Finding Food for a Community in Need – Concordia Lutheran

After the stay at home order and ensuing economic struggles to our community, Concordia Lutheran Church was determined to continue being a Matthew 28 church. Concordia put out an urgent request to its congregation and to the Green Mountain community for food or money donations to help support the pantry at Foothills Elementary School, called “Foothills Foodies” and the Jeffco Action Center our community’s main Nonprofit supporting food supply for the city. The church members and the community around the church responded with an abundance of love and joy! As of April 1, there have been over $2,000 in cash donations and over 600 lbs of food donated. Concordia will continue this food drive every Saturday until all needs go away! Food donations can be delivered to Concordia Lutheran Church and cash donations on the website (be sure to choose COVID-19 Care Cases as your donation destination). Pastors: Gregg McCaslin and Patrick Moore

---

Church is OPEN! Stories about Calvary Belmar

Calvary Belmar has been active supporting Foster and Adoption families. Their worship each week is full of the Spirit and that Spirit has moved them into the neighborhood around them through acts like this:

• Single Moms: They assist single moms with groceries cards, ground beef and recently distributed $1200 worth of Grocery Store and Walmart gift cards.
• Food: The church supports the Action Center with volunteers and collects food for foster care families.
• Prayer: Church leaders model a community pastoral prayer. Recently a staff member engaged a grocery store manager about praying for her. She began to cry, thanked the pastor and said; “We need it!”
• Homeless: Local homeless friend, Rick, lives in his car. After the car broke down church members towed it to a shop and put him in a hotel for the weekend. Now he’s good to go!
• Local Businesses!  The Church supports a couple of local restaurants by purchasing burritos then distributing them to front line workers at other local businesses! They also donated PPE for their employees. This is how “Love your Neighbor” is preached effectively today!

For more information, email Pastor Scott Morrison.

---

Mission 98 turning Bad Times into Opportunities for Connection

Mission 98 is all about building caring relationships in high need apartments, motels and mobile homes. Recently, Mission 98 team members have focused on delivering food bags door to door. After the delivery they ask, “Would you like us to pray for you?” Almost everyone says, “Yes!” The “caring” part of their mission is all about relationship connections.

Each person has a story… they’ve heard stories about of the family member deaths, miscarriages, job losses and fear. Relationships help heal fearful hearts!  Just because the world is in chaos doesn’t mean we have to allow it to own and control our community! Contact LuAnn for more information and how to help.

---

Practical Marriage Advice for your neighbors from Vineyard Lakewood

Troubling times are especially hard on family relationships. Weeks into quarantine, every family relationship will show signs of strain! That’s why Vineyard Lakewood has put some helpful marriage tip fliers out in neighborhoods where members live! “Hope” is just wishful thinking until you make it tangible, achievable and practical!

– Pastor Christian Summers 

---

A small church taking on a big mission: reduce community suffering – Mission Lakewood

Mission Lakewood Church began to respond to the impact of COVID-19 immediately! They redesigned their website and social media pages to aim their members and friends towards opportunities to help.

Near the church is Foothills Elementary, so Mission is supporting their pantry, “Foothills Foodies.” This church of 100 brought 27 bags of food filled with what a family would need for a full day. The church has continued to be an important partner in their neighborhood supporting food drives and delivering it to families in need.

For Pastor Darvin Wallis, it feels overwhelming to consider how much need and suffering is bubbling just below the surface. But, as he watched people show up with bags of food he knew that; “God’s got this!” Three church member families have lost their jobs, and yet, all three of those families brought food for children in the community! Three families who were not sure how they were going to pay their mortgage were still buying food to give to others! That kind of love and sacrifice is irrational yet that’s exactly the sort of love Jesus equips us to have.

For several years now I have been taking some time in the late fall to get away on a spiritual retreat. This consists of going to a retreat center for 3 or 4 nights. There are many different places that are free or discounted for pastors to go to. One that I have gone to is free. Last year I went the way of an Airbnb in Steamboat Springs. I would not suggest this route unless you know the place is isolated. While I was able to accomplish a lot, I could have accomplished more in an isolated location.

