The Jubilee By: Nate and Tara

My husband wasn't in church with me the day the envelopes were handed out but I was so excited about the challenge that this "Year of Jubilee" money came with and wanted to use it to help someone in need. My husband shared my excitement and we both did not want to rush into giving it to the first person we saw. So after brainstorming and praying about it we were a little unsure but knew we didn't want to wait too long...in June (and I know I'm a bit late in writing about it) a coworker came to me (one whom I rarely see) and was telling me about some financial struggles she and her family were having. As I listened, I could feel that tug and then she said, "I just wish someone could loan me $500" . At that moment I just said, I will. She couldn't believe it and after I told her several times over, yes I will, in fact, I don't want you to repay me. God loves you and so do I, I said. She got tears in her eyes and still couldn't believe that I would. I knew that's exactly who God wanted me to give it too. I don't know why, but that's not important...God wanted me to listen to Him. Isn't He Amazing! What an opportunity!

The Jubilee By: Robert and Jackie

Patience Pays Off

Robert and I had been holding on to the Jubilee money for over 5 months. We both felt that if we continued to pray for God's leading, the right person, family, or organization who needed this gift would be obvious. I must admit that I was starting to feel anxious about "sitting" on that much cash for so long. I wondered if we would never have a clear sign and should just pick a local organization that we thought would use it wisely. Robert encouraged me to continue to be patient.

Just a couple days ago we learned that our new neighbor was suddenly admitted to the ICU fighting for life. The family is currently without health insurance and the parent in the hospital is the "bread-winner." Praise God - it now seems they will pull through, but might have a long recovery ahead. It was emotional for both me and the spouse when Robert and I explained how we came to have the $500 and now knew that it was meant for them. What joy there is in being rewarded for patience and trust in our Lord! Thank you elders, pastors, and anyone else involved in the development of this "Year of Jubilee!"

Robert & Jackie Heider

The Jubilee By: Lane and Laura

We decided to give our $500 to a help out a young couple our age. My high school classmate/family member and his wife have twin daughters who are 22 months old. In August, one of the twins was diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive form of pediatric brain cancer. She has already had a tumor surgically removed and now has a very tough fight ahead of her. She has started intensive, systemic chemotherapy and will likely have to follow with radiation, stem cell replacement and additional chemo. Each treatment will require a 4-5 day hospital stay. In order for her mom to provide the best possible care for her, along with her their other 3 children, she has discontinued working. This leaves the family with only one income. So, hopefully the Jubilee money will help to cover some of the family’s financial needs. We hope and pray God will take care of the rest. Lane and Laura Ischen

The Jubilee By: Paulino & Brenda

My husband's family live in Brazil. He went there for the month of July this year. They are very poor, so we have always helped them out financially. They have had several tragedy's since we have been married. The most recent tragedy was in August 2008. My husband's mother had several strokes in 2007 and 2008 and she passed away in August 2008. That was a blessing since she could not do anything on her own anymore. On the way to the funeral, the man they hired to drive them to the funeral went off the road and rolled the car. His sister, uncle, and brother were hurt seriously and his brother's wife was killed when the car rolled over her. The others had head injuries, broken ribs, and his sister is just starting to walk again. This money helped us to help them even more. The Goehring family also gave their Jubilee money to his family. They were so thankful to God and Hill Crest Baptist Church when he told them about the Jubilee money. It was a big financial burden with the two funeral and the medical expenses. We cannot express how thankful my husband, his family, and I am. I do believe God expects us to serve and help those in need and I appreciate the teachings about complete forgiveness, helping people in need, and leading a christian life. We all sin and make many mistakes, but we need to keep striving to be more like Jesus.

