Every Tuesday, our Whiz Kids and their tutors fill the Cube with energy and more hugs than you can count (and most recently, a lot of 4th grade drama). Every Friday, our Celebrate Recovery meets for dinner and 12-step groups, passing out chips to celebrate markers of sobriety and life change. Our partners around the city are faithfully serving, loving and sharing the gospel in a variety of spaces including education, recovery, vulnerable families, outdoor ministry and food insecurity. Our deacons and bereavement team serve our church every single day in meaningful ways that impact every single person in our church, whether they know it or not. Our groups are accessing the Care Portal and meeting the needs of families in our community. We have had adoptions finalized, babies come into loving foster homes and biological families strengthened. Around the world, we have partners living out their calling to move overseas, plant gospel-centered churches, train pastors, provide clean drinking water, bring kids out of street life into a life of purpose and provide quality education. This is just the beginning of all there is to celebrate in the life of our church!
That is exactly what this mission season is all about: celebrating all that God is doing. I know you don’t need me to tell you about how hard the past few years have been. You know it personally and our church knows it collectively. The sadness, grief and loss is overwhelming and there will continue to be heavy burdens we will carry together. But this year, we felt the need deep in our souls to blow up some balloons and take a moment to celebrate that God is with us, He is working and we have each other. There is much to get excited about as we launch our 2022 Missions Season of April 24th through May 29th!
Each Sunday will bring a special emphasis to a CRBC ministry or partnership through guest speakers, videos and more. This is also the time of year we ask our church to give above and beyond their tithe to our Missions Ingathering Offering which goes to support ALL of our mission partnerships throughout the year. Our goal this year is to surpass last year’s giving of $101K! May 29th will be the big finale and Chris Brewster will be guest preaching! If you don’t know Chris Brewster, he is one of Oklahoma City’s treasured superintendents, pastors and community leaders. Every time I hear him speak, I leave bolstered and inspired to continue the good work ahead. His passions and background intertwine with the heart of our church in so many ways--from growing up on the mission field to his involvement in education and mentorship, adoption, racial equity and unity in our city, and a heart for the Church–-I know you will be impacted just like I have been.
To learn more, please visit the missions webpage at: www.councilroad.church/give. To give, designate “Missions” in your financial giving online or through text, or place an offering in an offering envelope and drop in the buckets on Sunday morning. I can’t wait to celebrate with you this Missions Season!
Meet the Author!
Makenzie graduated from Wheaton College where she majored in Christian Ministry, Urban Studies, and Photography and somehow managed to apply all of her degrees to work in the real world! She has a passion for community development after years working in urban ministry in Chicago, non-profits in Austin, and has been on staff at CRBC since 2012. She loves being able to equip and serve the church through her role as Minister of Missions at CRBC which includes both local and global partnerships. Despite being the missions minister, she is quite the homebody. She is an avid Harry Potter fan, loves Oklahoma City, and is happiest when surrounded by friends, family, and her ADORABLE weenie dog, May.