I began this practice after my second year of ministry in 2017. This is my first church as the lead pastor; I was feeling overwhelmed, beat up, spiritually dry, directionless and so much more. Trying to get through this at home was just too hard. At home there were too many distractions and too many people vying for my time. I felt like I was constantly dodging arrows. I needed to rest and reset.

I have known of different retreat centers from my time in Indiana. There was a place in Danville, IN, on a farm that my pastor at the time knew about. We had a staff and spouse retreat at this place. The man who owned the farm had built it himself to bless pastors and their families with a place to go at no cost. You only needed to bring yourself and your food. This place was amazing, there was enough room to sleep 12 comfortably, a hot tub, huge fireplace, a pond to fish out of and so much more. But the best thing that it provided was a place of solitude. A place where you could get away from everything and get with God.

So when I needed such a place I began searching online and was fortunate to find a great little cabin on a ranch. I love that there are farmers out there with a heart to bless pastors. I was able to secure a reservation at the beginning of December in 2017.

After my first spiritual retreat, I was convinced that this is something that needs to be a regular yearly practice. I have determined that for myself, early October would be the ideal time. I say this for a couple of reasons, first it allows me time to be prepared for the upcoming holiday season, second it allows me to seek God’s direction for my church for the upcoming year. I am able to get a handle on the next years preaching calendar, hear from God about the things I need to focus on personally, pray a lot, sit in God’s presence and rest.

I don’t lead a large church, however, that doesn’t keep the enemy from trying to tear me down, frustrate me or attack me from all sides. As pastors we all need a time of rest, a time to relax and be in God’s presence and recuperate. We all know about Sabbath, we preach about it, encourage others to honor it, but how often do we truly practice Sabbath? We may be able to take a family vacation, but let’s be honest, the first two days you’re trying to relax and depending on your family relaxing may not be a possibility, then when you finally do get the chance it’s time to go home, back to your ministry and the demands that are a part of that.

When I returned from this year’s retreat, my heart was softer than it has been in a long time. God used my time with Him to challenge me personally and professionally. Today, I am convinced that I would not have handled this Covid-19 situation as well as I have been able to. I have been able to lead boldly and decisively, because my heart was already prepared.

I encourage any pastor to take a yearly spiritual retreat. You, your family and your ministry will be better because you did.

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!

Pastor Michael Hooven – Cloverdale Church of God

The following is a story of helping a single parent in Lakewood through connections made by Lakewood Connects.

The Community and Family Connections Department at the JeffCo School District supports families who are experiencing housing instability. Through our intensive outreach since Covid-19, we have heard from many families who are struggling with food insecurities.  On a recent call, I spoke with a single mom struggling financially to put food on her table and just making it to pay housing bills. Mom has an immune compromising health issue, which is a barrier to her working as she cannot be in the public at this time. Her daughter has gluten and dairy limitations, limiting food that can be purchased. With finances being so tight, mom stressed how she would afford the gluten free and dairy free diet her daughter requires.

Through my connections with Reg Cox with Lakewood Connects, we were able to connect the family with The Bridge Church at Bear Creek.  The group at The Bridge, did an amazing job to fill this need. Not only did they provide some of mom’s wish list items but also way above and beyond.  Mom called after the delivery, crying tears of joy. She stated that it gave her some light and relieved a little stress off of meals for the week.  Her daughter was even more excited because her favorite gluten free baguettes were in the box. Thank you team for wrapping your arms around this mom, we cannot express our gratitude.

Naomi Xayavongsa – Community and Family Connections Coordinator, Jeffco Schools – Title I office

Especially in these times it’s vital that we make like the Beatles song and come together. Churches, schools, and the communities they serve ought to be working together to address the needs of their families. I’m the new Jr. High director at our church and, though my responsibilities are often tied to the students and families of our church, I believe that I’m here to serve and work with the larger Bridge Church community.

