Food/Diaper/Gift Card Drive

Project Reach Diaper/Food/Gift Card drive was wonderful! Thanks so much to all who contributed and served. We received over 550 items, and somewhere around 1400 diapers, plus hundreds of dollars in gift cards and cash donations. Way to go FCC! We have already been able to bless our Reach partners Golden Corner Food Pantry and Foothills Pregnancy Care Center :)

FCC Project Reach October Appalacia Mission Re-Cap

This was a trip filled with provision! During the weeks leading up to our departure, many people stepped up to deliver clothing. By the day we left, we had so many bags of clothing that we almost could not take them all. One of our church members donated probably around two thousand lbs. of construction supplies (such as ceiling fans, electrical items, plywood, tile, hardwood flooring, a shop vac, etc. And we received what had to be several thousand lbs. of food/diapers/etc. from one of our Project Reach partners (Golden Corner Food Pantry.) All in all, we probably had about 5000 lbs. of items to bring to donate to the ministries we work with in Kentucky, and even a few we don’t work directly with.  

As you can see in the pics, our trailers were LOADED down! Neither trailer could have handled much more; and my poor old GMC Jimmy had all it could handle before the suspension would squat so low that the trailer chains were dragging! What a blessing. Look at all that stuff! Thank God for Will Black and his big old F150 4x4 which pulled the FCC trailer no problem. 

After coming down Black Mountain,

Golden Corner Food Pantry Reach Day - October 8th Re-Cap

Our family Project Reach day at the pantry was a wonderful time! We had about 40 people on the team ranging from a few years old, on up through people in their 70’s.  For two hours we boxed hundreds of boxes of food and meats for the families in need that receive help from this ministry.  What an incredible time of fellowship and getting it done!

Some team members taught their children how to box food as they slid the boxes
down the rolling shelf system. It was so cute to see the parents sliding their children along sitting on the rolling shelf, with the young ones grabbing a can of vegetables or fruit and dropping them in the box.

We re-organized the large walk-in freezer, so that it could accommodate all of the boxes of meat that we had prepared. Golden Corner is blessed in the fact that they do have access to some great cuts of meat. Ya never know what is available, but I have seen steaks and chicken that made my mouth water!  I always joke that we need to put a gas grill outside the door for those cuts of meat that might just "happen" to fall out of the package.

The pantry director Richard Kulper was a bit surprised by our large turnout, and the fact that we not only accomplished everything needed, but also re-stocked the pantry shelves for the next workers to come during the week and cleaned up our mess when we were done! Our team came in like a whirlwind J

Thank God for the work that Golden Corner Food Pantry is doing in Oconee County. As we began to wrap up the day by cleaning up, we gathered in the parking lot in a big circle to pray, and ask God to bless this ministry as they now serve over 1200 qualified families in our area.

Our next serve day will be on Tuesday, November 15^thfrom 1-3pm. We need 6-8 people for this one. If you would like to Reach with us, please call the church office at 864-888-8008, or go to our website and click on the "get involved/find mor info" button at the bottom of the page here:
http://www.foothillscc.org/projectreach/

Reach Night at Home with a Heart Re-Cap

A Reach Team of 9-10 people headed out to spend some time with the men at the Home with a Heart Addiction Rehabilitation ministry last Tuesday. It was a great time of fellowship as we grilled up some tasty hot dogs, hamburgers, and chili on the outdoor brick grill. The grill hadn't been used in quite a while, and many of the men said they were so blessed to have a meal off that grill. They said it just tasted better!

Each of our team members had some good conversation with men in the program. After grilling out, we hung out in the cafeteria and ate with them, and just got to know some of them and their stories a little. Several of the men shared with me that they had come to faith in Christ within the last few weeks in meetings at Home with a Heart! Praise God! The Lord is truly using this ministry in a big way. As we finished eating, the men were preparing to head to their evening NA meeting. Each one I talked to had hope of freedom from addiction, and had clearly been influenced for Christ by the Director Alex Richey, staff, and volunteers of HWAH. This was the first of many Reach Teams we will be sending out. If you or your family has experience in addiction in any way, this is a great place to allow God to use you to share your experience, and love on others struggling with addiction in the name of Jesus.

