Gospel.com Blog

This weekend in Detroit, Craig Gross and Jason Harper gave away a house.

As part of their Jesus Loves You book tour, Gross and Harper are attempting to live out some of the things they talk about in their book. The house giveaway was prompted by a chapter in the book, “Jesus loves the disconnected.” Here’s the report from their blog:

We were in Detroit for the Free House Sunday giveaway that corresponds with the “Jesus Loves The Disconnected” chapter in the book. We have been working with Citadel of Faith Covenant Church since May to pull off this great day…Over the past several weeks 113 people have filled out an entry on www.freehousesunday.com. We worked with Citadel and Lisa Johanon from the Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corporation to select the family for this house and to restore the house.

The house went to a woman who was facing eviction after losing her husband. To me, one of the most remarkable things about the event was the response from those gathered after the house was given away:

At church 30 people committed to following Jesus as Pastor Carey shared a dynamic message. He talked out of Genesis about the word “Covenant”. He assured people that Jesus would always hold through on his part of the agreement. He mentioned that “Jesus loves you before you do what you do because he did what he did.”

At the close of the service Pastor Carey asked for people to consider joining Citadel of Faith Covenant Church if they did not have a home church and wanted to get plugged in. About 55 people came forward to join the church after the service.

Around 3pm, we took a tour of the house. We were able to pray over the house and for the moving in of the Baker family. Pastor Carey, Lisa Johanon, Jason Harper and I took a photo of the house on our way out.

It’s a heartwarming story of the body of Christ gathering together to meet someone’s specific needs.

What other examples have you seen of Christ-followers loving the disconnected?

Thanksgiving is coming. Do you feel thankful?

The Bible tells us to “always give thanks to God the Father for everything” (Ephesian 5:20). But what does that really mean—are we expected to literally say prayers of thanks to God as we go through the day? Prayer is a wonderful way to thank God… but what if there was a more tangible way to express our gratitude?

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Want to make a different in somebody’s life this holiday season? This Thanksgiving and Christmas, consider giving a gift that will make a real impact: volunteer!

If you thought that Christian service meant committing to years of overseas mission work, think again! ChristianVolunteering.org is a new site that can put you in touch with over 1,000 ministries and more than 2,000 volunteer and short-term missions opportunities. With so many opportunities, there’s almost certainly a niche that matches your skills and interests. Here’s just a few of the ways you can serve this holiday season:

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