Prelude to A Promise Thanksgiving Banquet

But a great deal of creativity was put forth to put these things together. I had someone suggest that this would be a great thing just to leave right out in your home, where you can show friends and neighbors what the Lord is doing in your church, and just share with them how God is opening doors for us. And I want you to thank the folks that made this happen. Dave and Pat Giuliani, would you stand? And Bill and Alison Christie, go ahead and stand. Dave and Pat, Bill and Alison, God bless you guys. You did a great job. Dave and Pat kept me on my toes to get this stuff together for weeks, and it was a real encouragement to have them. Now, we also have some other folks that will be helping, and you don't see as much of some of these, but tomorrow night and Tuesday night you'll be seeing folks that are working with Paul, Greg, and George Bellis in our commitment visitation. Where are Paul, Greg, and George Bellis? Go ahead and stand. Paul and George, back here. Thank you, man. They were two of the three big guys that went to get Ken. And then for the following months, from time to time, periodically, we'll be having updates on how we're doing and meeting the goals that the Lord has put before us. And we'll be hearing periodically from Dennis Riley and Dave Propelka on that. Dennis Riley, I saw you here. And Dave Propelka, would you stand, too? Let's thank these men for their contributions. Then I want to thank Mrs. Doris Blair, who has worked as the coordinator, and she has put up with so much stuff. And Marlene, she's got more stuff than anyone I know in the church. And I want to thank Dory. Where are you? Doris Blair, there she is. God bless you. Thank you. Finally, the campaign directors. I'll tell you, these guys, they need beepers. But they were the ones behind the scenes who were just keeping things on track and prayerfully leading the way in this in the last three and a half months. Wally Myers and Dan Tellem. Dan, Wally. God bless you, Dan. Thank you. Well, it's a special evening, and we want to thank you all for being a part of it. Do you know this is the first time that all of us were in one room together? To my knowledge, I mean, most of us come to... How many of you come normally to the 8.30 service? Wave your hand up. Take a look at the people. How about the 11 o'clock? Put your hand up. All right. The 8.30 are the ones with the bags under their eyes, and the 11 are the ones that are smiling and happy all the time. That's right. We have about close to 900 people here tonight, and we had quite a few who couldn't show up. I understand power is out in part of the North Hills and so on with some of the weather we've been having. And it's a blessing to be able to stand here with you and realize, folks, we're just beginning what God wants to do. We're just beginning. I'm thrilled about it. My heart is just thrilled tonight about it. And everyone who's come tonight has come to celebrate. I want to acknowledge one couple, or maybe more than one, but we have a couple whose anniversary is today, and this was their anniversary dinner. I'm going to embarrass them. Steve and Vicki Guppel, stand up. God bless you. Happy anniversary. 16 years. Steve looked at me and said, You better be out here by 8.30. But we are a family, and we share many wonderful things together. Now, in the next minutes, I'm going to ask us to do something I have a little trepidation about. If for some reason, and folks are packed all the way in the corner of the room, if you cannot see the screen, such as you folks here, we're going to ask you now, if the corner monitors don't serve you well, then you're going to have to slide around to the back and stand along the back wall. Hopefully, these two monitors will cover the corners. And we want you all to be able to see. Michael, I think we're ready. Okay, we're going to move the podium down. Go ahead, folks. Who's ever going to do this? Get some hands here. I want you to know that for the last weeks, Michael Gere and Mark Johnson have worked many hours on this video. Yesterday was a 19-hour day for Mike and 17 hours for Mark, or vice versa. I was real upset. Neither one of them were in church this morning. But they're getting serious because they believe they've captured a perspective about the life of our church that is going to mean a great deal to all of us. And so, we need the folks now to put all the lights down and let Mike warm things up here. Bear with us because this is a first here in this room. Okay, just hang on a second. He's going to set the marks and the bars and everything, and we're going to get this all queued in together. The title of this is going to be North Way Christian Community Giving Thanks. I know when we tied down the name North Way Christian Community, that was... We went everywhere from Fairhaven Lodge to... It's a merry church. Yeah, it's a merry church. It was interesting, though. It was at J.D.'s meeting in J.D.'s house, and we were trying to settle on the name, and we kicked a lot of names. We had a blackboard, and we put names on it and erased them off it. And I can't remember who was at the blackboard, but the name North Way Christian Community came up on the board, and it was like everybody said at