After 2 years of hiatus, we are back to hosting the Holiday Foster Dinner! It is on Friday, December 2, 2022 -- from 5:30pm to 7:30pm, in partnership with North Olympic Foster Parents Association. Read on to learn about the Dinner, and what you can do to support what has become a wonderful Christmas tradition for so many. DCC Adults Pastor, Lance Lewis, will be this year's MC, with the support of DCC Family Ministries Pastor, Britt Hemphill, who has done much to help us organize the event and secure funds.

A Longstanding Community Event

Since 2013, DCC has provided a location and support for North Olympic Foster Parents Association to host their annual Holiday dinner for interested foster families in Sequim, Port Angeles, Forks and other communities in the region. This event began as a thank you for foster parents who provide love and a home for the many deserving children.

We will have a traditional turkey dinner, with all the fixing, including a chocolate fountain for dessert, which is being provided by a volunteer. Emma Gockerell is providing face painting for all the children! Sunbonnet Sue’s quilting group sews a special Christmas stocking for every single foster child, which are filled by Sequim Community Church. 

Sunday at 4:30am it was raining hard, but it stopped for the beginning of the race at 7:30am.  Our relay team completed the full marathon and crossed the line together.  It was a great site. Other participants completed the ½ marathon. Thankfully the rain held off until our relay team had finished the race.  Then came the wind and rain!

During the day Team Living Water had a booth set up at the finish line, for folks stopped to inquire about Living Water International. It was a great opportunity to raise awareness and share what we are all about. Contact Martin Murray If you are interested in participating next year.

A Letter From Julie & Jordan of Living Water International

"Thank you so much to Martin and the team at DCC for your incredible efforts this past weekend in the North Olympic Discovery Marathon! It was a joy and honor to join together with all of you to provide water, for life, in Jesus’ name and even more fun to watch you exceed your fundraising goal! Thank you for choosing to endure for the thirsty and for all the hard work that went into making this event a success. I witnessed people stepping in to help out all weekend and it was clear this was truly a team effort! You are all a blessing to Living Water and are already looking forward to next year!"

 

- Jordan Griebner - Living Water International - Director of Trips & Affinity Groups

  

"I (and on behalf of Living Water) am so grateful for DCC and each race participant, each person who made a gift, every volunteer and advocate. Each person, gift and step ran/walked matters for the thirsty; sharing in this work and community together is a true gift. Praise God!"

 

- Julie Hill - Living Water International - Director of Philanthropy, West 

 

In July of 2021, David Piper travelled to Guatemala to help distribute wheelchairs with DCC Global Partner, Bethel Ministries International. David sat down for an interview with Britt Hemphill, who is the Family Ministries Pastor for DCC as well as the chair for DCC's Global Outreach Committee. Watch that video here, along with excerpts from David's personal blog about the trip. 

If you would like to learn more about the Global Outreach Committee at DCC, reach out to Britt Hemphill. He can include you in our DCC on Mission newsletter. 

On March 18 2021, the Sequim Gazette published an article on Rosalie DiMaggio and her team at Dungeness Community Church. Their efforts are providing wheelchairs, walkers and other mobility equipment to families in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. We are thankful for the opportunity we've had to collaborate with Bethel Ministries International and Mission Mobility in this way!

An Active Community Response

Amazingly, within a day of this article being published, a local gentleman called from out of the blue to offer a wheelchair he had recently acquired. He had no use for it, but saw the opportunity to salvage it -- in hopes an opportunity would show itself -- and it did! Terry Sage, our custodian, got to quick work cleaning the wheelchair. 

The following Monday, the Penninsula Daily Newspublished the same article. We were flooded with phone calls, pick up requests, and drop offs of equipment! 

As you are all aware, our short-term mission to Guatemala earlier this year was canceled because of coronavirus.  A decision was subsequently made by the DCC team leaders, supported by church leadership, to allow the $15,000 sent to Bethel Ministries International from DCC for the team to be used for projects the DCC team was going to be involved in.  Here is how that money has been utilized;

On behalf of the DCC Global Outreach Committee, I wanted to share a super important development about our short term mission trips to Nicaragua and Guatemala planned for 2021.

In a 2012 message shared at Bethlehem Baptist Church, pastor John Piper said; 

"Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Missions is our way of saying: the joy of knowing Christ is not a private, or tribal, or national or ethnic privilege. It is for all. And that’s why we go. Because we have tasted the joy of worshiping Jesus, and we want all the families of the earth included." 

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.” - (Psalm 22:27) 

"Seeking the worship of the nations is fueled by the joy of our own worship. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. You can’t proclaim what you don’t prize. Worship is the fuel and the goal of missions."

Here are some of the things DCC is doing to partner with God in the grand task of missions for the sake of worship among the nations this coming year…