My husband and I were overwhelmed by the whole "bless back" idea and we were determined to find someone who was truely in need of this blessing. We chose envelopes that contained $100 each. I was going on a religeous retreat with my old job in Pennsylvania. When I was planning the trip, my girlfriend informed me of a terrible situation that was taking place in the congregation. The Assistant Pastor and his wife were spliting up and going through a very public, embarrasing split-up due to his infidelity with a girl in the church. His wife was a friend of mine. She played the piano and we were on Praise Team together. What a great lady and mother. They have 3 children together, all under the age of 16. This woman was so upset and angry. She said that her husband was so different and she couldn't understand why. It was like satan took a hold of his soul. He not only cheated on his wife, but he was freezing their bank accounts and taking the money out. This woman was left with nothing to support her children. The church was helping her pay her bills and take care of the children until legal matters were being put in place. I spoke with my husband and we decided that giving her the money would truly be a blessing in her life.

That same weekend, after I gave her the money and after my religeous retreat, I stopped by to see my mother. Because of the termoil that was taking place in my own life with my husband losing his job, the money running out, I had to go get a job and we just moved to NC, I literally had an unexpected break down to my mother. I literally cried like a little kid. I didn't know if it was being in her presence that brought it out or not. To make a long story short, right before I left, she gave me that longest hug, kiss and handed me an envelope. She said, "take this and let me help". When I opened the envelope, I almost passed out. She wrote me a check for $600.00. I was so shocked and at the same time angry. Here I was, a 40 year old woman, taking money from my mom! I never depended on her for anything but love and support. It was weird seeing a check from her for no reason. She wouldn't take it back so I accepted it and left right after that. As I was driving back to my sister's house, I realized what had happened. I was given money from the Cove to bless back someone in need and that's what I did. Within 48 hours of blessing someone's life with $200.00, God blessed mine with $600.00. That saying "Give and you shall receive" rang throughout my head all day!

God Bless... Michelle Wiswall

I had held on to my five dollars for a few months wanting to add a little to it because I though five dollars was nothing to be proud of giving.Being a small business owner I do not always receive a check,so I waited and waited to add to this five dollars but with the econemy the way it's been I have been behind on my own bills. Every day a saw this elderly man walk to the soup kitchen or walk down to Bob's grill for breakfast. One morning God told me it was time to give the five dollar blessback money, so that is what I did. I walk outside the shop with my blessback envelope pulled out the five dollars and told the elderly man That my church gave me this money to bless soneone and even though it wasn't much It was a blessing from God and I wanted him to have it. I huged the man and then walked back inside the shop crying.Now when I see the elderly man we smile and wave to each other. What is so meaningful to me about this blessback project is that as soon as I told the man it was a blessing from God I realized it's not the amount of the bless it's how it makes you feel once you've helped someone.In life,the little gifts are the best gifts of all. God Bless the Cove.

The Blessback Project has not left my heart. After reading stories below, I have found a new caring and understanding for the hungry and homeless that I previously thought were "cluttering" up our I-77 exits. I purchased $50 worth of goodies for the Operation Freedom project this summer a month before the boxes were due, and managed to forget to bring my box and check to every single service thereafter. After the due date had passed, I still had my full box and really didn't want to absorb the goodies into our pantry rotation, since they'd been purchased to bless someone else (a soldier). I ended up putting them into a paper grocery bag and asked God to tell me who to give them to. One night we saw a begger at our exit and I went home, got the bag and drove back to my exit to give it to the man. I wasn't able to time the lights in order to stop and give him the bag so I kept going and took the back roads in order to pick up the next exit to get back on the highway. My kids both wanted to give it to "the man" and finally one of them won, because he said he was brave enough to say "God hasn't forgotten you" (the phrase we decided as a family to tell the man.) Well, we got back to our exit and the man was still there with his "Homeless and Hungry" sign. We slowed down and oddly enough, no one else was getting off at that exit at that time, which is unusual. He had a huge grin as he saw us slow, I don't think they get very much money begging in Mooresville. He looked a little askance at the bag, probably not sure what was in it, but my son assured him that God hadn't forgotten him. He said "God bless you", of course, as he probably figured we were Christian folk. I watched him in the sideview mirror as he poked through the bag, wondering what he was thinking about the toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, applesauce, pudding, cereal bars, rice krispie treats, and many, many other goodies purchased for a soldier, yet God-directed to him. The bag was pretty full and he carefully folded the top over to keep the items safe and lit a cigarette (which I'm assuming means he was feeling good). He put the bag next to his piteous pile of clothing and lifted his sign high to show the next group of cars coming along.
I've never seen him again begging at my exit... I can only hope that somehow our gift to him made a difference in his life and decisions.

Way back when the Bless Back Project started, we were blessed by many to be giving money for my husband to be reunited with his son!! And yes that happened and we got to spend 6 long weeks with him this summer thanks to the money that got Elvin to Florida to make a mends with his son's mother!! Thanks to everyone who was a part of that!! Well, I went to the GIRLS NIGHT OUT party and won the grand prize!! THE GRILL!! well after bringing it home and my husband drooling over it he decided that our wonderful neighbors Steve and Kym Graham who donated $200 of their own money to Elvin and his son deserved to have the grill!! So we gladly gave the grill to our wonderful friends!! They deserved it and they are great friends!!

I gave the $10 I received to a Boy at my school who lives in a Boys Foster Home near Davidson. They do not have very much and I thought the money would help him.

I got a 10 dollar bill and keep this for a week ,was so cool just to think ,pray and reflect what to do with this money
One day I got a e mail from a friend that was asking for money to save someone life ...She is from my Country Venezuela and was very ill at the Miami Hospital ,She got a kind of terminal Cancer,I double the amount and sent the Money to this Hospital....Now I goimg to start to support that intitution Monthly and be a prayer partner for that Hospital
Thanks The Cove Church and the Bless back Campaign to open my heart and my eyes to help those on need

I gave it to my 4th grade teacher to send on school supplies .emis

I received 100 dollars during the Bless Back weekend, as did my wife...She and our youngest son had an amazing encouter the very next mornig. Weeks later, my one hundred dollar bill was still in my wallet. Then, on Mother's day I "blessed" my wife by taking all three of our boys out of the house for a few hours to run some errands. They wanted to get some "fake" flowers for an arrangement on mommy's table; so we stopped into Michaels. As we were looking around, I saw a man I knew through our practice (I am a physician).He had recently lost his wife who was in her early forties to metastatic breast cancer that she was fighting for the last few years.I knew her as well. She held that family together (like many women do) and I believe she held out the last few months to see her first grandchild born to her teenager daugther who has also been through some tough times. Her pregnancy was unplanned and she recently got out of a bad relationship with her boyfriend (the father of her baby).
The man in Michaels was buying flowers to place on his wife's gravesite and perhaps he was buying flowers for his daughter's first Mother's Day. I explained his situation to my three young boys (ages 6, 5 & 3) and asked if they wanted to bless him (if only a little)with our one hundred dollars. All agreed enthusiatically and my 5 year old who loves to give gifts took the money and walked up to him and told him the money was for him because Jesus loves him. He looked at me and I assured him this was true and explained the Cove's project. He was touched and thankful and then got down on one knee at eye level with my boys and thanked each of them and then engaeged them in some small talk for a few moments. As we walked away, my kids asked if would be hard to live without a mommy...I told them it would be impossible -- without the love of Jesus. We were all very thankful for our "mommy" that day and I think we were equally blessed by the gift we gave.

Hands and Feet Service at Summit Assisted Living

After volunteering at Summit for over a year with my now 11-year old daughter, Heidi, we both realized that the needs of seniors were so great that the two of us alone could barely scratch the surface. There were so many seniors, some with no local family, and we saw loneliness and people needing love everywhere we turned.

Heidi and I were so blessed by the seniors that we were able to work with. Everytime we left Summit, we were energized and excited that through Christ, we had been able to make a difference in someone elses life.

When Carey Manning asked the outreach team for service project ideas, I was thrilled at the opportunity of introducing volunteers to the joy of the seniors at Summit! As so often is the case, I forgot how BIG our God is. I told Carey I could get by with as few as 12 volunteers if I had to.

Thinking that I would only have enough volunteers to service the traditional seniors at Summit, I planned a two hour event where Bingo, crafts, nail polish, and refreshments would run consecutively in two activity rooms.

One of my first responses was from Denise. Her lifegroup would provide refreshments for the 60 residents and all of the volunteers! What a blessing. Refreshments taken care of with one conversation!

The week the service project list went out, my phone began to ring, and ring, and ring : )
My e-mails were multiplied. Before I knew it, I had over 25 volunteers. That gave me enough volunteers to include the Alzheimer's ward in our service project as well!!! Heidi and I have a special place in our heart for this group as this is where we focus our time, so it was such a blessing to have enough volunteers to serve them as well.

By Thursday, I had more volunteers than I needed, but these were mothers with young children calling and serving seniors is a perfect family opportunity. Since Summit has limited gathering spaces, I arranged for the children to play in the outside courtyards so that seniors could sit on the patio and watch them play.

The morning of the big event arrived. There were already Summit volunteers in the parking lot when I arrived. Volunteers from The Cove began to come through the door in large numbers!!! We had more volunteers than Summit residents.

To open the organizational session I lead people in singing, This Little Light of Mine. The entire group joined in and it was obvious God's light was with us. God was going to Light Up Summit place and the lives of its residents.

The volunteers touched residents in more ways than I could have imagined. Once we had the main activities covered with volunteers, I asked for a group of volunteers to go and visit individual rooms to talk to those residents who were not able to get out and enjoy the festivities. Volunteers were taking refreshments to rooms. Then volunteers began to offer nail polishing to residents in rooms.

My litter of 7 Whoodle puppies, were scattered all over the place. Both children and residents loved holding 5-week old bundles of fur. Residents were cuddling the puppies and big smiles radiated from their eyes and mouth!

The two hours was over in no time. I was hearing incredible stories of how much fun the volunteers and residents had.

One of the residents said it felt like it was Christmas or her birthday. She had never felt so special.

I was hearing stories from volunteers about residents that they had met that I had never heard of. The residents had so enjoyed the volunteers they begged them to come back to see them.

Families were so excited to have found a way that they could demonstrate the importance of service to their children. Children were given very special treatment, smiles and hugs by residents whose children and grandchildren had long ago grown up.

God was with us at Summit during the hands and feet service project. I'm not sure who was most touched - the residents, or the volunteers. God's light was there for all to see.

We ended up with 89 volunteers!!! Next year, I plan to include Churchill and Genesis in the outreach mission. God knows how desperately seniors need our love and he will provide Cove volunteers to meet their needs.

Thanks to all who participated. God Bless

Alice

Due to work, I missed church the weekend of the Big Give but Lainy and the kids got an envelope for me. I was fortunate enough to receive $50. I put the $50 bill in my wallet and waited for the right time to show itself to me. The following Sundays I heard great stories of how the BlessBack Project was reaching out to our community. Meanwhile, my $50 sat in my wallet collecting dust.
My brother Dan, his wife Berit and daughter Kristina, are missionaires in Cartagena, Colombia and it finally dawned on me that the Coves' $50 would probably go further there than it would here in Mooresville. So I sent him the entire packet along with the $50 bill and told him to put it to good use.
I guess I was literally passing the buck to him to do what I was supposed to do with the money. Fortunately, he knew exactly where the money could be used best and started the ball rolling.
Lainy and I went to Catagena to attend Kristina's high school graduation on Saturday, June 7th. Dan and Berit had set up a time on Friday for us to visit and bless an individual they had learned about who really needed help.
Angelica, is a 23 year old Colombian who just graduated from the 9th grade. By looking at her, we thought she had cerabral paulsy but she has never been diagnosed. She lives in an area of extreme poverty. She is one of nine children who lives with her mother in a two-room home with a dirt floor in the bedroom. She lives with constant pain in her neck and back and only finds relief while laying down. She has one sister in the local area that helps her.
Out of the nine children, Angelica is the only Christ follower and has walked to church through the pain, so she could be close to Jesus. She knows Jesus is her only way to be free of the pain. She had no idea why these Gringo's were coming to see her.
Lainy and I started to tell her (through translation) of the BlessBack Project and of a church called "The Cove" all the way from North Carolina that loved her and wanted to reach out and give to someone in need.
Although there was a language barrier, there was no barrier in sharing Christ's love that day. Lainy and I felt that The Cove reached over all the miles and touched the hearts of someone who needed help. In return, we were blessed back to see a young lady in such poverty and pain to have so much faith.
Dan and Berit had bought her and her mother some staples - rice, beans and other grocery's. She had always wanted a watch and they bought her a watch. A Spanish Bible was another gift for her.
The $50 wasn't spent completely and Lainy and I, through the help of Dan and Berit, are going to get medical help for Angelica. Starting off with a new neck brace and seeing a specialist may just be the help Angelica needs.
Looking at our pictures brings back so many great memories of the joy the Cove church brought.

