Join us this weekend for one of the three NYC Mission Trip Information Meetings we're holding this weekend.

You can attend any one of the following meetings:

• Saturday, January 14 @ 6:45pm in room 212
• Sunday, January 15 @ 10:30am in room 212
• Sunday, January 15 @ 12:30pm in room 212

Q: What & Where?

Mission trip to New York City

New York is home to many things — Broadway, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, Central Park, Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, and 8 million of people of hundreds of nationalities. At the heart of the “City that Never Sleeps” are pastors, mission workers, and Christians who desire to see Jesus come alive in the lives of all 8 million New Yorkers. The lingering effects of 9/11 still remind citizens of their vulnerability and their resilience to push for something greater. We have that opportunity to minister to their hearts that are crying out for Someone!

Q: When?

May 26—June 2, 2012 (over Memorial Day)

Q: Why?

We will work with ministries and outreach in the city.  Much of our ministry will include personal evangelism, inner-city missions, homeless shelters, sidewalk Sunday School, and global outreach opportunities.

Q: Who?

Young adults (18-35*)

Current high school seniors, college students, 20 & 30-somethings.
*Some age exceptions may be made; please ask for details if you are truly interested.

Q: How?

Apply and get your deposit in TODAY!

Fill out an application (either download here or pick up a paper copy at the NYC Mission Trip Info meeting this weekend) and submit it with a $50 nonrefundable deposit (cash or check made out to Vineyard OP).

Q: How much?

Estimated costs are $1100 per person for the entire trip

This cost includes lodging, transportation, food, training and ministry materials, background checks, and more. The final cost will be set once the travel deposit is made (middle of February). Personal and corporate fundraising, as well as tax-deductable donations, are available.

Q: What else?

Pre-trip preparation meetings will be held 5 times prior to the trip departure.  Attend the info meeting for more information.

More questions?

Email us at nymissions@vineyardop.org.
More info on Facebook: facebook.com/groups/nycmissions2012

Later last year we presented the opportunity for people here at Vineyard to join in on an outreach to fix up bikes for children for Christmas.  The children this outreach touches would not be able to have bicycles if it weren't for the people who donated bikes and the folks who put their expertise behind fixing the bikes up in time for Christmas.

Thanks to Dan Patch for leading the Vineyard OP part of this effort, and thanks to everyone who donated bikes or donated your time and skills to fixing those bikes up.

Here are some photos from the event.

On Saturday, December 10th, 25 people met at Vineyard OP at 6:15 in the morning (what I tend to refer to as "stupid o' clock in the morning").  These people braved the dark and the cold early morning hours to go down to Hope Faith Ministries and serve the homeless men and women of downtown Kansas City.

The team cooked and served breakfast, and then bussed the tables and cleaned up for the lunch crew that was coming in.  It was a great opportunity to serve so many people.

Thank you to everyone who came and served.

Here are a few photos...

Yesterday, our crack Operation Christmas Child team delivered 170 shoeboxes to the shipping location here in KC.  From there, the shoeboxes will be sent on to children in countries around the world.

A week ago we talked about how one of the best ways to fight injustice is to introduce people to the mercy and freedom of Jesus Christ.  Operation Christmas Child carries the message of Jesus to children around the world, coupled with a shoebox filled with gifts and toys. It puts into action the message of Christ.

Thank you so much for joining Vineyard OP in supporting Operation Christmas Child!

And a special thanks to Brad Camp and family, who single-handedly led this outreach effort!  Thanks guys!

David Andersen

Yesterday, 56 bold people went out from Vineyard OP to deliver Thanksgiving meals to families in need in our community.  These 56 were divided into 18 teams of families, couples and friends willing to spend a Sunday afternoon serving our community.  Thank you so much to everyone who made the deliveries.

We delievered all of the fixings for a Thanksgiving meal to 67 families right here in the Shawnee Mission school district.  That is the local church serving the local community - one of our core values.  These meals included a turkey (just in time to thaw in the fridge in time for Thanksgiving), a baking pan, green beans, stuffing, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce and a cake with icing.

And thank you to all who donated!  We paid for the turkeys out of the money we collect from the boxes at the back of the auditorium and the rest of the food was donated by generous people from our congregation.  This is an example of what it means when "Everybody gets to play" in the Kingdom of God.

Thank you so much for your generosity!

David Andersen

Unfortunately, I was so busy coordinating the event that I forgot to stop and take any pictures.  DOH!  Anyway, maybe I'll have some photos next year!

