Light the Darkness

642 Angels adopted

The culture of generosity continues to grow at Indian Creek Community Church. Margaret Outler who heads up our Angel Tree adoption told me that we adopted 642 angels. At a minimum of $25 investment each that means that over $16,000 is being contributed toward blessing others at Christmas. I love it that when we think of celebrating what Jesus did for us at Christmas we think of passing the blessing on. God so loved that He gave and we've caught His giving spirit. Way to go Indian Creek!

Gary Kendall

Jamie's Take on This Sunday at the Creek
Jamie Steelman Norman wrote: Pastor Steve was AMAZING, really re-ignited a fire in my belly to start using the gifts God has given me to walk out my faith in Him by doing for others with purpose and selective intentions... fired up for Live Out Loud Dinner, already have my cause picked out and am looking forward to walking it out! God Bless my ICCC family for all you

Indian Creek's Global Cause

At Indian Creek we are highlighting 4 Causes for which we are passionate. A few weeks ago we took a reverse offering where, after we collected the offering, we passed the cash back to our congregation. On December 20, Christmas Sunday, we are giving the whole offering to the 4 Causes.  I'll highlight each of the 4 over the next few blogs starting with the Global Cause.

 
  

Together Indian Creek and Project Partner live out the love of Christ in China! It is just one of the five countries we support but it is the hightlight of this article. Keep watching this blog to see the others. 

Did you know that Christianity is growing faster in China than anywhere else in the world?!  But the number of non believers is still 4 TIMES the population of the United States!  That's 1.2 billion people who still do not know the love of Jesus Christ!  Will you join Indian Creek and Project Partner as we work to increase the number of believers in China?

YOU can make a difference!  Your efforts are valuable in changing China into a Christian nation.  Take Action by Giving, Going, and Praying.  We can give of our time, finances, and skills to help meet the needs of people in China and open their hearts to the gospel. 

You can go with Indian Creek's English Teaching team in July 2010.  Contact the Director, Kristen Levitt to learn more. Look for a meeting in January for those interested.

And you can pray regularly for the needs of the ministry and the people of China. Subscribe to Project Partner for regular prayer concerns.

YOU can play a role in the largest Christian revival in the world and make a strategic impact for Christ's Kingdom!

Live Out LOUD Celebration
Wednesday, December 2
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Don’t miss this evening of celebration and inspiration that highlights ways we can increase our impact in our community and around the world. A light dinner is provided. Childcare is available for ages 2 and younger. Please register for the dinner and child care, click here.

Rebecca's Story

Rebecca's passion for Jesus inspires me. Rebecca Everett shared her story with Indian Creek Olathe on Sunday. In case you attend the Gardner campus or you were out of town, I'll pass it on.

I’ve been a lukewarm Christian the majority of my life, and for the majority of my life, I’ve been missing out.  God walked with me, but I did most of the leading.  I knew I was made to worship Him and love Him, but because there were too many other tangible things that stole my time and my love, God never became my ultimate priority.

Thankfully, He loved me too much to leave me that way though, and in order to finally get it, He brought me to the desert where I fought to empty me of me and fill me with all of Him.  And when I finally surrendered it all, God became alive in me. He shouted and broke through my deafness!  He shattered my darkness and washed away my blindness!  I’m breathing and living because of Him! 

For so long I’ve been foolish to think I know better than God…that my ways, my dreams, my plans are better for me than His are. But God is holy, eternal, all-knowing, and all-powerful!  The sun doesn’t rise without getting His permission first.  He is the giver and take of life and everything in it.  And because of all He is, I can’t help myself from falling madly in the love with Him.  Most of us would probably say we love our children so much we would die for them if we had to.  But God did so much more than that.  He took the place of the convicted on death row.  He loves us that much.  And a lot of us might say that we already know that.  I thought I did.  But do we really?  Are we so in love with Him that we would give up anything and everything for Him? 

I have some very deep desires in my heart.  Desires I have tried in my own power to control and desires I thought I could never live without.  God knows them and He hears them as I pray every day believing God’s promises for me are true.  But if I never get married.  If my friend loses his fight with cancer before we’re ready to send him to heaven.  If I’m never able to have more children.  God’s love will be enough.  He will always be more than enough to satisfy me.   

Every decision I make is led by God because I know that apart from Him I am nothing and I never want to find myself living outside of His will.  Nothing I have or desire in this life will ever compare to what God has in store for me in eternity.  That doesn’t mean I don’t have bad days.  I still have painful tear-filled days where life is just plain hard and I feel alone but I daily choose joy because I’m confident that God is who he says he is, and God can do what he says he can do.  As much as I want the best for my daughter and would give her the world if I could because I love her, God loves me so much more than that.  I am loved unconditionally by the creator of the universe and my life will never be the same!