The Jubilee helps with School Costs

It has taken us a while to use the Jubilee money, but we finally did it! I contacted the school that our children attend in Brandon and explained what our church was doing with the Year of Jubilee. I had a meeting with both the principal and the director of nutrition and they were very excited to hear that we wanted to give the money to them to use for families in our school that had real needs that weren't being met. I also explained that we didn't want the families to know who the money came from, but that we would appreciate if they told us what kind of needs were being taken care of with the money. I did explain that we wanted the money to be used for backpack buddies, school lunch accounts and/or school supplies.
My husband and I both have thought at different times that we could use the money to meet our needs, but neither of us wanted to do it. We knew that we both would rather be a blessing to someone else, or in this situation many other families. While we could've used the money to help us out we chose not to. During our struggles over the past 9 months God has used our friends and family to provide for us when we didn't know how our needs would somtimes be met. Well, I took the Jubilee money to the school on Wednesday of last week and today as we left church a friend of ours gave us an envelope. When we got to our van and opened it we found their portion of the Jubilee money!! We will never forget how wonderful it felt to be the giver when we truly needed the money and within a matter of days be the recipient of such a great blessing! Thank you!

The Jubilee By: Daniel and Christine

Dan and I have finally used our $500 Year of Jubilee Money. It took us some time to decide where and how this was going to be helped.

I had over heard a coworker of mine- stating they needed a miracle to help them out. They are just stressed with bills….well…

We had decided to help out this family that is in debt – behind in medical bills and house payments. We bought them a lifetime membership to Dave Ramseys FPU and lined them up a class at a church nearby starting in September. We wrote them a letter this was not something they HAD to attend- but they could think about it. The membership is good for lifetime, and if it does not work in their schedule to start in Sept they can cancel and arrange another time that works for them.

So we wrapped this up and included the envelope of 500.00.
We dropped it off and told her to open it when her husband got home from work…as he works 2 jobs.

She later texted me…she wanted to call…but she was overwhelmed…stated they both cried – never thought that they would be in this situation- where they were in need.
And God provided. She thanked us. And we thanked our Church and God!

It was a wonderful feeling.
Thank you for this opportunity!!


Daniel and Christine Grosz

The Jubilee Helps Others

Once again the Lord blessed me when, with the remaining 225.00 I had, I bought magazines for a person in a hospital with family out of town, gave an elderly person a 100.00, and last but not least 100.00 to help children who have Aids.

The Jubilee Helps More Individuals

Our family has decided to break our money into smaller amounts. To this point we have used 300 of it and are still deciding how we are going to spend our last 200. We recently saw an add posted on Craiglist.com where a man said he needed work and would do just about anything to get money. The next day we called him up and asked him if we could meet him somewhere. He was wondering if we needed work but we told him we just wanted to help him out. During our meeting he told us how he was recently laid off from his job out of town and had 400 dollars to his name and that money was going to his rent. He told us how he had screwed up in the past but had figured out his life and had a young daughter and wife at home. He told us he was so desperate for a job that he even went to McDonalds to apply to be the guy that holds up a sign outside of the restaurant. After talking to this guy for 15 minutes or so we handed him the money and explained our story at Hillcrest. He told us how he grew up going to church on and off and would like to get involved again. At that point he took my number and said he would like to go with us some time. About an hour ago I received an ecstatic phone call and he told me he had received 3 job offers in one day. One that was willing to pay him 14 dollars an hour. He said that he had previously worked at this place and a few days prior he went in again to see if they would hire him. They claimed they couldn’t due to the economy but today they called him back and said they would hire him. The best part about it was that he told me he didn’t have to work on Sunday’s and he would let me know about coming with us to church some time. It was such a great feeling for our family to meet with this guy.

Another day we were driving by Walmart and saw some men holding signs We pulled in and asked them what they needed and how we could help them. They told us they had hitch-hiked here and now were trying to make some money for bus tickets to get to Minneapolis. They didn’t expect much from us and would have been happy with just a meal, but after explaining our story we gave them enough money for bus tickets and some food. They were so happy and gracious. They hugged us and then took off to buy their bus tickets. The feeling we got when helping these people was indescribable & brought tears to our eyes.
We feel extremely blessed to have had these opportunities & look forward to our next chance to give away the rest of the money.