You can sign up by going to http://www.foothillscc.org/projectreach/ and clicking on the "Get Involved, Tell Me More" button at the bottom of the page with the big ? on it.

Golden Corner Food Pantry Tuesday, Sept 13th Reach ReCap

Wow! What a great time we had serving together at Golden Corner Food Pantry. Blown away by the Reach Team that showed up ready to ROCK! They only asked for 6 people to come. We had I believe 14 or 15 that showed up, and we were able to serve alongside some of our friends from Bountyland Baptist. 


This team came prepared to "get er done!" Tons of work was accomplished including boxing meat bags for 600 Seniors, loading all the storage shelves with cases of canned goods, boxing toiletries, and preparing large food boxes for program families. 
We moved cases and cases of canned food items, and even had a couple children (Jacey and Eli Atkins) serving breaking down boxes and helping out wherever they were needed. Great job team! This will be a blessing to so many in our community!

Richard Kulper is the Director of Golden Corner Food Pantry. He recently had a surgery, so he was getting around best he could showing the team what needed to be done. Please pray for a quick recovery and full healing for Richard. He has a lot on his plate facilitating getting food to over 1150 families per month through this incredible ministry. God is truly using him and his heart to feed people who depend on the pantry to sustain their families each month.



Foothills Community Church is so honored to come alongside Golden Corner Food Pantry. This partnership gives FCC families an opportunity to see the benefit of working with others who are called to a specific area in showing the love of Christ.  


Our next BIG Reach day at the pantry will be on SATURDAY, OCT. 8TH from 10am- 12 Noon.
This is a special opportunity open to all ages. Bring the entire family to help! No expertise is needed.

To sign up/get more information, please check the box on your information card Sunday or go here http://www.foothillscc.org/projectreach/  and and scroll down to click on the "Get Involved" button.

Head's Up!: Golden Corner Food Pantry Serve Opportunity- Tomorrow

Reach Opportunity Reminder: 

We have a Reach Team headed to serve at Golden Corner Food Pantry tomorrow (Tuesday) from 2-4pm. A large team is not needed this time, but we can use 5 additional people to serve preparing food for those who receive boxes of food from the pantry. Are U in?

Reminder: Habitat for Humanity Serve Opportunity- Tomorrow

A Reach Team from FCC will be serving at the Habitat for Humanity sites tomorrow morning from 7:30am-10:30am. They have been making great progress and new friends are made each time. Join the fun in serving and being a blessing to people in need!
No tools are needed, but bring your own hammer and pouch if you'd like. Currently they are framing walls on the 2 new builds. Adult volunteers 18 and over only during this phase of construction.

The directions to the sites are:  Take hwy 123 to Miracle Mile Circle and turn onto hwy 28 toward Seneca.  Take hwy 28, 1/2 mile to North Perkins Creek Rd. (which is just passed Black Electric) and turn right.  You will pass under a railroad trestle on a one lane road and come to Jaymorey Way. You will see all the equipment at the build sites.

Reach Opportunity: Tuesday, September 13th!

Tuesday, September 13th, FCC will be sending a Reach Team to meet and serve at Golden Corner Food Pantry in Seneca from 2-4pm. To sign up or get more info, just go to this link and click on the "Get Involved" button on the lower part of the screen.

Safe Harbor Reach Day Recap

What a great day our Reach team had serving at Safe Harbor Shelter (for battered and abused women and their children) in Anderson Saturday! We met at FCC at 7:30am and were on the road by 7:40. It was a long convoy of cars but we all made it to the Jack in the Box rendezvous point in Anderson, and then headed to the shelter.

