17 Dec Project Christmas Update

Hi everyone! As we approach Christmas, I just want to take a moment to thank and to invite.

To thank you for a few things, and invite you to two…here goes!

Thank you for all your involvement with Project Christmas this year. Thanks to you and your generosity, over this past week alone we:

• Dropped off 43 shoebox gift boxes full of Christmas gifts for at-risk students at Live Oak Elementary.
• Delivered 250 meals to frontline medical workers at Seton Main and Dell Seton Hospitals
• Served over 100 plus from the homeless community through food, clothing and supplies
• Prepared a check for $4,200 to send to our Casa Vallado children’s home in San Luis Potosi, Mexico
• Received nearly $15,000 in giving for our ministry partners

Again…thank you. I know Project Christmas looked and felt different this year, but I’m grateful to our church community for showing up in a big way.

Finally, I would like to invite you to two things:

1. First, not only to come to/watch this Sunday’s online/in-person gathering, but to show up a few minutes early. This Sunday (December 20) will be a kind of unique service, with a few special Christmas elements included. One of those is some digital Christmas carolers that will be performing starting at 5 minutes before the service begins. You may remember that we had them in the lobby last year! As that wasn’t a realistic option this year, we still wanted to do something special…so here they are. Please be in your seat (at home or in person) 5 minutes early to hear them and experience something unique.
2. Our Christmas Eve services, if you haven’t already heard, will be online only, live-streamed (pre-recorded but with live, online moderators) at 4 and 6 pm, and rebroadcast at 8 pm. Why online only if we have in-person, limited gatherings? One key reason is that we wanted to be able to give our staff the night off. While we love being present with and celebrating Christmas Eve with our church family, Christmas Eve services mean a full day apart from friends and family, and if there were ever a year to be able to allow our worship team and staff the opportunity to be at home all day with loved ones, we felt like this was it.

This service will be both a big encouragement to all of us, as well as a significant moment of outreach to those with whom we are celebrating. So, go ahead and make your plans to get your cocoa ready, Christmas pajamas on (if that’s you), and watch with your household that evening.

See you this Sunday (5 minutes early, that is)!
Morgan