Thanks Rebecca for your transparency. I love what God is doing in you and through you.

Gary Kendall

But wait, there's more...

Last week I shared how Indian Creek Olathe rallied around Mark and Shana through the Reverse Offering.  Sunday Shana found the courage to share their story, with great gratitude, with the community.  Here is what happened after that. Way to go Indian Creek! You inspire me. Praise God for revealing Himself through His people.

I just wanted to thank you for giving Mark and I the opportunity to share our story. I was really timid about it at first, mostly because I felt like I was "airing our dirty laundry" but God promised me that He would use our story to help others. After talking to so many yesterday, I can certainly tell He kept his promise!

 

For us, it was even more encouraging as God nudged a couple of other people into helping out. Two couples we know were moved to each give us  $500. They said they knew it was from God when they looked at each other and realized they were both writing a check for the same amount. Another young lady whom I don't know, but her name was Julia, handed me $100 in cash and said that her husband and her had a good year this year, and they felt they needed to do this. I could tell she was moved by their generosity because she was tearing up after I started crying. Both of these happened after the first service. Another young lady, with her infant son in her arms, offered us her extra baby swing, high chair, and other baby equipment. Though we don't need them, it was awesome to see her love for us and willingness to give.  Two gentlement offered assistance to Mark, Tim Love and Doug Courtney, and their words of encouragement and tips helped him to finish the job tonight!

 

With the checks, we were able to put together our November mortgage payment and pay it today.

 

But that's not all -- during the second service, I felt prompted by God to return 10% of what we had received to Him. (I think a little bit of your teaching moment had something to do with that. :) ) Immediately the cash went into the offering basket. I hadn't been able to make a contribution this week, and it felt really good to be able to do that. Part of me feels guilty that I gave away some of the money that was given to us out of God's love and provision, but it just felt right!

 

And then, today, I was at the grocery store and a little old lady was in line in front of me and was short $5 to pay for her bill. As she started deciding what to take out of her Thanksgiving meal preparations, I handed the $5 to the clerk. Yesterday, I wouldn't have been able to do that. But today, I had enough breathing room to be able to pay it forward, and as always, it felt good to be able to help someone else out. I haven't been able to do much of that lately.

 

Again, thank you. I was truly blessed beyond anything I can express.

 

We won't be in church Sunday as we'll be heading back from family in Dallas. Please pray for safe travels for us! I'm still a little nervous about whether everything is TRULY fixed, but am leaning on Phillipians 4:6 and Luke 12:22 heavily today. I've always been a worrywart and since I became a Christian 12 years ago, this has been my biggest battle!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Yes it is!

 

Gary Kendall

Turkey Give-away Draws Hundreds

One of the benefits of my perspective as the Co-founder of CMA is the contacts with guys we support on mission across the U.S. Sam Tanner is chasing the dream in CA. Here is his Thanksgiving story. Great job Sam! Generosity is the best form of evangelism today!

 

I just want to give you an update on our outreach we held this past Sunday. Two weeks ago I felt the Lord leading me to ask the church if they would be willing to buy an extra turkey and dinner items (box of stuffing, potatoes, 2 cans of veggies, 1 can of cranberry sauce) to bring to church so we could give it to those in our community who might be struggling in this recession.

 

I was surprised when we had 65 turkey dinners pledged. I immediately prepared 3 banners and 1,000 invite cards to be handed out advertising this outreach. When we arrived Sunday morning there were 20 people in line already (at 7 am) to get a turkey. By the time service started, it was standing room only at the first service and a full second service with a total of 401 people worshiping with us. That was our biggest day ever!

 

We gave out 140+ dinner kits with many members running out to buy more between services. One lady who had been coming to the church only for the past few weeks gave 14 meals. We covered everyone who wanted a meal kit without having the church to buy anything except the banners. Many of those who attended declared with tears that they have now found a church home. Most importantly, we had approximately 40+ people raise their hands to accept Christ. Unbelievable! What an amazing thing God did through his church. Please pray that many of these same people will return this Sunday.

 

Gary Kendall

Gardner's Amazing Generosity

The ripple effect of generosity is AMAZING! Here is a story from Mary Friesen who is the Indian Creek Gardner Journey Student Ministries leader (along with her husband Brian).

Tonight, the Gardner youth had an awesome opportunity to be generous to a member of the community! Matt issued a challenge last week to identify a person or persons to bless this week during service. We were told we would get $20 base and could add to the amount. We were also given guidelines to not just give the cash out, but to make it something meaningful and make it anonymous.