Once there, we all signed a non-disclosure form, and gathered in a big circle for prayer. For a serve day like this, a lot of prep work needed to be done weeks and days before-hand. Things had to be set up such as swing-set delivery, purchasing supplies, fence post installs, and mulch delivery. Much of this was handled by Tom Newman (our Reach Team Coach) and he did an an incredible job of prepping for the work to be done. It was wonderful to see some people who were volunteering for the first time. Let me tell you...everyone came ready to work and work hard! This was mostly tough dirty work to improve and clean up the property.  Some team members served doing yard work such as tree trimming, mowing, bush/fence trimming, and raking. Others dug up and made a garden plot outlined with railroad ties, stained a very long wheelchair access ramp, assembled picnic tables, extended a drain pipe, installed a corner siding piece on the facility, and removed-extended-installed fencing to nearly double the size of the playground. Plus - probably the entire team participated in moving and spreading THIS!:

The massive truckload of mulch was no match for the team!

The mulch was used for spreading around trees on the property and mainly as a base spread over weed barrier on the new playground area that was created. You can see it in the group photo above.

The team created a new garden area, so that the shelter can grow some of their own food. This will save a little money and provide healthy food, but it will also give these hurting moms and children a peaceful outlet as something to do during their stay with Safe Harbor.
The ground was seriously tough and rocky, so we had to break it up with pik-axes and strip away the grass and rocks to get to some better soil.  

The new garden area ready to go!

 As we were improving the Safe Harbor facility, women and children were coming out on the back screened porch watching us and asking questions. The children were just like any other kids, asking when they could go out and use the new stuff! Anxiously waiting...

Honestly, it was a little tough emotionally because you could see the track record of abuse on a few of the people that were finding safety and rest at Safe Harbor. It is so comforting to know that many who serve there are Christ followers, and that God will no doubt love on these women and their kids through the staff.

All day I was thinking about what true Christian love really looks like..and Romans 12:9-13 kept coming to my mind, as I was looking up at the folks on the porch. These verses were echoing through my brain...
⁹ "Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other with genuine affection,^[a] and take delight in honoring each other. ¹¹ Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.^{[b] 12} Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. ¹³ When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality."

It occurred to me once again that we can be these scriptures in action at times just by what we do. Sometimes...not a word has to be said, but a serve has to be done. Sometimes it is both combined; such as when we share our faith, or serve in our church on a ministry team or coaching a group. The point in scripture is that we need to be real in our love, enthusiastic in our serving, and ready to help. And when more than one person joins together in unity, a ton can be accomplished in the name of Jesus.

As our team began to wrap things up and gather again for a quick prayer, the team spirit was thick in the air (along with the smell of hard sweaty work :). We said our good-byes, loaded up the cars, and headed out the gate looking forward to gathering at FCC for services. 

The new Safe Harbor playground area is complete.

Golden Corner Food Pantry Reach Day ReCap

 On Wednesday, an FCC Reach Team of over 10 people met to serve over at the Golden Corner Food Pantry. It was a great time for folks to get acquainted that had never met and serve people in need together in the name of Jesus. The pantry serves about 1150 families per month, including many Senior Citizens on Mondays, and they can always use a lot of volunteers for boxing food, deliveries, store pickups, and more. According to several team members, so much was accomplished by our Reach team that they had enough meat supplies boxed for Senior Citizens for three weeks out!


FCC will be sending Reach Teams and presenting individual serve opportunities as our partnership with Golden Corner Food Pantry continues each month. There are some great individual opportunities available currently. The Pantry Director (Richard Kulper) has let us know that he still has several needs for specific volunteer tasks.

GCFP Immediate Individual Volunteer Needs:

• People to serve as pick up substitutes for Food Lion and Bi Lo. Volunteers would arrive at store 9:15am and then head to food pantry by 10:ooam, and be finished by around 10:45am. 

• Volunteer to go to "Gifts in Kind" once a month. Can either pull the GCFP trailer or just go to help. This person would leave the food pantry at 7am or 9 am., return 11:30 or 1pm.

This is a great time helping an incredible ministry reach out and serve those in need. Our next Reach Team will be serving at Golden Corner Food Pantry on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13th from 2-4pm. To sign up, please respond here, or check off the sign up box on your Foothills Flyer Sunday. You may also sign up on the web at: http://www.foothillscc.org/projectReach/interest.php

 

REMINDER

An FCC Local Reach Team is heading to Safe Harbor Anderson Shelter (for abused women and their children) to serve doing landscape work, trimming, cleaning, pressure washing, fence work, mulch spreading, etc. in the morning (Saturday) leaving from FCC at 7:30am. U R Invited!