As soon as I was informed of Jennifer and her child’s situation I was ready to drop what I was doing and do some grocery shopping. I dropped off everything from pasta to gluten free breakfast bars. Jennifer texted us letting us know how excited her child was and I know that this would have never happened if it hadn’t been for the teamwork between the church and the school. Our church and the school are firm believers in working together to serve the greater community. Though this may have been a quick grocery run I know it means so much more to Jennifer, her family, and our community to know that we’re coming together, right now, to serve our families.

Matt Bowen – Jr. High and Community pastor / Bridge Church at Bear Creek

 

Through Lakewood Connects’ support of local PTAs at under-served elementary schools, we have enjoyed more connections with more of our community. Recently, PTA leader and close friend Brandi Koskie, who supports Foothills Elementary School, reached out with a connection to her friend Lauren Martin, the National Retail Activation Manager for Lily’s Sweets in Boulder, Colorado. Lily’s wanted to donate some of their product, high-end candy, to an appropriate entity. In conversations with Lauren I found out that they had over 1500 individual units of candy to donate…quite a lot!

I was able to reach out to friend Monica Buhlig, Group Director of Community Health, Denver Metro Region for Centura Health. She connected me to Amanda Popp, Philanthropy Officer at St. Anthony Health Foundation, who informed me that starting Friday, May 15, it was “Hospital Week.” She arranged for a day when Lily’s could drop off the candy at the hospital. Then, administrators could hand deliver it to the 1500 employees at the hospital thanking them for their front line service. 

This is greatly satisfying for everyone in the community to be able to serve the front line servants!

In addition, Amanda mentioned that community members could give her homemade “thank you” and encouragement posters to set up along the walls of the employee entrance to the hospital. Local chamber of commerce group Alameda Connects and the local Thrivent Financial office made posters.

The response from Amanda from St. Anthony’s reads: “Thank you again for your tremendous support of St. Anthony Hospital during this challenging time–we are grateful for your partnership. I hung the posters yesterday and wanted to share a few photos. These are located at the associate entrance and will provide joy and encouragement to our caregivers on a daily basis. It means a lot that you and your families took the time to create these!”. 

Amanda reports that the Lily’s Sweets candy was a “huge hit” among the Flight for Life crewmembers!  

Lakewood Connects exists to make connections that transform the story of our community from one of detachment, struggle, and fear to one of connection, thriving, and courage. Thanks for your support and encouragement that makes it possible to do the impossible!

By Bernadette Marquez, Title I Family Engagement/Diversity Liaison at Foothills Elementary

It is with great delight and a joyful spirit that I am able to tell the Lakewood Connects Team and their supporters about the good work happening within the heart of the Green Mountain Community that serves the students and families of ALL of the Green Mountain Articulation Area Schools.

The HUB at Foothills Foodies is the brainchild of both Diana Baumgarten (Foothills Elementary School Social Worker) and myself, Bernadette Marquez (Title I Family Engagement/Diversity Liaison). It came about by Diana and I linking arm in arm and combining both of our passion projects into one.

Initially both Diana and I had different but similar projects that we were working on within Foothills Elementary to serve students that we recognized would benefit from supplemental resources that we ourselves could extend through partnerships we had built with community partners. You see, Diana had been serving as the school Social Worker for many years and had seen how underserved Foothills Families were and that many of our families did not always having enough money to buy food. She established a weekend backpack program that she soon realized didn’t meet the unique needs of the families it served.  In comes me… when I arrived on the scene at Foothills in the fall of 2017 in my role as Family Engagement Liaison, I came with very wet feet and an eager heart to serve underprivileged families by providing them with the wealth of tools that I had been afforded to have at my fingertips.

Jump ahead one school year…the fall of 2018 and the story of how our interests and commonalities came together… it was due to Mr. Reg Cox, who on the outside looking in envisioned the power of the two of us forming one objective…which is to ensure that ALL students have equal access to food, clothing, and opportunities. It was our mission to eradicate the barriers that stood between them and their education. It was truly a match made in heaven! Something that we both would have never imagined without the prompting of Reg Cox.

