Hope for Thanksgiving



Volunteers assembled 298 Baskets of Hope in 2 locations.



We served 298 families in Lebanon, OH with our Baskets of Hope [BoH] on Sunday, November 20, 2011! This set a new record for families who attended our Baskets of Hope service and received food for their holiday celebration. What a blessing to share the hope we have in Christ with folks from our community!

In addition to the record attendance,
services were held and baskets distributed simultaneously at
two [2] locations that evening...
at Urbancrest and at our new church plant, Living Word Bible Church
meeting in the Professional Services Unlimited building on Columbus Avenue.

Families at both locations received turkey, corn, green beans, boxed potatoes, milk, cookie mix, and more! More importantly, after the gospel was shared in both Baskets of Hope services, God moved and blessed as people came forward during Pastor Tom’s invitation. We had nine [9] new believers and three [3] people re-dedicating their lives to Christ! In addition, five [5] people came forward requesting to be baptized here at Urbancrest during our Christmas BoH service.



Families picked up their Baskets of Hope in our gymnasium
after attending a special Thanksgiving worship service.


Our Christmas BoH services will be Sunday evening, December 18th at Urbancrest and Living Word Bible Church [LWBC]. LWBC has moved to their new location, 500 W. Mulberry Street, here in Lebanon, to better serve our community and grow as a church.

If you know of a family that needs a Basket of Hope for Christmas, please call 49HOPE4 (494-6734) and leave their name, phone number, and address so we can add them to our Christmas BoH list.

Your family can help serve our community through BoH Christmas the evening of December 18th. For more BoH details, either for recipients or to volunteer, please contact our BoH leader, Kristy Purkey at ppkp90@embarqmail.com.



Greeters in the gym made guests feel welcome as they
went through the lines to pick up the Baskets of Hope.



Great Pumpkin Give Away at Iron's Fruit Farm

What a beautiful day God blessed us with on Saturday, Oct. 8th for the Great Pumpkin
Give-Away at Iron’s Fruit Farm [right here in Lebanon]! The weather was warm,
the sun was shining, and our UBC folks were smiling!

Bill and Beth Irons partner with UBC for this event, by using their family business [fruit farm] as a local mission’s platform to plant and share Gospel through this ministry opportunity. The Irons provide the free pumpkins and the room for us to set up our tents for popcorn and face-painting along with our awesome bounce house.

Some of our volunteers were stationed in various locations throughout the fruit farm to distribute Challenge Newspapers to hundreds of visitors that day. The Challenge Newspapers were full of personal testimonies from believers around the world.

In addition, we had Derrick Dye, the Christian juggler, share the Gospel while juggling at 11:30 AM and 1:30 PM. Beth Irons coordinated our face painters who blessed many children with awesome face art! Folks were amazed that this too was free! What a blessing!

We gave away hundreds of bags of popcorn, too, [Did I mentioned this was also free?] keeping our folks busy while satisfying the hunger of both kids and adults while many waited in line for the hayride and maze obstacle course!

Thanks to all 25 of our UBC folks who served, reaching out to our community in Jesus’ name. We had some families that chose to serve together emphasizing the “family-friendly” benefit for such an event. They helped plant gospel seeds and touch many lives.

Plan to join us next year in October. You can serve for a few hours, reaching out to our community, then enjoy the hay-ride, maze, fresh apples, cider, cider doughnuts, and awesome apple fritters too!

Teaching Important Biblical Life Lessons Not Mere “Horse Sense’



“…I was in prison and you visited me…Lord, when ... did we see You in prison?...And the King [Jesus] will answer them, ‘I assure you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me’” (Matt. 25:36c, 37, 40) HCSB.

On Tuesday, August 23 we celebrated our 10th UBC summer block party with the young men at Mary Haven (MH) youth center in Lebanon, Ohio. This was our third year to partner with Mary Haven officials and Dale McCloud (and of course Spirit the horse) to share positive life lessons and the Gospel.

