Update

On November 26, FCC hosted GoStark's Community Night of Thanks. Nearly 30 congregations who are part of the GoStark initiative gathered in our Worship Center to give thanks, to worship as one body and to celebrate God's goodness. Due to the success of last year's Community Night of Thanks, we had to hold two services this year –– one at 5:30 pm and the second at 7:30 pm!

If you were unable to be part of Community Night of Thanks this year, you missed a moving time of worship. The Cathedral of Life worship team led the assembly of thousands in worship just before Pastor Mike Cameneti of Faith Family Church delivered a stirring message. Then, in a spirit of thanksgiving for God's abundant provision, Pastor Taylor Williams of Whipple Heights Alliance Church, led the body of Christ in an offering to benefit Refuge of Hope.

Here is the breakdown: $57,267.34 was given on Wednesday evening. Rivertree Christian Church gave a $50,000 offering on the Sunday before Thanksgiving for a grand total of $107,267.34. With the matching gift, that is a total of $214,543.68 that will go to Refuge of Hope. That is almost a hundred fold increase over what they received last year from the Community Night of Thanks. Yeah God! 

The total attendance count for the two services was 3,908. There were 2,363 at the 5:30 service and 1,545 at the 8:00 PM (also known as the former 7:30 PM) service. Didn’t anticipate the earlier service being the biggest. Didn’t anticipate the first service running that long. Didn’t anticipate sheriffs turning people away on Market Avenue because there were no parking spaces. Didn’t anticipate an auto accident just south of Applegrove turning the southbound lane on Market Ave. into a parking lot for over an hour.

But praise God anyway for the great night it was in so many ways. Thank you for all you did to make this happen. I will get a more detailed follow up report out later on.

Blessings and praises,

John Hampton

Senior Pastor  |  First Christian Church
 

Photos

The Cathedral of Life worship team led the congregation in an awesome time of praise and worship.

A joint choir of community members from a number of churches worships as a unified voice singing "God of This City."

Over 3,900 attended the identical services to show their support for GoStark, their community and their Father in Heaven.

Pastor Mike Cameneti of Faith Family Church delivered the message during both services.