October 2024 Update

October 2024 Update

ADDING NOT DIVIDING

I have some praise reports and a prayer request for you today. Every week, we see miracles happen. So, these praise reports are from the current week that we’re in right now.  

A young man named Matt came in this morning. He was excited to stop by our location before his intake into a tiny home. He was celebrating this milestone but had nothing to furnish it. He asked if we had any supplies to help him get settled in. Luckily, we did! He left our facility with a cart full of materials for his new home. 

He’d been on the streets for 5 years, and today is a day of new beginnings. We prayed with Matt. It was a special moment of a prayer of blessing for his new home. After the prayer, he said, “There’s something about this place. I just feel peace here.” 

He gave me a fist bump. I love that as a response to prayer. Like, hey. Let’s bump it out. And he’s moving into what God has in store for him. We love that. 

That’s what we’re here for. That’s what Capital Compassion is all about.  

Steven was here this week. He’s been through a journey, great challenges, trying to find his way, and now there’s opportunities that are presenting for him. Today, he has a job interview at a pizza location downtown. He is meeting his housing navigator at the library today so he can get into transitional housing. 

We helped him get onto the list for housing, get his ID, all these steps that have to happen in order for people to get from the streets to a place of permanence. Steven is right in the middle of it, hungry, eager, and we’re excitedly walking with him sure that he’s going to get to that place of completion of the journey from homelessness to being housed and having a meaningful life. People are coming in every day. We have about 30 people each day that are walking through our door, sometimes more, that are looking for the kind of help that we’re here to provide.  

These stories are just what happened this week, let alone multitude of other stories that have already happened in weeks before. 

Here’s our prayer request. We need to expand. The lease on our facility is coming to an end, which has prompted us to say, let’s find a place that’s got more space. We’ll have a respite center where we can have people stay with us for some time during the day, where we can help them with their resume building. We’ll have peer specialists here and all the services that can come alongside, helping individuals go from this place from where they’re at to a place of victory. 

We need a larger space. We’re in negotiations in a couple of different locations. We’re asking for prayer to say, God, show us the right one and the provisions. We need provisions. It’s going to allow us to do more, but it will also allow us to ask for more. 

What can you do to help? I have felt prompted to help more myself. I’m giving into that just today, giving into what God wants us to do in a financial way. The time is now. The opportunity is great, and your part in it has been a blessing. Give online. 

We’re attaching some of the reports of the last several months from what has happened through Capital Compassion, what you have had a part in. The time is now to press in and to invite others to join us on the journey. Thank you for all you’ve done to help us get to this point. We are using God’s blessings, using his favor, using the grace that he’s placed upon us of compassion. We’re not in a moment of division. We’re in a moment of addition of what God wants us to do to see people come to faith. 

We are not a divided people. We are united people, and that comes because we’re helping the people that are in front of us. We’re not complaining about all the mess that’s around us. We’re saying, God, what do you want me to do to change it? What do you want me to do to make a difference? 

You are that person too. Not complaining about the mess of our world, the mess of our country, but saying, Jesus, you put me here for a time and a place. How can I help make a difference in this moment? Thank you for being who you are in that and joining us in saying, God, we’re going to be faithful to you. We are Capital Compassion, and it’s the spirit of Jesus that is coming out through us to those in need. 

In His love and grace,

Pastor Rick and Cathy 

Giving Name Change Update

Giving Name Change Update

CAPITAL COMPASSION

 

I miss seeing you in our worship experience we so enjoyed over the years. Cathy and I continue to pray for you to flourish in your relationship with Jesus and in your influence in our community. You remain in our hearts and a blessing in our spiritual journey. 

I am hopeful you received your record of contributions to Capital Christian Center for the previous year, 2023. If you have any questions, please call (916) 856-5683 or email info@capitalonline.cc. We will do our best to serve you. 

Thank you for your faithfulness in serving the Lord and for your generous giving to make Him known in our city and around the world. You are the engine of Capital that empowered us to be known for generosity far and wide. 

Since our transition last September, we have been serving our community as Capital Compassion. In just the last four months of 2023, through our volunteers and ministry partners, we distributed approximately $275,000 worth of goods and services. 

We are continuing these efforts in 2024 as the vision continues to expand. Every month, new ministry partners join us in serving refugee communities, those with food insecurity, special needs job opportunities, and those who are homeless. 

We have had more than 200 volunteers serve in the various outreaches to our city. Many of our volunteers serve multiple days a week in our warehouse organizing the food distribution and household items that are being gifted to those in need. We have served approximately 1,500 households with needed groceries. The need is great, but the heart and compassion of our Capital Compassion volunteers is even greater. 

Through a partnership with a charter school in North Sacramento, our volunteers brought Christmas joy to 150 families who have been in the United States for less than six months after escaping the war in Ukraine. Through our partnership with World Vision, we provided microwaves, heaters, tea kettles, and other household items. In addition, we provided four bags of groceries to each family, including fresh produce for them to make meals they are accustomed to in Ukraine. Each child received an age-appropriate Christmas gift. Observing the joy on the faces of so many made this a day I will remember for the rest of my life. 

This month we are serving another charter school, Higher Learning, with groceries and home goods. This school is comprised of low-income families who are a joy for us to serve. 

We are also onboarding 10 new ministry partners as we continue to expand. In addition, we will have a Bible study that I will be teaching at the invitation of Friends of the Neighborhood in Oak Park called “Bridging the Divide.” You are more than welcome to join us on Thursday, February 22, at 6:30pm at 2863 35th Street in Sacramento. 

We extend an open invitation to volunteer with Capital Compassion whenever it might work in your schedule. You can learn about our events and opportunities at capitalonline.cc. 

Many of our Capital family have donated financially to our compassion efforts over the past few months. We are continuing our transition to Capital Compassion by incorporating as a separate 501c3. If you would like to be a partner through giving, it is vital that checks be written to Capital Compassion and mailed to P.O. Box 276267, Sacramento, CA 95827. Any check written to Capital Christian Center after February 15, will not be forwarded to Capital Compassion for our missional work. All checks made out to Capital Compassion will go directly to fund our compassion efforts in the city. Also, online giving through capitalonline.cc or through the SecureGive app have not changed. All online donations have been, and will continue to be, directed to our compassion efforts. Every dollar is multiplied many times over through the hundreds of hours of volunteer work, gifts in kind, and partnerships with World Vision and Convoy of Hope. 

We are seeking to live by the word of the Lord from Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Thank you for your heart to honor the Lord with us. 

In His love and grace,

Pastor Rick and Cathy