In 2007, Oak Leaf Church did something kind of crazy. We called it the ReGift Offering. Read on to find out what happened:
As a church, we wanted to put our money where our mouth is when we talk about serving the community and making life better for people here. So on Sunday, December 16, we re-gifted the offering. Well, an average weekly offering. We’re a 16-month old church, and we live week-t0-week, so we really can’t afford this. But we really believe it’s better to give than receive. So, every adult, teenager and elementary child got a sealed envelope with some cash in it. All in all, we re-gifted about $8,300 with the following rules.
- Pray about how God wants you to use it.
- You can’t spend it on yourself.
- When you bless someone, leave your comment below and share your story.
December 16, 2007 at 8:10 pm |
[...] The ReGift Offering [...]
December 17, 2007 at 2:20 am |
When my daughther was in 3rd grade I began to mentor a little boy in her class. He is now 15 years old. His family’s needs are great. He lives with a Grandmother who works to support 4 grandchildren (2 boys high school age and two girls now about 18 years old). Over the years my husband and I have helped them buy school clothes, school supplies, groceries, shoes and more. I have been thinking of them over the past few weeks. I have planned on finding a time when I could get with the Grandmother and take her shopping for groceries and Christmas gifts – I simply have not made the time. Last night, 12/15, it was very windy and rainy. My daughter and I were shopping in town and were stopped at at light. That is when I saw one of the boys walking from a convenience store toward his home, carrying a box of laundry detergent that his Grandmother had obviously sent him to get. Even though it was cold and raining, he had no coat. At that moment I knew then that I had to immeidately contact her and arrange to get to the store . This morning, 12/16, I received an envelope in church. $100! I called the Grandmother today and next Saturday morning we will go together to Walmart and get groceries, gifts for her Grandchildren, laundry detergent, coats and something for her too. The $100 will be a great start at getting them some of the items that they need. I would like to thank the entire Oak Leaf Family on behalf of the family for making this Christmas full of “Mercy and Kindness” rather than despair.
December 17, 2007 at 11:05 am |
I work at a school and immediately I thought of a little girl in my class. She is always thinking of others. Her family does not have much at all. We took the kids to the mall a few weeks ago and she had a little money to buy some gifts. She never once thought about buying anything for herself….always someone else. We went into the Build A Bear store and her eyes lit up. I told her to have her dad bring her back and she could get one that was very inexpensive. But she said, her dad would say that was too much money.
Soooo, with my money I am going to get her a Build A Bear, and if any of you know you about them, you pick out a heart and make a wish on it and put it in the bear. The wish I will keep to me.
December 17, 2007 at 4:13 pm |
There is a teacher at the school where I work who is going through a very difficult time. Her husband lost his job, and has been out of work for a while. My entire family (Mama, Daddy, husband and daughter) pooled our money and decided to give it to her and her family.
We gave her the money this morning, and she cried. She has a lot of pride, and didn’t want to take it, she said she knew I needed it too. I told her that I had prayed about giving it to her and that I knew it was meant to be hers.
I told her it wasn’t mine to keep, and that if I did I was afraid I would be zapped like Michael
said. She was speechless and didn’t know how to say thank you enough.
Thank you Oak Leaf.
December 17, 2007 at 4:56 pm |
After church yesterday afternoon we were talking about who we could bless with the money we had received in our enveloples when God provided us with a name of a friend of ours. She and her 6 year old son recently had to move into one of Cartersville’s Low Income Public Housing Apartments. She is unemployed and has been trying to find a job where she can be off during the evening and on weekends so that she can be at home with her son and not have to pay for child care. She is struggling to make ends meet and better her life for her and her son. We put the money we both received in one envelope and matched the amount. We decided to stop by her house on our way to our Journey Group which meets on Sunday evenings. On the way over to her house God put it in our hearts to put an additional $10.00 dollars into the envelope. When we stopped by her house to bless her with the money she was surprised and didn’t know what to say. She informed us that her electricty bill was overdue and that if she didn’t pay it by Monday they would disconnect her. She didn’t have enough money to pay her bill in full and had been wondering what to do. With the money we gave her not only will she be able to pay her bill but she also informed us that she will have some money left over to be able to buy her son something. She was very grateful for the gift and it couldn’t of happened at a better time. She and her son had attended Oak Leaf a couple of times when we were still at the movie theater but hasn’t been to a service since Oak Leaf moved to Woodland so we invited her to come to church with us next Sunday. She wanted us to make sure we tell everyone at Oak Leaf “THANK YOU!” for the gift and for blessing her and her son!!
December 18, 2007 at 1:34 am |
these stories are incredible!!!!!!!!!
i cried like a baby yesterday when i realized what we were doing.
my mom and dad can never seem to get by on the money they make working. my dad lost his job about a month ago and had to take a lesser paying one and my mom works in Austell. The job my dad has will not cover the bills. it’s a pretty sad and frustrating thing to live with. it seems like everytime something good happens, we can almost count down to when the negative seems to wipe that goodness out… for instance, a month ago, they had to put $1000 dollars into my moms car to get it running, and a week later the engine blew. I couldnt wait to open my envelope and give it to my parents to pay a portion of their bills.
I got $10!!!!!
praise God because with that $10, my buddy kenneth (the homeless guy i wrote about in my blog) will get to get his i.d. and get a job and get on his feet!!!!
