Report: Giving More is Cool

I feel guilty. Our kids did such a great job decorating Christmas cards for families affected by the hurricane, and our families gave over $800 in gift cards and cash to those same families this past Sunday. Then I got to experience the joy of delivering those gifts today, which really cool but a little unfair. Every person who gave should have had the privilege of delivering those gifts personally. This post is my best effort to help each of you feel the way I did Monday.

I delivered a small gift and several cards to a family in Galveston whose home we had worked on after Ike. It was my first time to see the neighborhood since our last trip down there. The neighborhood itself is largely empty now except for construction workers. None of the families we helped are able live in their own homes yet. But the homes are starting to look like homes again, and demolition has given way to reconstruction. One of the homeowners showed me around today to see the progress, and I couldn't help but think that even if I had arrived empty-handed, just showing up today was a reminder that they were not forgotten.

We gave gifts to 4 families, including two single-parent households and a family of four in which both parents were laid off in the aftermath of Ike. When it was discovered that every Christmas card contained a gift card, I was actually questioned about whether I had made a mistake in giving so much to only one family. No, I said, no mistake. "It's Christmas."

"You all are wonderful people." If they only knew you as I do, they would know how true that is.

Spend less. Give more. Worship fully. May you and your family experience all the joy that Christmas represents. God is with us!

The Springs Hits the Front Page

A feature story on Church @ the Springs made the front page of the Galveston Daily News today. It was great to read Rick Cousins' take on our church as an objective journalist. For the most part, I think he "gets us." As a Galveston reporter, he's seen many, if not most, of the island's church buildings damaged by Ike. Viewing the Springs through that lens, he asks an important question about church: "So if a major disaster can strip a fellowship down to its essentials, to an experience that lacks both ornateness and overhead, what’s the irreducible definition of corporate Christian practice?"

That is exactly what we envision for the Springs: Christ-following reduced to its most basic and fundamental elements, which also happen to be its most vital and important elements. Christianity stripped of ornateness and overhead by choice rather than disaster. It's a great line of questioning to assess the health of any church. What would happen if the building closed down tomorrow? If the money dried up? If the committees dissolved and the offices shut down? Would a church still exist? Would it survive? Could it even thrive? We're going to know the answers to all those questions.

It's worth noting that Rick's articles about Galveston county churches do not usually make the front page. Whether Rick outdid himself on this one, or the Springs is actually that unusual, or God just decided to give us an early Christmas gift, is anyone's guess. But we celebrate it just the same, and thank Rick for his interest in us and his efforts on behalf of the Church in Galveston county.

Merry Christmas from the Simmons Family!

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Making Changes to Make Christmas Better

Ironically, our annual celebration of the birth of Christ has become our most indulgent, commercial, and stressful time of the year. But Christmas is worth saving. Join the families in our community who have committed to make 1 change in each of three areas this Christmas: Spend Less, Give More, and Worship Fully. Scroll down to see the posts for ideas in each area, and make your own suggestions that may be helpful to other families. The posts will be continually updated over the next couple of weeks as ideas come in. This could be the best Christmas you've ever had.

Many thanks to the following for inspiration and leadership in this area:

• Luke 2; Hebrews 13; 1 Timothy 6; Exodus 20
• Morgan Spurlock's excellent documentary film, "What Would Jesus Buy?"
• www.adventconspiracy.org
• Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

Spend Less

Deciding as a family to spend less is a crucial first step in bringing sanity and meaning back to the Christmas holiday. We should all commit to avoiding debt at this and all future Christmases. Beyond that, here are several choices your family can make to spend less this Christmas.

• Give one less gift per person
• Spend half as much (total expense) as last year
• Purchase store-bought gifts for kids only
• Draw names to buy one gift for a family member
• Decide as a family that no gifts will be store-bought
• Sell before you buy (this is what I did this year. I started selling things we had and didn't need a couple of months ago, and to my surprise I raised almost enough money to cover Christmas this year. I don't recommend this as a year-to-year strategy, and it doesn't address the larger issue that spending is rather unnecessary, but it did show me how much we already have that we don't need).
• Decide as a family what you are going to do with your savings (see Give More posts below)