God blessed with favorable weather in the 80’s with a breeze, too. There were fifteen young men and at least six different counselors and staff from MH. Wow…those guys sure did pound down hot-dogs, cotton candy, nachos, and snow cones... even the staff! (Don’t they feed these guys?)

It was an evening of significant impact. Our UBC team of men that teaches and serves every Tuesday night at Warren County Juvenile Detention Center (WCJDC) re-connected with some of the young men who have transitioned to the MH program. Our team was able to have fun and connect casually with these young men for the first time. The young men were encouraged and this event furthered the discipleship of those that accepted Christ in the WCJDC over the past years.

Dale McCloud illustrated life lessons through his interaction with Spirit and drew prallels to how we interact with God, demonstrating that we have an innate tendency to go our own way. He also explained that we must come to the end of ourselves, ask Christ into our hearts, and follow Him since He has the best plan for our lives.

As Dale concluded his life lesson and sharing the gospel, we had two young men respond and ask for one of our guys to talk and pray with them. Both young men professed to be Christians but just needed some additional help as they shared their specific needs with our counselors.

Great thanks to our WCJDC teams that served at the ministry event. Many of our UBC block party team members helped to make all this possible. Young men at WCJDC and MH are being transformed through the power and work of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit. Thanks UBC team for your faithful weekly service at WCJDC.

Sharing the Hope of Christ and Restocking Bare Shelves

“…For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat …Lord, when ... did we see You hungry and feed You?...And the King [Jesus] will answer them, ‘I assure you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me’” [Ma. 25:35a, 37a, 40], Holman Christian Standard Bible.

For 3 consecutive weeks UBC local missions has spearheaded “Challenge the Hood”. Our strategy was two-pronged, to share the good news of the gospel through distributing Challenge Newspaper and to replenish the food for the empty shelves of the Lebanon Food Pantry.

Cliff Glenn, our local summer missionary intern, led this local mission initiative preparing the distribution packets, Lebanon Food Pantry collection bags, maps, and coordinating our leaders and volunteers.

“Challenge the Hood” was conducted on Wednesday nights, August 10th, 17th, and 24th through 3 key UBC leaders within 3 targeted neighborhoods in Lebanon. Neighborhoods included Revere’s Run, Turtle Creek Village, and Garfield Park sub-divisions. Our awesome neighborhood leaders included Rhonda Kuntz, Rick and Barb Oppy, and Dewayne Jeffers.

Our UBC volunteers went door-to-door each Wednesday night, distributing Challenge and asking for donations of non-perishable food for our local food pantry. After the process of distribution, teams collected all the bags of food and then delivered the food to the Lebanon Food Pantry. Barb Gregory from UBC, who coordinates our Food Pantry ministry, met our teams at the Pantry. The food was so desperately needed that some food was handed directly to the recipients at the Food Pantry while other food was immediately re-stocked on the shelves for future needs. We praise the Lord for His provision of food for this initiative!

The Food Pantry served 76 families with food on Wednesday night, August 24th, alone. Those 3 SUV’s of food collected were an answer to prayer! Thanks to Cliff Glenn, our local summer missionary, and our faithful volunteers that helped to meet the needs of families in Lebanon.

In addition to this initiative, we have asked our UBC congregation to personally bring in food to re-stock the shelves of the Food Pantry and our UBC Resource Center.The response has been wonderful! Just bring your donations to the Worship Center so we can all celebrate God's goodness to those in need.

If you have any questions relating to this initiative for collecting food to re-stock our local food pantry and UBC resource center, please contact UBC local mission’s strategist, Mike Wright: mwright@urbancrest.org or call 932-4405, x32.

Partnering with Dramatic Flair to Win Souls For Christ

Over the summer, Leah Busick and our Reality Youth Drama Team partnered with UBC local mission's work and with Chris Straw in our local church plant, Living Word Bible Church. In the blog today, Leah shares her team's experiences with us.