After Diana and I met with Reg we embarked on a full-on marathon to bring our dream into fruition. She and I went on an adventure to scope out other schools that serve as Hubs to see what their set-up looked like, we interviewed the teams responsible for starting their individual programs and we sat down and evaluated our very unique Green Mountain population, and devised a plan that we both believed would best serve the most underserved demographic of students and families in and around Foothills Elementary.

Based upon what we observed worked and didn’t work in the school-based Hubs we visited, we recognized that one thing rang true for all of them… Partnerships, Partnerships, Partnerships! It was imperative to establish partnerships with our sister schools, community agencies, religious organizations, grocers, and of course the most important component the stakeholders themselves… our Foothills families.

Thanks to Lakewood Connects, the first partnership we established was with Concordia Lutheran Church (CLC). We met with Donna Miller who is a very active member of CLC and now our Volunteer Coordinator. She spread the word at church and launched our first food drive. It was a great success which gave us so much inspiration to reach out to The Action Center, our neighborhood Safeway Store, all six of the Green Mountain Articulation schools, and our Foothills PTA. Have you ever seen how fast a wildfire ignites and spreads? That was 100% how quickly the good news spread and how rapidly we were able to form and secure partnerships and launch our supplemental food program which we fittingly decided to name Foothills Foodies.

Being that Diana had previously established the weekend backpack program in one of the temporary buildings in the back of the school, we had a space to store and distribute food. Our vision of how food would be distributed was what makes our program very distinct. It was of the utmost importance that families had a dignified experience at Foothills Foodies. Overall, we wanted families to come in and have a shopping experience where they have the ability to select their own food and how we accomplished this was by modeling our program after The Action Center’s 7-day supplemental food program. Instead of a 7-day supply of supplemental food, Foothills Foodies supplies 3-days of supplemental food to see our families through the weekend. Families came in and shopped with the assistance of a form that guided them through their shopping trip. Families selected how many family members in their household and then checked off the allotted items including proteins, fruits, veggies, grains etc. In addition, it was very important to us important that families had access to not only non-perishable food items but also fresh items such as milk, eggs, meat, and fresh fruits and veggies. Through our established partnerships we secured refrigerators and a freezer to store the fresh food that was donated or provided by Safeway, The Action Center, and private donors. It truly was a beautiful whirlwind of vision, humanity, collaboration and loves labor that founded Foothills Foodies!

Spring forward to the fall of 2019…

Diana and I were so amazed and ignited by the results of our previous years work, that we did not want to resolve what we had initially envisioned as sufficient. We had lofty aspirations that still hadn’t come to pass. Beyond just providing food we truly wanted to offer wrap-around services which included providing families access to hygiene products, household items, clothing, and shoes. So began our partnership with A Precious Child. Foothills became a full functioning HUB when we officially became a satellite boutique for A Precious Child who provide clothing, coats, shoes, toiletries, home goods, and basic essentials to our Foothills families. We then extended these services to all Green Mountain Schools students and families. With that, a move to a larger and more adequate space on the Foothills Elementary campus, a name change and a Re-Grand Opening!

The HUB at Foothills Foodies now has the capacity to serve over 1500 families within the articulation area. The HUB at this time is 100% sufficient, relying solely on donations of money, food, and volunteer hours and is recognized as a Health and Human Services Academy Career Pathway for Foothills Students that choose to participate. Again, the mold was broken when The HUB at Foothills Foodies became an option as an extracurricular course for students to participate in the distribution of the necessities offered through the HUB. In fact, Foothills Elementary was recognized by the Colorado Department of Education for providing such innovative courses in the statewide 2019 Promising Partnership Practices publication with recognition from Governor Polis, Mayor Adam Paul, and Jeffco Public School Board Members. Channel 7 and Channel 4  featured the HUB at Foothills Foodies on their newscasts and the Lakewood Sentinel shared with its readers about the resources offered to the community through this truly amazing collaborative.

