Friday, April 26, 2013

Making News :)

Weekend of Service is making the news. Glad that God is getting all the glory!!


Vista megachurch taking service to the streets

North Coast church tackles 250 community projects






 — North Coast Church will fan out this weekend for its annual “Weekend of Service,” a program that deploys about 7,000 volunteers to participate in more than 250 community improvement projects in North County.
The church is canceling services to allow its members to participate in the projects ranging from renovations in public schools to repairs at homeless shelters, said Charlie Bradshaw, the church’s executive pastor.
About 9,000 people attend weekend services at the church, which has campuses in Vista, Carlsbad and Fallbrook.
“We wanted to show Christ’s love to people in the community and not wait for them to come to us but go to them,” Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said the Weekend of Service started in a smaller scale about six years go but then the church decided to go big. He said it takes about nine months to plan this event.
In recent months, the church put together a “wish-list” from officials at more than 100 different public and nonprofit sites, which resulted in the 250 projects, Bradshaw said.
For example, the volunteers will repair a fence around the LifeSpring House, a home for former foster children operated by North County Lifeline in Vista. The volunteers will also repair the front of the house, paint it and provide landscaping.
“North Coast Church is a model for the community,” said Don Stump, Lifeline’s executive director. “They take their faith and passion and turn it on the community.”
About 250 skilled workers, including carpenters, plumbers and landscapers, will supervise the projects, Bradshaw said. Project managers have already ordered enough mulch to cover over 11 football fields, Bradshaw said.
The Weekend of Service is a biennial event that started in 2011. In its first year, about 6,000 volunteers participated in 185 projects.
For more information, visit www.weekendofservice.com.

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