"Our drama team likes to get outside the four walls and we certainly had a chance this summer working with the Block Party Team and the LWBC church plant team!"

"We were also busy this summer at local Back Yard Kids Clubs. Thirteen Drama Team members were in Hunter's Run neighborhood on June 26-28 with around thirty-five kids. The team then had the opportunity to share a drama sketch at the Block Party."

"August 10-12 found twelve members of the team at Cedarbrook Campground with many visitors both children and adults. The group shared the Gospel and told Bible histories, including the healing of the Centurion's servant and Moses and the Israelites escaping Egypt. They played games such as "Chicken on a Roof" and "Mosquito Tag" and did more sticky foam crafts than could be counted. The Gillens joined in the fun at both the campground and the Block party by making necklaces for everyone with individual names on a grain of rice."

"But the most important even of the summer was that six people turned their lives over to Jesus for the first time. What a fantastic time to celebrate what the Lord has done for all of us!"

Thanks to the teens and adult leaders who added so much to our Block Parties and Back Yard Kids Clubs. Their enthusiasm and apparent love for Jesus Christ was refreshing and a great asset in every circumstance.

Next week's blog will cover our Challenge the Hood event for 2011 and the neighbors who made a difference in their neighborhoods this summer.

Bacon and pancakes during church services-----Awesome!

Imagine the tantalizing smell of bacon in the air along with the smoke of a campfire on a Sunday morning, enjoying God’s creation before heading to church at Urbancrest with your family…

Sound like something your family would enjoy? Well, we have great news for you!

While most folks were getting prettied up for Sunday school and worship services this summer, UBC teams served up food and the Gospel on Sundays at 8:30 AM on June 5 & 19, July 10 & 24, and most recently August 14, at a beautiful campground called Cedarbrook – located less than a quarter mile from downtown Lebanon – the closest campground to Kings Island in southwest Ohio!

Terri Lipot leads our Cedarbrook ministry, Kim Gidley coordinates the breakfast and Beth Irons assists Kim and takes photos. These UBC teams typically have 10-16 volunteers. The devotions and gospel have been shared by Jeff Lipot, David Gidley, and Kirby Hamblin.

Up to twenty guests per breakfast have enjoyed chowing down on bacon and pancakes. We had a great time serving up food for the soul with the gospel, along with food for the belly. God blessed with at least 4 professions of faith this summer too!

And if you don’t get a move on… you’ll miss being a part of our Sunday breakfast team for August 28 – our last scheduled Sunday AM service at Cedarbrook this year! Please contact Jeff and Terri Lipot immediately at jlipot@embarqmail.com, 513.897.2335 or contact, Mike Wright, UBC local mission strategist at 513-932-4405 or mwright@urbancrest.org.

Faith Build 2011 Update

After 2 delayed deployments, some of our UBC volunteers for Habitat for Humanity served at the Lebanon build site on Saturday, July 30th. After the scorching heat, it finally rained on Friday night, July 29th, but that was good-news, bad-news for us on Saturday. It was a bit cooler, but the building site was a muddy mess!

 

The team, along with home-owner Randy Fields and his nephew Joshua, slipped and slid in the mud, but got to the basement with its poured side walls and began to work. (For photos of progress on this build project, go to http://www.habitat-tristate.org/Gallery.aspx and click on Faith Build – 7/16/2011)

 

During our scheduled half-day we:

• Cleaned out the basement area, removing large chunks of concrete by putting them into a bucket, pulling the bucket up the walls, and then dumping the contents in a sink hole.
• Covered the poured basement walls with a thin layer of insulation
• Attached the base “green” boards to the basement walls with washers and nuts
• And secured the floor joists, spanning the basement from one side wall to the other.

Each Saturday, another Habitat team will continue where we left off working on Randy’s home until it is completed.

 

Danny Mitchell will be working with the Habitat coordinator to schedule more UBC folks to help with this build in October. For more information, contact Danny Mitchell at mitchdj@go-concepts.com or 513-282-6397.