I believe that something will happen with mom and dad. There is a deeper lesson to be learned outside of Gods provision here. But, if anyone knows how to paint a house or reroof a house, let me know…..
i stated that we never seem to get by on what we make, well, WE NEVER SEEM TO DO WITHOUT!!!!
jason
December 18, 2007 at 1:43 am |
First of all, let me say that we were deeply moved by this idea of a re-gift and the manner in which it was modeled by the leadership of the church. We decided after the service that we would pool all of the money together and that our family would match the gift, whatever it was. As we began to pray and talk about the meaning of this re-gift with our children, God placed a particular lady on our hearts. She is a grandmother living nearby who is raising her three young grandchildren and having a tough time living on a fixed and very limited income. Even though she leads a difficult life financially, she is a mature Christian woman who loves the Lord and shares much joy with anyone that she comes into contact with. What a wonderful thing to be able to help her out during this Christmas season. Thank you God and thank you Oak Leaf Church for providing us the opportunity to be a part of this and to be blessed by it all. To God be the glory!
December 18, 2007 at 7:33 pm |
When I received my offering, I immediately thought of a wonderful lady co-worker that has had a very hard year. Among which was losing her mother. I gave her the money and two tickets to the Rocking Christmas Eve Eve and suggested that she and her husband go out for a Starbuck’s or something and then join us Sunday evening. She said that I should keep the money for myself. I then explained that Oak Leaf wanted us to share this with others and that I couldn’t keep it for myself. I think that made a big impression on her. She said, “The church wanted you to share this, right. Wow! Thanks so much.” This lovely lady needs the love Oak Leaf can give to her. Please pray for her. Our Lord will receive honor and glory from Oak Leaf’s “re-gift.”
December 18, 2007 at 9:50 pm |
How can $10 bless the most amount of people at once I asked myself… Knowing a pastor in Dalton who has an inner-city Church, I gave him my money and my letter to challenge him to do likewise in his church.
December 19, 2007 at 12:37 am |
As I was taking groceries out of my car today, I saw the realitor go into the model home across from me. I felt drawn to take her some groceries. As I handed them to her, she looked inside and cried. Telling me she had not sold a home since March her pantry was empty. I gave her the 20.00 also stating it was from God, through Oakleaf to her. As she cried she said she had just prayed this morning for God to get home from work today on empty. God is great.
December 19, 2007 at 12:55 am |
When we got the envelopes in church Sunday, I cried over how wonderful God is in Oak Leaf Church. I was going to give the money to a co-worker but my daughter told me one of her patients needed grocerys and she is elderly. I gave my 10.00 to match her’s and she is buying some grocerys for her so they can have food for Christmas.
December 19, 2007 at 2:01 am |
As soon as we walked out of church my twelve year old stopped us and said the name of another boy in his class. He said that this particular classmate didn’t have much and it didn’t seem that anyone was really taking care of the kids in his family. It seemed like they had to fend for themselves. After asking about him at school we found out that this boy checks through the lost and found looking for clothes like the other kids are wearing. Everyone in our family pooled “God’s” money and this kid is getting a stack of boxes filled with clothes like all the other kids are wearing!
December 19, 2007 at 11:15 am |
I gave the Build A Bear to my little girl yesterday. She is partially deaf and did not have her hearing aids in. I was amazed at how well she understood what I was telling her. I told her my daughter went and made it for her and the name is Faith. She looked at me and did not know what to say….she was speechless(which doesn’t happen very often). The look in her eyes was priceless. Thank you Oakleaf!!!!!
December 19, 2007 at 2:04 pm |
My daughter and I already had a friend in mind for a special surprise
Christmas gift and the extra monies we received in our envelope will be added to the gift for an extra blessing to her. The gift in anonymous and will be so much fun! Blessings and thanks for allowing God to use Oakleaf in a real and creative way. Merry Christmas.
December 20, 2007 at 4:34 am |
There is a student at the high school I teach in that was diagnosed with bone cancer 3 years ago. He has undergone many kinds of treatments and fought a good fight, but recently her has taken a turn for the worse. The cancer has spread throughout his entire body. Hopspice has been called in to help take care of him while his mother works. She is a single mother raising two children. This child used to be very involved in the wrestling program with my stepsons and it saddens us to watch this family go through this. When Michael made his announcement in church, I knew that I wanted to help this family. Joe had to leave church early to go to work so I was able to get an envelope for him after church was over. I went straight to his work to tell him the news. We agreed to wait until that evening to open our envelopes with our children. That night we gathered around and I opened mine first. There was $10 in the envelope. I thought there is no way that I can help this family with their needs with this amount of money. So, I decided to give it to a teacher whose husband is on diability after a recent accident. It was time for my husband to open his envelope…..He opened it and there was $500 in this one. (This was the envelope that I recieved after church.) We were speechless. There was no doubt in our mind that this money was to go to my student and his family. What a blessing! Joe, my daughter, and I visited with him yesterday and told him the story. He started crying at the thought of someone doing this for him. This experience truly touched our hearts and helps us see what we need to be doing every day. Thank-you Oakleaf for allowing us to help others in times of need.