once, yes! You guys were here at the beginning of this. How many years ago was that? Just reminisce a little bit about it. Grant, what do you think? Yes, the senile want to remember how many years it was. It was 1980, wasn't it? Wasn't it the holiday time of... Seems right. Well, there was a lot of history prior to that day. There had been a prophecy. Or was it a dream that one of the gals had had? It was a prophecy, really, of a teenager, if you recall, that had kind of shocked us all. And this was right when I was in the process of leaving to go to New York City. And the word came forth through this young teenager that there was going to be a beacon of light here in Wexford, and I said, I'll be praying for it, because I thought for sure it wasn't going to be it, or part of it. And that was the late 1980s, and we were praying through all that. It was after that that the Lord began to put together the vision for what was to happen here. Part of what she perceived in that vision, she saw Jay preaching, and she knew it was in Wexford, to a large number of people. And then in the next few years, as the body came together, we realized that that vision was being fulfilled. What we need to demonstrate to the people is that we're here to serve them. We're not here to necessarily just lead them or tell them what to do or tell them how it's going to be, but we're here to show them... To model. Yeah, exactly, to model the Christian life and to serve their needs. Live from Television Hill, this is Channel 11 News Nightbeat with Hank Bachman, Marissa Morris, Kevin Benson with weather, and Derrick Gunn with sports. Now, Channel 11 News Nightbeat. Good evening, I'm Hank Bachman. Marissa Morris has the night off. Our top story tonight, the giving spirit of the holiday season overflows in Pittsburgh. 4,000 homeless and needy Pittsburghers were treated to a holiday feast at the Convention Center tonight, all thanks to the North Way Christian community. Attendance at tonight's dinner more than doubled last year's, making this the largest meal ever served at the Convention Center. A lot of time and hard work went into making tonight's dinner a success. Stuart Brown has more on the people who made it all possible. Cat Adams is the section leader for Section 13. The 700 volunteers who put on the dinner include members of the North Way Christian Church and even staff members of the Convention Center. The food was donated by many businesses. The rest of the $80,000 tab was picked up by church members and foundations. For the Convention Center, it's the biggest catered event of the year. They do pay for equipment and some services and whatnot, but we're going a little bit extra with these folks because of the nature of it. We feel good about being able to bring a little bit of joy into the people's lives. Although this event has grown spectacularly over the years, these people behind the scenes who make it all happen say their objectives have not changed at all. The church located in Wexford started out holding the dinner in the suburbs, but members soon realized they could reach more of the needy in the city, and the object is more than just to feed people. This is a place not just where people receive a meal or some toys or some food coupons, but it's a place where they receive love and know they're accepted and know that their worth is not in their economic status. Volunteers have joined the dinner for similar reasons, whether they've worked here before or are taking part for the first time. I think probably the main reason is just to lift up the name of Jesus Christ, and probably the second reason, and equally as important, is just to help out people who need help at this time of the year. To the inner city people, the people that we really want to say that Jesus loves you at Christmastime. Someone estimated more than half a ton of turkey and a like amount of the trimmings was served here tonight, along with much love. Stuart Brown, Channel 11 News, Nightbeat. Four thousand people gathering together for a Christmas banquet was the farthest thing in the minds of those original nine men that met as part of the Servants' Council. If you told us what God was going to do, I'm sure we all would have laughed out loud at God's goodness. We're thankful, but we also know that the future is ahead of us and that God is going to continue to fulfill His word, which is that He would send us all that we would care for. And so, my dear ones, we are headed in the direction of obeying God and following His leading as we look into the future and care for all that God has sent. He turned and saw this young man And he was smiling as he came And he said, Friend, you may not know me now And then he said, But wait, You used to teach my Sunday school And I was only eight And every week he would say a prayer Before the class would start One day when he said that prayer I asked Jesus in my heart Thank you For giving to the Lord On Sunday mornings, we have average 260 kids every Sunday So we're growing And each room is to capacity So next year when these kids move up, we're going to have to have two first grade classes and two kindergarten classes So we're going to need extra rooms to accommodate that Plus the nursery is about to give us quite a few