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'Plant a Seed, Nurture It, Watch It Grow'

LYNDHURST, OH (January 28, 2005) - Plant a seed. Nurture it. And watch what God can do. Forty-one parishioners at Bethany Covenant Church had that opportunity as they participated in what has become popularly known as a "Kingdom Adventure," a faith-building initiative that is based on the book The Kingdom Assignment by authors Denny and Leesa Bellesi.

A number of Evangelical Covenant churches have offered Kingdom Adventures, sharing stories that provide food for thought as one ponders the matter of whole life stewardship. (To learn more about two other experiences, please see Tucker, Georgia or Topeka, Kansas.

Bethany's saga began when pastor Stacey Littlefield received a copy of the book during a Midwinter Pastors Conference, sharing it later with some church members. Their reactions – along with those of other church leaders – sparked interest in an adventure to challenge Bethany's faithful.

The adventure concept is fairly simple. A modest amount of money is given to various individuals and/or families with the challenge to pray about what God would have them do with the seed money – and then go about investing it in some ministry effort and see what God does with that seed of faith.

Seed money for the Bethany adventure came in part from proceeds from the sale of the church parsonage. "The Care Ministries Committee at the church asked that $3,000 of funding, which was part of the tithe from the sale of our parsonage, be used for this," Litlefield explained. "I was skeptical about this, but I was pushing them to take an adventure of risk. I was surprised at how open people were to taking this risk so quickly. But our church council was on-board from the beginning."

One Sunday morning, the pastor preached on stewardship using the Matthew account of the Parable of the Talents as the text. Listeners were challenged to accept $100 each in seed money and determine how best to invest it in kingdom ministry. The responding group – including 13 individuals and 10 groups/couples – shared testimonies several weeks later during a worship service following the conclusion of the adventure.

One family accepted the $100 and spent $48.25 on supplies to make applesauce. They sold the applesauce and with the proceeds purchased a television/VCR/DVD unit and 10 movies for use in a playroom at a women's shelter. Through matching funds and other fundraising, they raised $305 for the project.

An individual sent $10 of seed money to 10 friends with the hope that they would match the seed money on behalf of the Paul Carlson Partnership and its relief and reconstruction work in northwestern Congo.

A second family added $100 to the $100 they were given, while another family used its money to assist a local Youth for Christ ministry effort. A third family raised $300 and purchased food gift certificates for three needy neighborhood households. And a family discovered that a woman in the community needed immediate health care assistance for her family and they gave their $100 to her.

A woman who wanted to sponsor a Kenyan child became part of Operation Shoebox, a Christmas gift program facilitated by the parachurch organization Samaritan's Purse. She told a few co-workers about the Samaritan's Purse project and about the Kingdom Adventure and offered to pay the shipping costs if they would fill a shoebox with toys and clothes for needy individuals. She eventually raised $337 to help sponsor the Kenyan child.

"It feels to me that you have certain times when you have to take a risk, and this is one of those times," said Littlefield. "There had been some risk at giving the tithe from our parsonage sale (the church tithed $18,000) and we've already gotten more than that. And of the $3,000 we gave away, it multiplied to over $12,000 through various means. We saw this as a lesson to show people that everything we've been given has been entrusted to us by God – and that when we give it back to God, He will do wonderful things with it.

"We had no sermons (during the follow-up worship service)," Littlefield continued. "People just shared about what God had done. And one person was so moved by what he had heard that he gave us a check for $1,000 the next week."

Founded in 1953, Bethany Covenant Church is located near Cleveland in a suburban area of more than 100,000. Littlefield has been senior pastor of the church for nearly nine years. The congregation averages more than 150 in worship attendance.

To learn more about the church and its "Kingdom Adventure," call Littlefield at 440-442-5050 or visit the church website at www.bethanycov.org.

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