I am so excited to share with you our plans for our 9th Annual Christmas Offering! Over the years, this offering has made a huge IMPACT on our ministry!
For example, the Christmas Offering has enabled us to:
- fully fund our “Summer of IMPACT”
- complete a well for a community in Haiti
- re-roof our entire building
- renovate a home for a family on Wadmalaw Island
- fully fund our Summer VBS
- pay down the cost of Camp & the Winter Retreat for our Student Ministry
- pay for our Easter Outreach
- pay for the Oakland Elementary School Annual T-Shirt
- buy our first Box Truck for Community Outreach
God has used our church and the Christmas Offering to do all of that and so much more! Well, beginning THIS Sunday, November 14th, through the second Sunday of the New Year, January 9th (9 weeks), we are encouraging our entire Coastal family to give above and beyond their regular tithes and offering to this year’s Christmas Offering.
To give, all you have to do is designate your gift “Christmas” on your check, offering envelope, card swiping “description”, online through Paypal, or TEXTing (843-277-8337). You can give your gift during those 9 weeks (Nov. 14th – Jan. 9th) at any of our regular Sunday morning services or anytime through TEXTing, our website, or our App. You might also consider giving it all at once during one of our Christmas Eve Services. Our entire Christmas Eve offering will go toward our Annual Christmas Offering.
Why a Special Offering? It’s a way for us to grow in our faith and to prepare us for what God wants to do through our church in a bigger way in 2022. It’s a way for us to sacrifice together as a church family and give generously. Christmas is all about giving. Many people, during this time of year, are in fact looking for opportunities to give. And there is no better place to give than to your local church.
What is our goal and where is the money going? Our overall goal is $125,000 – our largest Christmas Offering to date! Is that a big goal? Yes! Can we reach it? Absolutely! As always, I am very excited about where this year’s money will be going and the potential Kingdom impact. The money will be used for Community Outreach & Remodeling Our Old Auditorium. Let me specifically explain each:
- Community Outreach. This year I’m excited to announce that we are going to be purchasing our SECOND “Box Truck”! Since purchasing our first Box Truck we have hosted 39 Tailgate Parties serving the homeless, hurting, and hungry all over Charleston. The average tailgate provides food for approximately 200 people. A quick run of the math concludes that the box truck in its first year of service has fed approximately 7,800 people! Tailgating is arguably one of the most popular serving opportunities at Coastal. On average, a tailgate event will draw as many as 40 volunteers. Most of our church’s tailgates typically require 12 to 15 volunteers. Given the popularity of the tailgating outreach at Coastal, the number of volunteers who attend these types of events, and the impact made in the community, the deployment of a 2nd truck would potentially double the impact of our outreach. As part of the Christmas offering, we’d also replace our grills to units that are more robust and able to endure the stresses of our outreach events. We’d also improve and expand exterior lighting on the vehicles so that Coastal can host a greater number of evening outreach events.
- Remodeling our old auditorium. For the past year, during construction, our old auditorium has served as storage for EVERYTHING in our old building. Now that we’ve moved into our new facility, we’re going to remodel the old auditorium and transform it into a Chapel. Prior to construction, that space was used very specifically as a Children’s Auditorium for our 1st-5th Graders. Now, as a Chapel, it will serve many purposes – not only for kids, but for students, overflow worship, LIFE Groups, community meeting space, weddings, and funerals. Specifically, we hope that this Christmas Offering will help purchase the flooring, paint, chairs, & AV equipment.
How much should you give? Prayerfully consider giving a gift that will stretch your faith and include your whole family. For some people, coming up with “extra” money is difficult. We’ve learned that as we give, God provides. Maybe you decide to give up eating out or buying coffee for 9 weeks and give that money to the Christmas Offering. Maybe you sell something or have a yard sale. For some people $1000 above your regular giving is a huge sacrifice. For others, it’s not.
Maybe there is someone who might be willing to give a large matching gift this year. Just like our “Daring Faith” Giving Campaign that has enabled us to build our new building and all the other Christmas Offerings we’ve done in the past, we can’t all give the same amount, but TOGETHER, we can ALL make a sacrifice. That’s when God does a miracle, when together we ALL step out in faith.
Remember, this offering should be over and above what you regularly give. If you’re not regularly giving (weekly, monthly), use this time of year to start. If you’re not tithing (10% of your gross income), step out in faith and start tithing. Reaching this goal will be a celebration of what God can do through us as together we stretch our faith.
Merry Christmas!
Pastor Chris Rollins
P.S. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. The easiest and fastest way to give to the Christmas Offering is through TEXTing. Simply TEXT any amount followed by the word “Christmas” to 843-277-8337 (Example: “$100 Christmas”). If you haven’t signed up for TEXT-to-Give it’s a quick, simple, and secure process!
