Dear Friends of the Center,

During this most wonderful time of the year where we reflect so much on the beautiful gift that is the birth of Jesus, we want to take a moment to thank you, our faithful supporters, for standing with us and being part of our community. Your support through the years is another gift that we are most thankful for and feel so blessed by. You are a significant part of what God is doing here at the Center with our work in our local community as well as other parts of the country. We count it as a blessing to have the support that we do, so thank you for being a blessing to us & for being part of the Center family.

We pray you all have a blessed Christmas and New Year and that you are able to spend this time drawing closer to Jesus as you reflect on His great love for you. We pray that you would fully surrender your heart to Him and and that He would amaze you with the ways He shows up for you everyday in all things, big and small.

What love Jesus showed by giving up Heaven and coming to Earth. What humbleness He showed by coming as a helpless infant. What sacrifice He made by dying on the cross to save us. What can we do but give Him our hearts and lives?

Continue reading for updates on what 2023 has been like for us at the Center....!

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It has been an exciting year for us! We have seen significant growth in our early education and Kindergarten through 12th grade programs in Champion Christian School, there has been an increase in counseling demand, and we have stepped up our community activities and outreach. We've also launched a podcast to address Kingdom culture issues on a regular basis (these can be found on our website if you are interested).

While there have been so many exciting things going on, there have been some difficult things as well. In today's culture there are very real challenges to all ministry work, and ws we have often said, the Center is on the front line of all that is happening in the culture around us. Families and children are still as much, if not more, in need of God's life giving power as they have ever been in the 42 years since we founded the ministry. As you know, in this post Covid culture, we are facing a mental health crisis in which some are predicting that 50% of all adolescents and adults will be diagnosed with mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. There's an educational crisis in which education loss is real and unfortunately may not be recovered by many students. And finally, there is a spiritual crisis in which our culture seems to have lost its perspective that there is absolute truth in a very faithful and loving God who is in charge of our lives. Please pray for us as we continue to navigate the best and most effective ways to minister to students and all of those in our community who are facing these very real and very difficult challenges.

In other exciting news, as you may already know, we are in the largest building campaign that we have ever taken on. There is a lot of excitement in our community as our new health and wellness center/gym is getting ready to be opened. This project has the potential to allow for amazing programs for the Kingdom in athletics, arts, community events, theater, and overall health and wellness for both our program participants and the community around us. To date, we have had well over 100 volunteers put in literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work. Towards the end of November, we met our fundraising goal of raising $1.25 million dollars in gifts and pledges towards this campaign! We are so incredibly thankful for everyone who helped us reach that goal! However, we encountered several budget overruns that we anticipate will put us between $75,000-$100,000 short of what we need to complete the project.

Our request is that you would partner with us at this significant time. This whole project requires so much energy, commitment, and spiritual fortitude of our leadership. The best way you can help is by praying; pray for our leadership as they navigate the end of this project and pray that God will fulfill everything that He wants to accomplish in this project - both while it's being completed and afterwards when it is being used. Would you also prayerfully consider a gift - monetary gift or the gift of your time to help us accomplish all that God wants us to do? If you feel led to give financially to help us cover the additional costs that put us over budget, you can easily do so on our website at champion.org/donate.

We are excited that the hardwood maple flooring is currently being installed and is set to be finished by the start of the new year, but there is still much work to be done. We are looking for several skilled people to help us with building walls, doing other skilled carpentry work, drywall, insulation and finishing, painting, staining, general cleanup, and more. As you can see, while we are close to our grand opening, there is still much to be done, so if you are local and feel led to give your time, we would be very appreciative of any time you are able and willing to give. We have volunteers on site working most weekdays and Saturdays; reach out to us at 724-593-9200 or info@champion.org with any questions about work that needs done and to let us know if you are interested in helping and what time(s) you have available and would like to come. We will be having a dedication of the building in the near future, so keep an eye on your email and social media for that announcement.

Merry Christmas,


Merle

South Campus: 2166 Indian Head Rd Champion, PA 15622 | 724.455.2122
North Campus: 1076 King's Way Donegal, PA 15628 | 724.593.9200



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