WILKES-BARRE, Pa., (BRN) – Restored Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, recently hosted two outreach events during the Christmas season – a kids ornament and cookie event and a Christmas brunch. Both events were funded in part by evangelism grants from the Baptist Resource Network (BRN) and resulted in much fruit for the Restored Church community.
Kids Ornament and Cookie Event
On Dec. 22, 2022, Restored Church had 15 families come and engage in a kids ornament and cookie event. The plan was to engage families that have come to our food distribution in the community with another opportunity to build relationships, leveraging the holiday season to invite them to a family event. We planned to have cookies and hot chocolate, make ornaments with the kids and act out the Christmas story.
We were pumped to continue our engagement with these families in our community. Acting out the Christmas story was a blast as we were able to see many of the kids get involved and even dress up a bit.
The ornaments that the kids made were hung on a Christmas tree in the church lobby and the families could take them back when they came on Christmas Eve to the Christmas Eve Service. A number of them did and took the ornaments home.
We saw a number of amazing things happen at this event! Here are the highlights:
- Family Connections – We had the opportunity to further see 15 families in our community get connected, building relationships from our community food distribution.
- Gospel was clearly presented – While we read a kids book that walked through the Christmas Story, we also had another gentlemen in our church, Rob Nave, that has gone through the Timothy Initiative Training at Restored give the gospel to the whole group.
- Cassie – We had one young lady named Cassie, who was present at the event, give her life to Christ over Christmas, due to the many times she has heard the gospel and this event being one of them. These are some words she sent me after the fact, “Yesterday, I made the decision to put my faith in Jesus – his life, death and resurrection. It was a good day! Could you please pray with me that God uses me to play a role in my family’s salvation? I have a mom, dad and younger siblings that all need to meet Jesus.”
Thank you, BRN, for all your investment in this and for jumping in to help us not only love those that we were provided aid, but to be strategic about sharing the gospel. Thank you for resourcing an environment that mobilized our people, built deliberate relationships and planted gospel seeds in the lives of others.
Christmas Brunch Event
We are a church that is often a place that is able to be family for those who do not have family. One of the ways we are able to do this is by engaging those who need a place to go for the holidays throughout the year.
On Christmas morning, Restored Church served brunch to all those who wanted to attend from the Wilkes-Barre area and a part of the Restored Church family. The brunch was then followed by a short devotional and gospel presentation. The event lasted about three hours and we were able to serve about 35 people and spend time with them over Christmas morning.
We saw a number of amazing things happen at this event! Here are the highlights:
- Cultivation of the Environment – A young man named Jake, who has started stepping up at church, took the lead on all the logistics for this event. From food and planning, to set up and tear down – he did an amazing job.
- Strategic Opportunities with Disciple Makers – We have been leading a Timothy Initiative Training Center at Restored Church, where we have numerous people connected in our church being trained to be disciple makers. We were able to have a number of these people at the event.
- Clear Gospel Presentation – One of the guys in our church who is part of the Timothy Initiative Training, Jake Pelton, presented the gospel clearly for all of those in attendance.
Thank you, BRN, for resourcing an environment that mobilized our people, built deliberate relationships and planted gospel seeds in the lives of others!