So, this is how a dream, true collaboration and a labor of love looks like in its most genuine form.  I would like to extend an invitation to anyone who wants to financially contribute to the Hub or help out in any way. Contact Reg Cox and he will get those funds to and connect potential volunteers to support us at the HUB at Foothills Foodies. Please feel free to come by the HUB to see it for yourself! It is a sight for sore eyes and will lift your spirits above and beyond what you’d ever expect.

In the Jefferson County School District there is a concept called; “Schools as Hubs.” The goal of this plan is to use the school as the “Hub,” or life giving heart of the neighborhood. Hub can mean the school serves as the city park for an area of town, or offers meeting space for neighborhood groups, then sometimes schools fill in as a service center meeting resident’s needs through partnerships with nonprofits and host medical professionals for health screenings. Schools as Hubs radically changes the purpose of “school” in ways that can make a local and long lasting positive impact on struggling families.

Recently several schools in Lakewood have taken the “school as Hub” plan to heart in a new way. Currently three schools have transformed part of the school facility into a food pantry and clothing and medical distribution site for the neighborhood. The Hub might be located inside the building or in a portable classroom outside… but either way the Hub brings needed support to families who  have temporary or long term needs. The nearness of the facility and the fact that the folks working in the Hub are people they know and trust is removing the stigma and shame of need in our modern era!

At Foothills Elementary, the “Foothills Foodies” Hub opened up in October in a portable. To make the Hub work, volunteers from local churches organize, stock, and distribute the food. Two staff members from the school coordinate linking school families to the Hub, then dozens of nonprofits and government agencies all lend expertise, food, clothing, and medical supplies. To make the Hub work it literally takes an entire community!

Lakewood Connects is proud to support and or help navigate dozens of potential partners at each Hub site. Each Hub works differently and together with County Human Services the volunteers in the Hub are able to aim those receiving aid towards self-sufficiency and a future plan for thriving and flourishing.

Currently two additional Hubs are being developed at elementary schools in high need neighborhoods in Lakewood. This kind of local support is reducing suffering in our most underserved areas of the city and will become an example of what is possible when a community pulls together for the common good. Thanks for helping us make an immediate positive difference in the lives of 100s of families in Lakewood!

What kind of influence does Lakewood Connects try to make on churches and church leaders? What is the aim of our influence? For millennia, Christian faith has focused on sharing the “Gospel”, or “good news.” That good news is a promise that all people can be freed from anything that separates them from God through Jesus. This good news has been “shared” for 2,000 years and recently it has been shared in ways that offend and anger non-Christians.

It’s hard to convince nonbelieving people about any religious, political, or sales claim. The divisions of our time make believing any message of hope hard. People don’t appreciate anyone forcing their views on them. We live in a cynical, divided and skeptical age.

What is a Jesus believing church supposed to be about in the first place? Before any message can feel like “good news” the struggles, depression or needs of humanity must be met first. A message of hope can’t be heard by a suffering heart.

Lakewood Connects is encouraging, modeling, and leading Lakewood Faith Communities towards a “Community-First Focused” philosophy of ministry life. By this we mean three things: 1) Connection, 2) Compassion, and 3) Collaboration

Connection: Churches must make and build relationships with their local community. By meeting, listening to, and building relationships with our neighbors we obey the “love your neighbor” part of the “greatest command” (Matthew 22:39). Whatever “good news” is, it has to start here!

In 2012-13 Lakewood Connects supported a partnership between education, government, neighborhood associations, business, and faith to transform a derelict school sports field into a “Field of Dreams.” When churches connect service leaders together suffering is reduced in the city! The church is “Switzerland;” their main passion is alleviating pain and it is impossible to do this unless every key agency, program, and service group work together for the greater good.

Compassion: Churches must exemplify meaningful compassionate service in their local community. Often churches do great things in other places, but if suffering goes unmet in those who live across the street then we’re missing the chance for compassion to touch and profoundly change us first!

