Also, we will be serving together for Thanksgiving day, helping to get hungry people fed…destination TBA!

This upcoming week we will be at the Heartland Festival passing out free gatorade, water, and registering to give away a free iPad! Read more about it here! So what’s the deal? Why spend a Saturday afternoon just to give stuff away? At least 2 reasons:

1) To reflect the generosity of God. In the Bible there are many different lights one can view God in – Lord, Savior, Father, Ruler, Friend. All of these are true and accurate, but are all prefaced by the generosity of God. The way we understand God is only possible through his generosity – the greatest giver of all. God gives life & breath to everything and everyone. God gives us the story of his people that draws us in and compels us to be written in it. God gives. The primary act of generosity is Father God providing a way for us, in Christ Jesus to be brought back into relationship with him. God is generous. We should be as well.

2) To help a good cause. People are thirsty and it is hot! We can meet an obvious practical need free of charge. Also, all of the money collected to raffle off the iPad will be donated to Warm Blessings – a local soup kitchen. Read their story here.

Will servant outreaches bring conversion to the hearts of people? No. But neither will arguing with people, yelling at people, having well thought out arguments or debates, or any other attempt that we make will convert a single heart. It is by the Spirit of God alone.

So why do it?

Perhaps a small act of love coupled with a prayerful heart can lead to an open door to share the gospel about Christ – yet even then, it is only the Holy Spirit who can make truth real and lead people through it, not us.

Mike

This particular post would be for the latter.

And, as the title so aptly gives away, the big news here is the fact that we (Open House) are giving away an iPad!!!  How awesome is that?!!?

Here’s the scoop:

• Where? :: The Heartland Festival (Freeman Lake Park – Elizabethtown, KY)
• When? :: August 28, 2010
• What? :: This will be a raffle, $1.00 per ticket (limit 2 per person/750 entries max)
• Who? :: The raffle will be hosted by Open House with all the money collected being donated in full to Warm Blessings Soup Kitchen in Hardin County

That’s it in a nutshell.  So come out to the Heartland Festival, stop by the Open House booth for some free Gatorade, and drop a couple bucks in the raffle for your chance at a brand new iPad!

The lucky winner will be announced via this website, Facebook, and Twitter and we’ll be presenting both the iPad and the donation money on September 11, 2010 at the Nexus Building during our Open House open house.  It’ll be a night of music, coffee and an introduction of who we are as a community…we hope that if you’re reading this, you’ll join us!  (Here’s a map to the building.)

Last week we had a great time passing out candy and giving away free high fives! Check out some of our pictures here. It’s funny how such a small gesture of kindness can have such a deep impact. Yet, it’s these small acts of love, done in the name of Christ, that have the ability to reach people. As we gear up for our next service project, I invite you to join us in showing love to the college students of our area. College finals week is approaching fast at ECTC.

Open House sees this as an awesome opportunity to serve our local community again! We will be passing out free coffee, hot chocolate & doughnuts to local college students & faculty. We need your help to make it happen. December 7th & 8th, Monday & Tuesday, we will be setting up a station in the Academic & Technical Building of ECTC. We will have four different sessions (listed below) to serve as a community. The 6am time is not a typo!

Monday & Tuesday Shifts:

6am-10am

4pm – 8pm

If you are interested in serving please call me at 270.734.9765 or email me at mike (at) openhouseky (dot) org.