The story of how a city-wide day of service was envisioned and initiated in Lakewood, Colorado in less than 1 year starts with an Idea, a Friendship and an ambitious plan to address a Perplexing Challenge! 

The Idea: In 2014 Mayor Adam Paul recruited leaders from Faith, Service Clubs and Food Service Organizations to build connections within their area of expertise then link with city leaders to build “Greater Good” Coalitions. The mayor called this, “Lakewood Linked” and the idea took off! Pastor Reg Cox built the Faith Coalition. Nonprofit leader Jane Barnes of Benefits in Action built the Coalition to End Hunger in Lakewood. Several service club leaders including Kiwanian Steve Otto built the Lakewood Service Organization Coalition. In less than 16 months Lakewood Linked was leading change in the city! 

The Friendship: By linking like-organizations together we now had a platform to build and grow a “volunteer culture.” But cultures like this are built upon friendships before they actually do things! Faith groups who had previously not spoken to one another partnered to serve neighborhood schools! Food service organizations began sharing resource information and delivery services with each other! When service clubs linked together their cumulative capacity for making a positive impact exponentially increased! Friendship, it turns out, is the foundation for grander vision, possibilities and action! Positive change in a city moves at the speed of relationship! Any fool can criticize or complain but it takes courage and humility to make friends, share vision and link arms in a spirit of common cause! 

Perplexing challenge: For generations “sustained meaningful community service” has been spotty in Lakewood. Some areas of need are addressed while others go ignored. Compassionate coalitions start with an ambitious “bang!” but soon fizzle. Good-intentioned initiatives are activated only to create more problems than they solve! How can we truly partner, listen and learn before-we-act and create sustainable organizations? Does service to neighbors-in-need “have to” rob them of dignity or the motivation to improve their lives? Fact: “Need” will never go away…but good-will, compassion and conscientious strategies of building pathways for sustainability must be constantly rebuilt, reimagined and reengineered! We need coalitions like Lakewood Linked so greater-good continues!    

With aims like “sustainable” and “meaningful service” the “Lakewood Linked Initiative” is now called; “Serve Spot Lakewood” and what began as an idea is now a movement! Serve Spot is led by Jane Barnes and is focused on building a volunteer portal that promotes service opportunities in our city. Serve Spot merged the three Lakewood Linked coalitions into one that can now focus on accomplishing the greater-good across the city with new found motivation and energy! 

Where is this leading us? October 2022 Serve Spot leaders dreamt of creating a city-wide day of service that identified and served needs that never seemed to be addressed. On September 23, 2023, less than a year later, “Love Lakewood Day” mobilized +230 volunteers to 10 different projects in the city. College students, church members, neighborhood association members…it was Lakewood’s first attempt to address the needs of the city under the leadership of Serve Spot and it was an incredible success! 

It is ambitious to envision, organize, communicate and activate hundreds of volunteers to work in 10 different service sites in a city of 155,000 in less than 1 year! Great work Serve Spot Lakewood! Lakewood Connects is proud to support this organization and the culture of volunteer “greater-good” partnership that is growing in Lakewood! We hope that this story inspires your efforts to lean into relationship building, movements of service and greater-good action where you live! Let’s do good together! 

Colorado Christian University is a century old private liberal arts University in Lakewood, Colorado. Each year, 1,500 students from all over the country and world study there. Community service is a CCU priority at the school and giving back is a core component of the culture there. However, it isn’t as easy as you would think to find local, effective service opportunities that offer real help to people for almost 2,000 students and staff every year.  

In 2017 student government leaders reached out to Lakewood Connects Director, Reg Cox to brainstorm the development of a new program for student community service. “CCU 4 Lakewood” was initiated and over fifty students served food at a church at a program for the community, led activities and programs for older adults at a senior living center, met with our unhoused neighbors at a local shelter and served children at a local underserved elementary school. The program has since continued and expanded! 