December 20, 2007 at 1:45 pm |
It’s unusual for us to go out for breakfast, but my mother woke up and said, “Let’s go to McDonald’s.” So we did. It was nothing special, really…except that my niece was wearing reindeer antlers that everyone thought was cute. After we got our food and sat down, I had to go back to the counter for something and there was a fellow just standing there, looking like he was waiting on something. He said, “where’d the reindeer come from?” and I replied, “She ran away from Santa to have a break. She told us that she can’t fly tonight, but she has to work on Christmas Eve.” which made him laugh. So he went on his way, and I got what I needed and sat back down. About five minutes later…the same fellow walked over to our table dressed in an old, well-worn Santa outfit! He started ‘HO HO HO-ing” and started talking, I couldn’t help but smile! Well…what was so special about this Santa? He was a poor fellow, who was a little brain-damaged, had no front teeth…he walked with a severe limp and wasn’t able to raise one of his arms above his chest. There he stood, laughing and talking…I couldn’t understand a word he said. It came time for us to leave, and we got up…he hobbled back over and started to tell me his story. Several years ago, he had been in an horrific accident…his jaw was completely shattered, he suffered brain injury…his arm and leg were broken in many places…and then he lowered his head and said, “I lost my two little nieces in that crash. So every Christmas, I dress up like Santa, and go over by the Four-Way restaurant downtown..or sometimes somewhere else, and I just smile and wave at people. Some make fun of me, others act scared of me, but mostly people are happy to see me!”…I knew then why we came to McDonald’s. I said, “Come with me, I have something I would like to give to you.” and he followed me to my car. I took the ten dollars I received last Sunday and handed it to him. I told him that I go to Oakleaf Church, and I explained about them giving us the offering to give to Cartersville, and I said, “I would like for you to have it.” I couldn’t see his face except for his eyes, and they had such a tenderness in them. His hand shook a little, and he took it. Then I just hugged him! I don’t think he knew what to think, haha! I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again, but I do know that I was the one who received the blessing this morning! In his eyes, I saw a piece of God! Thank you Oakleaf for letting me be part of something!
December 20, 2007 at 5:51 pm |
My family recieved a total of $25.00 during the regifting ceremony on Sunday. I know that in the big, grand scheme of things, this is not a huge, life changing amount of money. However, it made a world of difference to my family this year. Every year, my family will usually try to do a litle something for someone in need, either make donations to the Salvation Army, do the “gift tree” at department stores, or but food for food drives. This year, however, my family is in a very serious struggle financially. The $25 that we received allowed us to continue the tradition of helping others. We did the “giving tree” that CMS has set up at Wal-mart this year. We weren’t able to buy a whole lot, but for a little boy and a little girl, we made their Christmas just a little bit brighter! THANKS OAK LEAF!
December 21, 2007 at 12:05 am |
I am blown away. GOD really does perform miracles in our time (through OakLeaf Church)! We know a local family who lost their father/husband last year and finances have been a definite struggle since then. With gas prices affecting everything we buy, it is tough to put food on the table and Christmas will be a bit light again for the 16 year old daughter.
We each (3 of us) received a $10.00 Re-Gift envelope which we will add to to bring it to $100.00 for this family. GOD does work in mysterious ways. Thank you Oakleaf. Thank you GOD. We are all so blessed with your gift, the gift of your Son JESUS.
December 21, 2007 at 3:15 am |
I decided to give my part of God’s offering to a guy at work who is going through a rough time. Last Friday I was absent and when I came back to work on Monday a few of my co-workers told me that they had taken up a little bit of money for him because they heard he didn’t have enough money to buy a Christmas tree for his family this year. He has a daughter who is 2 and when he showed us the pictures of her standing in front of the tree so excited it touched my heart. I knew when I received the $10 in my envelope I wanted to match that $10 and give it to him. He was very thankful and told me that he and his wife need to get back in church. Maybe this money will help them get something they need but most of all maybe it will get them back in church. Thank you Oak Leaf.
December 21, 2007 at 1:06 pm |
Well, i sat and looked and prayed over my envelope for the last week. Nothing was coming to me hoenstly and i didn’t want to just hand it out to someone if that someone wasn’t who it was intended for.
Tuesday nite, my entire family delivered food and presents to one of our adopted families. They live in the smallest house i think i have ever seen (and i bet you they were thankful for that house), they have a 5 yr old boy and a 9 month old baby girl – the house was dark and cold, they had no furniture, no christmas tree, nothing. The mom was sitting in a metal chair rocking that baby. We found out that the dads’ boss had just given them a car – it is a huge surburban type vehicle and she said that they only drive it during emergencies because they just don’t have the $ to put gas in it, but that they are thankful that they have the car especially with the baby.
The mom and dad were crying and hugging us when we left and God really placed on my heart that this family needed the $ in my envelope – so yesterday I took it over there to them. They were not home and i was able to slide it under the door with a note about how the $ came into existence and how God led me to give it to them. I don’t know if they’ll use it for gas or diapers or to pay their heating bill, but I know that God meant for them to have it.
He has also let me know that my family needs to “adopt” this family long-term – so my mother in law is in the process of going thru my nephews clothes and getting his outgrown ones together to take over there and we are going to take some food or something over there for them every month – our actual intent is to do this anonomously so I hope we are able to.
December 21, 2007 at 1:35 pm |
We decided to pool all of our money together and then match the amount that was inside. In October of this year my grandmother passed away at the age of 92. In the last days of her life she was a patient at Heartland Hospice. They took amazing care of both her and our family and have even followed up to check up on us weeks after her passing. We decided to take our gift and provide food for the staff and families at Heartland Hospice.
