Thank you.  To the hundreds of you who pulled together to accomplish something great for God and our community, thank you from your pastor.  And thank you from the 534 kids who started school this week with new backpacks.

We tried something new and bold.  We set an audacious goal of 500 backpacks to distribute to kids from families who struggle just to put food on the table.  We “volunteered” you to help.  And from every corner of Seneca Creek, you responded!  The big event was last Saturday, and I’m sorry I was out of town, because it sounds like it was simply amazing!  I was praying.  And even more so when I saw the weather radar.  It looked like the event would be washed out, so I prayed that God would change the weather.  In his wisdom, he prompted us to move much of the event indoors.  That gave the community a chance to see the building, and to realize that a church actually meets here.  It was an open house of sorts.  It worked better than we could have imagined.

Here are some numbers:

534 – free backpacks distributed

17,500 school supplies distributed

850 – burgers and hot dogs consumed

600 – family pictures printed and distributed

15 – local businesses who partnered with us to serve all those people

150 – dedicated Seneca Creek volunteers who made it all possible, including making last minute changes to move activities indoors

So thank you for igniting the HOPE of Christ for hundreds of people in our city.  Their lives are changed.  It wouldn’t have happened without you.  Greater things are yet to come.

-Pastor Mark