been. Thang adds, “Times of need [are] a perfect way for the body of Christ to step in and up to the plate to fulfill the Gospel mandate of loving our neighbor like ourselves.”

2018 Youth Retreat

This year our youth group had the privilege of joining Lake Country Baptist on their yearly winter retreat to Plain, WA.  Retreats are often great and important experiences for students, but the size of our youth group makes such events hard to organize on our own. I'm thankful for the connections in our church to the people at Lake Country Baptist and for introducing me to their Youth Director Tyler. Tyler invited us and another local youth group to join them on their retreat, and it was a huge blessing to us. Joining them freed me up from all the logistics that come with planning such an event. They have their retreats tuned in and running with purpose, and we were beneficiaries of the years of experience and hard work they have put into planning these events.

Our trip began with four students, Candace, and I loading up in the vehicle graciously loaned to us by the Phams. We were set to head to Lake Stevens to meet at Lake Country Baptist and before we even got there, the Thule roof rack popped open on Highway 2, littering a few of our items on the highway behind us. After a quick stop, we retrieved all our scattered items except Candace’s pillow (RIP).  The rest of the drive was uneventful and we arrived at Stone Water Ranch near Leavenworth ready for our long weekend away from our regular lives. Most of our group went into the weekend a little anxious being around so many strangers for so long, but all of us grew closer together and made new friends during our time.

A couple highlights of the weekend:

Excellent Bible Teaching - The teacher for the weekend was a member of Lake Country Baptist. Aaron spent the whole year preparing this series of five messages specifically for this weekend. The teaching walked us through the Old Testament, showing the history of Israel and God's plan of salvation. He showed us how Jesus was the fulfillment of the covenants God made to Abraham, Moses, David, the prophecies of Daniel, and all the Old Testament. The teaching was advanced, all of us learned a lot, and many of the students felt challenged to keep up with the high level of teaching. I was greatly encouraged by this. Though the Gospel is simple enough for a child to understand, God's word is deep and worthy of much study. It was a joy for me to see one student light up when putting together that Jesus was Abraham's great great great...grandson, and He himself was the blessing to the whole world promised to Abraham. Also that Jesus was the lamb who was slain for us, and that is why we no longer sacrifice animals in the temple as God commanded Moses to do. This student stated their desire to go from this trip and read the Bible more. My assumption and hope is that this desire to read the Bible after the retreat came from how the Bible was shown to be so complex, interesting, and beautiful that this student simply saw how beneficial it is to read God's word. 

Fellowship - It was great to experience God grow the relationships in our group in just a few days. It was not all fun and games, there were tough moments relationally on this trip for sure. But, I think this trip was one that will be looked on as one of the best things we've done as a group since we started youth group here at The Vine. The last 15 minutes of our car ride together showed me a glimpse of how the trip knit us together. We were all exhausted from the weekend, and even more so from the car ride full of pit stops for car sickness, and yet we were all hysterically laughing while recalling all the craziness of the day and the trip as a whole.  It was such a sweet and fun way to end our trip together.  On top of that the fellowship experienced between brothers and sisters in Christ from other churches was a great experience for us. Watching everyone from our group, myself included, build relationships throughout our time was a great tangible way of experiencing the body of Christ outside of our local church.

Service - Our group was served so well this trip. Three members of Lake Country Baptist cooked EVERY SINGLE meal for 60+ people, three meals a day. No one from our church so much as lifted a finger in providing or cleaning up any meal the entire trip. The level of service we experienced in this way was unreal. Another notable way in which our group was served so well was by the worship team. The worship team did an amazing job leading us in song before and after each lesson. The last night of the trip a worship night was scheduled and the worship leader had noticed our students hadn't been familiar with the songs they were singing, and asked me for song recommendations so our group would be able to join in on songs that we knew and loved. It was so thoughtful and kind of them to make sure to include songs that would more naturally speak to our students. 

Fun - It was just plain a good time. We got very little sleep, but had lots of fun. Our days were packed with learning, hanging out, tubing down a massive hill, playing board games, and numerous other activities.  

I am very thankful for our trip and the time we got to spend together and the time we got to spend meeting and hanging out with the folks from Lake Country Baptist and Restoration Road. My prayer is that the knowledge learned and relationships built will continue to point the students to Jesus into the new year and beyond. 

Zane Sporleder, Youth Director

Advent 2018 Booklet

Continued Generosity Blesses Nourishing Network this Summer

In May, The Vine Church held a food drive for Nourishing Network, a program through the Foundation for Edmonds Schools which provides weekend meals for students in the district who are struggling with homelessness and hunger. The drive was greatly successful and the program was greatly supported by our efforts. Without much prompting, donations continued to accrue in the green donation bins over the summer, and they had to be emptied and transported several times. Thank you, church! If you would like to continue donating, Nourishing Network is in need of canned pasta and meat (ravioli, spaghetti), canned chicken and tuna, and juice boxes. Snack items such as granola bars are not in demand currently but may be again in the future.

This summer, Nourishing Network also served summer meals at three sites in Edmonds School District Monday thru Thursday from June 25 to August 24. Children up to age 18 were provided with free sack lunches prepared by FareStart, a rehabilitative program. Generally the meals included a fresh fruit or vegetable, a protein or dairy, and a grain item. Children were also provided with a pint of milk.

The three sites also provided enrichment activities: organized games by Move60 and educational activities by community members.

A few members of our church regularly volunteered, and the consensus was that it was an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Stephanie Ross, who volunteered once a week, “felt honored to cherish these children with three hours of supervision and food in a safe environment.” Heidi Bleeker and her three children served at a site once a week as well, for which she shared, “The opportunity to practice selflessness, kindness, patience and love towards the kids at Summer Meals has been an amazing gift.” Thank you for your service to this program, all who contributed time and effort!

Heading into the school year, weekend meals will resume and a few new pilot programs will begin. Educational assistance and tutoring will also be provided. Nourishing Network is running pop-up pantries and toiletry pantries for students in the district who are in need.

That being said, there are many ways to help serve our community! The Vine will continue to help pack weekend meals once every other month, generally on Tuesday nights.

If you have availability and a desire to serve, consider daytime help with the pantry on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Additionally, drivers are needed on Thursdays to help deliver weekend meals to individual schools.

If you can help, please email kids@thevinenw.com and you will be connected to the respective coordinator. Thank you!