This is a very tough time of year to be dealing with the impending loss of a love one and the fact that they can have food provided without having to leave the facility is something they really appreciated. As a family we received a small amount of money but it opened the door to at least 6 direct conversations about God and Oakleaf and who knows all of the indirect impact that this could have.
Side note:
I stopped yesterday to give the nice 71 year black man who plays his guitar and has signs for Jesus at the old Winn-Dixie some of this money. We had a great conversation and Jesus and faith and the work that he is doing for God. He would not take any money b/c he said it would violate a promise he made to God. Make sure when you see him to wave or honk and let him know that people believe in and care about what he is doing. I think next time I might try to see if he will take a cup of coffee!
December 21, 2007 at 1:59 pm |
Oak Leaf is the best. I was touched by the regifting service and I’ve carried the envelope with $10 in it on my dashboard all week. For the past couple of days, one of the administrative staff members at my work was having difficulty getting to work because of car problems. She couldn’t afford to make the repairs so I sent an email out to our professional staff yesterday requesting donations directly to her. I started by donating $20 and many have followed suit. Last night when I got in my truck I saw the envelope on my dash and realized where the ten dollars needed to go. This morning Tammy received the envelope with the $10 and she’s well on her way to getting the $500 she needs to fix her car. I think she’s been touched by the generosity of others and we even got to discuss things that were happening at Oak Leaf.
December 21, 2007 at 5:34 pm |
My son and I each received an envelope with $10.00. I prayed and thought all week about what to do with just $10 then I realized that God wanted me to do more and give above and beyond that amount. I have a family of patients in my office that struggle financially but have incredible faith and never complain. They have 5 children and due to cut backs at his job, the dad makes the salary that he made in 1985. It was laid on my heart that this is who I needed to bless. I wanted to give them $50 and had some cash set aside (that I had been blessed with by someone’s love) and really needed $200 to complete my Christmas shopping. I just felt led to give them money and after the human side of me struggling with this, I decided to make do with fifty dollars less than I had planned for my family. I went to my envlope to get the money for the family and realized that I had miscounted my cash and I actulally had fifty dollars more than I had thought. I gave them the money and they were truly blessed and we also were able to really share how good God is! A co-worker of my daughters at Starbucks also received one of our re gifts from someone else. She called so excited and said “I want to go to the church because any place that does this for other people has got to be something good!” Indeed, Oakleaf is some thing good!
December 21, 2007 at 6:18 pm |
Schultz Family: That fellow is a huge blessing, we took him a huge cup of hot chocolate two mornings ago
December 21, 2007 at 6:23 pm |
To the Schultz Family:
Wednesday, after Jeanine had given her $10.00 to the Santa we saw at McDonald’s, we also stopped to talk with the gentleman that’s by the old Winn-Dixie store. What a delightful man. He’s got a rotator-cuff problem and was not able to be there for a while, but a man called him and told him to “go back out there” because he was missed. I know he’ll take a cup of coffee, especially on these cold mornings because someone had just left him one and we took him a cup of hot chocolate.
December 23, 2007 at 4:49 pm |
I knew immediately what to do. There is a homeless man that stands on the 113 exit. He has the saddest dog you have ever seen (I think the dog know they are homeless). I try to get him sandwiches, water, etc (and dog food!) when I see him. He always says “God bless you” without even knowing what I have given him. Well, I finally saw him Friday afternoon, he was standing in a turn lane getting ready to cross the street when I swerved out of traffic flashing my lights at him! I think I may have scared him a little, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t usually have people flag him down! Anyway, I gave him the envelope with the money and left the letter in it and told him that the letter explained what I was doing. Without opening the envelope, he said, “God bless you!”
December 23, 2007 at 6:34 pm |
We ended up with a total of thirty five dollars. We knew it wasn’t much but could be a small help to someone. We know a lady who is a single mother with a son that has special needs. Her pregnant daughter and her two year old son just moved back home with our friend. Neither one of them are employed. We just put the money in a nice Christmas card and signed it “Merry Christmas”. We wanted to be anonymous because we know if she knew it came from us then she would go out and buy something for us, even though she doesn’t have the resources. She is a kind person who just needs a break.
December 24, 2007 at 5:02 pm |
We all came to Oak Leaf last Sunday to help and to learn how to set up a portable church because Sunday Jan 27th we will be launching our own church. Several of us drove in one van. No one said anything at first when we got in the van to leave……and it was like the pink elephant in the room, but then J.R. said “I don’t know about you guys…but I’m not waiting to open this…” we all opened ours and all 6 of us had $10 in our envelopes. It was no brainer that the “Bikes or Bust” campaign would get a bike……so know that your church took part in that, but my husband Craig said he also knew of a need. He works as a Chef at an Assisted Living facility, and there is a single mom that works there that was stressing about the usual Christmas stresses, especially having anything to give to her son for Christmas. After the bike $ was alloted for one bike, the rest went to get a gift certificate for TOYS R US for this woman’s son. Craig wrote her a note about your church and what you did and gave it and the gift certificate to her anonamously. She told everyone how she couldn’t believe that a church would do that just for her and her son. Oak Leaf, that was the best idea ever and I hope Freedon Church and many other churches reading about this in the blogging world will follow suit next yeat and re-gift back to their communities.
