GREATER THINGS is the church of Christ unifying together. It is the hands and feet. It is the body, multi denominational, multicultural, interracial, all as one. Keeping our eyes on the Savior, as Jesus says in John 1, to see Greater Things.
MORE THAN JUST WORDS, IT'S WHAT WE BELIEVE. Having started in 2019 as a monthly prayer and worship service, we quickly saw the power of God move by churches connecting together. Greater Things has now grown to embody 5 different components: Connect, Pray, Worship, Serve, and Outreach.
It may have started as one or two events and small as an idea, but this past year we have seen God bringing to fruition this vision. So I want to take a few moments just to highlight a few of the things that took place.
Back in March Lindsey was sharing with me about the need for food amongst public schools, talking about the number of kids who rely on the school systems. As we began praying about how to help, we felt overwhelmed. But also as we prayed God kept giving me the simple statement keep it simple. So one morning sitting on our back porch He led us to partner with Backpack Project and use our local church connections to collect food stuffing the trailer at a different church throughout lent. Overall we ended up with 12 churches taking part gathering nonperishables to be sent home to over 400 kids every weekend. It was such a success that we ended up doing it in the fall also. To give you just an idea of the scope of food collected, the fall drive accounted for 7079 food items equalling over 4500 dollars worth. Praise God!
This project is near and dear to my heart. Did you know that in Johnstown we have many who are hurting, alone, even homeless. The outcasts. So every Thursday Night Franklin st church opens it doors to prepare andante serve a meal, a devotional, and fellowship for these people. Yet again on our own it would be overwhelming, but when we work together it is a task that God has simplified. We are now at a place that churches can sign up on a quarterly basis to come and help. What we have found is that many of those churches then take this simple ministry back to their own churches to help meet needs in their own area.
Truly something to behold. The first year when Lindsey had the idea we did not know what we were doing. We had just heard that many go hungry over the holiday,. Yes people give out free turkeys, and stuff to make a meal, but the problem is for many of those who are hungry they don’t have a way to/ knowledge on how to make it. So she simply said “what if we make it all and then deliver it.” 5 years ago it started as just that. 100 meals premade that would just need reheated in a microwave. This past year in partnering with Johnstown, Richland, and Forest Hills, we saw that number grow to over 450 meals. Lets talk about a lot of turkey. Again only possible with many coming together. When you work together in Jesus name you can see the miraculous take place.
To name a few more without going into crazy amounts of detail because I could honestly write a book about all that is taking place in our city, here we go. Mission Teams This past summer in partnering with New Day and Hosanna we had 8 different mission teams come to our great city. Coat drives, Trojan family Christmas, Food pantry, Clothing ministry, Citywide services and the list goes on. Above all of it though, and what I believe keeps it all going is Wednesday prayer time and Jesus name being shared at each and every event.
