Element Nazarene in Lake Nona touches lives through the Christmas House
Be kind and compassionate to one another… Ephesians 4:32 a (NIV)
When Nancy* walked into the Christmas House, a free ministry to families in need sponsored by Element Church of the Nazarene in Lake Nona, she didn’t know what to expect. All she knew was that Christmas was going to be difficult this year. Over the past two years, family illness and medical expenses had cost them their home. They’d never dreamed they’d be living in a hotel room with their six children and a grandchild. The needs are overwhelming. But then she’d received an invitation to the Christmas House.
“When she walked in, she had tears in her eyes,” remembers coordinator Tiffany Johnson. ”She kept asking how we could do this.”
The church, which meets in the Lake Nona YMCA, received names of families through local public schools and the Y itself. Described as a shopping experience for families in need, Pastor Jeremy Johnson and his wife, Tiffany, have coordinated the Christmas House ministry while serving in various churches — a concept they first learned when attending a church in Tennessee. This is the ministry’s first year in Lake Nona.
Families receive an invitation to attend the Christmas House at a specific time, and arrive in half-hour intervals. The schedule creates a more peaceful atmosphere, and allows for personal attention.
Nancy’s children were taken to “Winter Wonder Land”, where volunteers led them in games, crafts, and decorating Christmas cookies. Other volunteers told the Biblical Christmas story. The children were able to select gifts for their parents, which they wrapped with supervision from teens and adults. 
Children and teens from the church interacted with Nancy’s kids, forming new relationships.
Nancy was assigned a Personal Shopper, Gwen*, who assisted her throughout her visit to the Christmas House. Nancy could choose three gifts for each child from the hundreds that were donated by church members and community partners. Volunteers had sorted and arranged the toys by age and gender.
Next, another team wrapped Nancy’s gifts while Gwen took her to the cafe, for brunch and a time of sharing. As they talked, Nancy told her story, and Gwen listened and took note of needs and prayer requests. Personal Shoppers pray with each visitor assigned to them. They are trained beforehand, and commit to follow up with their clients. “How can we help further?” is an important question they ask that day.
“We want to be family for them, because many have no family,” says Tiffany. “God has given me a passion for these families — we could just as easily be in their shoes.”
Some folks came and went, but others stayed in the cafe, sharing their stories. “They don’t always have someone to talk to about what they’re facing, “ Tiffany says. “One person told me they felt like they’d been in a counseling session.”
When it comes time to leave, there are smiles and hugs all around — and often tears. Families are sent home with a food basket and a car loaded with gifts. But that’s not the end of the story for the Christmas House.
“We do what we can to help with the needs expressed that day” says Tiffany. “Sometimes it’s as simple as getting a Christmas tree. It may be helping to find employment or mattresses for the kids.”
The Christmas House correspondence team keeps in touch with the visitors even after the holidays.
“We throw a quarterly birthday party for the children, because the families often can’t afford to celebrate birthdays.” Volunteers organize a birthday lunch, providing gifts and a devotional time. Tiffany estimates half of the Christmas House visitors return for the birthday celebrations.
“We want to keep in touch,” she explains. “This is not just a one-time thing. We want to build relationships.”
More than 50 volunteers helped make the Christmas House a reality this year. They served 25 families, including 76 children. Community partners provided food and water for the team. As one person said, “What a great day, serving Christ through Christmas House!”
A Christmas House family attended the worship service at Element church the following Sunday, according to Tiffany.
“Our Personal Shopper told us that we can get through these times with God’s help,” they said. “We want to learn more about that.”
For more information, visit www.thechristmashouse.org or www.elementorlando.tv
*Not their real names.
Gracepointe Nazarene in Sanford holds an annual “Be the Church” Sunday — and heads to the local laundromat, among other places.
Now that I your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. John 13:14 (NIV)
When the “Be the Church” committee began meeting at Gracepointe Nazarene to make plans for the annual event, they started by taking a look at their neighborhood. They discovered three coin-operated laundromats within a few blocks of the church. The laundromats served the low-income neighborhood, including a nearby mobile home park for senior citizens.
Steve Kendall, an event organizer, contacted the laundromat’s manager to get permission. The church printed business cards that simply read, “Just wanted you to know God loves you!” on one side, and contact information on the back.
For weeks before the event, a “Loot for Laundry” treasure chest in the church lobby collected spare change. The church raised over $300, which team members took to the bank to exchange for quarters.