Dianne & Dennis Fagone presented us with a Bless Back envelope one day before our 32nd
Anniversary. Michael & I along with Beloved Danielle's Frosty have been struggling with the sudden death of our only child and Most Beloved Daughter Danielle. Dianne & Dennis had given the Blessing to us in hopes we would celebrate our Anniversary with a special dinner. (I had shared with Dianne that Danielle had treated us to a special meal each year for all the years we were married.) Danielle was an inspiration to us at 19 years old. She Blessed our lives with the life she brought to our Family & others and we were now facing life without her. Danielle excelled in school & life by hard work & sheer determination. When adversity was in her path, or the road seemed unclear, she remained optimistic, faithful & loyal to God, Family, Friends & herself. We chose to take this Bless Back donation & apply it to Scholarships that have been established to help other students in Danielle's memory. Education was extremely important to her, & this would help others, something Danielle always did. Currently there are two Scholarships at LNHS, where she graduated Salutatorian '06, one at MHS. The last is at Chapel Hill where she was on the Dean's list along with being a member of the Marching Tar Heels, Pep Band, Mu Beta Psi Musical Fraternity & earning her EMT certification. All the Scholarships require that the recipients exemplify her qualities. Your Blessing has been passed onto others in the shape of Scholarships. God Bless You.

We enjoyed this project very much. We prayed about how we should spend the hundred dollars. It didn't take long. We felt we should give the money to someone how needed a little extra help. You know someone who works hard everyday but still has trouble trying to make ends meet. I was so excited because thats exactly what I thought God was telling me. We thought it should be a monthly bill.Something like the water or the electric.A bill that has to be paid to live. The following day I went to the water company here in Mooresville. I enterduced myself and told about the bless back project at The Cove. At first they acted as if there was know way to pick someone and be fair about it. I asked them to think out of the box and help me help someone else. A crowd had gathered and several people asked what church I went to. The only thing I could think of was what a wonderful way to spread God's word and to let people know about our Church. They needed a day to find the right person and asked would I come back the next day. They made it sound like this was alot of work to find a person and be fair about it. I wanted them to know we appreciated all the work they put into it. So I grabbed a bag of choclates and a thank you card to give them when I went back. The next day I found out the person they chose was a single mother with four kids. Her name was on the list to have the water turned off. They said the money would pay for a couple of months and keep the water flowing for know. The ladies at the office told me thank you and I explained it wasn't my money it was God's money and hopefully this would inspire the to pay it forward. Thank you Cove Church for this experience.

A friend of mine was telling me about his experiences in the Vietnam war, and mentioned that he had a fellow Vietnam Vet. that was struggling financially, and needed to find a job.
I thought this was the perfect time to tell my buddy about the BlessBack Project. I gave my BlessBack money to my friend, he added some of his own, and we helped his Vietnam Vet. friend pay his mortgage, so he could keep his home.
We also worked on getting him a steady job, so he could make future house payments.
The small amount of BlessBack money was a life-changing event for one Vietnam Vet. in need.

Thank you for the "initial push" to give. After giving away my Blessback money, my heart still feels compelled to give. I've finally committed to tithe on a regular basis, no longer just sporadically, plus my Ignite contribution for all three years, and I've been looking for ways to give my own money. Recently I stayed overnight in a hotel and upon leaving, thought about the housekeeper who probably rarely receives her tips since she is "invisible" to those who stay in her rooms. I left a $20 bill on the pillow along with a note that I wanted to bless her Sunday, and our website address. I never knew giving away my own hard-earned money could feel so good! I nearly paid for the order of the person in the car behind me at McDonald's this morning "just because" until I realized that I may need to make sure I had enough for my own order! :)

My family and I relocated to Charlotte one year ago and while the transition went well, we have struggled to find a church home. My job requires me to travel some and because I don't drive due to a vision problem, I often catch a taxi to and from the airport. This is how I met Vandi, my taxi driver. Vandi comes from Africa where many of his relatives still live. The week before we received the offering from The Cove, Vandi had picked me up and his van was really running poorly. He later learned that some costly repairs would need to be made. Vandi made the repairs with money he was not expecting to spend but he knew God would take care of him and his family. As I returned home I remember thinking to myself, if only I could do something to help. When we came to the Cove Saturday evening and received the blessing to pay forward, I told my husband I knew exactly who God wanted me to bless. We agreed to match whatever we received and blessed Vandi with $100.

The real blessing came back to me when Vandi began to share his heart around what he would do with the $100. You see Vandi's mother-in-law had been visiting for nearly a month (her sister had passed here in the U.S.)and she was returning to Africa. It is customary to give a relative something of value upon their departure and following the death of a loved one - but due to the added expenses Vandi was not able to do this, until the $100 blessing from The Cove. As Vandi explained, he could certainly use this for his repairs but because God had blessed him through my gift he did not want that blessing to stop with him but instead he wanted to pass the blessing on to bless someone else. The $100 blessing traveled to Kenya, Africa where God's blessings may be shared and His glory revealed. Thank you for this amazing experience!!

My husband and I each received $5 at the Blessback service. I looked at him and knew immediately what I would do with the money. I had been told that week of a child in my daughter's kinder class who's family had been evicted from their rental home and were going through a great deal of trouble. Two kids, Mom and a boyfriend and they were homeless and moving around from place to place. I got a phone number for them and called them Mom to tell her about this project and The Cove. I asked her if she had a specific need, like a bill that needed to be paid, or rent . She has started working, got an apartment and felt like as soon as she started getting paychecks, they would be fine. (I think there was a bit of pride in the way).

So feeling a little awkward about our conversation, I went to Walmart, bought a small inspirational book of daily devotions and a $100.00 gift card. I put the book and gift card in a gift bag with her name on it and put it in her son's bookbag at school (without anyone knowing).

She looked for me at school one day, hugged and thanked me, and said that the daily devotional is by her bed and she reads it everyday.

The beautiful, bright, little boy has some behavioral problems at school sometimes and amazingly, has been doing GREAT in class lately.

I will continue to pray for this brave mother and her family to know Christ and follow Him.

The Dove House Children's Advocacy Center in Statesville, NC services children in Iredell and Alexander Counties who are victims of child sexual abuse. They provide intervention services and referal assistance through their Victim Advocate Program. They provide prosecution assistance through their trained forensic interviewer and medical care through their sexual assault nurses and pediatrician. They receive 5-6 new cases of child sex abuse a week and work with the victims and their families for 3-4 years making sure family needs are met, victims are in counseling, and perpetrators are finding consequences for their actions.

The Dove House has outgrown their current facility and are in a building campaign as well. With our $200 received in the Bless Back envelopes, the Dove House is a little closer to their new building. There will also be a tile inside the new Dove House that reads "Bless this House - The Cove Church". Maybe that will lead a victim and their family to the Cove Church and Celebrate Recovery one day. Praise God!

Mark received $10 at the church that morning. I took it from him, and gave it to the carhop girl at Sonic who takes my order a few mornings a week. She is a very sweet, young lady who is always pleasant, quick, friendly and accurate. However, the morning that I planned to give it to her, she was absent. I asked the other lady about the young lady, and she had given her the day off since she was taking her GED test that day. I waited until she came back, wished her luck on the GED and told her to treat herself to dinner for working so hard at Sonic and on her test - courtesy of the Cove Church. It has begun a great dialogue between us giving her great joy when she got to tell me that she had passed her test and would now be allowed to get her own drivers license and car.

Since I took Mark's money, he took his own money and treated the shop guys at Brawley Tire and Automotive (where our car was being repaired) to lunch.

I attended 2 services and took 2 envelopes (I came in at the tail end of the first service as I was serving in Cove Kids and didn't know what the envelope was for until I returned for Remix that night!!) One envelope contained $20 and the other $5. I prayed over this money and asked God what I could do for someone for $5. My answer . . . . grow it!! So I asked family and friends (just a few) to contribute to it. I was told that I would get help, but only received a $5 match from one member of my family. Two weeks after the bless back, I received a distressed phone call from a friend. She had ruptured a disk in her back and was in severe pain. She is a single mother with NO insurance and lost her job due to her back problems about 7 months prior. She struggles!! She told me that she had to have a procedure done to her back as an alternative to surgery where they inject a steroid into her back with a needle. The procedure is very expensive, but so much less than the cost of surgery. Her mother helped her with some of the cost and, as it turns out, the doctor and the hospital facility donated the rest. She was thrilled! But she took all of the money she had to put into this. She had gotten a speeding ticket and had paid an attorney $50 to go to court for her so that her insurance wouldn't go up. She had 1 more week to pay the fine or she would lose her license and not be able to work at all for lack of transportation. She was nearly in tears over it. Then I felt the nudge . . . . . this was my mission. I know how hard she works and the adversities she faces in her day to day life. I wanted to help. I now had a total of $30, but the ticket was $140. I am also a single mother who barely makes it paycheck to paycheck. But, I was feeling God very strongly tell me that if I gave this money to her, he wouldn't let me do without. So, I wrote her a check for $140.00 right there and she paid her fine off. A couple weeks later, I received my refund for my amended tax return. This money is for my son's college tuition in the fall, but it got me over the hump. I can pay it back to his college account. I felt it was the right thing to do eventhough I sort of panicked over how I would handle not having that money when I can't even afford to tithe. I struggle so much with that. I know that I'm robbing God, but I just don't have anything left over and usually run a little short each month. Please pray for God to move in my life in a way that a door is opened up to me so that I can fulfill my obligation to Him as that is a huge desire of mine. I just don't know how to do it. It isn't for a lack of desire . . . . just a lack of availability of the funds. But God is so good and I know that something will change so that I can give back to Him for all that He has given to me.

I was so overwhelmed from the unorthodox event. And moved by it. I wanted it to be given to something that really touched my heart. I have my favorite charities that I support but wanted something to come to me. So I prayed about it, and it came to me last Monday night during my Yoga class. There was a request for food at the Harrisburg Food Bank which is apparently almost dry. I knew immediately that was where I was going to spend the money. A real dire need right here in our own community. I wanted to go buy food and bring it, but if I wrote a check to them, my company would match it, stretching it even further. Thank you for this opportunity. It always feels so good to give back. Especially when I am so blessed already.

We recently went to a restaurant in Mooresville with another couple from our life group. A week later we went back and had the same server wait on us as before. I took this as an opportunity to be used by God to bless her. On our first visit to the restaurant she asked us to pray for her children to be healthy. I asked her how her children were as a way to open the door for more conversation. We told her that our church had given out an offering to us to use to bless people and to let them know that there are people who care about them. We added what cash we had in our pockets to the $15 we had received from the Cove and gave it to her in addition to a tip for the meal. It wasn't a lot of money, but I think it made an impact on her. She started to tear up and we told her that God loves her and sent us there to bless her. I don't know how that gift impacted her, but I could tell it did in some way. I know that we planted a seed in her heart that day or watered one that had been planted before and I know that someday someone will reap the harvest in that person. I had so much fun taking advantage of the opportunity that God gave us to bless this lady. It was so easy to give and so enjoyable that I have looked for other opportunities to bless people out of our own pockets. Thanks Cove for starting this project.

I received $50 from the Bless Back Project and, as many people, have struggled with what to do with the money. I have a co-worker who walks in the Relay for Life every year. I decided to give a $40 donation to her for The American Cancer Society and use $10 to buy a memorial for a friend who passed away from cancer two years ago. We all come in contact with someone that has been touched by cancer, be it a family member, friend or co-worker. Please remember to keep all those touched by cancer in your prayers and pray that they remain strong in their walk with God.

