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We pray this Advent you find peace. We pray you find joy. And hope. And love. And we would love for you to follow along with us this Advent season.  Please see the link below for our family Advent guide.  It includes crafts and fun ideas and small readings for families.  You can download and print or you can grab a printed copy in the church foyer.

Family Advent Guide

In the summer of 1993, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham received a call from a man in England asking if he’d be willing to fill shoeboxes with gifts for children in war-torn Bosnia. Franklin agreed, figuring Christmas was months away. He forgot about his promise until he received a call close to Thanksgiving asking about the gifts. With help from others, 28,000 shoebox gifts made their way to the Balkans that Christmas. Through these gifts it was communicated to children and their families, for the first time for most, what the angel said to the shepherds about Jesus’ birth: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people” - Luke 2:10.

Every year since, Samaritan’s Purse has collected shoebox gifts filled with toys, school supplies, and hygiene items for children around the world. The boxes serve as a tangible expression of God’s love, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, God’s Greatest Gift. Since 1993, more than 198 million children in more than 170 countries and territories have received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox.

Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoebox gifts to reach 11 million children in 2022. And, this year the project will collect its 200-millionth shoebox!

Mountain Christian Church has supported the mission of Operation Christmas Child for many years. We support the mission in a few ways. First, we pack and donate boxes as a congregation. In 2021 we collected 137 boxes. Our 2022 goal is to collect 150 boxes. We are well on our way to this goal! Another way we support the mission is to serve as the East Mountain drop-off location. When an individual or church goes online to find the nearest drop-off location, MCC is listed as the site for all those in the East Mountain. This is a great opportunity for fellowship and to witness to our community. New this year, during Sunday School we had our grade school children write personal letters to the recipient children. These letters will be distributed in boxes collected by our congregation, letting the children know that they are loved by others and are being prayed for. 

If you haven’t yet packed your shoe box gift(s), do so today! MCC is collecting boxes through Monday, November 21^st. 

“Let the children come to Me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” - Mark 10:14

  Continuing from last week, we are counting our blessings this Autumn season and letting people know how much they mean to our church body.

  Thank you to our youth leaders!  You give up evenings for youth group and time during the week to plan lessons, meet with students, pray for wisdom, and give counsel.  You invest time and love into these kids facing a lot of challenges and changes. Thank you for setting an example and your support in their life when they need it.  Thank you for praying and caring about our youth. 

  Thank you, Sunday school teachers and Preschool/ Nursery caregivers! Thank you for your time spent going over lessons and crafts for our kids. Thank you for loving on our children even when they have an off day, or they want a parent, or when they are rowdy. Even when the class is noisy you bring calm and the love of Christ to these children. Thank you for Sunday mornings rushing to hold a crying baby or helping two toddlers who want the same toy.  Thank you for praying over them, investing the Word of God into their lives, and demonstrating the love of the Savior.

  Thank you, Missions team!  You love those who are in need locally and around the world.  Your heart for spreading the gospel is an example to us all.  Thank you for all the time spent as a liaison between our church and the ministries that we serve.  Thank you for encouraging fundraisers, dinners, fellowships, and for helping us to have a heart as big as God’s heart for the world. 

  Thank you to our ministry leaders and Bible study leaders!  You touch the lives of everyone around you.  You organize and volunteer. You listen and pray.  You bring meals and offer friendship.  You are the listening ear when some are hurting and struggling. 

  And lastly, thank you Deacons. We couldn’t tie our shoes without you! You preserve the unity of our body through countless ministries of service. You mobilize us to come alongside one another. By your wisdom and through the Spirit’s leading you help make our house a home. We are grateful to our newest members of the Deacon Council for their willingness to serve and we would also like to thank those who are rolling off the Council.  They served additional time due to the pandemic and it was an especially trying time to serve.  Thank you for your steadfastness during the past couple of years.

  This year at Mountain Christian we are counting our blessings and we would like to mention what we are grateful for.  We are truly grateful for the wonderful, servant - hearted people that make up our church home. This week and next we would like to recognize some groups of them.

  Thank you to our music ministry!  Each week you fill our walls with praise.  Hearts are poured out and praise is lifted to the heavens with the music you provide.  You sacrifice evenings to practice and rise up early on Sundays so that we may have the gift of worship.