December 25, 2007 at 1:17 am |
i got an envelope with $10 in it. Today, while in the drive thru at Starbucks, I used part of it to pay for the guys coffee behind me in line. I used the money to pay his bill and gave the cashier an invite card to give the guy. it was a really cool feeling and i wonder what he thought to have his bill paid by a total stranger who just drove off. Since I still have $6 left, I’m going to do this again the next time I’m at starbucks, which will probably be later today.
December 25, 2007 at 2:01 am |
Our family recieved a total of $40. We had talked about who, but never felt good about it. Robby and I discussed that we wanted it to be a random person, and we prayed that God would send that person to us (in our path somehow) who He wanted His money to go to. I finally remembered to put it in my car today (to have handy). We were on the way home from my mom’s Christmas at her house, and we got off the 113 exit to try to get dinner at IHOP. We discovered it was closed and headed back to the interstate to check out Cracker Barrel. We passed by the homeless man with the dog that Brenda Hawkins mentioned, and felt compelled to make a uturn and go back and give him the money! I looked a little shocked to see us do that and had an alarmed look quite frankly. Robby leaned out the window and simply said “Merry Christmas”, no explaination or note given. He simply said “God bless you” and tucked the money in his pocket. I wonder how many people from Oakleaf have picked this guy… I hope he is getting his socked blessed off!!! I feel certain he knew this was his blessing to take.. he had a great smile on!!
December 25, 2007 at 5:37 pm |
We doubled the money and also added a little more and we had the kids shop for toys and we added a couple of bags of food and took it to the Good News Shelter, along with an additional cash donation. The kids enjoyed being able to give to people in need, and to serve God in a more active way. This was a great idea! Great Job Oak Leaf! We love ya!
December 25, 2007 at 11:22 pm |
I added to the money and donated it to my Granddaughters kindergarden class. the teacher was also my nephews teacher and has really made such a difference in both childrens lifes. She has a gift for her profession. I emailed her and explained about the money and how I feel she has improved these childrens lives, and that I wanted to show my appreciation for her. I sent the money in a Cristmas Card by my Granddaughter and received a email thank you that really made my day. Thank you Oakleaf for giving me this chance to give something back.
December 25, 2007 at 11:24 pm |
We went to lunch and talked to our children about who they wanted to give our money to. I teach Special Ed. at a local High School. We decided to take some gifts to one of my students. This is a family that is classified in the system as “homeless” although they are in a pretty decent house at the moment. The mother is Special Needs and raises 3 daughters (one in middle school and two in high school). Two of the daughters have special needs (intellectually disabled or better known as mental retardation in days past). I remember my student telling me that she didn’t have a Christmas last year. We thought about paying a water bill or electric bill but when we pooled our money together it came to $30.00. I shopped well and we gave each of the daughters a necklace and earrings. We gave some underclothes which are desperately needed. My student got a new Hoodie and the mom got a candle and photo album. WHAT A BLESSING!! I wish you could have seen my student’s face when I delivered the presents. She was on cloud nine!! She waved at my husband and the kids in the car and we I left she yelled “I love you!!!!”. Okay-I’m bawling writing this!!!! I signed all of the gifts from Oak Leaf Church!!! THANK YOU FOR MINISTERING TO THESE PEOPLE!!!!!! They have absolutely nothing!!!
December 26, 2007 at 1:24 am |
We pooled our money together ($45)and decided to use it for a young girl. This young girl is doing her best to keep her life headed in a positive direction. Her mom has been diagnosed with cancer and we thought it would be nice to do something for her, since her mom has felt so sick from the treatments. I included all my boys and we delivered a nice gift to the young girl. I am so glad we are attending Oak Leaf Church. I told the young girl and her mom about the re-gifting and how we had chosen them. We invited them to visit Oak Leaf and perhaps they visit one Sunday.
December 26, 2007 at 3:06 am |
I have to tell you guys a little bit more than what we did with the money…..I want to share some of our story from the past year to let everyone know how God has truly blessed us. Late last year we started going to oak leaf. Neither one of us were saved, we just went to oak leaf because it was tolerable and it got my aunt to stop hounding us about coming. The devil was tearing our family apart and didnt know it. We went through a pretty nasty divorce that started last december. After 10 months of being divorced and pretty much hating each other, God worked a very serious miracle and brought us back together. I have a good christian man that i have worked with the past 4 years that has been witnessing to me, day in and day out. I always brushed him off. After we got back together , he turned the heat up on me and said things like “boy, you need to thank jesus christ for what he is doing in your life”. Finally, one day at work back in October right after i got off the phone with him, I had a feeling come across my body and i knew what it was. It was time to repent. I was balling and i repented, i gave my life to the lord right there at work, sitting in an 18 wheeler. I was still choked up when i called my friend to tell him what i had done. He almost cried (i think he let me go kinda quick so i wouldnt hear him cry). He told me the next day that he had been praying to God for a couple weeks to either get me right or to sever our relationship because i was not a good influence in his life. That is the man that brought me to God. The very next week, my wife gave her life to the Lord. WOW! this is great!! ok, we got $30 in the regift, we prayed and prayed…..didnt get any answers to what to do. Then, the man that witnessed to me for 4 years told me wednesday about a family that the dad had gotten laid off. They didnt have anything to start with, now they were really hurt. We put money with what the church gave us and i gave it to my friend and told him to give it to that family. His wife gave the family the envelope friday. she cried her eyes out. she said she had been up all night praying that god would help give her kids a christmas. Her 6 year olds christmas wish list was 1 movie and some matchbox cars. WOW! and we think we have it rough? A movie and some cars….whew. Anyway, the lord works through us in very mysterious ways, and its wonderful. This year we have done for needy people and the feeling is wonderful. Michael thank you for obeying God. You are doing some amazing things through him.