The Jubilee Helps a Variety of People

One family has been doing numerous small actions with their jubilee money. At their business, they have been putting extra merchandise in people's orders. They have not charged Hillcrest for some of their services. They have paid for people's meals in line at McDonald's. Daily, they have enjoyed being able to give to others.

The Jubilee By: Joy

What an amazing feeling it was to be given the opportunity to help someone in need! My six year old daughter Jasmine just happened sit in church with me that Sunday instead of going to Sunday School and she helped me and my other two children decide what to do with some of the money. We recently went to Wal-mart and ran into an old co-worker of mine who happens to also be a single mother. As we were standing behind her in the check out line she was telling me about her recent medical problems and medical bills, knowing how hard it can be I was trying to help her feel better when Jasmine tugged on my shirt and said "Mom we should give her some of that money from church." WOW! I thought, it is amazing that my six year old thought of that before I did! So we used $100 to purchase the $42 in groceries she had and had the cashier give her the change. It was amazing to do something like that and to witness the disbelief on her face when she said "You have no idea how much we needed that! Why would you do that?" and I responded "Because God loves you." I know we were able to touch the heart of that woman that day but I believe we also touched the hearts of the several people who gathered around us who shocked that we were able to give so freely.

The Jubilee By: Aaron and Sheri

My sister, who is disabled, has been out of work for a long time. Her unemployment benefits recently ran out. I said to Aaron, "If she wasn't my sister, we could give the money to her."Of course, we came to our senses and helped her out with a particular bill. We're still looking for the right thing to do with the rest of the money -- I have a feeling God has a specific place for it to go.Sheri & Aaron Levisay

The Jubilee By: Art and Cheri

We talked about all the people we know that need financial helpand SO had many ideas. We finally decided to help a single mom that I work with on budgeting because she was in the most helpless spot. In November 2008 she found herself $300 behind at the daycare her daughter was attending because the father had lost his job 4 months prior and was not paying child support. The daycare said that she would not be able to bring her daughter any longer if she did not pay the bill the next day. WELL………. She went to a title loan place and became one of their victims! She received a little under $300 and satisfied the daycare, but the payments were $120 a month which she could not afford in the first place., so she quickly became delinquent and was beginning to sink. Long story short, by the time we stepped in her payoff was $780.00 (not to mention the $480 she had already made in monthly payments) and they would have repossesed her car soon. After MUCH discussion, we were able to get them to settle with a payoff of $600 so we just paid the whole bill to get her car title back. She just kept saying thank you and I cannot re-pay you! God definitely made an impact in the life of this family. Art and Cheri

The Jubilee Helps People Out of Work

I used my Jubilee money to help fund Latin American child care. I also made contributions to out of work people. I found this to be a thought-provoking exercise.

The Jubilee By: Elaine

I finally came to a decision on what to do with the $500.00. I am giving it to the Food Pantry today. This will help a lot of people instead of one or two. Elaine Perry

The Jubilee Helps Out a Family in Need

We have close friends who are going through some tough financial times. They have two young children, owe on last year's taxes, and are getting laid off in a couple months. When we first received the jubilee money, they immediately came to our minds, and so we gave them part of the jubilee money to use for bills, groceries, whatever they find to be the most pressing needs.