I was so excited to run out and Give the blessback money to a person in need or someone who would be touched, instead decided to pray about where this money would lead me. This is God and his awesome works! My fiance' mother is a Catholic Nun in a poverty convent located in Massachusettes and their building a new convent or trying to buy a building to use as their convent. My fiance' was not present at the blessback weekend and didn't receive an envelope but he decided to match whatever I brought home and send it to his mom for their building campaign. I was thrilled with joy to add my envelope that I received and send it along to the convent, and my son loved the idea and added his envelope too. This love is spread from one Church of God to another. I thank You Cove Church for igniting our hearts with the amazing works by letting God shine daily.

When my wife and I recieved the Bless Back offering we waited til we got home and prayed before opening it. We both had 100.00. But at that time niether of us had any indication of how God wanted us to give it. Our children heard us talking about it, asking each other if God has given a person to Bless with it yet.
It's amazing how God uses children. Our kids at the same time reminded my wife and I of a co-worker who has breast cancer. She is out of work, for medical reasons with no pay. So we all pray about it and we all felt God wanted the money to go to her and he wanted us to add to it. I had called her and talked to her for awhile, asked her if I could see her. Took her the money and explained to her about the Bless Back. She has returned back to work and is doing good. She is a Christian woman and we have great talks about her church and The Cove. She is amazed at what the church had done. It helped her with her bills while she had no income. I now receive alot of spiritual emails from her and that helps me get thru tough times at work.

Brittanie hobbs, I gave it to my teacher to buy supplies.$10.00

I am Tom and Lori Buzze's son. I am currently deployed to Iraq right now. My dad told me about this project and that he bought 7 books with the money him and my mom received. The book store is also sending 7 books to random troops in Iraq. I got the books in the mail and explained to the people i gave books to what it was for. Staff Sergeant Benge, said that it is amazing that a church would do what you are doing, and thought it was a great idea. He said he hopes this project works and brings people closer to God. He read the book and said it was an outstanding book. Doc James, also said that it was amazing that a church would do this. He said he hopes people will take it for what its worth and read the books and that it will help bring these people closer to God. He also said the book was very good. Private First Class Byerly also got a book. he said that is an amazing story, and he hopes the book will help him continue to grow spiritually and bring him closer to God. Byerly said he knows he needs to be closer to God and thanks you for doing this. I also got a book. I thank you for giving my parents this opportunity to help us out. Especially being over here, we really have to trust in God. I know i need to grow spiritually and i am sure this book will help me out a lot. The other 3 books are going to be turned over to Captain McCammon, who is our Chaplain. He will decide who is in need of Gods help and give them the books.

As I think back to the night that the blessback project began, I still can not believe it. My husband and I, along with our three girls, attend the 5:30 service on Saturday nights. Here lately it has been a struggle for all of us to attend together due to my oldest having a weekend job, traveling with soccer, friends sleepovers, etc. etc. However, on this night God had us all right there together. I watched as my children tore into their envelopes. They could not wait to see how much was inside. However, my husband and I both saved our envelopes for a more quiet, private time alone with God. You see we knew that the amount of money in the envelope was not relevant to what God was calling us to do. We knew that it was not about money. God was asking us to do something that would call us to sacrifice far beyond the $350.00 we received as a family. We were just very unclear of what it was. The following week a student of mine who is in foster care was removed from her foster home. The foster mother emailed me to let me know about the situation. Immediately, I called social services to talk with her social worker. I kept thinking of how many times this child had been moved around over the past several years. I kept thinking about my own three children and what it would be like for them to be taken to a strange house to sleep in a strange bed. I kept thinking that this child must feel so alone and wondering if anyone had ever told her about Jesus. I did not know if I would ever see her again. I immediately called my husband and told him what had happened. We talked briefly about the situation and then we turned the conversation to the blessback project. It became very clear that we were to do more than use the $350.00 to buy something for this child or provide for her in some way. I called the social worker back and asked if we could take the child into our home. As it turns out, you have to be a licensed foster parent. We were not. I was really shocked when they found other placement for this child because I felt certain that this was what God was telling me to do. The social worker worked like crazy to find a home close by so that the child would not have to change schools and I could remain her teacher for the remainder of the year. I thought that God wanted me to provide her with a family. However, I now know that my family's purpose was to work with the new foster mom, bring the child to the Cove weekend services, and be the one to share Jesus with her. In the meantime, God has also led my husband and I to sign up for the classes to become a licensed foster family. It was not about the money. It is about sharing Jesus. Thank you Cove Church for the challenge.

hi there, I kept my envelop in my back pocket hoping for the divine intervention. I was at anouther church for a speaker meeting and this group is trying to raise money for the catawba correction faciliy to buy breafast to the inmates and to attend 12 step program and to intruduce God and teach inmates from sturggles and to get to 12 meetings the imates can be introdued to step 2 and 3. Dan has been trying to get contributions and thery were alwasy slim ddonations.HE had brought a scrated out flyer to put at the coffee pot, hoping for doanatins.. hasked how it going he said , very slim; I pulled out my envelope and asking to open it.. It was 50$ and he was so excited. Dan spends a lot of his times to help the inmats have hope through GOD, and try to become members of society. It was an exciting moment and will contiue to give for that cause. I would also look at the correction units for the women. This progam can lead manyy more to christionity! Yeah more areas of help that Our ignite definitely makes a good differece!!! Thanks Mike! ps., I love vounterreing with Louis at Churchill! Bot my parents attend when they come and you can count me to help Loius!! This Sr . Living churchill is such a spiritual service and it goes beautil and smoote with not reherse!! It is awsome. I belive I have my found my outreach ministry with Loius and Donna and look forward to more beautiful precious services and Churhill! Loius is doing a fabulous job and we all love him! See you Sunday ! Pry for my mom feels better , I would love to take her and my dad. He had to go to aalz unit be are working on it!!!Thank you .

I received $20 from the blessback project. Our Lake Norman High School FCS (Fellowship of Christian Students) Club had been struggling in attendance and most people didn't even know we existed. I decided my $20 could be used to find a way to bring least a few people to our club. Me and our leader tried to think of a way to attract people and we came up with chick-fil-a as the best option. So we used the $20 as well as some of our own money to fund these biscuits we were going to get. We also thought we should get a speaker so we called up Chad; and got him to come to our meeting, and do a little message on fellowship. When our meeting started, we had about 30 people there (about 2-3 times our normal attendance). Chad gave a message that was amazing and had an evident impact, as well as the biscuits that we gave out. It was nice that the whole day we were hearing about how much these people liked our meeting by telling their friends about our club. It felt good to see people who were evident Christians, who didn't know our club existed, but now do. Thank you Cove

About two years ago I met a family in my neighborhood that had 2 children. One was a little older than my son and they played together, and the other was a little over a year old. The first time I met the mother, I knew that God wanted me to do something with them , but I didn't know what. I told my husband about the feeling I had, we knew that they didn't have any money and that something just wasn't right. The husband and wife were on again ,off again and we kind of took the older child under our wing. We brought him to church with us more often than not. I bought him a bible and talked with him alittle about Jesus. However this wasn't exactly where the Lord wanted me to work. We had been inviting the mom to church for sometime, but she could never make it. When we did the bless back project we knew that this was where our money needed to go. We bought the mom a tank of gas so there would be bo excuses for not coming. We told her that she needed Jesus in her life and that was the only way she was going to get through all this mess. However she still didn't show up. Come to find out she was staying in a shelter for battered women and was trying to keep it hidden. She told me one evening that she would like to talk to me. The next day she came over and shared alot of personal info and I ended up praying with her to receive Christ there in my living room. The next Sunday she came to church with us, and last Sunday she got baptized! Praise the Lord. I told her that Jesus didn't promise that everything would be easy, but He did promise that He would never leave us or forsake us , and everything that was happening was happening for a reason. She didn't ever have to worry about going through these rough times alone. She still has many needs but she is certainly on the right track and the bless back project was the perfect way to open the door! Thanks- James and Nancy Meyer

I shared my money with a dear friend who needed some time away as a mom to regroup. We went out for a doughnut and drink and talked about God and our children. Thank you for sharing this money so that I could show God's love to my friend who needed it.

I did not give my name on this one because i gave some money to a girl at my school today who I felt God was leading me towards but i kept it anonymous. I felt he kept pushing me to give her the money to help her out in something she is doing. I still have a little bit left from the 1000 dollars I recieved and plan on spending it as soon as God leads me in the right direction!!!!

GOD BLESS!!!

I recieved $5.00. My son recieved $50.00 and knew right away what he wanted to do with it. I was mystified. I prayed about it over and over.
I had opportunities to give but God wasn't speaking to me about it. I would ask God "Is this it?" and get no response.
2 weeks went by and still I hadn't found my opportunity. I was becoming discouraged. How could I have gotten five little dollars and be having such a hard time finding my opportunity?
Then Mike spoke about his experience last weekend and mentioned that he too got $5.00. He too was looking for the opportunity to give but kept hearing God tell him to reach into his own pocket. I was so encouraged! I don't have much to give on my own but twice I did reach into my own pocket and gave to others because God didn't tell me that was my $5.00 opportunity.
God was working through me all the while!
Then this morning I saw a man sitting rather dejectedly on the curb outside of my school. I heard God speak..."This is it". I went in and did roll call and decided that if that man was still sitting outside I would make my move. Of course he was still there.
I walked up, told him the story and handed him the money and card. He told me he had just moved here from Florida with nothing but the clothes on his back. This $5.00 was going to enable him to eat that day. He was waiting for the store to open so he could try to get a job. I also happened to have the number of a woman that was looking for employees and I gave him that. He smiled warmly we shook hands and I told him to visit the library and check out the Cove's website located on the card I gave him. As I walked away I knew that was my opportunity.
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As a new Christian (saved this last Easter Sunday!) I'm amazed at how often God does talk to me and the opportunities to see miracles every day that I missed all to often before.
I thank God for the Bless Back project. I can't tell you how many opportunities I've had to talk about what the Cove is doing and meanwhile ministering to others the miracles that are taking place in my life since I accepting Christ as my Savior.
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My story is GOD sent an angel to me. My car was broken down on the side of road and I was in a bad area. One man stops to ask me did I need help, but his reply was that he couldn't help because he was late for work. Standing there with my arms across each other, another man comes up and asks me could he push me out of the road. I was so graceful for that push. I thought that I was in debt to him and his son. After that we drove on to my job. This angel replied that GOD sent him to me. I was very puzzled about him after that, because when people come out of their mouth sometimes it's not real at all with their spirit. So he introduced himself as Sean, a man from Christ that Jesus sent to me. He pull out a envelope so I can read what was inside of the envelope, but I felt that he had done enough for me at that time, by pulling my car out the road, into the house of God�s yard safely. Then he turned to me in a nice way to let me know it's going to be alright, and that he is here right with me. Well after we nicely let each other know that it was okay, by him telling me about GOD I opened the envelope read the card then didn't realize what was in the envelope. I tried to give him the package back without being rude. I looked in the envelope again and guess what, he turn to me with a smile and reply to me that my church sows seeds and blesses people in need, and GOD sent him to me because I was broken down and in need. My eyes were filling with tears, but I was so glad that someone looks out for me at that time. These days it's hard to believe in people, because the devil is working at all times on people that aren't saved by Christ. Before I closed his door as he dropped me off at work he smile with a sun-shine face, and said GOD told me to tell you to go and tell people about GOD and Christ. I walked inside the building and started running to tell everybody, from upstairs to downstairs, in my company's building about what happened to me that morning. This Christian saved me from the storm, because I didn't have a lot of money, but he Bless me in a lot of ways that morning. Four things happened afterward in Jesus� name 1. Didn�t have to pay AAA for them picking up my car from the church 2. Joined AAA team so that it won't ever happen again, with no contract 3. I have a cheaper insurance now 4. I have a new phone. I can really say GOD had a blessing in store for me. Thanks you Mr. Sean, I don't know his last name. Knowing this story I can say that their are "Angels" out there everywhere.

