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We are now just about six weeks away from our official launch on January 19th! It feels like we are 
stepping out of the boat in faith, and God is preparing us for something spectacular. The momentum is 
building, not just in logistics, but in the lives of the people we are serving.

Here are the key updates as we close out the year:

• Ministry Wins: Stories from the Tables

o Growing Attendance: Our November Free Community Dinner saw 60 people gather to share a meal.

o Hope Looks Like Brownies: A young homeless woman joined us at the November dinner. She started the night sitting alone with tears in her eyes but ended it sharing a meal with a team member and leaving with a smile (and two boxes of brownies!). But the story didn't end there. She filled out a connect card asking for a phone call. When I reached out, I discovered she is a talented artist! She is now excited to join our team to paint some of our weekly masterpieces. She also has her food handler's card and is interested in volunteering in other areas. It’s a beautiful picture of how quickly a neighbor can become family.

o The Power of Being Seen: Another woman returned after missing two months and was amazed that a team member remembered her and asked about her family by name. She told me she’s bringing her whole family next time because they felt truly missed.

• Launch Readiness & Team Development

o Defining Roles: The launch team has been working hard to clearly define all volunteer duties. We are preparing for our first of two volunteer training evenings this coming Monday.

o Sound Equipment Blessings: God is providing for our technical needs in amazing ways. We have been gifted a soundboard from True North Church in Hayden, ID. Jeff is currently searching for a powered amp to round out the system for nearly zero cost. We are building a system that gives us great flexibility for the future without breaking the budget.

• Business & Financial Stewardship

o Online Giving Increase: We are seeing traction with our digital giving. We now have three people regularly tithing to Connect CotN through the Tithe.ly app.

o New Giving Box: To encourage in-person giving as we launch, I’ve purchased a wooden giving box and envelopes to be placed at the welcome table.

o Additional Funding Sources: I have been working on additional funding sources and have found multiple major grocery chains and financial institutions that offer grants to nonprofits. I'm currently working on the Walmart Spark Good grant process. I've been able to confirm our 501c3 status through PayPal which is the first step in the process. The Spark Good grant awards up to $5,000 per year in goods from our local Walmart store. Safeway and Rosauers have similar opportunities that I will be pursuing.

• Personal Development & Balance

o Dinner Church School of Leadership: I have been researching the option to enroll in this leadership course. After discussing it with Marcy, we wanted to be careful about me taking on too much during this busy launch season. We agreed that the best path forward is for me to enroll in the "audit track" with a three-month trial. This will give me the opportunity to determine if I can successfully manage my time without another area of my life failing.

Looking Ahead As we head into our December dinner and final launch preps, please pray for our volunteers as they step into these defined roles. We are moving from "learning" to "doing," and I can't wait to see how God uses this team to reach Northeast Spokane.


Respectfully submitted,

Pastor Victor Morrison