Philosophically you create future community servants by mentoring and modeling. Lakewood Connects supported campus student government leaders who then planned service opportunities, recruited other students and then led their projects. If we want a new generation of servant leaders we build them! 

On Valentine’s Day, 2013, Lakewood Mayor Adam Paul joined Reg at Chapel at CCU to invite students to participate in; “CCU Loves Lakewood” day! The invitation for students that day was to step out of their “comfort zone” and into the “compassion zone!” At the end of the talk Reg invited students to join Lakewood Connects in ongoing service, and students responded! 

Why is this story and effort important? Three reasons: 

1) We don’t just encourage a culture of service, we must model it!

2) If we want healthy partnerships between Faith and Government, we need to build it! 

3) Our next generation’s leaders are open and accepting of older mentors and meaning-making models! Become that mentor! Initiate that partnership opportunity! We can change the future by investing in the life of a young adult today! 

Thanks to your support this kind of effort is what Lakewood Connects is leading in our city and inspiring others to copy nationally.  Help us create a future of community servant leaders through your mentoring and modeling! Together we change the culture of tomorrow!  

Lakewood Connects establishes strategies and programs for supporting Faith, Government, Education and Business leaders because strong cities require strong leaders! Philosophies influencing our Lakewood Connects leadership health support efforts include: 

• The health of a community depends on the health of its leaders! 
• Mental, physical, social and spiritual health is learned, grown and nurtured through relationship. 
• You don’t become a healthier leader by reading a book! Leadership health comes from being mentored and challenged by healthy leaders! 

Relationship building is a key to what Lakewood Connects is all about, so it’s no surprise that a significant portion of each week is invested in this core effort. We encourage everyone to grow their relationship pool, because the person you don’t know right now may lead you to transformational insight, conviction or understanding!  Each week, Lakewood Connects executive director Reg Cox meets with someone he doesn’t know! Our community has experienced numerous strategic breakthroughs across the past eighteen years; nearly every one of them has begun at a coffee shop across from an unfamiliar face.

This year, a new opportunity for positive influence was facilitated by a new relationship! A key community and business leader in Lakewood is LaDawn Sperling.  Reg met her for coffee a couple of times in 2022, and at one meeting, LaDawn proposed her idea of a business leaders Bible Study. She envisioned an experience where she would feel comfortable learning, sharing and growing with others. 

The pandemic has broken down connections between us all, and LaDawn was interested in finding new relationships, knowledge and leadership health through this study. She resonated with the idea that we learn and grow best when we are sharpened by the thoughts, reflections and insight of other leaders! 

This past spring, Reg led the study at the Union Business Centre where local partner; Clarity Wealth Group Thrivent, offices. Thrivent has supported several community service programs; when leaders like this converge, transformational energy abounds! 

Leadership requires thriving through challenge. The eight week Bible study series studied the leadership challenges Moses faced. Topics such as the “danger of pride and impulsiveness”, the “strengths and weaknesses of humility”, the “crucible of staying the course through criticism”, “leaders advance through setbacks and struggles” and “convictions and non-negotiable principles” were processed by the group. Another philosophy held by Lakewood Connects is that leadership health is a “team sport.” This means that you become a healthy leader by surrounding yourself and learning from other leaders! 

Challenge: If you’re a leader, who can you connect to in order to improve your leadership strengths? What you learn from another leader is often unattainable from a book or podcast! Healthy leadership is usually built through establishing and nurturing relationship connections with healthy leaders! 

Lakewood Connects is invested in leadership development because we believe a strong community is forged from leader to leader relationships and connections! A healthy community is born out of the health of its leaders! You can’t lead and influence positive change in a community until you lead and influence positive growth in that community’s leaders! Thank you for investing in leaders with us.

