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ideas and outreaches<br />
ALUMNI BLOG<br />
g David Ellis (’80, ’81) says . . .<br />
Be a blessing to parents. We watch kids for free one Saturday<br />
night a month so parents can have a “date night.” Parents must<br />
attend our Saturday evening church service (from 5:30 to 6:45),<br />
and then they can leave and come back for their children at<br />
10:00 p.m. Some of our children’s volunteers work just for the<br />
church service, and others stay the whole evening. We pay the<br />
workers that stay through<br />
the “date night.” We send<br />
out mailers to area neighborhoods<br />
to advertise the<br />
event, and our church’s<br />
video sign is seen by thousands<br />
of people. We’ve<br />
seen more people coming<br />
to our church as a result.<br />
About . . . David is the executive pastor at East Coast<br />
Christian Center, Merritt Island, Florida. www.eccc.us<br />
g Marcus Avalos (’91, ’92) says . . .<br />
Try a makeover. We gave a<br />
complete bedroom makeover<br />
to a boy we didn’t know! We<br />
went to a school and asked several<br />
teachers who was doing<br />
well but had some needs, and<br />
one fifth-grader’s name was<br />
mentioned several times. We<br />
decided to give him a fresh, new<br />
environment by redecorating<br />
his room. It took a couple thousand<br />
dollars and a lot of effort<br />
from the community, but with<br />
our team of volunteers we got<br />
it finished in a weekend. We<br />
didn’t plan for it to be publicized,<br />
but it went all over our<br />
local news. We hope to do<br />
about six more of these this<br />
year. We want to invest in our<br />
future generations and tell our<br />
community’s youth that we<br />
believe in them!<br />
About . . . Marcus and his wife, Natalie (’91, ’92), pastor<br />
Crossroads Church in Seguin, Texas.<br />
www.crossroadsc.com<br />
g Richard Fitzgerald (’86, ’87) says . . .<br />
Draw kids to church. We hold periodic movie nights for kids,<br />
showing an old or new family movie. We decorate the church<br />
with the theme of the movie and give the kids a themed snack.<br />
Halfway through, we take a bathroom break and do an activity<br />
that uses the movie to share an aspect of the Gospel. We also<br />
end with something that ties the movie into the Gospel. In our<br />
town of 1,600 we will often have 40 elementary children, most<br />
of whom do not attend any church. They get a taste of the love<br />
of God and the news of Jesus on their level, and they find out<br />
that church is a good place to be. One child said, “My parents<br />
don’t like church much, but Jesus found a way for me to come<br />
anyway.”<br />
About . . . Richard pastors Wellsville United Methodist<br />
Church in Wellsville, Kansas. www.umc.org<br />
g David & Brenda Daw (both ’88, ’89) say . . .<br />
Get seniors saved. One of our<br />
outreaches that has really taken<br />
off is to senior citizens. We visit<br />
residential care homes, going in<br />
and talking with the residents—<br />
especially those who don’t have<br />
regular visitors. We ask if there is<br />
anything they would like prayer<br />
for, and if they have received<br />
Jesus before. In the last five years<br />
we have seen 600 decisions for Christ, many just before they go<br />
into eternity. It is rewarding beyond belief, and it meets a vital<br />
need in our community.<br />
About . . . David and Brenda pastor Living Faith Fellowship<br />
in Southport, England. www.livingfaith.co.uk<br />
What’s working in your church or ministry? Tell us about it!<br />
Send your name, phone number, details, and photos to rmai@rhema.org.<br />
18 | spring/summer <strong>2010</strong>
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