Jubilee Story on Kelo-land

Kelo-land TV found the Jubilee blog and contacted Hillcrest Church to do a story on the Jubilee. They shared the story on the news on Wednesday, June 10. Here is the sight to read the story and see the video: http://www.keloland.com/news/news/NewsDetail7807.cfm?ID=85783

The Jubilee By: Amy and Andy

My husband wasn't in church with me the day these envelopes were handed out but together we made the decisions on who to give to.When I heard it was going to be a challenge I thought "whatever! how hard could it be?!" Well it was definately a challenge for us! To give with an open heart and without being judgemental about WHY our choices may need the money and putting it in God's hands, out of our controlwas tough! First off we gave some of the money to our neighbors. they have 3 children all with varying degrees of hearing loss, from mild to eventually deaf. This husband and wife work from sunup to sundown,also while she goes to school for ASL and the whole family tries to learn it. The remainder of the money we gave to various people with financial needs because of the economy, just gift certificates for groceries or gas. We did this all anonomously but still heard in a roundabout way some of the people's reactions and gratefullness and we were very proud and gracious to be a part of the Jubilee!Amy and Andy

The Jubilee By: Coleton and Deserae

Wow. My husband and I were shocked at what was inside that envelope. That's all we could think and talk about the whole day and week after. We both thought it was absolutely selfLESS and amazing at what the church was doing. The week before this, Coleton's brother had called us telling us that he and his fiance didn't even have enough money to pay for the food at their wedding, amongst other things. So when this money came, we decided to give them $250 of it to go towards paying for their wedding. The other $250 went to Muscular Dystrophy Research. My mom has muscular dystrophy and is confined to a wheelchair. I also have 3 aunts, 1 uncle and 2 cousins that have the same thing. For the past 10 years, they (the research center) have known what it was that their muscles are missing but just a few weeks ago were finally able to do treatments on two patients and it worked perfectly. So, in order for more people to get the treatment, it costs 2.5 million... so we figured at least we could help a little bit. We definitely do not have room in our budget to help out of our own pocket. We are SO thankful for this opportunity. Thank you, Hillcrest. God is doing amazing things. Coleton and Deserae Long

The Jubilee By: Middle School Students

Last Friday a few middle school students jumped feet first into the Jubilee. After hearing about a seventh grade student at Whitter Middle School who was battling cancer, they decided to make a card and deliver a Jubiliee envelope to her and her family. This money will help with medical expenses, including a prostetic legg. Way to go students. Jesus put on flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. If anybody else is interested in helping this family please let Richie or Adam know.

The Jubilee By: Jesse and Family

Hi everyone! Our family wanted to let all of you know how we will be using our Year of Jubilee money; and, also, if you are still searching for a cause we could definitely use your help!This past January, Shannon, 24 years old, left her abusive and unfaithful husband. With no where else to go, she and her two-year-old son Joey moved into her brother’s one bedroom apartment in Canton, SD. Shannon is also pregnant and is due May 23rd. In March, Shannon found a job waitressing at a local restaurant in Canton and has been trying to save some money for her new baby and a new life, but there just hasn’t been enough time. She is not receiving any financial support from her husband and is losing hope that she will be able to make it on her own, away from her unsafe marital situation. This is where we can all help. With the new baby coming at the end of this week, there will be four people living in a one-bedroom apartment and Shannon will not be able to work for a little while until she recovers from the delivery. We are hoping that during her maternity leave, we can collect money to help her become a confident single mother. She does not have any sort of transportation right now (her brother and her have been sharing one vehicle), so this is one area where we could help. Additionally, we hope that we can help pay for a deposit and possibly first month’s rent at an apartment complex in Sioux Falls so that she can feel empowered to move forward with her new life and continue attending Hillcrest. Finally, with the new baby coming, she will have many needs ranging from groceries to diapers to clothing for her two children. Right now there are two families committed to helping with Shannon’s situation, and, in this Year of Jubilee, we hope that some of you will feel compelled to help this struggling young woman get back on her feet and provide her with a safe environment to raise her children in. Thank you for reading about Shannon’s needs and please be praying for her and her family as the new baby comes! If anyone would like to help, please call Aimee at 605-929-8610. Thank you!