  Thank you to our tech team! Your work can often go unnoticed, but we know the work you do.  You sit in the back and make sure the sermon is heard and those who cannot be with us in person can still be part of our service. Especially through the past couple years your efforts kept our body connected and streamed the service into our homes. Also, to the Radigan family, for all you have done and continue to do for us. We thank you.

  Thank you to those who clean our church house and maintain it! You wipe off tables and vacuum floors.  You change our signage, clean out weeds, and maintain our grounds.  You make it a welcoming place for us to gather every week.

  Thank you to our door greeters! You come early on Sunday to welcome people and you are the first impression. There may be days you don't feel overly social or happy, but your willingness to serve makes the day of many who come through the doors wanting to be called by name or given a hug.  

  To our fellowship planning committee, thank you! Thank you for working hard for potlucks and decorating at holidays. Thank you for the dishes you wash up and the coffee that you make.  Thank you for finding ways to bring us together and your creativity during the pandemic. 

  We would also like to thank Paul Brouse.  For all the ways you support our various ministries, children's ministries, and church we are grateful. You oversee so many areas and you are the life of the party at every Vacation Bible School and whenever you fill in a Sunday School class.  Paul will often be one of the first faces you meet at Mountain Christian. Thank you, Paul, for your zest and your sense of humor. 

Did you know here at Mountain Christian Church we support seven different minsitries and/or missionaries? You can pick up a copy of our missions book in the church foyer to read more about each ministry, but here some reasons why our point of contacts have a heart for serving -

  "I was blessed to help get AMFA started almost 20 year ago, assisting with funding, training and advice. Since this time AMFA has installed about 500 wells in the Amazon Jungle of Peru. When I periodically return to Peru it is so encouraging to see well handles worn by use and families carrying on the daily activities around the wells. But far more satisfying is knowing that we are seeding new churches, training new pastors and creating a support network for these fledgling bodies of Christ. We are truly bringing living water (John 7:38) to these forgotten people." – Vince Tidwell, contact for AMFA Water Wells in Peru

  "Von and I are the FH Bolivia contact points because we are passionate about serving the less fortunate and sharing Christ around the world! We particularly love FH Boliva as we have made personal connections with the staff in the Sucre during our 3 trips there, and admire the personal and purposeful way they do missions. We love meeting with our sponsored children to affirm that they are special in God's sight and worth traveling thousands of miles for! Even before moving to NM, we had served in Bolivia with other mission organizations - apparently God wants us in Bolivia!"  - Von and Elisa Trullinger, contacts for Food For the Hungry, Bolivia

"For over 15 years, Juntos has been engaging children and young adults in Albuquerque to both show them how much God loves them, and to help them to develop leadership skills and identify God's purpose in their lives.  As a volunteer with them, I'm blessed to see eager minds excited to improve their academic skills as well as hear about Jesus and His purpose for them.  Since many children go on to be in leadership positions within Juntos, I feel the same kind of joy I felt as a parent seeing my children mature and reach out into the world to serve.  Juntos breaks chains that might have held these children into a life without the hope of Jesus, and I love helping break chains." – Jim Arzigian, contact for Juntos

"Our family is drawn to International Students, Inc. because we love to connect with people from all over the world...but we can't always afford a plane ticket! These key points from an ISI pamphlet we found in the foyer at MCC were enough to get our attention: 

• America hosts over 850,000 international students and scholars from over 200 countries.
• These students represent the brightest and most influential people from their countries. They will return home to excel in business, military, science and education.
• The majority of these students come from the least evangelized countries in the world.
• As Christians, they can return home to be influential missionaries in their own countries.

In 2017 we reached out to the local ISI ministry representative, Joan Lasche, and she invited us to a simple and helpful orientation session at UNM's campus. We now receive regular email updates on the ways we can get involved. Here are just a few of the varied opportunities that come up regularly: 

• Donate furniture or food. ISI hosts numerous Welcome Lunches each semester at which international students attending UNM are invited to enjoy a meal and pick out household items free of charge. 

• Pick up a student from the airport. Can't you just imagine what a blessing this could be to a young person arriving in Albuquerque for the first time? 
• Host a student in your home. Let someone stay with you for a few nights, or open your home to students excited to experience a traditional American holiday. 
• Make a friend! Come converse with students polishing their English, lead an outing to a fun local destination, or look over ISI's list of students who would like to be matched with a friendship partner. 

Each time we serve through this ministry, we are blessed by the experience!"  - Jake and Emily Gray