Heartland is launching its South Service on September 14th at Pioneer Trail Junior High located at 127th and Black Bob in Olathe. Our service will begin at 11:00 a.m. In addition to services, our Children's Ministry program will be provided for infants through 5th grade. For more information about our service, click here to email Missy Crawford.

Volunteers are still needed in particular for our Logistics Team which is responsible for set up and tear down and transportation of the equipment. If you would like to help out with this ministry or have questions, click here to email Bill Cardell or click here to email Ted Ingalls.

Our Children's Ministry team is also needing volunteers who want to help out with infants through 5th grade. Volunteers teach kids about Jesus through stories and activities as well as by the way they care. If you would like to help out with Children's Ministry, click here to email Michelle Dilmore.

The Singles' ministry will meet this coming Sunday for Fusion Sunday Night will be at 6:00 - 8:30 pm, Sunday, July 27th. We will be meeting at the Quaff Bar and Grill, 1010 Broadway, Kansas City, MO. Click here for a map. Click here to email Harold Eastman, director.

Heartland's All Church Baptism will be held on August 24th at Kill Creek Park. (Click here for a map) The Baptism will be our Sunday service at 10:00 am. There will be no service at Heartland that day.

If you are considering being baptized we would love to talk to you about it, click here to email Britton Gregory or stop by the grow space on Sunday. Click here to register online.

Heartland Women are invited to the Beth Moore Simulcast on August 1st and 2nd at Westside Family Church. Click here for more information and here to register online. Tickets are $30.00 through July 14th and after that the cost is $40.00. Click here to email Lori Roy for more information.

Agenda:
Friday, August 1, 2008
Doors Open at 5:30pm.
Light refreshments served 5:30-6:30pm.
Simulcast begins at 6:30 p.m
Event ends at 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, August 2, 2008
Doors Open at 7:30 a.m.
Continental Breakfast served 7:30-8:30 a.m.
Simulcast begins at 8:30 a.m.
Light snacks served during break
Simulcast ends at 12 noon

Interested in Women's Small Groups? Monday, Wednesday and Thursday morning groups begin mid-September from 9-11am and childcare is available. Evening groups begin mid-September and specific groups provide childcare. Click here to register online or visit the Grow Space.

Are looking for a way to grow and connect with others this summer? Get involved in a small group this summer! We are offering a first step experience in the Gallery from 6:30-8:30pm on Wednesday nights. (Except the 1st Wednesday of the month when we will attend the New Community service.) We will open the time by talking about the Sunday message and discuss the Journey devotional for the week. Stop by the grow space on Sunday for more info or to pick up a Journey devotional and a bible and your ready to get started! Childcare is available, click here to contact Jeff Shrout to make a childcare reservation or if you have questions. Hope to see you there!

Starting August 30th Heartland is coordinating the Sunday sermon series Road Trip with the small group resource Just Walk Across the Room. During this series, we will ask people to join Just Walk Across the Room small groups. Our hope is for people to stay in their existing groups and not "jump ship" to join these new groups. To help retain your group's cohesiveness and to help us move forward with momentum, would you consider using this material in your group as well?

We are also asking for new leaders to step forward to lead these new groups to accommodate the interest generated by this sermon series. Click here to email Britton Gregory to let us know your intentions or to let us know if you know of anyone who may want to lead a new small group.

We will ask people to sign up September 7th and 14th for new groups. These groups and hopefully yours will start the material Oct 8th. This material can be covered in either a four-week experience or an eleven-week experience.

Small group leader training for this material will be offered during Leadership Community August 23rd. RSVPs for the training are requested.

If you'd like to learn more about automated giving, click here to download an Electronic Fund Transfer card. Just attach a voided check and drop in the offering box at the back of the sanctuary or mail to our offices. Your support allows lives to be changed like the ones you've read about in this newsletter. If you would like more information about automating your giving click here to contact Patty Johnson.

Heartland's Ministry Fund (Operating) Budget is 2.5 Million for the 2008 Fiscal Year (Jan. - Dec. 2008). Heartland is accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. Click here to view their website and the standards under which we operate.

Thank you all very much for contributing to the Ministry Fund and the go. Campaign! Your support helps make lives change so that more will come to know Christ. Thanks to you it's possible.

Groundskeeping crews worked at the Rhodes site this past week and were able to clear the brush, trim the trees and bushes and put down a fresh coat of mulch. Needless to say, the site is looking much better.