My family attends church in Kannapolis, and had actually never heard of your church before tonight, but I had to share the blessing that we received. The Eddie Waters family, who attend services on Saturday nights, paid us a visit, and filled our freezer with an abundance of precooked meals, purchased with the money from your church. This family did not have to do this at all; they have already given us much in the past, and we were always blessed. Our family is struggling with medical problems. I have end stage renal disease, which means I need dialysis three days a week. My husband, age 39, has cancer.Neither of us is able to work. We have an eight year old son, who, praise God, is healthy and strong. Last Tuesday I had a heart attack. This has been a very difficult week, but we have lived for eight years with very difficult weeks, and we have a very strong faith in God to see us through. Without Him there is nothing. He uses people like the Waters family to lift our spirits and give us reasons to smile. It will be weeks before I have to stand at a stove to prepare supper for my family. How can you doubt the love of a God who puts people like this in your life? The Waters family, Eddie, Remel,and their son Mason, did not give us these meals with the desire to be recognized or praised for doing it. They did it because God led them to. I thank GOd for friends like this, and for the blessings that are clearly being given by the people of your church. God bless you all.

The article in the paper recently involving homelessness in Mooresville has really touched alot of hearts. Particularly the lady mentioned who lives in her car. A Cove family was particulary inspired by her story. They gave their Bless Back money to her. God laid on their hearts that the giving wouldn't stop there. After prayerful consideration, they invited her to live with them. They worked diligently for a week getting her room ready and making sure she would have all of the comforts of home. The lady who was so brave to share her story in the newspaper now has a wonderful place to call "home". She is safe and secure and with one of the most giving families I have ever met.

We have been attending The Cove for a couple of months and love it. The Sunday that we received this money we were astonished that a church would give money to a group of people like this. My daughter received $50 and my son, husband, and myself received $40 between the three of us. At first we thought we would put our money together and do something wonderful. Well, my 14 year old daughter prayed over her money for days. Every day she would tell me the same thing.

My daughter is a dancer at Rhonda's School of Dance. The director's daughter was in an automobile accident last summer and is paralyzed from the neck down. Hannah was such an inspiration for my daughter, Megan. Megan kept telling me that she felt the desire to give the money to Hannah to use for herself. Well God was telling me something else. The sister-in-law of this young lady had to take over the dance business and take a hold of the family. Megan and I talked about how Christy has had to sacrifice herself for the dance business and her family since the accident. So we prayed some more and decided to give the $50 to Christy because she has had to sacrifice herself. She cried and cried and told a friend that she didn't know that she was loved until now.

Well, my son wanted to use his money in other ways. We had a long talk and decided to give the remainder of his money to a needy child in his classroom so that the student could go on a field trip to the Biltemore House.

We have been truly blessed through this experience and was glad that our family had the opportunity to discuss how to bless others and use money wisely.

Hi,
My older son and I received $10.00 and $100 respectively during the bless back service. My son used his $10.00 to contribute to his school's March of Dimes campaign. The family decided to spend the $100 on the children at Barium Springs in Troutman. We called and asked what they needed. The receptionist said one of the counselors had requested a portable CD player. So, We're headed to Walmart tomorrow to purchase that in addition to some basketballs and kickballs for the children to enjoy. This was a great project for our family. Thanks for allowing us to help others.

Teresa
Austin, Ashley and Alex Wrench

I have befriended a family that has had many misfortunes, their grandchild was abused by the dad, they themselves were investigated. They rehabilitate animals for non -profit, this costing them quite a bit of money to do. They are relocating to "disappear" and the lending wasn't all that it was cracked up to be and once they closed on their home, they only had $80 left to their name to move and provide food for their family of 5. A co worker put this envelope in my mailbox and I knew right away what God wanted me to do. I got them a Walmart giftcard, so they could buy things from food for them to animal needs as well! This was truly a blessing.

We put our money together and decided to give it to a single mom that had recently made a life change to follow God more fully. We passed on the bless back money to her one morning, not knowing that she had just lost a crown on her front tooth that morning. She had cried and prayed to God for answers because she did not have enough money to go to the dentist..see, she was to start a job where she would be seen by many people, and she was devestated to think of doing so without having been to the dentist. She was able to get into the dentist that afternoon and started her new job today ! What an amazing "God Thing"

My story is a very simple one, I went thru Cancer about three years ago about the same time Jackie did, so the money went to my Doctors office because they have a booth at the relay of life every year. Jackie and I both had the same doctor office and I wanted to do something so people don't forget, we lost a wonderful member of our church. I also told a friend about what our church was doing and he gave me a top of a race car to have auction off at the relay of life booth.
Annie Raborn

Sam and I attended the Bless Back service and I received $50 and Sam received $20. We have a neighbor who seems to continually experience lawn mower problems. Sam and I combined our Bless Back money and Sam added to that amount in order to purchase a new lawnmower for Frank and Mary. Sam explained that the blessing originated with the Lord and the Cove Church. Frank and Mary live on about $900.00 a month and it was totally beyond their expectations to be able to buy their own mower. God is good and his blessings are boundless. Sam and I experience this on a daily basis. Thank you for helping us to bless those that are less fortunate than we are.

I was blessed by a member of your congregation with a book entitled "If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat." It comes at a time when I'm really making some big decisions and hoping to step out of my comfort zone in ways that I have never done. Thanks for the inspiration and encouragement....

We live in Minneapolis, Minnesota and were blessed by a gift from the Weber family. My wife has struggled with breast cancer for two years and was just put on hospice this past week. Our family of six is heart-broken. We have many medical bills and have tried to work on a strategy to deal with that but this blessing came as a total surprise to us. We are so grateful to the Cove and the Webers and are now taking this idea to our church in inner city Minneapolis where so many need to be "blessed back". Thank you for your blessing and for igniting a flame and passion for "blessing back" many miles from North Carolina.

Like many of you, I was really struggling with exactly what to do with my Blessed back money. I had prayed and prayed about how God wanted me to use this money. A single mom with 4 small boys kept coming to mind. I continued to pray was this the family that I was suppose to bless. I ran into her at a Saturday night at church, I stopped and asked how she was doing. She began to cry, we sent the boys to the car and she and I began to talk, she was still without a job, was struggling to keep gas in her car so that she and the boys to get around. At that moment, I had my answer; this was the family I was suppose to bless. I told her that I wanted her to take my Bless back money and use it for gas so that she could continue to look for a job and be able to get the boys around. She continued to tell me she was going to loose her child-care benefit on Tuesday at 9:30 am if she didn�t have a job before then. We stood in the parking lot and prayed for a miracle for a job before Tuesday morning.

I have to say that God still performs miracles if you just pray, have faith and trust him. Here is her story: It was Tuesday morning and she still had no job. Her deadline was approaching fast she got on her knees and again prayed to God for a miracle. Her phone rang and it was a woman with a Home Health care company asking if she could come and fill out a job application. She said, YES, but was thinking it was too late to keep my child � care benefits. But I thought I have to try, so I called the lady helping me with the child � care benefits and I told her I was trying to get a job really hard. She said all she could do was to move my deadline to 4:00 pm that afternoon. If I found a job before 4:00 pm I would keep my benefits. I said thank you. I run to the interview, when I walked in and started talking with the lady interviewing me attends the Cove and we were in the newcomer/membership class together. She said, I�ll have to give you a job. I asked her today. I explained that I needed confirmation of a job by 4:00 pm. She called and let them know that she was hiring me. I NOW have a great job and still have child-care benefits for my youngest son. GOD does do Miracles.

That day in the auditorium�an offering? My husband and I look at each other. What do we do? Neither of us have any money. As I reached in the box I put back the envelope that I have in my hand and ask the person �One envelope per family?� He says �No everyone takes one.� When we get to the car my husband opens his $10 and I open mine $1,000. He just grins at me�.God gave that to you because he knows you�ll do the right thing, he says. We smile all the way home.

We are in the drought of our lives. Concerned about food and gas for the coming week and God gives me $1,000 to bless someone else. I don�t have a dollar in my wallet or checking account for that fact and nothing coming anytime soon and God wants me to give this money away? I have always considered myself a giving generous person but you are talking about the basic needs in life food and shelter. This money would go a LONG way towards our past due mortgage and past due car payment. After some good counsel and lots of talking to God, I know what I have to do. I had to sit on it for a couple of days. Asking God basically are you kidding me? I got quiet with God for the first time.

The first person God blessed with this money in my wallet was a gentleman I started a conversation with at a gas station. My kids wondered why I was talking to a stranger. Thus began the wonderful conversation about these days you can�t speak to your neighborhood because society says they are all bad people. This stranger was Otis Westmoreland Jr. God told me bless this kind man with $100. Otis�s words were �I heard about you Christians doing this kind of thing� �My wife will be so excited� and �God Bless You�

The second person God blessed was �Tammy�. A wonderful waitress who ultimately told all of her 70 co-workers that God had blessed her with $100. Her manager made note of it on the Blessback website. She sent me a couple of cards a few days ago. She included a pin from her company that they give out to staff who go up and beyond for their customers. She said the pin wasn�t much but she wanted me to have it to know what the $100 meant to her. I will treasure it.

Now, here�s where it�s gets interesting. I was sitting at ball practice one night talking about going to Opening Day. One family said they couldn�t commit they were working on one car. I said that�s OK just hope you can make it. Didn�t think much about it then but as the next couple of days went by this family stayed on my heart. Several days went by and I knew I had to approach them to dig a little deeper. I kept asking God well God what if they don�t have another car; I can�t buy a car�what if it�s going to cost more than the $800 I have in my wallet? God kept saying just go and ask. So the next practice I made a beeline to her. I began �tell me about your car situation�?
She said, �I have been laid off and it�s just a matter of getting the money� I asked about how much would it be to fix it? She said $500. Well, I must have been glowing at that point �I asked, �Can you come with me for a minute?� As we walked to my car I asked her if she had heard about the Blessback the Cove was doing, she hadn�t. She said they had come on Easter and loved it and wanted to come back but because her car wasn�t working they couldn�t all come. They were looking forward to coming when their car got fixed. As I reached in my car I began to get emotional. She had no clue what I was about to do, I�m sure she thought I was giving her a bible or a CD, something inspirational. I apologized for getting emotional and I began to say things to her that I didn�t know I had in me. I told her to hang on things would get better and that God would carry her thru. I told her that God was right there with us and this was all about God and not me. As I explained the Blessback she had tears in her eyes too and she said it must show on her. I said absolutely not that this was God answering her prayers. She said her unemployment was going to run out in two weeks and she didn�t know what they would do. I continued to say things that God put in my mouth with tears streaming down both our faces. She still didn�t know I was giving her money. It was AMAZING God was right there. I finally took $500 out of my wallet and placed it in her hand and said, �Here�s $500 go get your car fixed.� Tears streaming down our faces she said, among other things, along with big hugs, �Oh we must go tell my husband.� I said no you just tell him and I�ll see you at church.� God then decided our conversation was over and the bottom fell out of the sky. As the rain came down I sat in my car overwhelmed with what I had just experienced.

As I write this it occurs to me the day I gave the $500 we got a contract for some work, the first time in ages. We will complete the work at the end of the month. Also, I asked God the other day OK God my hair is getting pretty messy how am I going to get a haircut? Then I go to lunch and a friend says hey are you in to spas? I said only if they can cut my hair. She said she had a gift certificate she wasn�t going to use and she wanted me to have it. Now if that isn�t just plenty�

Here�s where it gets really really
interesting. I am still walking around with $300 in my wallet waiting for God to move me in the right direction. While at home today making arrangements on bills to try to push them out one more week, I get a call it�s a Pastor from ANOTHER church. He makes sure I am who I say I am. I confirmed and he says my husband and I need to make arrangements to come by his church that someone has left a $1,000 cashiers check there for us. I wasn�t sure I heard him right and I made him repeat himself. He explained that it was given anonymously and that he didn�t know the person himself. I said I know you aren�t going to tell me and that I should just Thank God. He agreed. Now� this will go a LONG way to those overdue bills. What a blessing.

To say I have really grown through this is an understatement. I can�t thank The Cove and God enough for bringing me here. Funny thing we started going to The Cove at the beginning of the Journey of Faith�well no kidding this is truly a journey and I know we have just hit full speed ahead�thanks to the Ignite Campaign!

You can�t out give God!

I was in Life Group and my friend, Donna, who I'm in The Ripple Effect with, mentioned a lady who was found living in her car. She needed a place to live and had literally nothing. So, I told her, along with another friend, I wanted to donate the money I was given. We all praised God for the opportunity!

