Christmas Eve: Our very first service

Common Ground held it's very first Christmas Eve service.

The staff and volunteers cleared out the room and set up tables. The room was decorated with Christmas trees, a manger scene (Created from one fo the broken pews from the former church), and strategically placed poinsettias brightened the room.

Families were encouraged to join in on the family activities and create different elements on their tables. A ton of different desserts and egg nog was served. The room was filled with friends and neighbors!

We showcased the variety of talents of our families at Common Ground. Julie and Mike Scott played our emcees for the night. Bridget Gordon and family came and sang an original song and then shared an interpretive dance. Julio and Krystal Cruz did an interview of a couple of our families to talk about Christmas traditions for different perspectives. Danny shared a short message and the night finished with a great solo by Carlos Cortijo and Mary Lou Harden.

Merry Christmas to all. Thank you so much for making our first Christmas a very special one.

Christmas Weekend: It snowed!?

What a wonderful weekend - this Christmas weekend. Chris led an acappella worship set and it snowed! Thanks to Big Dog Audio, aka the Hankos, Common Ground had snow on Sunday morning!

We chose to have a combined worship service and enjoyed seeing everyone together. It was like opening weekend. So many new faces, but actually it was just the first time they had met since our people attend 2 different services.

We had one family bring some extra goodies from "Toys for Tots" and spontaneously share with the children of Common Ground. We are thankful for the generosity of the of all the families - both volunteer and staff - who made this weekend an extra special weekend.

Community Concert is a success

Tonight the Sunshine Brass Orchestra performed at Common Ground. Roughly a 30 piece band came and played for the South Seminole Heights Civic Association.

This was our second community event hosted in our facility. We have begun a partnership with the civic association and now host their meetings and special events as needed.

There was a dinner at 6:30 PM and concert that followed at 7:30 PM. The concert was filled with traditional carols and chorus - everything from Jolly Old St. Nicholos to O Holy Night. One tribute was a suite of Canadian choruses.

The highlight of the night was a version of "What Child is This?" The vocalist was amazing! We were fortunate to have such a talented group come to Common Ground.

Thank you SSHCA for coming and hanging out with us.

It's Christmas Time and It's Raining?

As I sit here this evening I have been surfing the web and checking out the weather up north. Today was 83 degrees here in Tampa, but in Indy it was 31 and felt like 23.

Everywhere you drive here there are marks of Christmas. Inflateables in the front yard, reindeer on the roof, and a manger on the porch. Not at my house, but a few houses in our neighborhood. But one thing is lacking. It's snow.

For the first day in weeks, we got some rain. But rain is not snow. It's too wet to pack, to fluid to hold, and too warm to freeze.

Oh well, guess we'll have to go to the beach to find white ground. Like my friend Dan always says, "I've never had to shovel sand to get my van out to go to work."

Party In the Park

On December 1st, Nolan English the Associate Minister of Community Impact, lead Common Ground on a day of service.

The beginning of a new food pantry were started, new shed was put up in place of the old one, a little bit of cleaning and repair work was done, and our portable building was repaired.

All the work was provided by Common Ground and friends of Common Ground - Church at the Bay here in Tampa and Tomoka Christian Church in Daytona, FL.

Thanks to all who helped make that day possible.