This was in the Communities in Schools North Texas (CISNT) chapter newsletter which went out to over a thousand volunteers, teachers and others who invest time and resources into this non-profit organization that has no religious affiliation.
More than 200 mentors prepared to start helping kids.
Following a huge investment of sweat equity in CISNT families and programs over the summer, The Village Church (Highland Village and Denton) challenged members to give more by investing an hour a week in the life of an at-risk student in their community as a mentor. The congregation accepted that challenge, and on Sunday, October 14th more than 200 individuals attended a CISNT volunteer orientation and mentor training at The Village Church campus in Denton.
The depth of this partnership is exactly what is needed to truly impact students and make lasting change in the community. Thank you to The Village Church leadership for their trust in Communities In Schools of North Texas, and especially to the individuals who are willing to give so much of themselves as mentors to at-risk students.
CISNT has about 1000 volunteers at the various public schools they are involved in and they said that this was the largest group of volunteers they ever trained at a single time! What I see happening here is not that we got 200 church members to participate in a program helping students. I see hearts of men and women being stirred in a way that leads to action — this stirring is only done by the Spirit, not a convincing pastor or staff. I’m not living in some pipe dream either and I know that a lot of people volunteered for other reasons but as a whole I see our church being a place where the Spirit is pulling on the hearts of men and women until they act.
On a similar note, we’re buying an Albertsons! Well, a building that was recently an Albertsons. The price tag was 4 million of which we’ve raised 3.3 million in about 2 months. No sermon series on giving or clever campaigns — again, the Spirit moving hearts into action. Matt and the elders want to pay cash for the building which means we’ve got to raise the other 700,000 before they close on the property. Soooo, if you’ve got some loose change or a few grand laying around feel free to make a donation 
It’s exciting times at the Village Church; we’re looking forward to what God will do next.