The Bridge Church at Bear Creek is located in south Lakewood next door to Bear Creek High School and across the sports field from Bear Creek K-8. The church was born out of a merging of an older Presbyterian church and a young Evangelical church plant. Together their unifying aim was to “make much of Jesus and grow disciples!” How this mission was activated in the new church is seen through their efforts to equip their members for connection, friendship and community service. 

Most churches have a mission statement that says something like the Bridge so what makes them special? From the get-go church leaders rethought how their building could be used. If they were going to “make much of Jesus” surely that meant that their facility should be used daily! They asked; “how could their facility and programs really serve their neighbors everyday year round?” These dreams and discussions led to a “Community First Focused” approach to facility and ministry use. 

The Front Porch Coffee Shop is how most people in the neighborhood get to know the church. The old sanctuary was converted into a community space with tables, soft chairs and art. Baristas work with professional equipment to offer coffee, tea and food to over 100 patrons daily! Outside, the lawn was converted into a patio with tables and chairs and it has become THE community meeting place! “Church” can be intimidating, but it’s not off-putting to walk into a coffee shop! 

As students from local schools started spending time at the Front Porch, church staff and ministry leaders thought through ways to make connections with them. This led to the transformation of the church basement into the Underground Teen Center! The center offers a supervised safe place for teens to hang out and connect, and hundreds spend time there daily during the school year! 

When a church focuses on serving and loving their local neighborhood, every ministry, program and message will be filtered through the lens of this goal! This summer, Bridge youth Minister Scott Hunter developed a neighborhood soccer camp for 75 students ranging from K – 8^th grade. The goal of the camp (pun intended) was to serve and connect to their community and the Bridge used their staff, facility and expertise to accomplish this in the soccer camp! 

Community First Focus is the aim of influence for Lakewood Connects and the Bridge at Bear Creek is making this dream a reality in Lakewood, Colorado! This is what the goal of the church should be and we are excited to partner with faith leaders like those at the Bridge to make much of Jesus!

In the book Seven Habits Stephen Covey, the author encourages us to set our aim in everything from big to small projects with the “end in mind”. He teaches that by focusing on a clear end-definition we ensure that each step we take stays on the right path. Emotionally, there’s an additional benefit to this “end in mind” strategy as it creates a sense of meaning and value in our work and effort! It feels good to see that we’re progressing forward towards a meaningful end!  

Spiritually, what’s the “end goal” of faith? If faith were to be expressed in the best possible way, what will the end result look like? How do we describe the “ultimate faith end goal” so we can aim our daily steps? 

I think our faith end goal is to make a positive impact on others. Until faith affects someone else in a positive way, it is not being used as God intends it to be used. This “impact philosophy” defines faith’s ultimate goal as living to make a positive difference in the lives of our neighbors! 

In Matthew 28, Jesus commands his followers to seek and save others. Jesus’ faith end goal is relationship focused. It’s achieved as faith changes us and then we take on the mission to engage the world proactively. How exactly should faith change us? Jesus answers this in chapters 22 and 25. 

In Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus is questioned about the “Greatest Command” and invites us to love God and our neighbor. This love aim teaching is then repeated 6 times: Matt 19, Mark 12, Luke 10, Rom.13, James 2 and Galatians 5. This greatest command is obviously central to Jesus’ end goal of faith! 

In the following chapters Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus describes mankind being judged at the end-of-time by how well we loved the “least of these.” If there is any confusion about the importance of a loving lifestyle, this clears it up!

These two central ideas- “loving your neighbor” and “serving the least of these”- can be combined into what we might call “Kingdom of God Math”. In Kingdom of God math, 22 + 25 = 28! “Love your neighbor” Matthew 22 + “serve the least of these” Matthew 25 realizes Matthew 28! This equation is the end goal for Lakewood Connects. We support the Impact Philosophy for positive community transformation as the core purpose for church. This shapes our coaching, partnership and collaborative efforts in Lakewood, Colorado! 