The Jubilee By: Vicki

I cried as I opened the envelope because of the needs I had seen the day prior when we worked for the furniture mission. We delivered furniture to a young woman with 4 children who lived in a horrible looking apartment.there were no toys to be seen and the children were 5 and under. The place was very very small with no curtains but blankets up to the windows. I took a gift cert back to mom (she said she was going to use it for one of the childrens birthday) and two sacks of toys for the boys! they were ecstatic! My next stop was the Heart Hospital. My cousin who is late 60's was there with her husband who they thought may have had a heart attack. There are times they dont have enough to buy medicine in one month! She is on oxygen and carries a tank. She cried when she saw the money and told me this month she had already told the Lord, He would have to help because she didnt know what they were going to do. The last stop was a young single mother i know who has stopped going to church, in bad financial shape and cried and cried when she saw the 100.00 I gave her. I still have 225.00 left and am in prayer for the rest. Thank you for blessing me while I was able to bless someone else. One of my dreams was to give money away to the needy. What a treat!

The Jubilee by: J & A

After hearing about and having the chance to volunteer with the Furniture Mission, we decided to use $100.00 of our money to buy items for the organization. We spent a morning at the Brandon City-Wide Rummages looking for goods. We are able to buy bedding, end tables, silverware, cookware and other things (a lot of them were even new!). We hope that the people who receive the items will feel the love of God.

J & A

The Jubilee by: Jennifer & Chris

We held on to the $$ until we could discuss it as a couple how we would use the $. I instantly thought of my aunt who has been out of work since the end of last year. Shes been applying, going in for interviews but nothing has panned out. My parents have been helping her out financially as best they can but they can only help out so much. When I called her to tell her what we were doing for her she was very shocked and grateful. She is a believer but this just re-affirmed to her that God is watching over her during this trying time. She was just starting to wonder how she was going to afford some of her monthly bills this next month and now God has once again provided for her.

Jennifer & Chris Leither

Getting Started

I have been talking to a lot of people regarding the Jubilee. Early on, Sunday and the first of this week, the needs that were on the front burner for some have been met, but there is a large group that have yet to give anything away. Many families are praying about what to do and looking for opportunities that they might not have been looking for or even seeing just a week ago. This has revealed a great side benefit of the Jubilee; it is requiring families and individuals to go discover needs. $500 is just too much money to be frivolous with and requires an attitude of stewardship to discover the things God’s heart beats for. Participating in discovering the places where needs exist, will help all of us develop the kind of heart God has for this community. If you are looking for ideas, need help discovering needs or would like to offer your thoughts about engaging the Jubilee, place a comment on this post so we can learn and challenge each other.

Pastor Doug

The Jubilee by: Deb and BJ

Deb and BJ have no internet access but wanted to include their Jubilee story. BJ has had his truck in the shop and funds have been really tight. The day his truck was in the shop, BJ went to Hy-Vee with the Jubilee money and bought donuts and juice for the garage guys. When the baker at Hy-Vee heard what was going on, he joined in with the Jubilee and threw in lots of extra stuff (donuts). Then when BJ went to the garage to pick-up the truck the mechanics got in on the Jubilee and took a huge amount off the bill. BJ said that the Jubilee money just seems to go and go! Deb is in the process of giving away her half right now…more to come!

Those Impacted by the Jubilee

We will be entering comments, as we receive word from people who have been impacted by the Jubilee. Please read the comments below.