The service churches offer must be the best programs making the most meaningful impact in the city! The Bridge Church at Bear Creek partners with Bear Creek High School in Lakewood to offer top notch programs supporting mental and emotional support at the school. The church funds this through operating a coffee shop and regular community enrichment events. To facilitate this the church redesigned their building to be a welcoming community gathering space for the neighborhood. By investing in compassion first and ensuring that the programs they offered were top quality the church has become “the light of the world” Jesus envisioned in Matthew 5:14. Over 150 people a day visit the coffee shop and 500 High School students enjoy a pizza lunch on Mondays. Compassion builds a hope bridge!

Collaboration: Churches must invite their nonbelieving neighbors to serve the city with them! When those who believe in Jesus incarnate the Gospel through diverse and trying circumstances without any strings attached then the Jesus we profess will start making sense to our neighbors! Through collaboration in the work of compassion the mysterious veil of the message of God can be lifted. We don’t have time to argue with culture, there is too much suffering in our world and too few collaboration champions out there bringing the world together and forming them into an army of good. Churches must lead their neighbors into meaningful service that changes lives! This is the promise of the Gospel and seeing is believing!

Cloverdale Church of God has supported the homework club in the most impacted Title I elementary school in the city for several years. While serving this high need school pastor Michael Hooven is often referred to as the “School Pastor.” There is no official title like that in a public school… but he earned that title by leading initiatives and building partnerships that change lives. This year this school will take a bold step and set up a facility offering food, clothing and medical supplies to the community. To support this work Pastor Hooven gave up his church office; it’s now a food storage room! Building collaboration isn’t a slogan or a bumper sticker icon, it’s a path of sacrifice that erases suffering!

Community-first focused… this is the kind of leadership needed for every community in our country today. Lakewood Connects is honored to encourage, model and lead churches and church leaders to a Community-First Focus in order to reduce suffering in our city! Thanks so much for your support!

In all the years that Whiz Kids has been at Foothills Elementary, I always knew it was a life changing ministry! I finally had the opportunity to join this last school year and was blessed with a first grade girl named, Heaven. At first, I struggled with knowing how best to tutor her. Even though I had homeschooled my kids, it was not easy to determine her needs or how best to teach her. The Lord answered my prayers about this when her mom, Stephanie, invited me to the parent teacher conference! The teacher gave me great input that helped to shape our focus and our goals during tutoring time.

With this new game plan, it was so rewarding to see her academic improvements! In December, every time we worked on reading, she was resistant and uncomfortable. She mixed up letters and did not know sight words. However by our last tutor time, she not only felt very comfortable with reading but also confident and happy!

Besides this academic growth, it did not take me long to realize how much farther reaching this ministry is! I had many direct and indirect opportunities “to make Jesus famous”, besides the one on one tutor time. Parents also regularly saw “Jesus with skin on” at the end of our tutor times, at the Christmas party, and at the end of year party. Heaven’s family was so comfortable and connected that Stephanie brought food to the Christmas party and her son helped serve and clean up! Besides the family being impacted by Jesus, the school and teachers were also. Not only did they see better grades, but also tutors connected with teachers who were still there during tutor time.

The direct ways of sharing Jesus were through club time and through the tutor team. We were like a big, happy family with the sole purpose of loving on these kids and bringing Jesus to these kids! The solidarity and support of this “community” was apparent when one of us couldn’t be there, others stepped in to tutor or to team up. Club time was so “successful” that by the end of the year, the kids were able to clearly and confidently share the story of Jesus!

Heaven and I connected so well that every Tuesday morning she would tell Stephanie that she couldn’t miss Tuesday because it was “Lisa Day”. Also the family and I felt so connected that they gave me gifts and cards, and even shared prayer requests! Stephanie and I plan to set up a time to hang out with Heaven this summer. This is all so much a “God-thing”!

As I’m remembering all of this, I’m realizing how much I look forward to the next school year, thanking the Lord and anticipating how He is going to shine Jesus at Whiz Kids again!