December 27, 2007 at 3:55 pm |
My husband and I received $10, and were at a loss what to do with it, waiting for the right moment. He carried it around in his car for quite awhile as we discussed who we could help most. Last night he came home late from work, excited to tell me that he had found a recipient for God’s gift. He was late coming home from an out of town job and was getting gas. There was a man with a beat up pickup truck at one of the pumps, asking everyone at all of the pumps for their spare change so he could get enough gas to go home. When the man approached my husband, like everyone else, he told the man he had no change. As he came out of the station he saw the man standing by his truck, looking very humbled and defeated, having been turned down from all sides. Then it struck my husband; what am I doing? This man needs help. So he approached the man and handed him $20 for gas. The man did not want to accept, telling him he only needed a little change so he could get home, but my husband gently insisted he take God’s gift. Thank you for providing an opportunity for us to think twice about people in need that we might normally overlook.
December 27, 2007 at 5:13 pm |
We received $15 on the day of the re-gift offering. I quickly prayed that we would benefit someone with the money and stashed the envelopes away. This year has been so tough for us. My husband of 13 yrs left in July and filed for a divorce in September. I know that we are completely under God’s plan. My children have been amazingly strong. I have been strong for them and kept a smile on but I just haven’t felt like celebrating. I am still in a grieving phase of losing my marriage. The man I loved for 17 years. Praise God for taking care of us.
The night before Christmas, we decided to make bakeless chocolate cookies and give them away in Christmas tins. This Christmas, we are so financially tight and I thought this would be a great way to spend time together and give to others, especially our neighbors. On the last batch of 150 cookies, we needed more sugar & butter. We quickly jumped in the car, and went to the dollar store before it closed. Standing in line, a nice lady was in front of us and was searching for her money to pay for her groceries. She handed the clerk a credit card, and he said..sorry ma’am..we don’t accept that one. She searched for money and had none.
We then gave the clerk the money, $18.98 and paid for her items. She couldn’t believe it, and neither did the clerk. She said..”This has never happened to me before”..and I said..Well, it has today and Merry Christmas.
My 8 yr old son and 6 yr old daughter asked me all the way home about what had just happened. We were thrilled to help someone in need and we plan on looking for an opportunity again. Hopefully even a bigger one next time..Love & Prayers..
Thanks Oakleaf.
December 28, 2007 at 4:11 pm |
The day of the re-gift offering I was speechless. What a selfless act!! My husband, myself, and my nephew recieved $10, my daughter recieved the jackpot of $100. We decided to let her choose how we were to disperse the funds since she had the most. However being a teenager with ADD she could not make up her mind. I mentioned the regift offering to our neighbors and he said he would match her $100 if she gave it to a childrens shelter. On Christmas Eve we brought Flowery Branch childrens shelter $200. Steve, the admin guy was very appreciative and let us know that the money would go towards activites the week after Christmas. He also told us during the summer they have a hard time finding activities and funding with the kids out of school. So, we plan on helping them out during the summer as well.
After the Childrens shelter we went out to eat and left the waitress a $30 tip with an invite to Oakleaf.
I am very humbled to be part of something so big and to see God working!!!
December 31, 2007 at 4:03 am |
We used the $10 that we received in our envelope along with my son’s $5 that he received in his envelope to help a family that had a house fire the night before Christmas Eve. The man is a single dad with four children who has really had a hard time lately. After the house fire they continue to stay in the house that has a lot of water damage and no electricity. He said that he hasn’t had any money to Christmas shop and that he wouldn’t be able to give his kids anything for Christmas this year. We gave him a $200 walmart gift card. My brother-in law gave him a $100 gift card to walmart. And my neighbor also gave him $200. So hopefully we made his Christmas a little brighter this year. Thank you Oakleaf!!!
December 31, 2007 at 4:15 pm |
My daughter Chloe bought ice cream for all her classmates at school. She told everyone that the church had given her the money to “do something nice” for people.
December 31, 2007 at 9:34 pm |
Sitting in the worship service when Michael made the announcement, we were stunned! We have never been a part of a church that ever did anything like this! The emotion we experienced just listening to Michael explain the re-gift procedure was actually a gift for us. It is such a blessing to be a part of a church with a heart as big as OakLeaf. It’s not just talk. It’s action. It’s caring. It’s compassion. It’s simply love. Sharing the money we received was a second gift. We prayed separately and both came up with the same idea. Imagine that. The money was placed in a Christmas card and given to a lady we know who is going through a divorce. She has two children and it’s been tough for her financially. She later told us that when she opened the envelope that night at home, she cried. Her daughter came into the room and asked why she was crying. She told her and then they both cryed together. A couple of days later we received a thank you note. She said that we have a wonderful soul. They plan to attend OakLeaf in a couple of weeks. The re-gift has turned into an up-lift … for all of us. Thank you for letting us be a part of this wonderful experience. God bless!