more kids next year So it looks like growth and growth and more growth right now We are always looking into the future We're always saying, God, what's next? And what we're pursuing right now is a large piece of property within three miles of our current facility Perhaps more than just a church for North Way A nicer facility But rather including Christian education Much broader recreational opportunities Perhaps even including a retreat kind of facility God has allowed us to see 60 to 70 ministries raised up throughout the community We've got ministries to prisoners We have ministry to unwed mothers through the Crisis Pregnancy Center where we've seen over a thousand young women in the last several years and many babies saved We have ministry to the poor through the food bank Did you know that we're feeding over a hundred families through the food bank? Most people don't see it We have dozens, probably scores, of men and women who have planted as missionaries throughout the world in China, in India, in Jamaica and throughout the world We're not only sending missions we're establishing missions When someone comes to North Way with a vision for a country it's very probable that we will be able to help them fulfill that vision to establish a ministry Then another man stood before you Said remember the time A missionary came to your church His pictures made you cry He didn't have much money But you gave it anyway Jesus took your gift today That's why I'm here today But I don't want to give you Or give you to the Lord I have a life that will change Two months ago my life was in a terrible state of turmoil I was separated from my husband I had a protection order against my husband and it was soon to expire I had about a month's time left and I had spoke with women from Torrentum all the way into downtown Pittsburgh and every avenue again and we kept leading back to North Way So I started to research North Way and I had gotten legal counsel or legal advice from people from North Way and I had joined a support group which was very helpful Within two weeks I had signed a lease and I had a home move organized and myself and my two children we had a new residence established and just all kind of wonderful things started happening in my life I once again found hope and found faith that my children and myself were going to be okay She's very good Nathan I went to the doctor just feeling a little unusually tired At that point the doctor had told me that I was getting over a case of mononucleosis and as it turned out the mononucleosis never went away Things got progressively worse I lost my husband I was in the process of losing my job and my home I was virtually unable to take care of my son who was now five years old I was a Christian at the time and I couldn't understand him Anyway I came to North Way and I knew that Jay and I were from the same hometown He asked me, what are you doing now? and the tears just started to flow and that was a real answer to prayer because I had been unable to cry for about six months prior to that Jay said, come on let's pray and he took me over to the side and we prayed with two women and I knew that the Lord had touched me right at that point I just felt a warmth just go through my whole body and I was just, I just knew that I was healed and my son and I hopped on bicycles and we rode bicycles the rest of the day and that night I came home and did a Jane Fonda low impact aerobics tape for an hour and I felt so good I did it again so that was two hours Pastor Jay was giving a message on the New Age Movement and as I was leaving the church after that service something urged me very strongly to get the tape from the previous Sunday and listen to it Pastor Jay was talking about a list of courses from a local college that he considered to be from his dreams New Age type courses and as he listed those courses down I said to myself those are the courses that I'm offering and I was very convicted at that point and so what I did was make a decision to drop those courses now this would have meant that I would have lost 225 or 250 students but I took a step of faith and said alright well let's see what you're going to do with this and to my surprise not only did he replace those 225 students but he gave me an additional 500 My mom and dad were told when they adopted me that my natural mother didn't want me that she was in college pursuing a career and had a boyfriend and I just did not fit into the plan and in June I went to an outreach with the Cutting Edge over in Akron and I'd only met Ron Meyer that day so he knew nothing about me and so at the end of his message he asked us all to join hands and begin praying and as we were praying he began coming forth with some words of knowledge he had about five that night and one of them was for the one who's been rejected from birth God will set you free so immediately I knew this was for me because I knew this man knew nothing about me but in August my mom came to me and started talking and she was talking in riddles and I knew something was really on her mind and what she told me at that point was that she and the next door neighbor had been doing research to find my natural mother and the next door neighbor Linda called Patty, my natural