This is a guest post by Brock Prince, a member of the Ballard campus. If your community group would like to do a micromission for your community, you can apply here. The recent string of arsons deeply affected the community group located in Greenwood. A couple in our group, Brock and Brooke Prince, live just a block from the epicenter of all the fires. They told us that it seemed like they were waking up every other morning to the sound of sirens. After the fire at the Green Bean Coffee House, the couple spoke with some local community leaders and helped to develop the idea of a silent auction to raise money for the arson victims. The idea began to gain momentum and our group of four quickly organized to put together a silent auction.

Our Mission

The first goal throughout this project has been to reveal God’s glory by serving our community. We believed we could live out the gospel as messengers of hope to those who might have lost hope. Our second goal was to bring the community together. Our third and final goal was to raise money to support both the families and businesses affected by the fires.

Community Support

Prior to the auction, it was amazing to see the community come together to support the endeavor. After approaching several of the community groups in Greenwood for support, we gathered donations from local businesses. It was amazing to see the generosity of Mars Hill members and the businesses through their donations. We had approximately 40 businesses donate goods and services ranging in value from $25 to $1000. All the Greenwood community groups helped to advertise the event by putting up posters around the community. A local blog and was able to do write-ups on the auction as well. In addition, with little effort, the auction was advertised on three other blogs, including two local TV stations.

Generosity

Through many people’s effort, we had the opportunity to embrace our community’s generosity. Through the benevolence of a local grocery store, a local wine shop, and the owner of the venue, we were able to procure hors dʼoeuvres and drinks for more than 125 people. It was at this point that we really began to see relationships within our community grow. One notable connection we made was with the owner of Upper Crust Catering (the host of our auction). The owner is a Christian man who showed the generosity of Jesus in his actions. He shared his wisdom from the experience of organizing auctions and continuously encouraged us to take every opportunity through the auction to forge relationships, increase community, and spread the love of Jesus. We were able to get our entire group (which had grown from four to seven members), our group coach, and community coach to help. Once we enlisted a couple friends from college, we were completely covered for the event. The auction came quickly, taking place on Friday, December 18 from 7 pm to 9 pm. The night was a great success as we saw nearly 125 people walk through the front door! It was encouraging to see so many of those people stick around the entire evening. It was great to see neighbors recognize each other and spend much of the night talking and reminiscing. It was also wonderful to see so many people outside of the church not only come and support the community, but also interact with those from the church. At the end of the night, every item had at least one bid. We were both amazed and grateful as we counted the proceeds. Through the generosity of the community, the auction brought in $3400. Because the Mars Hill Micro Missions Fund is covering the overhead costs, all $3400 will go directly to the Fire Relief Fund.

Caring for community

As a community group, we are very excited to see seeds planted through the auction. We were able to meet many neighbors and business owners as well as to show that we care about our community and that Mars Hill Church cares about our community and, most importantly, that Jesus cares about our community. We are excited about the relationship forged with Jim Lustig, the owner of Upper Crust, who is already extending the love of Jesus in our community. Jesus is being glorified in Greenwood!