January 2, 2008 at 3:28 am |
When Pastor Mike made the announcement about the re-gift, my daughter and I looked at each other and knew exactly who we were to help. I believe we were both hoping for a substancial amount, because the family we thought about is a mom of four children, with another on the way with little help from the father. When we prayed and opened our envelopes, we had $10 each. At first we were a bit disappointed until God revealed his plan to us. We were to buy the children a simple gift, matching the funds we recieved. Another church had given my daughter a couple of toys. She decided to re-gift them to the daughter and a stuffed toy for the unborn baby. Next, we called the family and spoke to the oldest son to ask what we could get for him and his brothers, aged 13, 9, and 4. The 13 year old said he needed some sneakers ( he plays sports) and I had no idea how we could do it knowing how much sneakers cost. He said he just wanted a cheap pair, when I asked him where he’d by them, he said, “Kmart or Walmart (any other kid would have said the mall!) We went to Walmart armed with the knowledge that we had $40 dollars to complete our mission. For the 4 year old we found toys for a boy totaling $9.99, he was easy. The nine year old is only into video games, and they are very expensive. God prompted me to ask what size he wore in clothing, although I had no idea at the time why. We found him a 3 piece jogging outfit ( the pants, shirt, and the matching jacket for $12.99! I thought that we would have a problem finding sneakers that were nice and a good price, but once again God saved the day, and helped us to find an awesome pair of black Shaq sneakers for $24.99. I had previously dived into bargin boxes for approx. 2 hrs looking for clothes to give as christmas presents, brand new clothes, with tags for .50 each!. Eventhough a sweater I found was too big for me, I bought it anyway, I thought because it was cheap. Little did I know that God had me buy it for the mom. They were so happy with their gifts, and we were once again shown how God answers prayer! Thank you so much Oakleaf Church for helping us to help someone else, the family knows that it was you who helped make their Christmas a little brighter!!!
January 3, 2008 at 2:09 pm |
Our family combined our envelopes – $35. Not enough to make much of a difference- we thought. Several opportunities have come up but nothing ‘felt right’ until this morning. Today is one of the coldest mornings I have spent in GA at 13 degrees. I’m originally from WA so I have seen a few cold mornings. My husband came home from the Fire Department this morning to find a car pulled into the entrance of our subdivision with a flat tire. He stopped to help. A woman and her little girl were just sitting there. She was unable to change the tire herself and she was upset because she has been out of work and was on her way to a babysitting job when her tire blew out. Now it was going to cost her more to fix the tire than what she made babysitting today. He changed the tire for her and then presented her with the $35 dollars to pay for the tire. She refused the money at first but he explained and she accepted. She said that God works in mysterious ways.
January 5, 2008 at 8:25 pm |
I do not attend Oak Leaf Church but saw the “Pastor’s Perspective” in the Bartow Buzz Magazine this month. I made a note to myself to check out the web site, ServeCartersville.com because that is what Love is all about — serving —- and I was very intrigued when I saw this in the magazine. I went to the web page today and WOW!!!!! I cried and shared some of the stories from your people with my husband and daughter, and then cried some more. What an awesome and VERY GOD thing to do. Thank you for your obedience to HIM in loving others as yourself. May the Blessings of God continue to chase you down and overcome all of you!
January 6, 2008 at 1:09 am |
I could not beleive when the church decided to give the offering back!! What an incredible gift. I received $10 in my envelope and did not know exactly what I was going to do with it, but I wanted to do the right thing at the right time. My husband gave his to the paramedics raising money for needy children but I wanted to do something more personal. It had been almost a week and I had still not used it. One day at work a girl I work with had been going through a hard time, she was talking about borrowing money, and her struggles. I went to my purse gave her the money, told her where it came from, and to go buy her a good lunch. It was not alot of money, but it felt good to do that for her and it made her feel good. THANK YOU Oakleaf!
January 7, 2008 at 2:30 pm |
We pooled our money together and add to it to buy food for a near by outreach center. God has done a tremendous work in the lady that runs the center and her trust in God to provide is amazing. The center provides snack for about 150 children 6 days a week around 3pm and dinner for the homeless and less fortunate about 5pm. In the month of Nov. the center feed around 2,747 on donations (GOD) alone. Many days she closes the doors with very little in the cupboard hearing God say “freet for nothing” This lady also travels to Africa to help feed the children there once a year.
AWESOME MINISTRY!
Thank you Oakleaf for helping that ministry to feed another day!
January 7, 2008 at 3:44 pm |
My husband and I pooled our money ($20) and prayed about what to do about it. We’ve been learning a lot lately about how our neighborhoods and work places are our mission fields and struggling with what that looks like in reality. How do you touch the people you work with every day when you aren’t in the position to really do the typical “witnessing”? I re-read the letter and was stopped in my tracks when I read the part about using it to cook for someone. If there’s one thing I can do, its cook. We took the money from God, plus our own, and bought the ingredients to make cookies. Together, we made cookies for everyone that we both work with, over 30 dozen of them, and prayed over all of them. I kept thinking of how we were doing this for God, and planting a seed that God would grow.
Every person we gave them to was told about why and where the money came from. So many of them were touched and said that no one had ever baked them cookies before. It was a really personal and beautiful way to touch people. Who knows what God will do with just that little seed?
January 8, 2008 at 2:47 am |
I had $10 in my envelope. My friend also recieved $10. I now had twenty dollars but what to buy? I really stressed over it . I just wanted to do “The right Thing” with the money.