mother and she said I'm not calling to upset you but I have something and I need to find out and Patty was like well who is this? what are you calling for? and the story that unfolded was that she didn't reject me in fact she wanted me and at that time the doctors and the people from the adoption agency convinced her that it would be in my best interest to give me away so she talked with her parents and then they consented to sign the papers and when she went back for her checkup she'd asked about me wanting to know what I was and what had happened and the doctor told her don't worry the baby was a boy and it was stillborn and so all these years she thought I was dead and I thought she just didn't want me so immediately I was filled with compassion for her God is truly doing a marvelous work and we're blessed to be part of it and I know you want to give him thanks along with me for all that's taking place as Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10 these precious words now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God together let's give him our very best one by one they came far as the eye could see each life somehow touched by your generosity little things that you had done sacrifices made unnoticed on the earth in heaven now proclaimed thank you for giving to the Lord I am so glad you came thank you for giving to the Lord I am alive there's a change thank you for giving to the Lord I am so glad you came I am so glad you came the thing that I'm thinking about right now is how many people will go through their whole lives and miss it just miss it they'll miss it all they may get success they may get the toys and the goodies and the stuff that they miss life it doesn't really matter where you are in that pilgrimage I know some of us have come to a place where perhaps we're just at the end of ourselves and frustrated and wondering where God is there's an awful lot of us here tonight but know that if the Lord chose to take us home tonight it's all been worth it and if he would close the doors of our church tonight, if this was our goodbye meeting it was all worth it but the images that I remember from this film are all images of the little ones the children and the next generation which is coming we assemble in that sanctuary we're fairly comfortable many of the rooms in our church are packed uncomfortable unvented, un-air-conditioned there aren't places for our high schoolers really to meet and do creative things there's lots of limitations and I say can't all these blessed adults do something and I know we can and I know by God's grace we will we'll leave a legacy you know a new church on the block seven years in terms of redemptive history is a little wisp isn't it I mean God's been working at this for 6,000 years and we're just looking at seven of them but wouldn't you agree that God has done an amazing amount in seven years the question really we're asking tonight is not how much money will you give the question is do you believe that God is working because if it really truly is God at work then whatever we would give tonight would simply be our amen in His hand whatever we commit tonight is simply saying Lord I've received and I want to say thank you thank you for what I've received and I want to leave something for the people that are going to follow none of us have a guarantee about tomorrow the best that the Lord will promise us is that He'll never fail us or forsake us He'll never leave us but we are writing history tonight we are writing history in a very tangible way ministry which this film so beautifully grasps ministry all around the world ministry in the inner city ministry in our neighborhoods ministry with our kids ministry is the bottom line of why we're here I stand with you surrounded by the elders of this church who I'm going to ask to come up here and join me in just a moment to say to you we appeal with the integrity of our hearts that you would trust God in your commitment and we'll commit to you to steward that money the best we know how that ministry would flow to the next generation and as we write history our children won't be saying well mom and dad what happened back in 1980 and 83 and 85 and 88 and they won't ask longingly from some place where they haven't had the opportunity to experience but rather they're going to say mom and dad thank you thank you thank you for giving and I feel greatly liberated tonight that God is going to speak to you North Way is not a wealthy church some of you come from backgrounds and you see people and you say well there must be a lot of money out there we're really not a wealthy church God's given us a wonderful mixture of people some who have a lot of means and some who have very little and isn't it wonderful to be together that we sit around a table some might be a millionaire at your table and someone might be on welfare but North Way must do this one thing we must see that we all have a part in it we all have a part in writing our history tonight don't look at the next person and say well they'll write history you're going to write it tonight when you write your name on this little card that's at your table you're writing history and even if it's a small little promise it's fine God knows what's in your heart