Merry Christmas everyone!
What a wonderful time of the year to reflect on the greatest gift ever given! As you sit around the tree and pass gifts around, as you sit at the table and eat all that delicious food with loved ones, remember the most precious gift. The gift of Jesus Christ! God, in his infinite love and mercy, sends Jesus to live the life we could not live and die the death that we deserve. In Christ we can experience the forgiveness of our sins and redemption with the Father.

The truth is we are very blessed! So many gifts were handed out and received. And we are grateful to God and all the friends and family that were so generous in their gift giving.

As a church, we too wanted to be generous and give to some families who may not have had as many gifts under the tree this year. While we wish we could do so much more, that will not stop us from doing what we can. Two beautiful families in BedStuy were able to receive gifts from Swerve Church this Christmas. We will lead the way with irrational generosity because we truly believe it is more blessed to give than to receive.

We wish everyone a wonderful and blessed Christmas and New Year!

would be able to go to her children with two brand new, beautifully wrapped gifts.
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His Toy Store is an awesome way to practice our values. As a church we will love God, love people, and serve our community. Participating in this outreach was a great way to do just that. Beyond that, it's great to be able to partner with other churches and ministries such as Living Waters Fellowship. We truly believe we can do far more together than we ever could apart.

We want to say thank you to those of you who faithfully give to Swerve Church. Because of your generosity we are able to participate in outreaches just like this one. Next year we hope to mobilize even more volunteers to be able to serve at an even greater capacity.

We will lead the way with irrational generosity!

Swerve Church is a new church plant forming in the community of Bushwick in Brooklyn.

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe Halloween weekend. I wanted to share the above video. We had a great time this past weekend out and about serving our community in very practical ways. We often get asked why we do what we do. Especially on a day like Halloween.

My question to you is, what other day in the year do you have all your neighbors out with their family accepting candy from strangers? Growing up we were taught to fear the day and stay home locked away. Now, to be fair, growing up in Bushwick, there were definitely safety concerns. I remember when I was in High School there were always rumors that X gang would be fight Y gang in the park after school. Or I remember in Middle School that the seniors would be egging all the freshman that day. There were definite concerns.

Today, I see it as an opportunity to interact with as much of my neighbors as possible. So we head to the park and give candy out to trick or treaters and take free family photos. This year we even added some games that children could play to win some prizes. All this is an excuse to do two things:

1. Show the love of Jesus in a practical way.
2. Create an opportunity to build a relationship with the people of our community.

I hope this helps explain a little of why we do what we do. I'd love to give you ann opportunity to join us next time. Help us love the people of our neighborhood in practical ways. Help us connect with more of our neighbors. We truly believe that this will lead to opportunities to share the hope we have in Jesus.

To Parents of Young Students: Practical ways to be missional during the school year...
By: Steven Berrios // @stevenberrios05

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
Mom: Time to get up. We don’t want to be late for school!
Son: Nooooo. Do I have to? I don’t want to go to school.
Mom: Let’s go now. Don’t make this any harder. We want to have time for breakfast.
Son: But I don’t like that place. The kids are all so mean. That place is like a jungle. And the teacher’s don’t help. I don’t even think the teachers like me.
Mom: You  know you have to go.
Son: But why?
Mom: You’re the principal!

Well, do I need to say it? Do I even dare? Yep…it’s the school year. Let the games begin! For parents and children, the beginning of the school year brings with it so many different emotions. From excitement to anxiety and from anticipation to hesitation. As a former teacher and Dean of Students, I can say I have experienced probably every level of emotion that comes with the school year. However, what I’ve always welcomed at the beginning of the school year was the fresh new start. The new school brings with it the hope of doing things better than the previous school year.

This leads us to what we are going talk about. As Christians, how do we approach this new school year in faithful obedience to our call to live missional lives? In Jesus’ prayer to the Father recorded in John 17, we read in verses 17-18, Jesus praying for those who the Father has given Him. He prays “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” We get the word “missional” from the word “sent” used here in our text. To be “missional” simply means to live the lifestyle of a missionary in our everyday living. It is to live each day with gospel intentions in our mission field. What is the mission field? Well, where does your everyday take you? That’s your mission field.

So as parents of young students, how do we look at our children’s school as our mission field? How do we be missional during the school year? With the remaining few minutes I have your attention, let’s dive into three ways I have found (as a parent of a now Kindergarten student) are simple and practical ways we can be missional during the school year. There are many ways, but for the purpose of this blog, I want to stick with just three ways my wife and I have found to be effective ways for us to be intentionally on mission at our daughter’s school.

1. Intentionally engage other parents - Sounds simple because it is. For many of us, we seem to forget how to normally interact with non-believers. You’re a parent and so are they. We’ve established common ground…run with that. To help with this, my wife (who carries the load of dropping off and picking up our daughter) developed some strategies to help her connect with parents with the intentions of sharing her faith. To give you one, she would attempt (key word) to each day pick up & drop off our daughter at the same time. This enabled her to connect with the same group of parents each day, helping her to develop friendships. This naturally allowed my wife to connect with a parent who went through a similar life experience as we’ve had in the miscarriage of our child. My wife now was able to share the comfort and hope she found in Christ over dinner. For working parents this can be a challenge but even short encounters build up over time. The key is being intentional.
   
   
2. Look for a celebrations - We all like parties. Birthdays are many throughout the school year. You probably think I am talking about having a small birthday celebration for your child at school. While that is great, another way to be on mission during the school year is to find out the birthday of another child and offer that child a party at the school with the parents’ permission. Perhaps this would mean making all the purchases and or just assisting the parents. What a great way to show the love of Christ to that child and their parents. Budget and time will probably not allow you to do this for every child, but don’t let that stop you from blessing just one.
   
   
3. Involve your child in the mission - Last school year was the first time my daughter spent time in a classroom setting which was not a Christian environment. She had only experienced classroom settings in Sunday School and in her PreK3 class at a Christian School. We knew this would be a change for my daughter but were confident that she would do just fine. So when we sat down with her teacher for parent-teacher conference and was asked by the teacher if we can speak with our daughter about why they don’t pray every morning and before lunch, my wife and I had the biggest smiles on our faces. Apparently, our daughter has been sharing with her entire class and teachers about the importance of loving Jesus and thanking Him for their food! What we have seen grow in our daughter is her personal love for Jesus grow as her love for mission and sharing her faith has grown. This has happened as we have spent time with her talking about missions and involved her in our praying for her teachers, friends and school.

So as we approach this new school year lets intentionally engage others, look for ways to join in on a celebration and, most important, involve our children. Here's to a blessed school year!