Love Orillia 2008
Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Imagine a thousand Christians swarming together to love Orillia. Picture the believers from your church blessing Orillia by cleaning up a local park, painting the women's shelter, mowing the lawn for a shut-in, running a community basketball tournament, or other practical projects. Think about the impact this would have on sinners and saints alike. Consider the honour and glory that would be brought to Christ as acts of loving kindness are done in His name.
Now, imagine hundreds of thousands of Christians across our nation swarming together to love Canada ... a tide of good works from sea to sea. From May 26 to June 10 the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada is calling the Church together in a campaign known as Celebration 2007. I don't know if you've received any information from the EFC regarding Celebration 2005 but it seems to me that this is something we should all be involved in. For further information you can access the EFC web site at Celebration 2008.
Over the past months I've been in contact with the organisers of Love Orillia 2007, as well as the organisers of Celebration 2008. Thus, in response to the EFC initiative, we would like to propose a "LOVE ORILLIA" day on Saturday, June xx, 2008. Here's the action plan in a nutshell:
- Each local church identifies a practical "love" project that will take place throughout the day on Sat., June xx (see the suggestions in the attached literature).
- All of the local churches will join together for a free celebration concert at the Couchiching Park Aquatheatre on Sat., June xx from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The Bob Hawkins Band .
Communication and co-ordination of our efforts to make the "LOVE ORILLIA" day come together. Doug Beckberger and John Blyth are the gentlemen to contact for the 2007 "LOVE ORILLIA". Doug and John are doing everything possible to facilitate your church's involvement in the "LOVE ORILLIA" day and if they haven't already contacted you they will be shortly in order "to get the ball rolling".
You can call Doug at 326-9765 or John at 326-7683.
Tons of blessings.
In His grip,
These ideas are intended to be a resource for your church, giving a basic starting point in the selection process.
- Volunteer at the Lighthouse men's shelter
- Run a one day arts festival
- Basic car repairs for seniors or single moms, i.e. oil changes
- Free cooking classes
- Paint the local woman's shelter
- Have a neighborhood block party
- Clean up a park
- Sing in the mall
- Remove graffiti from a neighborhood
- Mow lawns for free
- Assist police officers or fire fighters on a project
- Give provisions to the homeless
- Distribute food baskets to the needy
- Parking meter feeding
- Offer drinks at biking and hiking trails
- Appreciation barbecue for police officers, fire fighters and EMT's
- Free trash pick-up
- Newspaper giveaway
- Grocery bag packing
- Grocery cart escort and return
- Shopping assistance for shut-ins and for disabled
- Single parent house repair
- Free window washing, at self service gas bar
- Free eaves trough cleaning
- Free yardwork and garden work
- Free outdoor painting
- Free dog washing
- Free car wash
- Free barbecue
- Free bike repair clinic
- Free car interior cleaning and vacuuming
- Free pancake breakfast
- Free yard sale
- Sweep streets in the downtown area
- Do drama by the downtown bus station
- Free stamp giveaway in front of post office
- Outreach golf tournament
- Ball hockey tourney
- Restroom cleaning
- Garage cleaning
We encourage each church to select an outreach that makes sense for the context of your church. You may find that your church may want to do 2 or more random acts of kindness. Different ministries may want to select their own way of reaching out to their community.
