This is the 17th year that the Seekers Life Group has been supplying shoes to financially underprivileged children in our community. Back in November, the Seekers Life Group provided over 110 different children with a pair of shoes, and the Horizons Life Group teamed up with them to provide socks, underwear, hat, belt, toothbrush and toothpaste to these kids. With some leftover funds, the Seekers Life Group met a second time at Shoe Carnival to provide shoes, socks, and underwear to 25 additional kids. Many thanks goes to the Seekers Life Group for donating of their time and money to make this happen.

Each year, First Christian Church works in conjunction with the family resources of many of our local schools to find children whose families may need a little help during the holidays to provide Christmas gifts for their children. Thanks to your help and generosity, First Christian Church was able to help over 190 children in our community to have a happier Christmas morning by providing them with clothing and gifts. Over $500 was collected in the church yard sale in October, and over $2,100 was collected in our money jars to cover additional gifts and expenses associated with this project. Thank you to all of the individuals and life groups that gave of their time and money to go shopping for these kids. Also, thank you to those who gave up their Sunday afternoon to help wrap all of the purchased gifts. We wrapped over 1,200 packages for these kids. And a special thanks to the B.I.G. and the Mitchell/Chaney Life Groups for coordinating this effort. Without everyone working hand-in-hand, this project would never have happened. God is so good! It is awesome to see our church family Caring Intentionally, Giving Generously, and Loving Randomly. If we all keep it up throughout the year, there is no telling how many awesome things that God can use His church to do.

The leadership of First Christian Church hosted its 14th annual dinner honoring individuals in our church family who will be spending the holidays without companionship due to the loss of a spouse. The dinner was held on Wednesday, December 9th, at 5:30pm and was provided and prepared by First Christian leaders, consisting of Elders, Deacons, and Staff. Over 30 invited guests were served, along with the church leaders and their families, totalling over 100 people in attendance. Thank you to all who participated and made this event a success.

Our MOPS (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) group partnered with Clarity... Solutions For Women (formerly the Heartland Crisis Pregnancy Center) to provide baby bundles to be handed out to expecting mothers. Each bundle consisted of stuffed animals, candy-filled bottles, and coco butter lotion wrapped in a baby blanket. The center will also add some information and supplies to these bundles and give them as a gift of encouragement to these mothers. Materials were donated by our MOPS moms, and we assembled over 80 bundles at our Christmas party to take to Clarity. Thank you ladies for your help in this meaningful project!

The Wednesday evening Women's Bible Study sent out baskets of goodies to our college students, both local and out-of-town, as an encouragement to them. Over 30 baskets were sent out this year. Thank you to everyone who participated in this ministry to reach out to our college students.

This is the 17th year that the Seekers Life Group has been supplying shoes to financially underprivileged children in our community. For the past several years, the Horizons Life Group has partnered together with them to supply socks, underwear and other supplies to these children. Every year in November, members from these two Sunday Morning Life Groups assemble together at 7:30am on a Saturday morning at the Shoe Carnival to give the shoes and socks to these pre-registered kids. This year, over 110 different children were each given a pair of shoes, socks, underwear, hat, belt, toothbrush and toothpaste. In addition, the leftover supplies were donated to some of the local area elementary schools to give out to any child in need. Thank you so much to the Seekers Life Group for purchasing the shoes and to the Horizons Life Group for purchasing the socks, underwear, hats, belts, toothbrushes and toothpaste.

First Christian Church members raised $4,495 for the Walk for Life hosted by Clarity - Solutions For Women (formerly the Heartland Crisis Pregnancy Center). Thank you to all of you who participated in the walk, whether by walking, donating money, handling check-in and registration, or driving the church van to shuttle people back to their cars.

Our Kick-off event was a huge success. We had a great turnout and a fabulous time of worship, fellowship, and a spotlight on our direction for missions and the upcoming mission trips for 2010. We also got to hear a very inspiring update from one of our international missionaries serving in a very hostile and dangerous environment. It was very encouraging to hear how God is breaking ground and opening doors in an area that would otherwise seem unreachable for Christ.