WHERE: Safe Harbor Anderson
WHEN: Saturday, August 27th
TIME: 8am -12 noon (MEET at FCC at 7:30am and leave from there)

Bring your shovels, rakes, hoe, tree loppers, hedge trimmers, work gloves and wheelbarrows!

Habitat for Humanity Reach Team Update from Thursday and Saturday

Habitat for Humanity has two new home builds going up in Seneca for families in need of housing. A team of 5 men from Foothills Community Church went out this past week on Thursday and Saturday to help get the ball rolling after the foundations were poured.

Scott Hartney, who coaches our Habitat Reach Team, was impressed by the organization on site, and by the great work ethic and team spirit that he has seen each day. He joked that they even ended the work day on time (10:30am!)

The goal of these work days was to get the foundations cleaned up for inspection, and install floor joists and begin decking. As you can see in the pics, our team working with regular Habitat volunteers on the sites (including the prospective home owners) made a lot of progress. So much more can be accomplished when people come ready to serve and willing to do whatever it takes.

The thing to remember here is that the work time is only from 7:30am-10:30am; so all this work was accomplished in a few days over very few hours!

The floor joists are installed and decking is also now installed. The goal this week and weekend is to begin framing to put up walls starting on Thursday the 25th.  Before we know it, there will be two brand new homes to bring new hope and blessing to families. What an incredible thing to be a part of!

This week we had multiple men & women sign up for serving with our Reach Team at Habitat. If you would like more info or to sign up, please follow the link below, and then click on "Get Involved" to fill out the online card.

FCC Habitat Reach Team

Local Reach Mission - Aug. 27th, Safe Harbor (shelter for abused women and their children)

We have a great opportunity coming up to serve to improve the Anderson Safe Harbor facility. If you are ready to reach outside of FCC to serve others, then this is perfect! We are forming a Reach team of 20+ people to serve doing landscape work, trimming, cleaning, pressure washing, fence work, and more at Safe Harbor women's shelter in Anderson on the 27th. Here is the info -
 

WHERE: Safe Harbor Anderson (shelter for abused women/their children)
WHEN: August 27th
TIME: 8am -12 noon (meet at FCC at 7:30am and leave from there)
 

To sign up for this Reach team, please post your RSVP here in the comments section or contact FCC at 864-888-8008.

Blog from Haiti Reach Mission Trip: July 31st-August 6th, 2011

  Sometimes we see miracles in the small things in life. We stretch our faith and see a move of God in something that many others would not see as the same. We look at this or that situation and say “That was a miracle” when someone with a different perspective might simply think it was a coincidence and not a miracle.

  During our third trip to Haiti this year (on the island of Hispaniola), we saw something that we on the team were all in agreement had to simply be God intervening to have mercy on people. So many Haitians and other missionaries felt the same, and I guess you would have to have been there to really get the same perspective. The fact is that despite all the news reports hyping Tropical Storm Emily ready to pound Port-Au-Prince Haiti with 12-20 inches of rain. Threats of massive landslides, death filled flooding, and desperate worries of more Cholera and Typhoid outbreaks....Emily just never happened in Port-Au-Prince. If you saw video to the contrary stating to be from P-A-P, then it was very much dramatized.

 On our way to the new retreat property, we were called back early from about 50 miles away to the Chadasha mission house by national missionary Greg Roberts. He asked us to come back to base because of the potential threat of flooding (if it rained); and as seen in this picture from the balcony, the storm is literally just miles away over the mountains. The wall of rain can be seen off in the distance.

Pray for the FCC Haiti August Reach Mission Team!

Hey Folks,

As we head out for our third trip to Haiti this year, we are leaving with incredible excitement for what God has prepared for us to get involved in. 