God will honor the integrity of your heart and if it's a great gift that only a miracle will bring then God will honor that as well and I believe He wants to do that in many of your lives He wants, as some share here tonight He wants to show you how much He will provide and for those who will trust I wish tonight I could say these dollars will do these things all I can tell you is anything that comes in through this commitment will be stewarded to the best of our ability and we will seek God concerning His future for us we believe that we have a direction we believe that as I've spelled out clearly in that newsletter which you've all received in that brochure that God's clearly told us what our priorities are to be that we're going to pay off this building that we're going to expand it and make it as usable as possible and equip those who are ministering to minister and then in God's time you'll all be a part of this decision when it comes in God's time we're going to move where we can have adequate place and adequate space to do what God's called us to do to win this city to impact this northeast when I look in this room dear ones there is faith here tonight to do that very thing there's resource here tonight to do that very thing if each of us take our part I'm going to ask us to pray now at our tables and I do want the elders I didn't pre-alert you to this men but if you'll come right now up here on this little platform I think it'll hold us and I want you to join hands around the table for just a moment and we're going to pray just for a moment here together and I'd like the table host or hostess just to lead out in a word of prayer at your table for God to speak to our hearts tonight and anyone else who wants to join in you can go ahead and do that just for a moment just pray that the Lord would lead us as we make our decisions tonight concerning our future go ahead table host would you lead out in prayer at each table and I'll draw us together in just a moment that is going to give you right now a commitment card and I'm going to need one of those up here too if I could now some of you have already done this and I want to give a report as to where we are right now so you can understand our future and by the way the very first thing you can do with your card is to take a pen and just sign your name on the stub that's there and leave it on, the hostess will be picking those up the little stub will tear off the end that just lets us know that you were here it's all like that and we want to know that we want to register your attendance with us tonight so everyone can sign that and pass them down to your table host or hostess I'm already lost now before I explain the balance of the card to you let me tell you where we are as we come to the dinner tonight as you may have heard as soon as you sign your name if you'd look up then I'll know everyone's done don't fill out the card yet as you may have heard over the last just 10 days or so as the Bible records in 1 Chronicles 29 after King David made his commitment to the building of the temple then the leaders followed suit and from that the people took their cue you can read about that in 1 Chronicles 29 and over this last really just 10 days about 10% of our leadership 10% of our body only 65 people have made their commitments to this date I'm going to ask Paul to put up our first goal if you recall our first goal that we were believing God for over the next three years was going to be $600,000 $600,000 as of tonight to this moment and I know there are others who just forgot to get these in but this is where we are according to the latest report 65 people just 1 tenth of our giving unit membership actually a little bit less have committed $565,000 of this goal already isn't that great? Praise the Lord now that gives you an idea of the way that the Lord is speaking to some hearts and I know from some of the prayers that I was hearing that perhaps the Lord would even speak to some of those hearts again tonight the second goal that we are asking God to help us to reach our sacrifice goal is $1,000,000 this is over three years now this isn't by the end of 1988 someone said you mean by the end of 1988? No but over three years over and above our normal tithes and offerings over and above what we are giving normally that the Lord would enable us to give $1,000,000 that would enable us to pay our building off to make the renovations and to begin to accumulate a war chest for this next move the Lord would have for us and our final goal, a real miracle goal would be $1,500,000 dear ones I want to tell you, I said in the brochure humanly impossible and as I stand here tonight it is humanly impossible it would take something absolutely sovereign for God to move on us it's totally achievable if everyone tonight would take seriously the promises of God totally achievable but humanly impossible I believe we can do it I believe God will speak to us and then all I ask you to do is just obey what the Lord would put on your heart now here are the mechanics and bear with me as you look at your commitment card it's very important now that you look at it we've already gotten some of these in that are kind of goofy if you and your spouse, if you're married, if you're single