Cathy Thomas headed one of the three teams that went to laundromats on “Be the Church” Sunday, armed with quarters, cards, and water bottles.
“As people came in, we would say, ‘Hello, would you mind if we paid for your laundry today?’”
“Their first question was always, ‘Why??’” The group then explained that this was something they were doing in the name of Jesus, and handed out the cards and water.
“I remember one woman who came in with several children,” says Cathy. “She was just astonished. We even offered to do the laundry for her while she ran other errands, but she declined.”
Another older man came to pay for the laundromat manager to do his laundry, and the church paid for that as well.
According to Cathy, the man kept saying, “I can’t believe you would actually pay for my laundry for me!”
But Cathy especially remembers one elderly gentleman:
”He broke down in tears,” she recalls. “He told us that he only had enough money that day to either do laundry or buy groceries, but not both. He would have been spending the last of his money on laundry if we hadn’t been there.”
Not everyone was able to go out into the community on “Be the Church” Sunday, so a prayer team stayed at the church and lifted up the ministry. Afterward, the various teams met back at the church and shared stories, so everyone could celebrate.
Gracepointe’s stated mission, in part, is “to serve the needs of others as the hands of Jesus.”
The hands of Jesus doing laundry? The folks at Gracepointe church like to think so.
You can visit Gracepointe church at www.gracepointenazarene.org
Gulfport Trinity church opens its doors on cold winter nights.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. Matthew 25:35 (NIV)
As Pastor Denny Belus watched the thermometer fall in December of 2010, he
knew his neighbors were going to be in trouble. By all accounts, they were unprepared for the record cold temperatures in Gulfport — an area more accustomed to Florida’s normally mild winters.
Trinity Church of the Nazarene was already reaching out to the needy and homeless in the neighborhood through their “Open Arms” ministry, which provides food and clothing, but Pastor Belus knew folks in the neighborhood needed more help in this cold snap. He contacted Pinellas County about the church building becoming an official Cold Weather Shelter.
“This isn’t a traditional homeless shelter,” he explains. “Some of these people just don’t have heat where they live.” Several were members of his congregation. “I thought it was a shame that people had to be cold.”
The church provides temporary shelter for up to 20 people when the temperature drops below 40 degrees. Guests receive a hot evening meal, a sleeping mat and blanket, and a hot breakfast. They leave the shelter by 6 AM.
“The county gave the church a little money and provided sleeping mats, but the food and everything else comes from donations,” says Judy Ryan, who coordinates the program and schedules volunteers.
Volunteers serve in three shifts, coming from the congregation or other area churches: the first shift checks in guests and serves dinner, the second shift provides security for the middle of the night, and the third shift comes at 4 AM to serve breakfast and clean up.
That’s except for one volunteer, an 83 year-old woman named Cookie.
According to Judy, Cookie volunteers any time the shelter is open. She helps set up, check people in, and serve dinner. In the morning she helps prepare and serve breakfast, and cleans up after the guests have left. In between she sleeps on a sofa in the church office.
“She’s a great volunteer.”
Other volunteers pick up people for transport to the shelter, wash and disinfect the bedding, or prepare and freeze the casseroles served for dinner.
“Over three months last winter we were open 20 nights or more,” Judy recalls. “Once we were open 6 nights in a row. That was a little tough.”
Judy says some of the guests are semi-homeless, meaning they have a roof over their heads, but no access to hygiene facilities. They may live in a tent or a vehicle. Others live in mobile homes with no heat. Many are elderly. Some guests also volunteer to help serve food or clean up.
Guests check in from 5 PM until 8 PM, when the doors are locked. They are checked for illegal drugs or alcohol on their person. Backpacks are stored in a separate room. Guests are escorted outside to smoke, if necessary.
“They have to comply with the rules,” explains Pastor Belus. “The police check in on us a couple of times a night. We don’t take any chances with our volunteers.”
Although the church does not have shower facilities, guests can wash up in the bathroom sink, if necessary. Judy says the church often receives donations of soap, toothpaste, socks, and other personal care items for distribution at the Cold Weather Shelter.
Pastor Belus would like to see the church provide the shelter again in 2011, but stricter requirements from the county may make it impossible. Still, he is hopeful.
“You have to meet the needs of your community,” says Pastor Belus. “And that’s where this community is right now.”
Spring Hill Calvary connects to the community by meeting needs
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess. 1:3 (NIV)
Jerry Buckley, Community Care Director at Calvary Church of the Nazarene in Spring Hill, Florida, understands the importance of connection.
