The Big Give 2022 Wrap-Up
Another year has come and gone. With that comes many opportunities the Lord placed upon us to give and serve others. “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value other above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the other. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2: 1-7.
With a name like NOEL, our family was drawn to LifePoint’s Big Give efforts seven years ago when we started attending here. With our youngest daughter and I having social anxiety, but a heart to serve, I thought, this could be something to get connected to but without the need to be “forward facing” in a large group activity. We both prefer smaller settings and intimate groups of people. Little did I know that God’s plan was to use me to do more than just quietly serve in the background. Our family loves the Christmas season. We decorate, bake, host family and friends, sing carols, send cards, look for and take part in ways to serve others, and take part in Advent by readying our hearts to celebrate Jesus! The Big Give efforts at LifePoint each year helped our family grow in the love of serving others, helped us face our social anxiety fears, and continue to grow closer in our walk as believers.
Five years ago, Pastor Kenny from Belize (one of LifePoint’s global mission partners), knew our love of the Christmas season, and how we looked for ways to give back each year. Kenny wanted a way to bring his village community of Gales Point together in fellowship and sharing the gospel to those that do not attend church regularly. Knowing that here in the US many non-believers take part in a Christmas service, he wanted to offer that in his village, along with a gift to each child, a treat, and meal to all the families of the village. Most children in the village live in severe poverty and wouldn’t receive a gift any time during the year, let alone at Christmas. This is how our annual Christmas In Belize Outreach Fundraiser began. Since the beginning, approximately 130 children in the remote Belizean Village have been taking part in these efforts, hearing about Jesus’s birth, and receiving His love, along with full bellies. Our goal is to raise $15 per child, with an overall goal of $2000 each year to support Pastor Kenny in these efforts. I am happy to share that each year we have hit our goal. This year we surpassed our goal! Hurricane Lisa, a category 1 hurricane, hit Belize while we were in the middle of our fundraising efforts for The Big Give. While a category 1 hurricane wouldn’t do much damage to homes and businesses in the US, in Belize, where structures are not built the same, it demolished homes, took off roofs, flooded churches, and had power outages for weeks. LifePoint was able to bless Pastor Kenny with what he needed to host his Christmas program AND help rebuild homes in Gales Point, and repair damage that was done to his church building, with a total of $3,744 received in donations.
Our Giving Tree efforts each year goes to support one or more of our local ministry partners. The Giving Tree is where you can take a tag off the tree, which lists a need for a child or the ministry serving the child, shop for the needed item, and return it back to LifePoint to deliver to the ministry in need. This year the tree was supporting Compassion Youth and Youth Haven. Both local ministries that serve at risk or under privileged youth here in Arizona. We had 125 tags on our tree this year, and ALL needs were met!
The Gift Card Drive goes to help give added monetary support to our local ministry partners that mostly serve adults, families, and teens. This year Arizona Reservation Ministry, Genesis Project, Hope Women’s Center, and Vineyard Pregnancy Center was blessed with gift cards to places that help serve their ministry efforts. A total of over $800 in gift cards was given to these local ministries, so that the hungry can have a meal, an at-risk pregnancy may have the opportunity to hear a heartbeat, or a struggling mom can buy some new clothes for a job interview.
Lastly, our Operation Christmas Child effort with Samaritan’s Purse (OCC). These are those bright red and green shoe boxes that were getting passed out in the lobby. You had the opportunity to take them, fill them with all sorts of gifts for a child ages 2 to 14, and return them during national collection week (Nov. 14th – 21st). When these shoeboxes get delivered, the children also have the opportunity to hear about the gospel and partake in a bible study called The Greatest Journey. At the end of it, most then dedicate themselves to following Jesus. These shoeboxes make it to the most remote and poverty-stricken places in the world. We pack and collect every fall, but the child may receive their gift in the spring or summer of the following year. This year LifePoint collected 596 shoeboxes and loaded 38 cases! We gather shoeboxes form three other local churches, as well as members of our community. In these efforts, our OCC volunteers get to pray with people of our community, that doesn’t attend LifePoint. These efforts take many hands coming together to help show the love of Jesus to children across the globe.
We want to give a shoutout and a big thank you to our Big Give Holiday Volunteers. Without each of them, The Big Give 2022 would not have been as impactful to those in need that its efforts are intended to serve. Becky and Andy Haas, Nicole Calvert and the whole Calvert Family, Tina Thomas, Miranda Jones, Renee Pocklington, Aubri Morris, and Casey Kakar, truly, we were blessed to work along side each of you in seeing these efforts through to fruition, and to show the love and glory of Jesus. Thank you!
To learn more or to be involved in next year’s Big Give, please email Missions@LifePointAZ.com.
Merry Christmas!
Angela Noel
Missons Director