This project has been such a blessing for our family and I want to sincerely Thank the Cove for this exercise. I, Dan, have been holding on to my envelope and waiting for just the right moment. I was given $5. May not sound like much, but oh it has been. I have had opportunities to sit down for coffee, help someone at the pump, etc,. I have done those things, let them know that God loves them, and what this project is all about and it has been wonderful. I would just give what I had in my wallet....But, I could not let go of my $5 from the Cove. I knew something was coming so I added more to the envelope ($20). My Mother-in-Law has a friend she works with staying at her house with her and I heard in passing that it was because she works forty minutes away and could not afford to go home until Friday when she gets paid. Well, I was driving my son to his fitness class and on the way home, it hit me so hard and I could barely concentrate on driving. I grab my envelope, wrote on it that God loves her and use this for her fuel needs... "Love, The Greenwells and the Cove Church". I gave it to my sister-in-law to take home to give to her, felt good, and went to pick up my son. When I got back... Wow! Apparently, this person's brother called her to tell her she needs to come home because he has had car trouble and would not get to go to work. He was worried. My mother-in-law offered her her last $20 before payday, because it was the right thing to do. Then my sister-in-law, right at that moment, walks in with the the envelope to give to her. They all looked at each other and couldn't beleive it. The presence of the Lord was with them and they felt it. Wow!!
God is wonderful and his timing is miraculous! Praise God and Praise the Cove. Thank you for the experience. It is one me and my family will never forget!

We're new to the Cove and we're really enjoying everything about it... The kids go to Cove Kids and love it too. That's where they were the Sunday that Mike handed out the bless back money. We decided to wait to open our envelope until after church and we were all in the car. I explained to the kids, who are 8,6, and 4, what the envelope meant and what we were to do with it. I asked everyone to think about it, look around each day, and see where God leads us. We opened our envelope and found $5. The kids were thrilled and began to talk about who they wanted to share it with. It was difficult to know exactly what God wanted us to do with our money, as I am a hospice RN and see desperate needs daily. We held on and waited. Our children go to Davidson Day School and on February 17, 2008 a student by the name of Harrison Nichols lost his 5 year battle with Neuroblastoma, a cancer that forms in the nerve tissue. He was a young 3 years old when he was diagnosed and fought a long hard battle until his death at 8 years old. The school has started a scholarship in honor of Harrison that will be given each year to a student in financial need because of circumstances beyond their control. A Physical Ed teacher at the school, Tamara Gallan, ran in the Charlottesville Marathon last weekend in honor of Harrison and asked for sponsors. We felt this was a great way to support an incredible mission. Caroline, our 8 year old daughter, wrote a letter to "Coach Tam" explaining the project and how special the $10. is. (We doubled the gift). We felt proud that it represented the members of the Cove Church. Coach Tam ran the 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 41 minutes and had a great time doing it... We have shared the bless back website and encouraged folks to check it out. We want to say thank you for the opportunity to teach our children the value of giving. You all do a great job at the Cove...

Derek, Mason and I received a total of $25. I explained the BlessBack Project to Mason's kindergarten teacher and asked if she knew of a child in need. After talking to the school princial and guidance councelor, they informed me of a family in need. I purchased a gift card from Foodlion and had Mason take it to school for them. This was a good lesson for Mason, to understand the importance of giving.

I was raised in an independent baptist church so when Mike said we would be taking up an offering I got my purse and proceeded to write a check... then Mike laughed and I found nothing funny about taking an offering. Then the ushers started passing out money and I realized what was so funny (of course, with an explination from my friend).
My first thoughts of receiving this money ($50) were that I am horrible with money I will end up spending it on myself. So I hid the money from myself till I had ample time to pray about what I should do with this money. While I was fervently praying about the money my youngest son's father contacted me. I have to preface this with he has had very little contact with me since I found out I was pregnant, so it was a great shock when he called. He had gotten married about a year after I had our son and was now going through a divorce.
Of course, my mind started racing when he called me but I just prayed about it. I called him back and told him I would love to take him to lunch so we could discuss things. We went to lunch on April 15th (which is his birthday). I had baked him a pound cake for his birhtday and used the money to feed us both.
Now the cool part.... He couldn't understand why I was being nice to him after he just up and left. I had the awesome oppurtunity to share my faith and that it was not me who was being kind to him but Jesus through me. Because in my flesh I could be extremely upset with him (as I was) but through prayer and finding forgiveness myself I was able to forgive him and show him Christ's love when he most needed it.
I gave him the remaining money so he could get a haircut or whatever else he needed to do... once again this shocked him because I am a poor, single mother of 2. I explained to him that this church that I had been attending gave out money for us to bless people with and he was the "people" I chose to bless.
I not only got to bless someone but found out that I was extremely blessed myself! Thank you cove church for giving me the oppurtunity to share my faith!

i live in southern charlotte,i was having a bad morning so i went to eat at a pancake house alone. after enjoying my meal i went to pay and realized that i didn't have my wallet. I was stressed out to say the least. i went home and came back with my money to find that the man in line behind me had payed my bill. he may not have realized but he made my day ... and i can't wait for my opportunity to "bless back"

My story is about a little gift, a little change, and hopefully a little step. I received a tiny book from a member of the Cove Church. The book is "If You Want to Walk on Water You've Got to Get Out of the Boat" by John Ortberg. It discusses Mathew 14:25-33 the story of Peter getting out of the boat in stormy seas because Jesus calls him. It describes the faith that Peter showed to leave the comfort and relative safety of the boat, because he had a higher goal. That wasn't the end of trouble for Peter, but it allowed him to achieve more than the other people in the boat. It is just a matter of faith.
"How much faith do I need? Not a feeling of certainty. Just enough faith to take a step."(p.37) That is my new goal, simply to take a step of faith.

I am a resident of Mooresville, NC. My daughter attends a near by elementary school. She has made friends in school with a little girl who has had to deal with a lot of unfortunate circumstances. Her father had been sick and on disability (unable to work) for awhile. I am sure that we can all imagine what a loss of an income can do to a family. Last week, my daughter�s teacher called me and told me the child�s father suddenly died. Myself and the other home room Mom kicked into �help� mode immediately. We have collected many donations from people in the area including money, clothing, assistance with food etc. to help this family through such a heartbreaking time. The response has been amazing.

A few days ago the other home room mother contacted me saying she had an envelope for me to deliver to the family. It was an envelope full of cash coming from a member/attendant of your church. The card explained that each person in attendance at a certain service a few weeks back was given cash to spread through the community for people in need with the stipulation it couldn�t be given back to the church. The other home room Mom had called a friend to see if they could possibly donate some services to the family. Not only did they do that but they then contacted her with the envelope. I am pretty sure two people pulled their funds from that service to help this family. I can�t tell you what an impact this has and will have on this family. They have not been attending church for awhile although the grandparents do attend a church and hope one day they will return to a church. This money is going to help them buy necessities they need to get them through a period that is going to be agonizing. Mostly though what the money represents is what I think is going to have the largest impact on them. It has really shown them grace and that they are loved by God and people that don�t even know them.

The mother wanted me to be sure to contact the church and the family to say thank you so I am writing to Thank you for the money on behalf of the family and the people that gave the money to this family (From this story they definitely know who they are and I don�t want to expose them incase they would like privacy). I know you may not hear about how every dollar you gave that day is impacting the community but I thought if you heard just one story you could imagine how the other funds are helping others as well. I personally am very touched and inspired by your churches generosity and I know anyone that hears this story will be as well. You really are helping and touch people�s lives through God. God Bless you all and GO COVE CHURCH.

I took Marge out to eat for her birthday and looked over and saw a man there that I knew needed the money. I met this man at Celebrate Recovery and knew that he lost his job. His brother was treating him for Brunch. He was very thankful to get the $5. He brings some very tasty food to CR, yum yum!

A few days before the Cove gave me $50 I saw an article in the Mooresville paper about homeless and poor people in Mooresville. Two men living in a tent and a lady sleeping in her car trunk. Some of these people go to the Soup Kitchen. I kept praying for a certain person for me to meet to give my $50 dollars to and this lady that sleeps in her trunk kept coming to me. Long story short, I went to the soup kitchen, told Jody the director that I wanted to help that lady. I was able to meet her and after many tears hand her the money. I just rec'd a note from Jody that this lady rented a camper with her money so she could have a roof over her head, a locking door and a bed to sleep on. She told Jody after the first night how well she slept. Thank you God for directing me there and for the Cove to give me the money. Incidentally, if anyone would like to have their house cleaned, it's spring house cleaning time you know, contact Jody at the soup kitchen at 704-660-9010 and she can make contact with this lady.

Keith and I decided to spend our combined $70 on items that Barium Springs Children's Home needed. We tried to contact people to see what exactly they needed because their list online was so extensive and where we needed to bring the things we bought. We got no response so decided to raid Walmart and surprise them. We also made sure that every register we checked out at that we told them what we were doing!

Here's what we got...
12 cup coffee maker
Toaster
9 pack of wash cloths
6 bars of soap
4 Deoderants
Can Opener
4 Shampoos
2 Hand soaps
8 Tooth Brushes
Colander
Cutting Board
4 Tooth pastes
2 Pitchers
Measuring Cups
10 Preschool books

We arrived and the people had heard of the Cove Bless Back Project but were amazed that God had lead us to them. We pulled my car around and the staff's eye were huge! My trunk was full. It took several trips for both Keith and I to bring it all in! They were so grateful and said that people only bring them things at Christmas.

I'm not one of your memebers, but I am one of the people that was blessed thru project. On Saturday two weeks ago my husband and I hepled a person in need. The person needed gas and a few groceries so we gave her 50.00 to make it for a few days.
That very Monday while I was out doing my job
one of your memebers stated that when you passed out the offering that Sunday I came to his mind. It's not so much that I needed the money, at that time in my life I needed to be
reminded that God does and still is very near
to us. I would like to thank the person for being and instrument that God used that day to reminded me.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/cindyjahraus

My story is a bit different � we have some very good friends (Joel and Cindy) who were members of the first life Group Jill and I joined back in Goodyear Arizona. We got to know and love this family very much in our time with them and have been blessed beyond words description for having them in our lives. The story begins some 20 months back when Cindy was diagnosed with breast cancer � a particularly nasty version of it that appears now destined to take her life, but in the end that is not what I want to focus on. I want to tell the story of Cindy�s amazing strength, her courage to stand firm and her ability to fan the flames for Christ even higher as she fights this cancer. Never wavering or faltering, she is a true hero for Christ and even now, in her most desperate hour clings to His cloak, rod and staff for comfort. She is an amazing women and throughout this experience she has NOT focused on the cancer - rather - the joy she has that Christ was so active in her life.

I find it astonishing how God can use these stories to minister and witness to people Cindy doesn�t even know both through the CaringBridge site noted above and now also through places like the Cove and the Bless-Back project some 2,000 miles away.

Jill and I too prayed about what to do with the Bless-Back money and our hearts kept falling on Joel and Cindy. Image the mounting medical debt the 20 months of battling cancer can bring - the surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation treatments, pain medications, travel, in-home care and the list goes on and on. So, Jill and I have combined our Bless-Back, doubled it and sent it to Joel with a letter explaining what the Cove has done. We have seen it time and time again posted in this site how God amplifies a small gift and does wondrous things with it when given in His love. It�s my prayer that the $20 I got and the $5 Jill got from the Cove(doubled to $50) given to Joel and Cindy be lit on fire by God and only as He can do and completely cover their medical expenses�

This note was posted by Joel today (4/16) on the CaringBridge site and is a testament to the faith the family has:

�Cindy made the formal decision today to no longer do any chemotherapy. We were told there would not likely be any possibility of curing the cancer now although it may slow the progress. Cindy is so uncomfortable without heavy doses of pain medications that she said she simply cannot live like this. She said "I am waiting for the Lord to take me home now" and she appeared to be totally at peace with that decision. She is a woman of amazing faith and courage. Of course her words were hard for us to hear but when we see her day after day in pain and becoming less and less alert, and knowing that she'll be in heaven with a new body, it's just not right for us to continue to cling to her for our own sake. I discussed it with the kids and we all said the same thing.........we don't want Mom to suffer anymore. Of course we all said that we will continue to pray for divine intervention and healing but if that's not God's will, then we need to trust His plan. We may be heart broken but we'll all be okay knowing our family will all be together in heaven some day. What a promise God has given us to see each other again! That is the only thing that keeps this family going right now. We have been overwhelmed again this week with your show of kindness and affection for our family. I couldn't possibly begin to list everything because honestly, it's overwhelming! We even had about 20 Park Avenue Church singers show up in Cindy's room last evening to sing her all the songs from Park that she said she was missing by not being able to get to church. Talk about a blessing! It was a glimpse of heaven! The nurses even opened the room door so other patients could hear as they felt it was such a blessing to everyone! So again, our hearts may be breaking but our minds are on set on Jesus. God only knows the timing if Cindy passes away, but we trust that divine plan for her. Meanwhile please continue to pray for healing and relief of pain for Cindy and that God would continue to wrap his arms around Cindy and all of our family and friends because that's where our true strength comes from. Joel�

God is so awesome and this family knows it and feels it � even through this trial� What an amazing story they have to share!!!