A stand out example of this impact philosophy in Lakewood is Mountair Christian Church. Pastor Ruben Rodriguez, his leadership team and members live as beacons of hope, support and hands-on care for the underserved of their neighborhood in North Lakewood. For Mountair, the “love your neighbor” and “least of these” love lifestyle commands of Christ guide how they shape programs, messages and interactions with their community. Although small in number, the impact they have had in the community has been enormous!

At Lakewood Connects we’re encouraging the impact philosophy as the end goal for churches. Why is this important? We believe that impact philosophy is the key to obeying the greatest command and the key to the future success of church. Like Mountair, your church may not have tremendous resources, but armed with lifestyle-love and a goal to serve your neighbors, you can make a world changing difference! 

Valentine’s Day 2023, Lakewood Connects Director, Reg Cox, spoke in chapel at Colorado Christian University (CCU). The school, located in Lakewood, has grown to over 1,500 students and is emerging as a strong liberal arts university drawing students from across the county and world. For 15 years Reg has supported the school’s campus ministry programs and community service projects and enjoys relationships with leaders, students and teachers.

But Reg’s talk this Valentine’s Day was unusual because underlying stories and illustrations that fit with the spirit of the day was a more important love invitation. In Matthew 22 Jesus issues what he calls, “The Greatest Command.” To love God and our neighbor is the essence of faith! There is no concept of “believing in Jesus” that isn’t centered directly on loving God and others. 

This Valentine’s Day chapel talk was entitled “CCU Loves Lakewood!” Reg had partnered with student leaders to invite students to love the city through acts of service! When students accept this invitation they are living out the true “heart” behind Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22! 

In 2017, Reg worked with CCU on a dream of student government leaders to serve the city where the university exists. Reg helped the leaders design service opportunities during the 2018 spring semester for a program called “CCU 4 Lakewood.” That event involved over 50 students. CCU 4 Lakewood occurred again in 2019 but was suspended during the pandemic. This fall student government leaders again approached Reg about helping them revive CCU 4 Lakewood, and chapel this February 14th kicked off the program with student sign ups.

The Chapel talk kicked off with an invitation from Mayor Adam Paul to serve the city alongside the churches of Lakewood. The Mayor described how important partnership between Faith and Government has been and will be in our city. When all of us work together we are able to merge resources that will alleviate human suffering on a grander scale! 

During Reg’s presentation he invited students to serve beyond CCU 4 Lakewood and partner with Lakewood Connects. We will link students with local churches, faith based nonprofits and local government agencies to multiply impact. Lakewood Connects enjoys great relationships, healthy partnerships and the shared commitment to collaboration to accomplish the common good with over 50 organizations in our city. Within 24 hours of the chapel talk over 15 students had reached out to partner with Lakewood Connects to serve the city! 

Building relationships is the key to building partnerships. Building Partnerships is the key to building shared commitment for the greater good! This is at the heart of what Lakewood Connects is committed to and leading in Lakewood, Colorado and beyond. Thanks for your encouragement and support! 

If you would like to watch the 2/14 chapel at CCU in its entirety, click here or watch below.

Chapel 02-14 – Reg Cox & CCU Student Government from Colorado Christian University on Vimeo.

In 2012 a special partnership was built in an underserved and overlooked neighborhood in Lakewood, Colorado. Lakewood Church of Christ was built in 1973, the same year that Foothills Elementary School started just 2 blocks away. Over time the neighborhood filled in with over 1100 homes and 4,000 apartments. The apartments became a haven for folks who were less financially secure and their neighbors in homes gradually detached from them and the school. 

In 2012 Lakewood Church of Christ started a tutoring program at Foothills called “Whiz Kids” and it immediately yielded positive results. Tutors meet weekly with a student and support teacher advised goals and the investment has been life transforming for 100’s of students since then! But a vital part of the Whiz Kids positive impact doesn’t actually occur in the school! This special event takes place during one night every year up the hill at the church!  

