Recent Events @ Deerbrook
Christmas Musical - Dr. Newheart’s Christmas Cure
Children, youth and young adults from Deerbrook put on a wonderful Christmas Musical in December. After months of rehearsals led by our Worship Director, Renae Kitchin, our community had a wonderful day celebrating the talent of these young people with 2 performances and a yummy hot chocolate and cookie bar. It was a great way to prepare for Christmas and a good reminder that we do need a new heart that only God can give. A big Thank You to Renae, Angie, the whole cast & crew, set designers, all who attended the shows and everyone who helped with refreshments.
Thanksgiving Blessings
Deerbrook was privileged to be able to assist The LIGHT House in their Thanksgiving giveaway. By collecting food and gift cards, we partnered with their effort to provide a Thanksgiving meal to 55 families they are currently serving, including a majority of single parent homes. The LIGHT House is committed to serving God by responding to the needs of children, youth, and families to ensure all Life Is Given Hope for Tomorrow. There are many ongoing ways to serve this ministry including donating needed kid’s items, helping with their bi-weekly boutique or purchasing items from their Walmart registry. Please contact us to learn more or visit their Facebook page.
Local and Global Partnerships
Wheels to Freedom is a ministry that gathers wheelchairs in the Kansas City area from individuals and businesses to be repaired, refurbished and sent overseas to help others gain mobility. Each year, nearly 600-700 wheelchairs are sent from KC to Hope Haven International Ministries who then distribute them in developing countries. Deerbrook has sponsored Wheels to Freedom since 1997. Numotion is one source for wheelchairs in the Kansas City area who donates to Wheels to Freedom. Numotion provides more customized wheelchairs, specifically pediatric sizes. For Numotion’s Community Service Week in November, their staff, which includes a couple Deerbrook attenders, donated time to load 178 wheelchairs from local storage to the semi where they will be prepared for shipping overseas. What a great example of Pursuing Impact Together!
Youth Fall Retreat
Shield Student Ministries recently had their annual Fall Retreat. They took 26 students to Youth Front for the weekend. They focused on Spiritual Disciplines with guest speaker, Lauren Partain. The weekend was filled with fellowship, free of technology and distractions. The students enjoyed several fun activities. They played in the Game Center, walked through the woods, enjoyed the beautiful fall weather and three of our boys won a three on three basketball tournament. Thanks for your prayers for this event.
Our New Playground
We are so excited to announce that our new playground is open! Our old playground had been with us for over 20 years and finally needed to be retired after many patch jobs over the years. Thanks in part to funds from our Aspire Initiative, we were able to purchase a new commercial playground! Over the last number of weeks, an incredible team of volunteers from our congregation spent a total of 604 hours unloading, unpackaging, preparing, installing and completing the playground. THANK YOU to everyone who had a hand in making this happen! We can’t wait to share it with your and our community.
Wings 4 Water
Deerbrook has been a part of this annual event since the very beginning. This year they had 40 sponsors cooking up delicious chicken wings all for the purpose of raising money for clean water initiatives around the world. Deerbrook placed 5th overall! We love hearing music from The Local featuring members of our Worship Team and seeing so many familiar faces. Tyson donates all the chicken wings (28,000!) and the Wings 4 Water Leadership Team does a fantastic job organizing and growing the event each year. We hear this was a record breaking year! Check in here for more info.
Back 2 School Bash
On August 16th, Deerbrook teamed up with other local churches and nonprofits to put on the 2nd annual Back to School Bash. This year it was hosted at Bernard Campbell Middle School. There were over 1,800 people through registration and nearly 150 volunteers.
It was such an honor to partner with these other organizations to share God’s love in our local community. Students K-12 were given a new backpack full of supplies and had the opportunity to get a haircut and shop for clothes. Free hot dogs, water and ice cream were also provided. A big thanks to Culver’s for backing this event with generous fundraising efforts!
Baptism Sunday
What a joy it was to celebrate with these four who publicly & confidently said YES to following Jesus!! Heaven is rejoicing!! Sharing this special sacrament as a church family, and encouraging these children and young adult, made August 4th a morning to remember.
And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
Acts 22:16
over 100 Refugees fed
Deerbrook purchased, prepared and served a meal in partnership with Refuge KC for over 100 new-American neighbors who have been taking English classes one day a week for several months.
Watching the ingredients piling up around the church in advance of preparation was awe inspiring. It was incredible having Deerbrookers side-by-side chopping ingredients, carving melons, spiraling pineapple, seasoning, baking, cooling and bagging 105 lbs of chicken. Breathtaking describes working as a team, transporting the prepared food, setting up and serving the meal to over 100 new-American neighbors following their English class.
One of the focuses at Deerbrook is to pursue impact together. Seeing this pursuit in action deeply impacts the giver (Deerbrook) and the receiver (our new-American neighbors).
“...He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. So you, too, must show love to foreigners…” Deuteronomy 10:18-19