 

The students happened to choose the xxxxx family, as a few of the students went to school with his oldest son. I issued the challenge last Sunday for a few students to snoop and find out what the family could use. With the help of a parent, we discovered that xxxx and his wife, were having trouble paying their bills/ coming up with grocery money. When we gathered for the baptism service, Brandon handed me $65, money he had raised from people to use for the cause! We decided to get the family a gift card to Walmart so they could buy food and or personal items they may need. Brian and I chipped in the last $15 and were able to purchase a $100 for the family. Our group also purchased a card to put the money in and wrote a simple note saying that we were praying for them and wanted to bless them during this difficult holiday season. We decided that I would bring the card to the front door since I had never met the family.

 

We pulled up a few houses away in the white church van (de-badged of all the ICCC identifiers) and I was thinking I would just walk to the door, ring the bell and give the card. As I was walking to the house, I saw a tall, slender man with a teenager walking toward the same house. He asked me if I was looking for xxx and, shocked, I said why yes I was! He greeted me like I was a long lost friend and I had never met him before. I handed him the card and he asked me if I could come in for a minute so he could open the card with his family. Shocked, I agreed. I never expected him to invite me in!

 

Before we entered the house, his neighbor came out (the one he was returning from when I got there). She was sobbing and telling him how amazing he was and how blessed she was to call him friend, that she didn't deserve all his kindness and that she could never thank him enough. He vary graciously accepted her praise and took me inside, apologizing for wasting my time outside.

 

When we got in, he introduced me to his wife and 2 sons and opened the card and read it out loud. With tears in his eyes, and in his wife's, he graciously thanked me and said it was very difficult for him to not just run out to our white van and peek in to thank the people inside. I apologized and told him I was not allowed to say who was inside, nor where they (or myself) were from. I only told him that these were young people who knew him, his story, and his family.

 

He asked that I share with the group the story of why we ran into each other out front. He and his son were taking a basket of Thanksgiving dinner (full of a turkey, pumpkin pie, etc) for his neighbor because they were having hard times next door. He proceeded to tell me about this woman, and her 3 young children and about how she had lost her job and they wanted to make sure she and her family had a good meal. He told me he needed his son because the basket was too heavy for him to carry on his own. He said the timing was incredible and that they were very grateful. He then gave me a hug, as did his wife, and each of his sons and we parted ways. He only requested that he meet the people who had been so generous to him sometime, even if in passing. He said he understood their anonymity but wanted me to share that they were always welcome to stop by and say hello, even if he had never met them, and that they would not have to share that they helped in this gift card.

 

I shared with the students his amazing story. Incredible how a family struggling to meet their own needs would go above and beyond what they could probably afford to serve another family in need. Just the experience and the chance to meet the family was a blessing to me. They treated me like I was a long lost friend with whom they were eager to catch up with. Deep impact on our group. God does amazing work, doesn't he?

Yes He does! Thanks for sharing Gardner youth!

Gary Kendall

Note from Yesterday
Here's a note from Jamie Steele Norman about yesterday at the Creek. Thank you for one of the most AMAZING messages yesterday night, hearing from others on how much God has blessed them was inspiring and gave me much hope and such a heart of gratitude and awe for our Lord, our Provider, our Strength and our Joy! Thank you Pastor Gary and to all of our ICCC family, last night was a humbling time to feel so connected and cared about." Thanks Jamie for sharing.

Gary Kendall

"This morning at the Creek, was awesome! Thank you Gary for allowing us all to experience the generosity that is happening all around us, God's Crazy Generosity is contagious! I am so looking forward to being invlolved at Country Side :~)" Teddy Brooks Love

Mike Gee discovers Generosity

The stories just keep coming, here is Mike Gee's story. 

I'll give you the Reader's Digest version:  I normally don't carry cash on me and have always tithed with a check.  I had some cash left over after driving to Topeka last week (to pay the tolls) and had left it on the kitchen counter.  As we were heading out the door to go to Indian Creek , I felt compelled to take the money with me.  I now know that this was God speaking to me.  When I heard Gary talk about the reverse offering I remembered the cash in my wallet ($17) and figured I could throw in the two one's, because I had plans for the rest.  Then I heard God say, "Throw in the five," so I did.  It was only $5 so I wasn't expecting anything in return - especially after hearing your $200 story. Anyway, in today's mail was an envelope from OIathe Medical Services which I thought was another bill.  Nope, it was a $40 check for an overpayment they discovered during an internal audit!  ove you brother!

What's your story?

Gary Kendall