More than listening

As a ministry one of our greatest weaknesses early on was never stopping to say thanks. As we all worked together as a rather small ministry it was pretty much a collective effor. Now though as we have nearly quadrupled  in size we have learned we have to be more strategic with our communcation and thanks to the volunteers of CCF. This year we decided to steal something from Northpoint and Crosspoint church(I am sure there are others). We decided to do a banquet of sorts where the volunteers were served as best a staff of three could do. The goals for the night includeded each volunteer feeling loved (not all feel loved the same way) , appreciated, and much needed at CCF. To make this clear we included notes, delicious food, and a few videos to show what CCF would be like without them. Overall a night like this is one of the most challenging events for a staff of three to pull off in planning, cooking and serving and it is the most expensive of the year. Doubts we had included:

“Can we really do this by ourselves?” Well no we couldnt but we have amazing alumni in Matt Heimann, Kathy Gartley, Hillary Campbell and Erica Simonian.

“Can we afford this?”  Yes you can by cooking your own food to save on catering, using a church. Yes  a church for your space can work great with the right amount of directions and Christmas lights.  Also by spending a little more here it reminds your people that you value you them more than you do just the average student. They have gone above and beyond to help serve in your ministry and as  a staff it is important to go above and beyond to thank them.

“Isn’t that a lot of people?” Well hopefully you can say its a lot of people. In CCF it is almost 2 thirds of our ministry with 60 invites sent out between residents, small group leaders, worship team, setup crew, tutors an office masters.

Ultimately as a staff we were reminded how there is no way this movement of God could happen through CCF without all of CCF catching that same vision for campus and serving with broken hearts. Here is one of the videos put together and stay tuned for more in the coming days.