I had been holding on to my envelpe for awhile praying about how god wanted me to bless someone. My envelope held $50 and I didn't want to use it frivolously. God really showed me a huge opportunity and I took it. I was on my way home from dropping my children off at school and there was a traffic jam. I noticed as I approached that a young lady was blocking the right lane with her hood up. I pulled around in front of her and asked her if she needed help. She said yes, she didn't know what was wrong. After I checked the car, I told her she was going to have to have the car towed as it was either the battery or alternator. I told her I would drive back around through the traffic jam and push her car with my van up into a church parking lot and give her a ride to work. She agreed. As I was driving back through the traffic jam I was reminded I still had not blessed anyone with my bless back project. After I got her car into the parking lot. I offered her a ride to work. As we were on our way she explained to me that the car had been in and out of the shop because it was expensive to fix and she had just gotten it back last night and it just died in the middle of the road. She told me she just didn't know what was next and thanked me for the ride. I then told her about the bless back project at the cove and handed her my envelope. She wanted to know what it was. I told her that Jesus loved her and was leading me to help her and she should open it. She thanked me tremendously and told me I didn't have to do that. I told her again it wasn't me. It was a bless back project from our church and that the lord wanted her to have it and that he loved her. She said she was attending Newbirth Church in Charlotte but I invited to her to our church and showed her the website on my envelope. I pray that she will attend and that she will find the love and grace that we have found at the cove.

My Blessback money, along with additional monies from me, have gone to their rightful recipient, however the spirit of giving the Lord's money is still in my heart.

In my entire life, I've never "won" anything. Last month, a local grocery store where I have a loyalty card you scan each visit, called to tell me I won a $100 gift card from them. It took about 4 weeks to get to me, and last week my son told me his class was collecting mint-flavored gum, altoids and beef jerky for the soldiers. (The first two because they "only brush their teeth twice a week" he said).

When my gift card arrived, we went to that store and bought $50 worth of gum (250 packs)and in the spirit of caring, I also bought a handful the $1.00 reusable shopping bags for my own use, to make my own small difference on the environment. I'll bring those bags with me when shopping at Target, Walmart, grocery stores, etc, and will be able to refuse the plastic bags which I normally save and recycle.

Mike and team... I hope this project boomerangs forever!

Doug had an idea one morning, what if we could take this money and multiply it (kind of like the Big Give, but on a smaller scale). We decided to add our own money to the $10 church has already given ($5 each), and reached out to family and friends to see if they would be willing to contribute too.

We decided to help a family that we know could use it. The daughter (single parent), son and grandmother and grandfather all live together.This family has been living week-to-week, and was renting in the Gastonia area. Recently they inherited a small home and decided that paying mortgage and repairs was better than paying rent month to month. They did not anticipate the amount of work and cost the home would need, as it is currently unlivable without some needed repairs. On top of the costs of this home, they are strapped with their rent payment as well. I anticipate they thought this new home was building to the future, but currently it has added to their already challenging expenses. This family is so gracious and giving in their service to others, we were hoping to ease their burden and help show them love and support.

What began as $10 has turned into over $450 for this family (45 times the original gift). They came to our home on Monday and I asked if I could talk to them. I think Ashley (the daughter) thought there was something wrong. Anyway, I told them about the Bless Back project and then told them that Doug and I had sent an e-mail out to friends and asked if anyone wanted to contribute.
When we gave it to them, we prefaced it by saying that this was truly a God thing and that this was not a gift from Doug or Dee. We told them the response was overwhelming and that some people indicated they were giving, but that we hadn't gotten all of it yet, so there was more to come. We presented them with their gift and needless to say there were tons of tears and hugs. We have talked many times about sometimes a little faith in God, faith in others and faith in ourselves, can open up doors and opportunities to better things. She told us she had been praying about their situation and had faith it would all work out. I don't think she anticipated it would work out this way through the love of others, a little sacrifice and this gift. I think this was an answer to her prays, and can say her faith has grown leaps and bounds. Which in all honesty is what Bless Back is all about. It is not about money, it is about reaching people with the love of God. Thanks for giving us this opportunity to not only share the love of God with others, but experience first hand how giving can grow God in our own hearts.

I was in Christies hallmark store in Mooresville yesterday buying my mothers day cards. There were yellow signs all over asking people to buy cards for our troops. Every isle I went to, every card I wanted, had that "sign" This I believe was GODS sign to me. I made my purchases, and spoke with the woman who worked there explained the Cove,and to my delight, that woman goes to the Cove!! I gave her my $10. I asked her to buy all the mothers day cards she could, and mail them to our troops, so they can send their moms a card. I know the time was right because those "signs" were all over, including the Cove member who helped me. GOD has blessed us so much! Thank you Cove church.
bonniemaiello@hotmail.com

I want to share my struggles with my BlessBack money. I recieved $50. I have been praying on how God wants me to use this money and that he would also use me when giving. I have tried twice to give and found both times were not the right time.
When I recieved the money a persons name popped immediately into my head. I work with this person, she is pregnant. She lost a baby about 6 months ago. She went to the doctor for a regular appt. She was supposed to hear the baby's heartbeat, there was none. She was devastated. Now being pregnant again she has no health insurance. She is very scared. She figures she is at the same number of weeks again when she lost the first. She does not have the money to pay for the doctor visit outright therefore, she has not been to the doctor yet. She is probably about 10 wks. I went into work the next day so happy I had chills ready to give her my BlessBack money. I told her the story and she told me she could not accept the money. She is borderline believing. She said she would feel she had to pay me back. I told her this money was not my money it was Gods money and she would not have to pay me back. She again said NO.
The next story I want to share is this. I needed to give someone change for something they paid me for so I had to go to the convenience store to get change. I went to the exxon on griffith st in Davidson for change. As I was driving away from the store on the way to The Cove, I saw a man on the side of the street hitting golf balls into a field. I noticed he had amassive lump on his head. Immediatedly the money was in my head. I started to talk to God and ask him what I should do. Meanwhile I am driving up Beaty st. thinking what if he needs this money, what if he is really sick and does not know Christ as his savior. I got all the way to the top Of beaty st near 115 and I turned around. I went back to the man. I parked my car and walked up to the man. I said" I see you like to hit golf balls." He said "yes." I then said to him "may I ask what happened to you?" He says "oh it's a birth defect." I said "oh ok, I just wanted to make sure you were ok and if you needed help I wanted to help you." He said "no I'm ok" with a snicker. I said "ok God Bless You" and walked back to my car. I got into my car and said to myself you IDIOT!!!
The reason I wanted to share is because even though I have not given the money yet God is bessing me, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I TOLD A STRANGER GOD BLESS YOU!!!!! That means so much to me. He is teaching me to be patient,trust him,and listen and although I still have the money maybe I have planted a seed. I was on my to the church because I am a DC4K leader and I was 20 minutes late for that session. Today I feel that may have been worth being late 20 minutes. Like I said I have been praying God would use me. Be patient if you still have the BlessBack money, God is with you. God will let you know when the time is right, I was trying to hard.

I attend a Christian school and we are in the middle of Missions Week at school where we help out different countries of the world. This year we are helping out Iran. A missionary came and spoke to us about the Iranians and showed us a video. It talked about how Iran was smack dab in the middle of all the Islamic countries and yet they are the most open people to the gospel. To help feed these Iranian people with the hope of Jesus Christ, people travel around with New Testaments in their backpacks or something. To help these people, the students can bring in $5, which will pay for one New Testament. This is what my friend and I have decided to do with our Bless Back money, which by the way is one of the coolest projects the church has ever done, and we have a VERY COOL church! Even though I will probably never meet the people I buy a Bible for, I will know that I gave them the opportunity to know Christ.

After much prayer I felt lead to give the bless back money to a neighbor who takes up offerings to buy flowers for those that are in the hospital and often times she puts alot of her own finances in the flower fund and she lives on a fixed income.She ask me if she could give it to sisters'house.It was in the amount of $10.00.She was so surprised that a church would do this.I explained that our church is interested in the needs of the community.The needs of the soul,body,and mind.I call our church "The Healing Balm Church".I was a victim of abuse and my soul is receiving a healing from your ministeries.A church that gives back.Love you all and I know God will provide for Ignight project.There are alot of hurting people out there like I was and the Lord wants to use our church to meet the needs.My neighbor said this act of kindness has been noised abroad.God bless the Cove Church.

Unfortunately, we missed the Sunday that initiated the Bless Back Project. But that did not stop me-- it gave me an answer that I have been looking for! You see last year I heard a story about a man that saves his $1.00 bills after he goes to a drive through for coffee or fast food, etc. He was able to take a vacation each year by what he saved. I decided to give it a try and by December 31,2007 I had accumulated $371.00. I paid my son $20.00 to count it and put the rest away waiting for inspiration as to what to do with it. Well, you guessed it, in the last 3 weeks I have been led to 3 people and all I have done is reach in the envelope, grab a hand full of dollar bills and pass it on. My family is SO blessed and SO thankful for what we have that this small act has made my heart lighter, my step quicker and hopefully made God smile. Thank you for inspiring me continously!

Dear Mike, first off I love the Cove Church. It has been my home church now for three years now and I can honestly say it has been a blessing for me....I have a grandson by my son who was involved with a young women who had two other sons, my grand son's name is Jacob, I have not seen nor heard of my little grandson since he was about 2 years old and now he is about 11 or 12...His mother doesn't corenspond at all with my son nor me and I have felt the lost of his prencense in my life. When Edwin and I recieved the money given out at the church, yes I thought of the places here in the area of Mooresville, but felt the nugging in my heart to give to the Boy's and Girl's home of North Carolina, I just felt it would be much needed in a place such as that....so this is where we place the money that God gave us that day....I know in my heart it was used for the children's sake there....Got a many thanks back from the home.....GOD BLESS!

I was blessed with $5. I know of a single parent of two; who is in high school full-time and employed full time. Thus, I added to the money and gave it to her. She does not receive any type of assistance as she wants to make it on her own.