We're in the process of getting requests for proposal for certain aspects of our construction process. If you or your company would be interested in bidding or offering your services at a discounted rate or as a donation, please click here to email Ryan Heckman. Services such as signage, office equipment and furniture, computer/phone/IT will be needed as we finish construction.

A webcam has been installed and can be viewed live by clicking here throughout construction. You will see the empty shell at this time looking northwest from the center of the building.

On Saturday, July 12th, over 55 people including the LTP interns, middle school and high school students, and the Gathering community came together to serve the poor and needy for YES! Day. YES Day stands for Youth Employed in Service. Funds raised for YES Day provide the cost for the Leadership Training Project for the following summer. From priming and painting the interior of a house, building a chain-linked fence, mowing dirt to build a soccer field, washing windows, and bagging 2,400 pounds of cereal, hundreds of lives were touched through Mission Adelante, The Hope Center, Kaw Valley Habitat for Humanity, Harvesters, and Heartland Community Church.

Volunteer Position Spotlight: Great Beginnings is looking for volunteers interested in being part of a Cleaning Team. The team will meet one time per month to clean and de-clutter our classrooms. Childcare will be provided if needed. This will also be a fun time to meet and connect with other adults! Click here to email Kristi Swob if you are interested.

Click here for the entire list.

***If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball - and if you can drive a car, you can drive Heartland's Shuttle Bus - aka the "happy fun bus". We're still in desperate need of help of shuttle drivers and more volunteers with the parking lot team. Click here to email Bruce Yost if interested.

Men, come serve dinner at chapel to the men at City Union Mission this Wednesday night the 30th.  Meet at Heartland's south entrance at 5:50 p.m., we'll return by 8:30 p.m.  It's a great chance to meet other HCC men and serve a hot meal to the homeless.  Click here to contact Mark Sudermann with questions.

Click here to learn more about City Union Mission.

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Heartland Community Church
8301 Lamar
Overland Park, KS 66207
913.341.5820

Heartland is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. The ECFA is an accreditation agency dedicated to helping Christian ministries earn the public's trust through adherence to seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship. Founded in 1979, ECFA provides accreditation to leading Christian nonprofit organizations that faithfully demonstrate compliance with established standards for financial accountability, fund-raising and board governance. Click here to learn more about the ECFA.

... Then came the go. campaign. We knew we wanted to contribute. God had dramatically turned our lives around in the past few years and we saw go. as an opportunity to extend His message to others who did not know Him. We also knew we couldn't – we had nothing to give. 

We were invited to a Leadership Commitment Night with instructions to prepare beforehand by praying with our spouse and landing on an amount to give. The week before as I prayed about how we could give to go., a specific number kept coming to mind and I kept feeling a nudge that the only way to get to that number was to cash in one of our 401(k)s. It seemed crazy. I was praying to get out of debt, to have financial security. This wouldn't lead to that - it was going the opposite direction. Yet the nudging continued. Unfortunately we did not have time to talk about it together before commitment night came.

So there we were with the commitment card in front of us, the time had come and we were clueless.  We were given a few moments to pray and discuss prior to taking our card up front and dropping it in the box.  As I prayed, once again I felt the same nudging.  I said, "God if this is You, You are going to have to tell Robert because I'm not!" Robert asked me how much I thought we should give and I said "I don't know, what do you think?" He suggested a number to be donated monthly over the course of the 3 year term of the campaign, an amount we did not have and couldn't afford. When I did the math, his total number was exactly the same as mine. As I laid out for him my thoughts over the previous week, we were both struck with the sense that God was moving and He was asking us to go with Him.

In the days that followed, we cashed in the 401(k) and the proceeds, after deductions for penalties and taxes, were just enough to fulfill our commitment to go. Nothing had really changed in our lives, Robert still didn't have a job, our income barely paid our bills.  But instead of panic in my heart over our financial situation and angst that Robert wasn't working, God had created in me a sense of security in Him, a trust that He is sovereign and that He is my source - not money, not husband, not investments.

But He wasn't finished.  When you cash in a 401(k), there is a period of time in which you can reinstate the account and the penalties and taxes will be rescinded.  Two days before that window closed, we received a large amount of money from several different sources - six times the amount of our go donation. We were able to reinstate the 401(k) and pay off all our debt. Over the next year, Robert was blessed with a job that is a perfect fit for him, on his birthday no less. And we were able to pay off our home mortgage. Most importantly we are now in a position where we can give even more to go. as well as to others that are in need. Giving seems to be the road to financial freedom.

Unexpected. Creative. But what do we expect from the Creator of the universe?! - Debra Dambacher