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• Joining hands holiday fl full version#

The next year Community established a partnership with Tampa’s Metropolitan ministries. Urrounded and supported us and we felt we were on the right track.” DanCampbell and Mission Director Nancy Dougherty. Joining Hands Community Mission CEO the Rev. “We went from 14 to 90 kids, spent $10,000, and had 200 volunteers,” Campbell said. In 2007 Community offered an all-day VBS for homeless and at-risk children, an initiative that included breakfast and lunch. “It was a half day, it cost us $500, and we had a hard time getting eight volunteers.” The church’s traditional Vacation Bible School attracted approximately 14 kids, Campbell said.

“I became president of the Coalition for the Homeless.” “We discerned a clear calling to do mission with homeless families and children,” Campbell said.

The next year the number was 2,400, and the numbers for 2010-2011 are expected to top 4,000. Two years ago the Pasco school system identified 1,800 homeless children. The 70,000 people who lived within three miles of Community UMC represented low-income, desperate need, and a rising tide of homelessness. It became evident that the United Methodist witness on Hwy 19 in Holiday was in transition. “Corporate change follows personal transformation,” he said. “What we needed was a completely new vision.”įor Campbell, that meant reconnecting with his own sense of call. “But nothing made a significant difference,” Campbell said. The congregation went through a discerning process, engaged the principles of NCD (Natural Church Development), and attempted to tweak its ministry model. “There were 20,000 school-aged children within three miles of the church,” Campbell said, “and only three on our campus on a good Sunday.” By the time Campbell arrived, Community could no longer cover its expenses and was tapping endowment funds to stay afloat. The congregation grew quickly as a “retirement” church, but failed to embrace a dramatic shift in demographics as the community transformed with the influx of “working poor” who could no longer afford to live in Pinellas County. “Within four years there were 1,000 people in worship.” “Community had a meteoric rise after it was started in 1968,” Campbell said. Dan Campbell, CEO of Joining Hands, has been on site since 2005 when he was appointed to Community UMC as a specialist in church transformation.

But it’s a story-ultimately-of hope, grace and promise. More complex, however, is the story of how a Methodist church was birthed, burned hot and then burned out in the span of just four decades. This body of Christ ended its old charter and established in its place a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with a new purpose. In a bold leap of faith, the congregation of Community United Methodist Church refocused its efforts to reach out and aid families in the community who are in financial and spiritual distress. The notice on the “Joining Hands Mission” Web page ( ) is brief and to the point:

Joining hands holiday fl full version#