For the past several years Dan Patch, who attends here at Vineyard OP with his family, has been working with churches around town to deliver bicycles as Christmas gifts for kids who can't afford a bike.  Throughout the year Dan collects used bikes from garage sales and other places and then repairs them so they can be given to the kids.  This is a big job and Dan came to Vineyard OP asking for help getting the bikes ready in time for Christmas.

We love the idea, and so we are coming to you!  If you have the know-how and time to donate to this effort, Dan could use some more people to help him repair the bikes in time for Christmas.  If this is you, please contact the church office at 913-381-5577 and we'll get you in contact with Dan.  (We didn't want to publish his phone number at the website).

This is just another way we can show God's love to our city.

Below are some photos of past deliveries for Christmas bicycles.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who signed up to donate food for the Thanksgiving Outreach.  Your generosity makes it possible for us to serve our community together as a church!

This is just a quick reminder to please bring your Thanksgiving Outreach donations with you this weekend. Sunday, November 13th is the deadline. Please mark your name clearly on the donation somewhere so we know you made your donation, and just drop it off in the lobby. We’re counting on all those donations to feed the 60 families we’re serving this year. BTW – I’m excited to say that we had enough sign-ups this last Sunday to support all of our families! Thank you to everyone who signed up!

If you forgot that you signed up, it’s OK. You still have time to go shopping and bring your food with you this Sunday! I thank you all so much for being willing to support this outreach. Many less-fortunate families will be blessed by your generosity.

Here’s the shopping list one more time (especially for those folks who didn't get a list because I ran out - sorry about that!):

• 1 heavy foil roasting pan
• 1 five-pound bag of potatoes
• 1 can of cranberry jelly or sauce
• 2 cans of green beans
• 1 box of stuffing mix for turkey
• 2 cans/jars OR 2 dry packages of turkey gravy
• 1 spice cake and 1 cream cheese frosting

One last note:  If you want to help us deliver these meals on Sunday, November 20th, then you can still sign up this weekend in the lobby!

Please contact David Andersen if you have any questions or concerns.

Over the past several weeks, the Rosander small group has been in the Vineyard OP lobby collecting food and selling baked goods with all proceeds going to benefit Hope Faith Ministries in downtown Kansas City.  It all began with a conversation about how their small group could serve at Hope Faith, and what food they could bring with them.

From there the small group leaders worked together to organize a 3-week food drive that collected one Mazda sedan FULL of food to take to down to Hope Faith (see the picture below).  The group also coordinated a 2-week bake sale that resulted in almost 400 baked goods being sold to raise just shy of $500 that was donated to Hope Faith.

Here at Vineyard OP, we talk about how everybody gets to play.  You don't have to wait for the next churchwide event.  You can coordinate your friends, family or your small group to get out there and serve.  More than anything, we desire that you would listen to what the Holy Spirit has for you to do, and to do it.  This is the normal Kingdom life.

Thank you to all the small group members who participated in this effort!

Vineyard OP is facilitating Angel Tree again in 2011 and we are looking for volunteers.  If you are interested, click on the link below to let us know you want to serve!

Sign Up To Help With Angel Tree

Here's more about Angel Tree:

When mom or dad is in prison, it’s the children who do hard time. But you can let them know they aren’t forgotten. You can give the child of a prisoner the joy of Christmas this year. We need volunteers to:

• Contact families for their childrens’ gift wishes
• Work at the Angel Tree Table in the lobby
• Bag and sort gifts for delivery
• Deliver gifts to and share the gospel with the children.

If you would like to help with Angel Tree Christmas this year, please sign up.  Contact David Andersen for more information.

The Joplin School Supply Drive provided school supplies for approximately 25 middle school students in Joplin.  $625 was donated to the cause to help meet students needs.  The small group coordinating the event also secured a classroom set of graphing calculators from Texas Instruments and 10 of the requested calculators.

The supplies went down to Joplin in time for the students who are starting school next week.

Thank you to everyone who generously gave to the drive and a special thanks to the small group led by Nora Barringer for the vision and initiative to lead this outreach!

Last Thursday, Bob and Robert made the final delivery for the 2011 Summer Food Drive.  Over the past 9 weeks, our Summer Food Drive team, led by Bob and Penny Balfour, coordinated, sorted and prepared 100 sets of food to be given to families in need.  Head Start of Shawnee Mission brought this need to our attention, citing the families that could not afford lunches for their children during the summer months when school lunch programs shut down until school starts again.

The total value of the 100 sets of food was over $4,000!

Thank you to all of you who donated to the food drive!  We couldn't have met this need without your generosity.

