BlairBlog

christmas. different.

Posted on 06. Jan, 2009 by Blair in Aunt Linda gives a "What?", work stuff

christmas was different this year. the elections were contentious. the economy was a mess. people were losing their jobs and homes. yet, the cultural pressure to celebrate this holiday in the secular manner of gift giving was undeniable. retailers and the media encouraged people to spend money and time to fulfill the christmas desires of friends and family.

so we at mariners decided to do christmas different this year. instead of gift cards we sold GIVE cards. the plan is simple… a card with a unique serial number is purchased for $25 / $50 / $100 and is given to friends or family. the money collected is placed in an account designated for five special projects. the recipient of the card can then log onto www.christmasdifferent.org and designate which of the five projects they would like the money to be used for. simple!

so what was the net effect? people at mariners stopped for a few minutes and thought a new thought about christmas. they grabbed the opportunity to do something good for someone else in this world and to communicate loudly to their friends and family their values for this holiday. it gave the recipient of the card the opportunity to be engaged in the process as well. they got to make the final choice about how the gift would be used. practically speaking… the program, which was launched on the weekend prior to thanksgiving and ran through christmas eve services, raised over $130,000. that money will be used to aid fire victims, provide wheelchairs in peru & uganda, supply HIV/AIDS medicine in uganda, provide christmas gifts for families in need and build homes in mexico. wow! this whole christmas different program was in addition to the thanksgiving food drive which brought in thousands of pounds of food and the christmas wish list which provided nearly 5,000 christmas gifts valued at nearly $140,000,  for children in the community.

the lesson? we serve a HUGE GOD! through HIS leading these programs were developed, launched and responded to. GOD used the people of mariners this christmas to bless those in need here in orange county & around the world. these gifts were not “guilt offerings” to assuage a guilty conscience… in fact it was the opposite… it was a purposeful decision to respond to God’s blessings in our lives by doing something different. to make christmas different.