CPCHill20—In June 2014, Lisa and I had the privilege to be called as the interim pastor and wife for Christ Presbyterian Church in The Hill, a church plant in a low-income, under-resourced community in New Haven, CT. Fall 2017, I was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America on September 16th and then installed at the full time pastor of CPC in The Hill on November 19th.
 
In order to raise a portion of our support, over the years we have partnered Living Bread Ministries’ entrepreneur program that helps Thai women vulnerable to human trafficking to start businesses (freegrance.org). Making purchases from Freegrance on their online store of soaps and jewelry made these ladies (using the promo code CPCHiLL20), you can support our Church Plant in the Hill and the women making a new life for themselves.
 
This year, Maxine Harris, our church's administrative assistant (and very much my co-partner in this adventure) has begun taking on some of the fundraising responsibilities we need to raise for the resources and funds to sustain the Hill church planting adventure. For every purchase ordered on Freegrance.com/shop, Living Bread Ministries will give 20% toward Maxine's fundraising, which will help support our Hill Church Plant–and, at the same time, help support the entrepreneur ministry of Freegrance.

Would you consider supporting our Freegrance.org fundraiser and share with us in this adventure as we seek to build Jesus’ church, change people’s lives, and be agents of transformation in The Hill.
 
For the Month of February, please take the time to look at the freegrance.com website and consider supporting both of our ministries. Just remember to use the code--CPCHill20—in the promo code discount box on the cart page when you begin your purchase.
 
Please share as well . . .

CPCHill20
Each year we partner with Living Bread Ministries & Freegrance to both raise needed funds for our Hill church plant and ministry and to support the work of LBM among women vulnerable to human trafficking. For every purchase and with the use of CPCHiLL20 on www.freegrance.com, twenty percent (20%) will go to our CPC in The Hill account that supports our church plant in the Hill community of New Haven, Connecticut.

Imagine
“Women and girls find themselves selling the only commodity they have, their bodies, in order to provide for themselves and their families. They enter the sex industry and are trafficked for someone else’s profit. They make a small sum with which they scrape out a meager existence for themselves and their extended families.” Living Bread Ministries, as a component of their church planting ministry, gives the ladies the opportunity to start a business. Then these women entrepreneurs in Thailand use their skills to make soap and ear-rings, in turn which they sell to Freegrance, Inc. then sells through their website (freegrance.com).
 
Please take the time to peruse the freegrance website and consider supporting these ladies—and our church plant in the Hill >> www.freegrance.com/shop << Use the Code: CPCHill20 in the promo code discount box during purchase so Lisa and I will get credit for your purpose. The ladies who make the soap and run the businesses have already been paid, so the 20% doesn't shrink what they earn–it helps market their product!

This year (and into future years) all the support we gain through this fundraiser will go directly to support the ministry of Maxine Harris, our CPC in The Hill administrative assistant. She is a long time Hill resident and is a vital part of our Hill ministry. Please help, buy some soap (and maybe an earring or two), and support Maxine!
 
And, please share as well . . .

And don't forget to use CPCHiLL20 in the promo code at check out!

Here is our CPC in The Hill monthly News Update > > Click Here

“Greet one another with a Holy Kiss” (Romans 16:16).

The theme and sermon of our service at CPC in The Hill yesterday was centered on the reason and nature of the "holy kiss" (aka, Peter, "kiss of love"). The Kiss had deep, cultural significant that was harnessed by Paul (and Peter) to bind the gathered-church of unequals and strangers together in unity, as a family in Christ.

This act (the Kiss) was soon incorporated into the liturgical flow of the gathered-church's worship, which was actually a fair (albeit physical and symbolic) application of the commands in the NT to greet one another (at the gathered-church) with a holy kiss (cf. Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26; 1 Peter 5:14). The kiss was positioned just before communal prayers and the celebration of the Lord's table in order to give space to welcome each other as family and to allow for any moments of reconciliation between congregants to happen before they, together as equals, shared in the Table of the Lord.

The power, the spiritual power, of this moment isn't simply passing the peace or saying "hi," but to physically demonstrate a true welcome (Romans 14-15) and reconciliation among unequals and strangers, now as God's family. This kiss provided . . .

We have friends and family–and of course my blog readers (thank you)–all around the world and here in the USoA. We are using a GoFundMe to help raise some funds for our summer park ministry. Lisa, my wife, and I are also having a BBQ fundraiser in our backyard (we turn it in a mini-park experience) this coming Saturday, May 5th, for this ministry and we know many of you are too far to come join us–but may want to help us out.

This is a particularly powerful ministry we call "In His Midst," because when we, CPC in The Hill, show up in the park, Jesus walks among the most vulnerable of us who have, that evening, decided to be in the park–those that enjoy some Park Preaching, a meal that evening, and some neighborly fellowship.

If you are too far to come to the BBQ and would still like to help ensure we have the resources for this summer, please consider helping us out. Here's the link to the GoFundMe page >> https://www.gofundme.com/2018-cpc-in-the-hill-bbq-ministry

Thanks.

We can't do this without you.

PS See other Wasted Posts below for more on the BBQ ministry and outreach >> In His Midst