if you've decided on a figure I'm going to give you about two quiet minutes here to go ahead and fill this in in just a second put the total to the right over the next three years by faith can you imagine where you might be in 1991? could you imagine what God might do? don't think what He may not do, think what He may do and then if you're going to give weekly, then put it down in a weekly amount if you're going to give monthly, then break it down monthly so that for example, if you're going to commit $3600 I'll just make up a figure then that would be a total for 36 months, that would be $10 no, that would be $100 a month, for 36 months you can see why it takes someone who knows what they're doing on this, alright? and then finally if you decide, well I don't have any cash we're already going up on our budget, we don't know there are people who are giving things that they believe they can lay down as an offering to the Lord that have value to them I literally had one person who's committed to our ministry another church building they didn't have any cash assets to speak of they gave some commitment there but their thing that they could give up was another church building so now North Way has two church buildings you're all expressing that is really strange well this is what the Lord put in this person's heart to do and it's another part of this city, I don't think we'll be able to use it but it certainly has value and we're going to pray about it, what do you want us to do? so you think about that, alright? I'm going to be quiet for about two minutes now this is the last important word listen, if you don't know and you say well you know honestly, Jay, I hadn't taken this seriously I don't really know I want you to pray about it and if the Lord would prompt you to do something now, I urge you to do that if not, then take it home with you pray about it tonight and then tomorrow, it's very important that you either call in or drop by with your card so that we wouldn't have to pursue you because I know us, folks we are busy people and I think if you recall what Don and Michael said make a decision now for those of us who are guests tonight and you came just as a friend we understand you're just here to celebrate with us and give thanks and if you would just pray with us these next two minutes I'm going to just go ahead and allow couples and individuals now to go ahead and fill out your card if you have any questions just ask your table host or hostess and they'll answer for you go ahead and take about a minute or two and then we'll be done follow up visitation team to visit you if you know you're just not able right now to do anything more, we understand that we told you that you're welcome to celebrate with us tonight we'll be praying for the Lord to meet our needs just put that on your card and turn it in that way we'll know all the folks that have made a commitment tonight over the next weeks and months as we fulfill our commitments there will be an opportunity on a regular basis we're going to have envelopes prepared for you that you can designate your gifts so that there won't be confusion about this it'll be very simple and clear you'll be hearing more about that in a couple of weeks and that kind of a thing will simplify so that if you're not able to keep track very simply yourself I know that's why I turned all my books over to my wife because we keep track of things now this will help us all there will be simple mechanics in that over the months ahead so let's just be patient as we get that material to you now let me just report this we got our first two checks in tonight and these were totally unsolicited one check a person writes and says in thankfulness for those very special people from Northwood, this is not a member of our church who came to the hospital in August 1987 to pray for me Mrs. Ruth Berger isn't that wonderful someone remembered a visit over a year ago in the hospital and they gave a check tonight for $100 to the building fund a first family in our church to give a specified commitment and it's very appropriate and that is Wes and Ruth Dawson, we thank you tonight and you know it's a wonderful thing to see people opening their hearts to what God wants to do it's a great blessing so we have our first $1100 going in to see God complete His promise to us join a hand with someone now or touch someone if you can't make a circle just touch Lord it's been a marvelous evening of just considering the great and marvelous things you've done Lord I make a commitment tonight to rest our case Lord there's been much activity and much discussion and deliberation many prayers but Lord now we lift it all up to you and we put it in your lap and we give you our future and we say with one voice O God fulfill your promise to us fulfill it and bring glory and honor to your name and Lord for our part we're just going to speak words of faith and words of praise and allow you to speak to our hearts and to open the doors and to astonish us with your goodness Lord so that we'll be able to say that Lord you have gone beyond what we could imagine that you would do and that some other generation yet to follow will be able to say thank you thank you for that night thank you for giving thank you for caring.