I work at an apartment complex and a long time resident came in and handed ME an envelope! It had $20 inside (his usual christmas gift) but what a blessing! I took that money as well & pooled it all together. My coworker also works at Starbucks he told me about a girl who had been struggling and living basically check to check. I know who he was speaking of and no matter how bad things got she always kept a smile on her face. I put the letter and money in an envelope and put a note on it telling her “you are my blessing” I hand delivered it to her at work and told her Oakleaf cares about you and God cares about you! She could not wipe the smile off of her face. She is still the talk of Starbucks. Fellow employees are still amazed at how she was blessed and are stll waiting on their blessing. I hope I planted a seed with my money.
January 18, 2008 at 4:59 am |
I got an envelope with $10. After praying about it for a long time, I finally found the opportunity to use it. I was eating at IHOP after church on Sunday and waiting for our food when I noticed the table next to us was chewing out their waitress (it wasn’t too hard to notice). I could tell she was very discouraged about the whole thing and I saw the chance to show her Christ’s love. I quickly took out my $10 and gave it to a manager to give to her with the message that “Jesus loves her and I want her to know that.” Unfortunately, none of had an invite card and I wish we had…but, this isn’t about making Oak Leaf look great, but about making God more famous and real in people’s lives.
January 22, 2008 at 2:28 am |
When I got my envelope ($10) back in December, I wanted to give it to the next homeless person I saw. No one ever gives homeless people money (“They’ll just buy alcohol with it,” people say, and they might be right) so I wanted to take the opportunity to do that. But, wouldn’t know, for over a month now I haven’t seen a single homeless person. So obviously, that might have been my own idea rather than what I really needed to do with the money.
In line at Starbucks on Saturday, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the guy in the car behind me and I immediately felt compelled to pull a Michael and pay for his order. I know, I know, I’m a copycat – but it was such a good idea and I really felt like I needed to do it.
When I asked the cashier if I could pay for the car behind me, she was shocked. “Do you know them?” she asked. No, I told her, I didn’t. “Oh, do you just want to do something nice?” she asked. “That’s so cool!” I told her that was more like it and since I didn’t have an invite card , I gave her the Oak Leaf CD that we got at the end of a service recently. I asked her to give that to them and tell them that OLC already paid their tab. The cashier was just shocked – as I drove away, she said, “Wow…have a blessed day!” I wonder if she was more touched by the idea than the people whose order I paid for…hmmm….killed two birds with one stone there, I think,
I don’t know what the people behind me ordered but I only had about $2.50 left over (haha!), so I’ll probably try this again and put some of my own money with it. It was a pretty cool experience so I might make it a habit every now and then.
January 26, 2008 at 6:00 pm |
Michael, I have just read all these comments about re-gifting and my kleenex is wet . How did you do this? Did you just put different amounts of money in each envelope? and did everyone who attended church receive an envelope? It is easy to see how God is at work in these stories. Love, AK
January 30, 2008 at 2:12 pm |
Our family received a total of $360 and needless to say, we were blown away! We sat down with our kids to brainstorm about the best way to use the money and decided to pray about it and wait for an answer. Later that week I ran into a friend from high school that also attends Oak Leaf. We talked about the re-gifting and she told me about a neighbor whose well had dried up and had no source of fresh water. The family had resorted to bringing water by the jug into their home and showering at their church. We had another family meeting and decided that this was who needed the money. We pooled our offering money with my friend’s and delivered the money to the neighbor. The wife was visibly moved by the gesture and I still get chills thinking about it. I am so proud to be a part of this church!
February 8, 2008 at 2:46 am |
I just love reading what each family has done with the money that Oak Leaf gave them. I am so touched by what God is doing in our church. I have been in chuch all my life and Oak Leaf is by far the best one. My husband and I had been praying about who to give our money to for a while now. No one person came to our mind. With my money, my husbands, and my daughters we had $25. We decided to give our money to Jump Rope for Heart. We wrote down our name and our donation from our family and then we wrote down Oak Leaf Chruch and the $25 they gave. We may never meet the person that we helped, but we know that this program helps people in our community fight heart disease and stroke. The girl that we helped with her fundraiser was also very excited. Thanks Oak Leaf for giving our family this opportunity.
Joe and Cindy Walraven
February 13, 2008 at 1:05 am |
wow, this is awesome. One of your beloved members mentioned this site during a phone conversation. I was discussing my need to find a new church home. What an awesome idea and I am so impressed at how the church handled this.
I plan to visit really soon!
February 19, 2008 at 5:00 pm |
We have carried this idea over to include some of our income tax money. We had a big bill to be paid, that we’d had for a couple of years, and the Lord provided us with the money to take care of it. Also, we’ve given bigger tips and tried to share with others what the Lord has given us. It doesn’t have to be a lot, a little here, a little there, for God to use it. I thank the Lord for what He’s given us and is allowing us to share with others.
March 13, 2008 at 2:48 pm |
I received $10 in my envelope, and decided to use that money to help out the kids in my friend’s mom’s class. She is a special education teacher, and these kids were having a Christmas party. I went to wal-mart and bought the boys some hot wheels and a my pink pony for the little girl who is in there. we got to stay to see them open the presents, and it was one of the most touching experiences of my life. the kids faces lit up, and they were all really excited about what they were getting. Thank you Oak Leaf for this amazing opportunity. God Bless!!!