A couple of people came to mind once I received the bless back offering. After discussing it with my husband, Jon, I decided the person to receive the offering would be Brandi, a young girl who cuts my hair at the Wal-mart hair salon. Brandi had be-friended me and my youngest daughter, Dana, during a hair-coloring crisis that Dana had late one weeknight last year -- taking time out of her night to help two strangers figure out what to do about a distraught teenager whose hair had been turned platinum by another hair dresser. She was so sympathetic and interested in helping -- along with one of the manager there that evening, also.
As it turned out, the manager person ended up rescuing Dana, but I started going to Brandi. I learned she was living with her boyfriend and did not have a good relationship with her mother. She didn't mention a father figure at all. Brandi has a very warm spirit about her and wonderful smile, and she just made an impression on my heart. When I went to get my hair cut again, Brandi was gone. I was so upset....as any female is when they find someone they really like fixing their hair! So, I started going to Melissa, the manager, that was there the night of the Dana hair disaster. Melissa did a great job with cut and color -- so, I was pleased, but still wished I knew what happened to Brandi.
About a month ago, I found out Brandi was coming back to the salon. Once back, I went in for an appt with her to find out she and her boyfriend had broken up and she was living with her grandfather in Hickory. She had not heard from the boyfriend since the break up, and I could tell was feeling sad. I knew at that point I had to find a way to witness to her, and the Bless Back Offering was the perfect opportunity.
The opportunity came Monday night. I had the offering with me and went to Wal-mart for some other things and looked for her in the salon. She wasn't there. As I looked around, I saw her sitting on a bench against the wall near the checkout area talking to a man. He had a camera in his hand, and my first thought was that he was trying to hit on her. I walked by and paced for a while waiting to catch her when he left....which took a while. I saw her give him a hug and thanked him for talking to her. Once he walked away, I called her name. I told her I wasn't stalking her, but was waiting on the man to leave and asked her if she had five minutes. She said, "Yes, that she was getting ready to leave, but had five." Then she said, "Do you know what that man was talking to me about?" I said, "No." She said, "He was talking to me about the Lord." I said, "Well, guess what?" She said, "What?" I said, "Well, I have a blessing for you from the Lord", and she put her hands to her face and said, "Oh, my gosh, I think I'm going to cry." I then proceeded to tell her that the Bless Back Offering was a blessing from God on behalf of the Cove Church as a way to let people know that God loves them. I told her how much money the Cove was passing out, but not to get too excited....that her envelope did not contain $52,000 -- it was just a portion of it. I also asked her if the man talking to her was from The Cove Church, too? She told me she didn't know what church he was from. I told her that if two people came to her in one day within five minutes of each other to talk about the Lord....someone was trying to get a message to her, and we both laughed. She said he was trying to help her with her relationship issues, as her ex-boyfriend was black (Brandi is white) and her grandfather does not accept him. We talked about that a bit, and about church in general and what the Cove was like. She made the comment that she felt like she needed to find out who she was before she got into another relationship. I asked her if I could make a suggestion, and she said I could. I told her to give God a chance first. I told her if she would put some time into learning about God and what he had in store for her and her life, he would give her the right mate in life. She seemed to agree.

I had put one of the Cove's small business-type cards in the envelope that tells what time the services are and pointed out Re-mix to her since she is 21. I told her that she could bring a friend if she was nervous about coming alone or I would be happy to meet her there to give it a try. She seemed very relieved that she could wear jeans or whatever she had on as she works till 6:00 on Sunday and would have to come straight from work. She seemed shocked that Mike wore shorts and sandals. Brandi had to leave, so we hugged and said our good-byes. As, she headed towards the door, I saw her stop back in the salon and hold up the Bless Back offering and tell the girl behind the counter, "Guess what I just got? I got a blessing from God." I just walked away smiling. :o)
So, I am hopeful that this Sunday, I will have a guest! Thank you, Cove Church, for helping me step out of my comfort zone!

P.S. Jon gave me his Bless Back and I plan on giving to the manager, Melissa, as soon as I can catch up with her! I want them BOTH to experience the blessing!

Our family received $135 and we were led to help a 2 year old child that has been diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (T-cell ALL). We decided to add to the amount that we were given and we have donated $300 to the family of Owen Bandy to help with medical expenses associated with his treatments. Owen is a beautiful little boy that is currently undergoing the 4th stage of his treatments. Please read about Owen and his story at www.caringbridge.org/visit/owenbandy

I was amazed the day the Bless Back Project started at the Cove. As a matter of fact, I was so confused when Pastor Mike said he was going to pass the collection plate "for the first time ever" - I reached quickly for my checkbook! My kids and I were really excited when we figured out that we were getting money from the Cove to bless back! My 8-year old son was so excited, he went back home and told some of our neighbors that we were praying about who to help & bless, because if we didn't do it we would go to h_ _ _! I knew right away what I would do with my $50, because God had already been nudging me to return to a place that my children & I had previously taken donations. I was drawn to Troutman and My Sister's House, a battered women & children's shelter operating under the Fifth Street Ministries in Statesville. When we visited them before with donations, the place really touched us. When I finally went back today, I also gathered some clothes, took my $50 and my husband and I also gave them an additional $50. The Cove is doing wonderful things in our community and this bless back project is certainly one of them. God steered me back to a place that had previously touched my heart and for that I am grateful, and I am so grateful for the Cove Church.

I received $100 for the Bless Back Project. This was just days before I left for West Virginia with OutReach. I increased the money by 30% and went to Kohl's. I purchased towels and washclothes, bubble bath for the ladies, stuffed animals for the kids, and new white socks for the guys. As a team we spit into 3 groups. Each group was given these items to offer to our families. They were all very thankful.

While working on our house, the home owner got a visit from Jehovia's Witness missionaries. She and her brother boldly and lovingly declared their faith in Christ. After the Jehovia's Witness left, she commented that "They come in their suits looking nice. If they don't come with a hammer in their hand they can just keep on moving down the road."
The work and gifts of the Cove Church mean so much to this community. It's a genuine way to share the love of God and I'm honored to be part of a church that helps in this way!

I have been a regular visitor to the Cove for over 3 years now. Shame on me for not putting both feet forward. I just kinda been hanging out behind the scenes - - being a procrastinator. However, God had a different plan and his own schedule for me.

The weekend you guys gave away the money was just amazing to me. I've never been to a church that did anything of the sort and publicily spoke about it. The good ole' Baptist church I grew up in always asked for money before the preacher ever spoke a word. God Bless them..!!

However, when I received my envelope, it didn't matter to me if it had $5 or $1,000 in it, I was definitely going to let God move my heart and do something positive and enriching to help someone. This was definitely a pivotal moment for a church to step up to the plate and start a campaign with such a heart-warm gesture to help others first. Amazing!!!

Any case, I'm kinda long-winded forgive me.. My plan "was" to get more involved at the Cove - - God had greater plans without procrastination involved. I had been dealing with a lot of emptiness in my life; second divorce; teens gone wild; overwhelming work responsibilties - - you name it, I was dealing with it. I tried to control the situation many times myself instead of giving it to God and let him work in my life. Then, on a whim God spoke to me; I decided to get involved in this missionary trip to West Virginia.

With the West Virginia trip quickly approaching during the time you guys started the Ignite campaign with the $52k give-back, when I got the my envelope my heart was moved right away to do something with the money to help someone on the missionary trip. I was excited. However, I wanted to do more; I wanted to expand on what the Cove was doing. Again, it didn't matter the amount in the Ignite envelope - - it was my goal to see if I could raise more money. I went to work that Tuesday and sent an email to my co-workers that I was going on my first missionary trip (leaving that Thursday) would anyone like to contribute to the WV Trip to help a family. In less than 24 hours and to my amazement; I collected almost $300; the Ignite enveloped contained $20. People was just coming to my desk handing me money.

God has his own plan for our lives and his plan included a gift for me too. This gift came in meeting my new spiritual friends that I traveled with to WV such as Lauren Rallis who I considered my mentor - -she mentored me during the entire trip - -she is a pro on these trips and the woman can out work any man I know with hand-tools. Also, Ronnie Mangum and Barry Brewington who I watched their leadership and spiritual character with amazement. Then, their was Tonja, Lisa, George, Diane, Chuck, Mike and son, and Don from the Cove that went with us; and my new found friend Alvin --the camaraderie, the spirit-filled, the laughter; the snoring at night was unbelievable amongst all of us. I kept saying to myself this is what teambuilding is all about (when done in the name of Jesus )- - far better than any corporate teambuilding I've been too previously.

I know this was God's gift to me - - bringing these people in my life. As for the money, what woman can go anywhere even WV without going shopping. Lauren Rallis and I hitched a ride to the Magic Mart; the WV version of Wal-Mart. We had a great time just using the money to purchase items for this needy family and for the McDowell County Mission to use for other families in WV. God is so Good!!

Without hesitation, my first missionary trip was enriching, encouraging, depressing, fun, spirit-filled, great food etc. No single emotion can explain what this trip brought into my life. I'm still talking about it. Also, I realized that no matter how much money you make, your status, the house and cars; we are all God's children. And, even though their are depressed situations all over the world; I can go just 4 hours away and see conditions that is almost unreal in America. Totally eye-opening.

I have been so blessed and successful in my career and my life. I believe when God blesses you with a gift or a talent; it's "our" responsibility as human beings and as God's children to reach back and pull those up that need a lift or helping hand. Over the last 3 years, I have watched (from the sidelines) all this positive mantra, the love for others, the giving going on around me at the Cove with only one foot in the door and one foot out. I asked myself "why" many times - - God gave me the answer rather I wanted to hear it or not. I'm definitely a work-in-progress; however the gift from the Ignite campaign was to help others, but it also blessed me by igniting my spiritual journey with Christ. Now, I'm excited to have both feet in the door.. I have decided to join the Cove very soon and take the May class; because I will be traveling for work during the April class. I have my 11 wonderful new spiritual friends from the WV Mission Trip that I stay in contact with over email and in church and I'm sure to add to that circle of friendships as I continue to get involved at the Cove.

Ok, I know it's time for the Academy Award song to start playing with my wordiness but to The Cove, your $52k was not just used in the LKN area; your gifts were expanded and used in distant places to help people in need. Your gift blessed me with new spiritual relationships through friendships at the Cove and move me closer to my spiritual journey with Christ. I THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! You guys are simply amazing!!!

God Bless All that you are Doing!!
Gaye

This Bless Back Project has been driving me as insane as it has Mike Madding. For two weeks I have held on to my $10.00, listened for direction, listened some more and NOTHING! I felt Mike's pain in Re-Mix service last night when he said he was having the same problem.

I realize it was only $10.00 that I was given but that didn't lessen the responsibility to use it as God had planned.

It was very difficult for me not to give it to my step-daughter who is struggling financially, but I wasn't lead there. I had been thinking about a lady in my Celebrate Recovery group, but wasn't lead there either. Finally, after hearing Mike say he had a plan for his Monday I had had enough! I made up my mind during that service that I was going to Walmart immediately after the service and buy a bible or devotional for the lady in my group. Afterall, even MIKE finally had a plan for his!

Right after church last night I went to Walmart, directly to the book section and started looking for the perfect bible or devotional for this lady. I love Joyce Miller so I was looking at the ones she had there. Next to me was a woman doing the same thing. She was looking through the devotionals. We struck up a conversation and she told me she was looking for something for the mother of one of her second grade students. She wasn't sure if the woman believed in God so she wanted to give her just the right book.

She went on to say that this little boy's mother was in Baptist Hospital and her class was putting together a gift basket for her. She was in Baptist because they were taking her baby (her third child) early because they found cancer under her arm and in her breast and it was spreading too fast. The baby is only 30 weeks along but they couldn't risk waiting any longer or the mother would surely die. She said her heart was breaking for her student because he is so distraught and keeps asking if his mom is going to die.

We finished our discussion, she picked a devotional and I picked up my bible and devotional for the lady in group and she walked away. Instantly I had this overwhelming feeling that THIS was the person I was supposed to help! I didn't have the cash on me so I went to the checkout and purchased a $100.00 Gift Card for Walmart (yes, I added the rest because that's what God told me to do). I was kicking myself for letting this woman get away but I was sure that if this was the right person, God would help me find her. And there she was. I handed the woman the gift card and explained what was happening with the Bless Back Project and she got goose bumps and thanked me over and over again. I thanked HER for making my day, knowing that I found the person God wanted me to help...in HIS time, not mine.

She asked me my name so she could tell this woman who the gift card came from. I told her "my name is Bonnie, but this gift is straight from God through the Cove Church. I am only the deliverer".

Thanks again to the Cove for initiating this project. I can't tell you how blessed I felt leaving that store, knowing that through the Cove Church and little old me God reached out to this family in need.

Please keep Skye Durant and her family in prayer. If there is anyone else here that wants to help this family I'm sure if you call Baptist Hospital they will direct you.