And a special thanks to the team that worked in the heat to prepare all of the food for delivery.  If you see these folks out and about at the church, take a moment to bless them.   Thanks to Bob and Penny Balfour, Robert Brendlinger and Kathy Patch for being an amazing team!

Lifechange Camp and Retreat Center and our group from VOP will never be the same.  With 12 excited students and 2 over caffeinated leaders, we swooped in and “Got’er Done”.   For 4 days we worked and played hard and left exhausted, sun burnt, itchy, and yet completely satisfied by all of the above.

While at Lifechange our main objective was to build a trail that ran along the backside of the camp’s property.  This was 660ft of dense southwest Missouri forest.  So armed with rakes, machetes, and hedge clippers we started the job.  I was skeptical how a bunch of City folk would handle being in the woods, but if you would have seen those students work you would have thought you were looking at the teenage children of Louis and Clarke themselves.  They cut, sliced, and cleared every branch, tree, and log that got in their way.  What started as thick foliage and underbrush was nothing but dirt when they were finished.  It was amazing what they got done with a heart of service and the willingness to finish the task set before them.

All that happened during the day, but at night we started clearing a different kind of trail. There were no trees which needed to be chopped or brush that needed to be raked but just as many snares and thorns which needed to be identified, cut down, and burned.  So with the help of James, each other, and God’s clippers (conviction and reproof) we began/continued the journey of our faith whose destination is the very heart of God.

The trip was wonderful.  I gave the students a survey the morning of our last day.  The number one thing they said they would change if given the chance was that they would make it longer.  If that isn't what a youth pastor wants to hear after his first mission trip, I don't know what is.  So 660ft of trail finished, 14 people exhausted yet fulfilled, 1 camp changed forever.  Mission (trip) accomplished.

We are entering the fourth week of the 2011 Summer Food Drive, and the response has been fantastic!  Thank you to all the generous Vineyard OP people who have graciously donated food to help out the kids right here in Overland Park.  An extra special thanks to Bob and Penny Balfour and Kathy Patch for being the team that has moved hundreds of bags of food down to the north end of the building, sorted it, bagged it for delivery and delivered to Head Start.

What’s this all about?
Even here in Johnson County, numerous families rely on school lunch programs to provide lunches for their children during the school year.  Once the summer months come, and school is out, that benefit is gone, and many of these kids simply go without food during the day.  This need was brought to our attention by our friends at Head Start of Shawnee Mission, and together we developed the Summer Food Drive to help address this need.

Because of Head Start of Shawnee Mission’s close relationship with the families in our area, they are keenly aware of when their children are food insecure.  With their close relationship with the families, they know best where the need is.  By partnering with them, Vineyard OP has the opportunity to help address immediate needs and to be Jesus right here in our own backyard.  

We’ve signed up to support Head Start for nine weeks from the first week in June to the last week in July.   That’s 99 bags of groceries over nine weeks.

This is just another way Vineyard OP seeks to be the best friend our city ever had.

Thanks for your dedication to serving Vineryard OP!

David Andersen

This past Saturday, June 11th, 30 Vineyard OP folks headed downtown to join Hope Faith Ministries in serving the homeless men and women of Kansas City.  What If The Church and the Kansas City Convoy of Hope were also going on so it proved to be a busy day.  We helped fix breakfast, cleaned, washed dishes, bussed the tables, prepped the men's and women's clothing shops and assisted the homeless men and women with "shopping" for clothes at the free clothing shops. It was a busy morning and a great chance to demonstrate what life in the Kingdom of God is all about.  Followers of Jesus serve others!

Thanks to everyone who joined in!

Here are some photos from Hope Faith.

The next time Vineyard OP is going down to Hope Faith as a group is September 10th.  Just watch the Event Center for more information.  But don't wait for us to go.  Grab your small group, friends or family and head down to serve on your own.  To find out more about Hope Faith Ministries, just head over to their website.

Numerous Kansas City churches are pulling together to support the Convoy of Hope again this year in Swope Park on June 11^th, 2011.  Convoy of Hope has been doing community outreaches like the one happening on June 11^th since 1994.

The Kansas City Convoy of Hope is being held in Swope Park – Kansas City, MO, and the gates will open at 10:00 a.m.  This is a massive public outreach with 35,000 pounds of free groceries, a health fair, a job fair, haircuts, family portraits, a free BBQ lunch for all in attendance, and live entertainment.

You can help out with the event by volunteering in one of the numerous support roles.  Please head over to the Kansas City Convoy of Hope website to check it out!

You can find out more about volunteer opportunities here.

You can find out more about Convoy of Hope here.

You can find out more about Kansas City Convoy of Hope here.

David Andersen

Vineyard Church of Overland Park