The Jubilee By: Kathleen

Doug, yesterday was such a blessing. My sister and I both work for Dakotabilities. My name is Kathleen and I am one of the staff that brings our individuals to your church. We only took one envelope and I'd like to tell you some of the events that took place. First we went to a friend's house that has been down for quite some time with limited resources and family to help her. On Saturday we drove to her apt. and gave her 10.00 dollars for her birthday. Basically she lives on the county helping her, low income housing, and food stamps while she waits for disability to accept her application. Her health is not good. We gave her one of the 100 dollars to help reconnect her phone or do what she wants. You should of seen her face when we told her this was a gift from Jesus and that he loves her. My sister has a granddaughter that isn't married and has a newborn, one of those 100 dollars went to her. It was such a blessing to help people that truly needed help. We also gave small amounts to people we saw on the streets in the name of Jesus. One person at a bus stop asked me who, when I gave him 10.00 dollars from Jesus, because Jesus loved him. I repeated that it was from Jesus. It was a glorious feeling to be able to do this. I also want to thank-you for helping the individuals that were at church on Sunday. They truly have very little money and though they don't understand the amount of the gift they know they truly got a gift from Jesus that day. Charlie kept pointing up to heaven and he was smiling from ear to ear all day. As for my sister and myself we thank you again for letting us help others less fortunate then us, even though we struggle from day too day sometimes to make ends meet. I just want you to know that I struggle with my faith and that yesterday opened my heart up even more. May God Bless You and the Church. Sincerely, Kathleen Arndt

The Jubilee By: Leah

I am very thankful to have been in church this past Sunday. I am not a member of Hillcrest, nor do I attend church as often as I should. My family has been struggling with finances for a couple years now. It just seems like one thing after another comes up whenever we get a little savings going. We had previously been blessed to have some outstanding medical debt written off and that sure helped take a load of worry off of my shoulders! Combined with the $500 envelope from Sunday, We are almost caught up on our monthly bills! I feel guilty for keeping this money though, as I feel guilty for even receiving it in the first place considering that I do not go to church regularly, and my husband has'nt went in years. After showing him that envelope on Sunday titled "Year of Jubilee" and explaining to him what happened that day in church, I watched his eyes start to tear up, as he could'nt believe that anyone would do that for us! I hope that this will prompt him (and me) to start going to church at Hillcrest regularly. I also hope to be able to turn around and help someone else in financial trouble, just as we were helped, someday! I am a bit embarrassed to sign my name, but I will not be too proud. My family deeply appreciates your gift of random kindness shown to us! -Leah Harkema

Community Ideas for the Jubilee

If you have any suggestions of a person, family, group of people, or an organization who could use the Jubilee funds, please let us know. People can read the comments and decide if this is something they would be interested in giving to.

Looking for a Dentist

Remember "Oprah's Big Give"? Wouldn't it be great if we could increase what we give by getting even MORE people involved? "God's Big Give" has a better ring to it. Do we have any dentists in our congregation? We know of a person in need of alot of dental work who is in pain. He works construction but with building down he is not working as much. His wife is pregnant with their third child and his father is in hospice. He has needed dental work and new teeth for a long time but has never had the money to do it. He is the first to help someone in need and now he needs someone to help him. It would be great to go in with others to help this family or find a dentist willing to donate his labor.

The Jubliee By: William and Jessica

First off I'd like to thank Hillcrest for their dedication and compassion for the people of this city. I was one of the blessed people to receive an envelope today. As soon as the service was over we contacted a friend that works with the Answer Center and automatically found a Bosnian family in need of food. A man, his wife, a 4 week old baby, and a 3 year old daughter, were with a fridge and no food. So my fiancé, her daughter and I went and spent $240 on food, hygiene products, diapers, and other necessities, and delivered them ourselves to this family's apartment. It was saddening to see that they needed so much more; the 3 year old wore shoes that were too big and kept falling off as we took the groceries inside. The man is very saddened that he has no job to support his family, and no car, just a bicycle to get him around. The looks of gratitude and the many thank yous were enough to brighten our day, all I could say was "God has blessed us with this money; therefore, we felt we wanted to pass these blessings on to you".We also knew of a woman living in a sober living house, who was in desperate need of undergarments. So we took it upon ourselves to lessen her burden as well.As for the rest of the money, we felt a bit selfish, but we also felt God answered our prayers as well. My fiancé and I, will be getting married in almost a month. We are very much a low income family, being that my fiancé earns no income and my income all goes to a never budging debt. Our wedding was planned hastily, and everything is planned and set, we just have no money to pay for stuff yet. We took the rest of the money, and bought little things such as: a unity candle, cake topper, ring bearer pillow, flower girl basket & flowers, guest list book w/ pen, cake cutter, and small centerpieces for the tables. Just little things we have been stressing out about. The money handed out was a blessing for all involved. We just want to thank Hillcrest for the generosity and praise your efforts on making this Year of Jubilee one to remember. God is great, thank you Hillcrest.-William Jensen & Jessica Hilpert