Ephesians 2:10 tells us "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

We know that God has led Foothills Community Church not just to Haiti, but to the ministries, ministers, families, and especially the orphaned children that are such a heart-wrenching and impacting part of our mission there. Each time we go there are new developments, incredible miracles of children's lives being radically changed by the love of Christ, and plans being made for the next mission, and the next.

The Lord is truly doing a work there in the children, and it is such an awesome thing that He has led our church here in the heart of little Oconee County, SC to be a part of reaching a generation with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Please remember to pray each day for our team as we are on this mission from July 31st-August 6th. Pray for our awesome God to protect us in safety, keep us from all sickness, disease, accidents, and harm; and pray that we will truly be the love of Christ and that God will lead us into opportunity after opportunity to be used by Him. By all means...Pray...Pray..Pray. We can always feel it when the body of Christ is supporting us in prayer.

If you would like to follow short posts from this mission on Facebook, feel free to "friend" me there at:
Pastor Bill's Facebook Page

After we return, I will post a full blog with videos and pics from our Reach Mission.

Blog from Appalacia Reach Mission Trip: July 3-8th, 2011

APPALACIA REACH MISSION
Black mountain in Kentucky represents a lot of things. It is the gateway to Harlan county and the fastest way to get to the destination for our regional Reach mission this past week. This mountain brings so much to mind as you ascend through the twisty switchbacks being careful not to drop a tire over the edge. Ask one of our 20+ team members Greg Henderson what that's like, as he towed the Foothills Community church trailer completely loaded down with thousands of lbs. of furniture, rugs, home items, cases of frozen foods, diapers, cases of toothpaste and tooth brushes, clothing, construction supplies, and more.

This mountain is legendary. Many of the locals in Harlan county find some other way to get to certain places if possible, so they do not have to make the mountain run. As you drive over the mountain you see incredible natural beauty, contrasted by huge areas where the mountains are still being stripped and mined for coal. I guess that is one reason for calling it “black” mountain, but the other is the fact that there are black bears all over the mountain. We'd heard about it, but found this out first hand on our drive back as a young black bear ran out in the road in front of our convoy.

Our mission on this trip was simply to serve. To be Jesus to all those whom we could whether they were followers of Christ or not. God assembled a team of over 20 people with hearts to do just that. We knew it would be hard work going in, but most on the team did not know how God would use them until after we arrived. As the hours and days unfolded, each person's particular giftings became evident and I found them crucial to our mission. It was simply amazing to watch as opportunities became available which were perfect for specific team members. If you asked some of them,

Project Reach Local Call to Action Update

  On Sunday evening June 26th, from 6pm-7pm we had our "Call to Action" gathering in the Venue. What an incredible night of opportunity! As people kept coming and coming, we had to bring out extra chairs to meet the need. That is always a good sign!

Speakers came out from Habitat for Humanity, Foothills Pregnancy Care Center, Golden Corner Food Pantry, Safe Harbor, and Home with a Heart. Everyone I have spoken to that attended the event was so fired up, and over 100 people signed up to join a Reach ministry team!

The next step, is that all who signed up for a team will be contacted the week of July 11th regarding dates for serve opportunities and team leadership opportunities. We will get going strong as soon as our team returns home from the Appalacia Reach mission trip. What a exciting time to be a part of the Foothills Community Church family!

Blog from the May 2011 Haiti Mission Trip

Click on the link below to go to Pastor Bill's blog post from the May 2011 Haiti mission trip complete with pictures and video.

May Haiti Mission Trip Blog

The Call to Action

Project Reach is going strong! Over 700 people attended our recent Project Reach dinners, and hundreds have signed up for more information. Several teams have already served through our international and local partnerships, and another team leaves for a regional mission to Appalachia on July 3rd. This is only the beginning of what God will do, as He refines and expands our vision to help people find and follow Jesus!

Project Reach Reveal Message: Toby Slough

On March 31st, Foothills Community Church revealed Project Reach for the first time, with a special message from guest speaker Toby Slough, pastor of Cross Timbers Church in Argyle, TX.

The Least, the Last, & the Lost

A message from Pastor Greg Oraham about Project Reach, given during a Sunday service at Foothills Community Church on May 1st, 2011.