The Whiz Kid Christmas Party is held yearly at Lakewood Church of Christ and includes a great meal, entertainment, gifts and a special kind of table conversation that’s a game-changer for students and families. During the meal tutors share success stories, list specific accomplishments and celebrate student achievements. You might overlook the importance of this at first…but underserved families are woefully under-equipped to facilitate this is a kind of conversation. They need actionable examples to imitate in order to be affirming to their kids. 

Social/Emotional development research tells us that it takes 6 positive statements to outweigh the impact of 1 negative one. This is exaggerated when you factor in an elementary aged student who is trying to find their way in life through the personal-worth minefield. It’s actually not hard to help someone learn to read or do math…but equipping an 8 year old with the tools they need to grow up loving themselves and feeling worthy is more important than we could possibly explain in this simple blog post!  

Imagine sitting at that Christmas dinner table with a single mom, her mom or another relative and then her 3 kids. The tutor initiates conversation and then points out some of the achievements of the Whiz Kid and tells stories illustrating how that student is progressing and growing. The tutor deflects any off hand or inappropriate responses from the adults and models over-and-over how to affirm, pursue and bless children. 

It’s astounding how simple yet profound this exercise is…yet over the years this one meal and hour of conversation has been more transformative for students and their families than almost anything else we do under the guise of “tutoring” and serving kids in the neighborhood. 

Volunteers + Tutoring = Healthier Families! It’s a simple equation that involves stepping up to be available to serve through relationship in the communities where we live. 

One of the advantages of loving coffee is the fact that most young adults love it too! So if you’re older (like Lakewood Connects Director, Reg Cox) and you hope to connect with young leaders you offer to buy their cup! Such was the set-up recently between Reg and Colorado Christian University student body vice president, Sarah. Sarah had reached out asking if Lakewood Connects could help her revitalize an event called; “CCU 4 Lakewood” (CCU4LW). Reg had helped develop this student led community service program back in 2018 and now Sarah wanted to get it going again! When you “Caffeinate” a new friendship and add a Big Dream you increase the potential for something powerful to happen!

In 2018 CCU students formed four Community Service targets in the neighborhood near campus. CCU has existed for decades, and as a community they’re committed in becoming a partner with local churches and organizations to Serve the city! In 2018 CCU4LW connected to Senior Adults, served Food in an underserved community, supported a local church’s program for Homeless Neighbors and played with students in a local Elementary School. A key focus for CCU4LW experience is that the service all takes place in neighborhoods near the university!

Here’s a Philosophy that guides Lakewood Connects: “Proximity transforms the impact potential of who, what, why and how we serve”. When you’re walking across the street to serve someone instead of driving 45 minutes or flying to another country you’re suddenly transported into “living with” those you serve. Relationship based service transforms us from custodians of compassionate action into neighbors loving our extended family. Through the power of close proximity we enter into “relationship” connections and experience something wholly different and more valuable than “one off” service. This is where life change potential exists!

This coming February 14, Lakewood Connects Director; Reg Cox will speak in chapel to kick off “CCU Loves Lakewood!” By February 2023 several things will be in action that will transform the lives of both students and community members in positive ways…and all of this started as 2 people became new friends and shared 2 cups of coffee and shared greater-good plans and dreams!

We believe that relationships change the world! Please join us in building new friendships and dreaming bigger partnership dreams in 2023!

In 2014 the Mayor of Lakewood, Colorado reached out to Lakewood Connects Director, Reg Cox with a Big Idea! For 9 years Reg had supported a network of pastors from various Christian faith communities who connected to each other monthly for prayer, support and partnership. The Mayor’s dream was to build upon this example of unity among Christian churches by expanding to invite all faith communities and form another organization, a “Faith Coalition” and connect them to the Mayor/City Manager’s office in order to forge a service partnership, so that together, Faith + Government could advance Greater-Good Projects in the city!