The Jubilee By: Chad and Cassie

When we opened the envelope and heard the challenge we knew exactly what we were going to do with the money. We had no other thoughts. We have a friend who just graduated from college and trying to get back on his feet. Next my dad is a Vietnam Vet and and is having some health issues and unable to work at this time. Working our way down the list we have another friend who is having some car problems and relies on it to take her son out of town for his soccer games. We also gave out some gift cards to those who need it. It is very rewarding to be able to have this opportunity to help so many people. They are very thankful and so are we. Thanks for giving us this challenge!Chad & Cassie Ueke

The Jubilee By: Caitlyn and Hannah

This year was my first year up at SDSU. Right away in the school year I was reminded of how faithful God is. He has blessed me with so many encouraging people who are also trying to pursue the way of Jesus. One person who has really been a blessing to me this year is my Bri. She has taught me a lot about loving people and choosing joy daily. This semester she has had to deal with a lot of heartache in her family. Through it all she still held on to the faithfulness of God. We are both leaving to go on missions trips 2 weeks from today. I have really seen the faithfulness of God leading up to my trip to Honduras, especially through financial support. Bri is going to Ghana, Africa and up until today was under halfway funded. When given the $500 today I was pretty blown away. After thinking for a while Hannah and I decided to pool the money together and give back to her. She has been a huge blessing in my life and this was the perfect opportunity for her to be blessed...and a huge reminder of how faithful God is to her in the midst of a lot of the troubles she has been dealing with lately. Caitlyn and Hannah

What a Day!

Here is the bowl that sat conspicuously in the front for the worship center.

We did it! Over two services we gave out nearly $100,000. The look and shock on people’s faces was priceless. We're excited to see what God will do with what happened today. There were dozens of discussions happening all over the church regarding what people might do with the funds. The Jubilee is going to be great! Tomorrow we will try to get some pictures and video up on this post so you can experience it if you missed it. We still have a few envelopes left that we will get into the hands of Hillcrest people that were not here because of other obligations today…but there are only a few left. May God get all the glory for the work he has done. Let the Jubilee begin!

You need to withdraw how much?

Apparently Hillcrest is a bit strange. Apparently churches don’t usually go down to their local bank and ask for $100,000 in cash. Apparently, the bank wants multiple people, ID’s, signatures and other bank personnel (lol). Our local bank (First Premier) is a great bank because they are in the business of helping this community like we are, so at least they get it, but there is still a lot of red tape. It’s at moments like this that you ask those final questions. Do we really want to do this? Is this smart considering giving has been down? Do we really want to go through with this? Is this what God would do in our shoes? Well, we’re doing it and I’m extremely excited as to what God will do with this sacrifice. God loves Sioux Falls and he is always looking for people to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

From Thursday night through Sunday morning, it felt strange to have $100,000 cash locked up in a safe. I guess it was safe because no one knew it was there outside of the leadership. There were four people responsible for counting and locking up the cash. Obviously, none of them had seen $100,000 in cash before. Everything was checked and double checked. Here’s a photo of the counting being done on Thursday night.

What you did

171 households picked up envelopes during the services on Sunday, May 3rd, 2009! They had no idea what was inside...it was awesome!

This is the post to let others know what you did as a result of the Jubilee. Every time you do something with all or a portion of the Jubilee money, comment to this post and the staff at Hillcrest will create a new post with that comment so others can journey with the Jubilee. Comments do not show up right away, they go through an administrator first.