“There are a lot of people in our community that don’t even know who Jesus is. They have no connection to the church. They just need to come out and rub shoulders with people from the church. Maybe they’ll come to know the Lord and receive Christ.”
Pastor Wes Harris gave Jerry his assignment in 2009, after seeing Jerry’s passion during a church Work & Witness mission trip to Guatemala. “Jerry is a great leader who understands the vision of the church.”
Since then, Jerry has organized a Food Pantry, a Community Cookout, and Halloween “Trick or Treat on Wheels” — events designed to reach out to community members and neighbors. But when asked if the church has seen an increase in attendance because of these efforts, Jerry gets quiet.
“If you really believe this is what God wants from all of us who put our trust in the Lord, you can’t get too worried about results, ” he explains. “You commit, you pray about it, you have things ready, you do the best you can, and the Lord has to do the rest. We don’t do it for the results, we do it because it’s the right thing to do.”
In addition, the church has adopted Westside Elementary School, less than three miles from the church, as a special mission project. The school provides education for the neighborhood children.
It all began at Christmas in 2010, when Jerry met with Principal Nancy Kesselring, and invited the school to be the base for their Christmas Tree Tag Program. Tags for 28 students were hung on the church’s Christmas tree, and every child on the tags received Christmas gifts provided by the church families.
“It creates a connection to the church,” says Jerry.
When Debbie Pepin, a reading resource teacher who attends Calvary church, was transferred to Westside last year, she and her husband Art caught the vision for ministry at the school, and Jerry passed the baton to them.
“She began talking with the principals about the church teaming up with the teachers and students,” explains Pastor Wes.
In August, with school beginning, Debbie organized volunteers for a work day on Westside’s grounds. The group painted steps and entryways, and cleaned up the playground, hauling away 65 bags of trash and leaves. Principal Kesselring said they had never received help like this before from the community.
Back at the church, volunteers assembled 50 gift bags for the teachers — with hand sanitizer, kleenex, gift cards, etc. Everything was donated, including the bags. “The teachers were totally blown away when we delivered them,” says Pastor.
The church also plans to recruit volunteer tutors and mentors to work alongside the instructors, providing help that is desperately needed in this “C” school.
“This is our mission field,” says Pastor Wes. “God has certainly used both Jerry and Debbie to help move our congregation forward in the community.”
A Haitian pastor invests in her congregation.
Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf! Psalm 66:5 (NIV)
Sandra Fils-Aime looked across her Haitian congregation in Tampa, and knew she was looking at people who needed meaningful employment. The local cigar factory had recently laid off fifteen people from her congregation. Limited education and language barriers meant many could only qualify for low-paying, menial jobs, mostly in custodial positions. Some families had already moved north, in search of work.
“They were looking at me as if to say, ‘What are we going to do?’”
At that point, she says God gave her a vision – and a goal.
“The goal was to disciple the people, to teach them there is hope in Jesus, and to show them that no matter their level of education, they can be trained for meaningful work.”
Herself a Certified Nursing Assistant, Pastor Sandra drove a group of students to New Port Richey, an hour each way, for training. Students came from as far away as Orlando and Winter Haven, meeting at the church to share transportation. Through her contacts with a certified trainer, they were able to offer the class at a minimal cost for materials and the instructor. She often helped teach the class herself, while translating for the non-English speakers. She also offered free classes in CPR at the church fellowship hall.
“At the end of the training time, thirteen students, men and women, graduated with their Home Health Aide certification,” reports Pastor Sandra. “Five passed the state boards and are ready to get jobs.”
Pastor Sandra says one graduate who passed the state boards is now tutoring others who plan to take the test. “She has a good job now, and she’s started tithing, supporting the church financially.”
Pastor Sandra’s sister, who relocated to Tampa following the Haitian Earthquake, is a recent graduate as well. She has received her license and is working with hospice.
More importantly, three students started attending church and gave their hearts to Christ.
Word has spread through the Haitian community via the church radio program, aired Mondays and Thursdays at noon on the local Haitian station and online. Classes have begun for a second group. The program has been expanded to offer training for a license in hair braiding.
“When God is moving you just have to work with Him,” says Pastor Sandra.
The long-range effect on the congregation and Haitian community is yet to be seen, but Pastor Sandra is confident that God is working through the training program.
“I’m so blessed to be able to show my people that there is hope in Jesus. Through Him, our dreams can come true.”
