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! 

In 1990 a group of Christians from Houston, Texas went on a medical mission to Kenya, Africa. While there, they learned that what these Kenyans needed more than medical assistance is clean, safe water.  Dirty water is mainly what was making them ill. This group returned to Houston and formed the nonprofit Living Water International and since that date they have completed 21,058 water projects that provides safe water to over 6 million thirsty people (as of 7/27/20).

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.

DCC has partnered with Living Water International for over a decade now. In that time our partnership has reached more than 20 communities across 4 continents. We recently interacted with Julie Hill from LWI as part of our 2020 Advent Conspiracy. Here she explains the work of LWI and how Dungeness Community Church has contributed to their work over the years.

"It is not by man but God alone that we can continue to find water, Living Water, HIS water, His life, country by country, well by well and gift by gift."

- Julie Hill 

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…