Dreams become Greater-Good Catalysts when they’re shared with others! In 2014 Reg was a Senior Pastor at a medium sized neighborhood church in Lakewood. He didn’t see his church or the church network as a big deal at all. He would tell you that the mayor’s invitation to partner on a big dream was exciting and a bit intimidating! This dream stretched and challenged Reg, but that’s exactly what advancing “Greater Good” initiatives are all about! You can’t do breakthrough greater-good until you’re Stretched! “Stretched” means we ask; “Can we take our Resources of Energy, Money and Time and Merge them with others in order to Exponentially do more good than we could ever accomplish all by ourselves?” We believe this spirit of collaboration and partnership is the key to improving our world and this idea is at the heart of what Lakewood Connects is furthering both here and across the country!

In 2014 the Mayor of Lakewood created the “Lakewood Linked Initiative” starting with the Faith Coalition which merged Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Latter Day Saints, Catholic and Jewish faiths as a Collaborative Community Service Force. Soon this dream expanded to include Coalitions connecting supplemental Food assistance groups and Service Clubs like the Kiwanis and Rotary in order to build Service Programming Partnerships like the Faith Coalition.

Recently, Chairmen of these three Coalitions had another Big Dream! They realized that by becoming one organization they could enhance their “Greater-Good” Impact Potential! “Serve Spot Lakewood” (SSLW) was formed merging these three Coalitions into one and is currently building a website that will tell stories, recruit volunteers and help transform the culture of the city! What started out with one Coalition has now become a larger movement that will accelerate Partnership and Greater-Good Philosophy, Programming and Power to every corner of the city!

Relationships change the world! When Greater-Good Conversations take place Dreams are born that advance Greater-Good Plans and Programs! It all starts when we talk to each other and build trusted partnerships…when this happens we can dream larger dreams and find ways to make “Impossible”…Possible! This is our hope…we pray that you join us in advancing this philosophy and dream!

Lakewood Connects uses a few inspirational sayings that summarize our core values and convictions. These mantra’s guide our focus, influence and programming. One favorite is “Progress moves at the speed of relationship.” That mantra anchors us on the fact that information and data doesn’t build trust or inspire action! The power of compassion is released when we sit down with another person over a cup of coffee! Face-to-face we can share stories, find common ground and seek a compelling vision of “what-might-be-possible” together!

Recently a tragedy impacted our community involving a fire in an apartment complex in an underserved neighborhood. In the ensuing days several government, education, nonprofit and faith groups all rallied to support and help victims. Sometimes a local tragedy reveals the gaps that exist in our community that can separate healing intentions from helping action. Although all of these sectors had resources…what they didn’t have was fresh connections with each other. Here’s a fact: when relationships are disconnected it can inhibit compassion action.

How do we create a compassion catalyst? In the neighborhood affected by the fire Lakewood Connects has been supporting local church and compassion outpost, “Mountair Christian” for over a decade. They lead many valuable projects and programs. We also work with, “Molholm Elementary” and their leaderships. The church and school have worked together for years and recently Lakewood Connects facilitated new depth in their relationship making coordination between them easier during the tragedy. When the other support organizations jumped in to serve, the church and school were ready to navigate the compassion energy strategically.

The fire caused the loss of life and displacement of over 30 families including a Molholm student and mom. The church and school aimed Lakewood Connects support to precisely fit the needs of that family immediately. Compassion requires timely, strategic and uninhibited action!

Concern + Connections = Compassion Catalyst! There is often a lot of concern for challenges in our community…but until connections are made compassion is stymied! “Relationships change the world” is not just an invitation to make friends, it’s a challenge to create the kinds of connections that remove the goodwill and healing barriers that often exist unnoticed in our culture! Just think, you are just a conversation away from becoming a partner with someone else so that together you can lead positive change in your community when tragedy strikes! Don’t wait until bad things happen! Make that compassion catalyst relationship connection today!