-Lisa Welsh, Lakewood Connects Board Member and Whiz Kid tutor

The world doesn’t need any more inward focused fear based churches and faith communities! Why does “Church” exist? What is the “Why” that brings together all of the aspects of Faith, Life and Positive Impact on the world for a body of believers gathering in the city of Lakewood?

Since 2005 Reg has led efforts to redefine why churches exist and what they can do together that no one church can do alone! The Church Network and Lakewood Faith Coalition together solve the problems in the city by building faith partners from our city! It is partnership that is going to change the world for good!

Reg challenges Faith Communities to envision their greater purpose as serving the greater good! “Inward” focused churches use their resources for themselves, but when a body of believers exists to serve their community and partners with other Faith Communities, Amazing Things happen!

Since 2012 these “Amazing Things” in Lakewood include raising $100’s of thousands of dollars to transform outdoor space at schools, mentoring over 450 children, supporting supplemental food programs feeding 1000’s and housing the homeless in churches across the city in the winter.

All of this is well and good but the bigger “Amazing Thing” might be that the fact that unity between faith traditions exists at all!  It is amazing when Churches merge their resources with the gifts and talents of other Faith Communities in order to broaden and deepen effective service impact. None of this unifying work happens without a champion and Lakewood Connects is that champion!

This year Reg has worked with a new group to support a vision tentatively called; “Shalom Outposts.” The Jewish word; “Shalom” means “Peace”, but it also means “Thriving” or “Flourishing.” When local churches thrive and flourish they, then can partner with others in order to create thriving flourishing neighborhoods. These churches become “Shalom Outposts” in their neighborhood!

Many Faith Communities in our city are struggling… one example would be Mountair Christian. This 100+ year old church serves their neighborhood in vital ways but it is aging and languishes with less than 50 members. In early June Reg led a group of faith, business and government leaders in a prayer walk in the Mountair neighborhood along with Pastor Ruben Rodriguez and the church leadership team.

We can find partnership opportunities within the Business, Government and Education communities that can support great Shalom Outposts like Mountair! The church like this needs a different “footprint” to operate from other than the traditional sanctuary! Could they transition to operate out of a Community Center? What about partnering with a Multi-Family Housing Facility? In order for the Shalom Outpost to thrive and create a thriving community we need to find new ways to do and be “Church!”

Thanks for your partnership with Lakewood Connects! The Shalom of our city depends on the work you are doing to thrive, flourish and envision a new wave of Community Connected Churches!

For 3 years Lakewood Connects has partnered with you to create a flourishing Lakewood by building partnerships. There is no reason why Government, Faith, Education and Business can’t work together for the common good! They just need a champion like you and Lakewood Connects to make good happen!

An effective leader in supporting schools in struggling neighborhoods is the Jeffco Schools Foundation. The foundation connects caring members of the community to classroom needs by raising funds and building partnerships to bridge gaps facing schools, teachers and students. Lakewood Connects has partnered with the foundation on several projects and their expert advice helps us aim service partnerships towards maximum positive impact.

Each April the foundation hosts their Gala, a capstone event that brings together School Administration, County, City, Business, Health and Faith leaders from across Jefferson, County.

At the Gala each year two awards are given out, the Norma Anderson Lifetime Achievement in Education Award and the Salazar Achievement in Philanthropy Award. Both awards are extreme honors and Lakewood Connects Executive Director Reg Cox was recognized as the recipient of the Salazar Award this year. Here is a short video that tells the story of the award and why Lakewood Connects was recognized at this year’s Gala.

This video and award are a tribute to hundreds of volunteers, partners and friends who have given thousands of hours to support the vision of Connection and Partnership in Lakewood, Colorado. It is our hope that this Partnership Vision spreads to others across the country, re-imagines what Faith and “Church” is for, and builds Pathways of Transformation to millions of people struggling in various ways. When we break down the fear, misunderstanding, prejudice and wounds separating organizations, ideologies, faith, races, gender and professional services in our country we can realize the dreams and hopes we all share and cherish! Thank you for believing in the better and fighting with us for the best!