Bonnie McAlexander

As soon as I was given the envelope during the Remix service, I knew where God wanted me to give the money away. I just didn't know who to give it to. For the past two and a half years I've been a student at UNC Charlotte and it has been a struggle trying to shine as a Jesus follower in such a secular environment. I know that Jesus wants to illuminate this campus and I have been praying for God to reveal how I might best use the $20 entrusted to me. I was planning to give it to my philosophy teacher, but we all know how God can change our plans on a dime. I was just speaking with a classmate in my German class, his name is Robert and he is a Messianic Jew. He brought up Jesus and the beliefs he and his synagogue had. My heart began to pound in my chest, "This is it!" I thought. As we walked up the stairs I talked to him about the BlessBack Project and about The Cove (I'd already spoken to him a bit about us before). He seemed almost shocked when I gave him the money, but it was awesome! I invited him to come to the Remix service with me this weekend and I'm planning on picking him up Sunday afternoon in Charlotte to head back up to the church. I had to come right to the library to share it with everyone. Our Father is doing some amazing things and I feel so blessed to be considered worthy enough to be His vessel. Praise God...

At our last Life Group Meeting (Dee Duren - leader) we were asked if anyone had any Bless Back stories to share. Almost all still had their blessing, and were waiting for God to speak to them. There were a couple of suggestions for use of the monies and someone thought we should pool our money to make more of an impact. Listening to my heart I shared this story with the group.
A lady, Barbara, from the church where I grew up, South River Methodist in Rowan County, lost her brother, her home and all her possessions in a house fire on Sunday morning, April 6, 2008. Her brother was disabled from a stroke and she tried to get him out from the fire unsuccessfully. She was overcome by smoke inhalation and was taken to the hospital where she stayed overnight and is now staying with her Aunt.
After sharing with the group, some thought we might want to her out and I told them that I thought they should pray about their decision and what God may lead them to do. As I was leaving that night several members handed me their envelopes. Dee emailed us that week asking us to pray about Barbara's situation and about the possibility that our group may want to help her out.
I don't know what God may lead us to do financially or otherwise for Barbara, but I do know if you allow Him, He will answer all your questions, fulfill your needs, cease your worries, and bestow more blessings upon your life than you thought possible. Praise Him!

My wife and I have been together almost nine years. We have had our good times and our struggles. During this time my wife's parents have always been there for us phyically or financially. We feel we are pretty independent but when the chips were down we always had someone to bail us out. We never think that maybe sometimes the ones helping us need assistance also. My mother in law just started a new job but had been out of work for two months. My father in law had a good steady job but due to layoffs he is now only contracted for jobs which means paychecks are not coming as steady. After service on Sunday I felt a strong urge to bless my wife's parents with our blessback money. I spoke to my wife after service and she happily agreed. My wife and I each received $10 and we added $280 more to it and dropped it in the front seat of their car with the blessback cards. They called late Sunday night in tears after finding the envelope. They thanked us for the blessing that was bestowed upon them. We let them know that it was not us that had given this to them but it was a blessing from Jesus Christ, for without him it would not have been possible. The feeling my wife and I felt from this moment could not have been greater knowing that someone in need had been blessed. Thank you Cove Church for reminding us of that.

I am a regular visitor to The Cove and have really prayed about what to do with the bless back money that my husband and I received. Today as I was driving home with my kids, I saw the man at exit 33 that I know others have already helped. I have not seen him in a while and I have been a little concerned about him. As odd as it sounds, I was actually happy to see him. I pulled my car onto the side of the road and he came over to my window. I offered him the money that I had received in my envelope and reassured him that Jesus loves him and better times will come. He told me that today would be he last day here and I asked where he was going to go. He said that he didn't know and then pulled a check out of his pocket. He told me that his disablity money had finally come through after all of these years and he couldn't wait to goto the bank and open an account to begin to rebuild his life. He also told me that a member of our church had offered to help him open this bank account and knew of someone that was willing to give him a car. He told me of the life he used to have and said that none of that mattered because now he has God in his heart. I feel blessed to have been able be a small part of his day. Thank you to The Cove and all of you for everything you continue to do to help those in need. God Bless!

I've been getting my haircut at the same place for the last couple of years. The person that cuts my hair likes to golf, so we usually talk about golf. This week we were talking about the Kansas-Memphis basketball championship game. Well, I had my Bless Back envelope in my pocket for over a week and had been praying about who to talk to, so I asked, "Heh, have you heard about that crazy church giving away all that money?" I knew she works with another hair stylist that attends Cove, so I told her about Cove having ushers come forward for an offering, except they handed out thousands of dollars to give away to bless people. Knowing that the next day was her birthday, I told her God wanted to bless her, handed her a Cove card with all the service times on it,invited her to church and gave her the Bless Back envelope with $5 in it. As I left, I said, "Consider this the best birthday gift you'll ever get."

Yesterday a friend of mine and I decided to grab lunch at a local Mexican restaurant in Cornelius. When we arrived our waitress (a young woman) approached us. I noticed that business was pretty slow, there were maybe three other tables in the entire restaurant. Before I left, I folded the twenty-dollar bill that I received from the cove underneath the check, along with a note that said "Thank You. Have a great day! God bless." When I got up to leave I realized as I approached the door that I had left my box of leftovers sitting on the table. I ran back to get it and the waitress was there...she had tears in her eyes, had my twenty in her hand, and was talking to the kitchen staff, smiling.

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to participate in the BlessBack Project. There are so many people that need to see God's love in action...and WE as his people need to make that happen.

My sister attends your church, and invited my dad who attended a few weeks ago, when your church presented everyone with this challenge. My dad gave me the envelope with the money, and it had $10.00 in it, to which he added 10 more to it, and gave it me to help out some one in need.
The next week I prayed to the Lord for an oppurtunity to meet someones need, and the Lord provided that oppurtunity, this past Wednsday night at Wal-Mart. I had just pulled into the parking and parked when a young lady knocked on my passenger side window, I rolled down my window, and the woman, embarrassed, and quite sheepishly asked is she could have some money for gas. Her and her husband were close to running out of gas and they lived about 20 miles from thier home.

Wal-mart had a close gas station near by. I not only used the money from your chruch and my dad, but added more money to it, to help this desperate couple in thier time of need. While the husband was filling up with gas I gave them a Gospel pamphlet and my buisness card.

God bless,
helping the needy

I just wanted to tell you what�s happening at the Mooresville Soup Kitchen because of the Bless Back money. Josh Pech gave his to a homeless man who�s working and starting to get his head above water. Marge Bode gave hers to a woman who sleeps in her car and who is planning to come to The Cove this weekend. Justin Barnes, Angie Kern and Jason Caudill all brought me their envelopes and money and I had a huge shopping spree at Aldi�s, buying the canned goods we use each day to feed all these people. Jason also brought a bag of batteries that were on sale at Walmart and will be perfect to help start some Father�s Day gift bags for our clients! Thanks so much for sharing!

I went down to Amtrack the other day to pick up my ticket. I had never been down there before. I thought that I was lost so I stopped at a gas station to get directions. There was a older man that had on ripped up dirty clothes on. When I stopped he came up to me and asked if I could buy him something to eat because he was hungry. He then apologized for begging, but he was hungry. He then stated that he hated begging for money but at this point he had no choice. Once again he apologized for begging. I told him that I was lost and looking for Amtrack. He told me he could direct me, and promply gave me directions. With adding he hopes I have a good day. At that point I gave him the $10.00 dollars from BlessBack. He told me that God was going to bless me. He also added that it was alot of money to be giving, he could take less to get something to eat. I told him no, and on that note I promptly left and went to Amtrack for my ticket. As I was driving away he was yelling God is going to bless you. The feeling that I received from that jesture was already a blessing. Thank you!

I read your article today in the newspaper and just wanted you to know how blessed I feel for this project. I am a member of New Perth A.R.P. Church in Troutman. This story and the others I have read have inspired me in my Christian walk. Everyday I watch the news and read the paper hearing about all of the negative things that are in this world. There are loved ones in my life that have given up on this world and are just content with simply waiting for their blessed time to meet the Lord at His second coming. I have never felt that this was my role in life. While I am strong in the faith that I am saved by His grace, I am still dedicated to making my journey here a more blessed experience. Jesus left this world with an instruction for us to spread His love and grace to others. When we do for the least of these we are doing it for Christ. There have been times when I myself have been the "least" of these and have been thankful for my Christian friends and family for their support and help. God is great and I am filled with a joy and the desire to share this with others.

My family and I just moved here from Rancho Cucamonga, CA on 3/21/08. We saw your website and thought to check your church to see if it would be a great home church. The second Sunday we attended you had the bless back. Our church in CA had done this last year and it was such a blessing to the participants and the the ones we helped. We decided to partner with your body of believers but there was one problem--we didn't know anyone here or knew of a need. We prayed several weeks looking for the need. I recently received a letter from a missionary friend in California needing funding for a missions trip to Santo Domingo with a team from highway & Hedges World Outreach International. They will be doing a Vacation Bible School, a Transformation Clinic (makeovers ) to reach out to the women of La Cienga, and working and supporting pastors in La Cienga Santo Domingo then they will travel to Trinadad.
I want to let you know that we took our "talent" matched it and sent it out. That "talent" will be reaching out to the village of La Cienga,Santo Domingo and bring the Lord to those that are desperate for the touch of our God.

During the bless back service my husband and I received $15 dollars to bless others with. I work at NB Mills where the poverty level is pretty high. The bless back money will go to buy food for students that are poor (either ones that are unable to qualify for assistance because they are not poor enough) or those that do not have food to eat over the weekends because they are not at school. Our guidance counselor will oversee the use. Thank you for giving to poor children. It is difficult to understand how children could not have food to eat at home, but it happens. Our school is trying to start a program to address this issue. Thanks to the Cove for this contribution.

I was so frustrated because I couldn't figure out what the Lord wanted me to do with the envelopes the kids and I got in the Sunday service! I read this site for the updates every day and am moved to tears by so many of the stories. Last week, He put a name on my heart, but her story had come to it's sad conclusion (so I thought), 7 weeks earlier.

Anyway, I got $50, and my boys each got $10, so we had $70 as a family. I was most touched by the Denny's stories about Tom and his motherless children and Rose Dixon's story about Angela walking 5 miles to and from her McDonald's job each day and nearly went that route, but something held me back.

I have a dear friend named Adrian who has been sharing the trials of her stepsister, Anda for a number of months. On Dec 10, 2006, Anda (22) had a beautiful baby boy named Cole, weighing 5 lbs, 15 oz. About the 4th day Cole was home from the hospital, a serious UTI was detected and an ultrasound was done. Immediately, a procedure was performed to re-route his urine out of his side to give his urinary tract time to rest and heal � but there was also talk that he may have to have one of his kidneys removed. One month later, Cole went into surgery to have that one weak kidney taken out but tragically came out with no kidney function.

Needless-to-say, the doctors immediately put tiny baby Cole on dialysis, where the family essentially hooked him up to a machine at home and made his urine for him every single night from 9pm � 9am. He had to have a feeding tube too, a hole right next to his belly button, because the dialysis solution killed his appetite � and babies need to grow and be at least 20 lbs to be eligible for a kidney transplant. 11 months (Feb 2008),and 9 major surgeries later, Cole finally got a kidney!!!! It took about a week for the kidney to start working � and he peed all on his own on a Thursday morning, for the first time in a year! I remember Adrian calling me to tell me the kidney �took� and both of us shedding tears of joy. Unexpectedly, later that night something else in his body failed and he died, at 14 months old. After all he was asked to do, after all those surgeries for such a small soul to endure � and he did it � always with a smile on his face and a giggle in his belly � and it was all taken away, just.... like.... that.

8 Fridays to the day later, Anda's mother, Ann, lost a 6 year battle with cancer, at age 51. Ann was buried 3 days ago, this past Monday, exactly 8 Mondays after baby Cole was buried. Last Thursday, the day before Ann died, the family found out Ann�s mother, (Anda�s grandmother, Cole�s great-grandmother), was diagnosed with cancer. She is supposed to start chemo this week.

I've never met anyone in Adrian's family, yet I have cared about this family very deeply and prayed unceasingly for months, as Adrian updated her friends on Cole's progress. I now know why the Lord put Anda on my heart last week... that was when her grandmother was diagnosed and her mother died.

Tonight, I sent an email to my life group, sharing their story and asking the ladies to lift them in prayer. *Exactly* 25 minutes later, a woman I've not yet had the pleasure of meeting emailed me, asking if she could add her blessback offering to ours! We are meeting at church on Sunday and I'm going to let her tell her story on here if she so chooses!

I had told Adrian last week that I wanted to gift Anda and why, I also told her I was going to add $30 of my own (on behalf of each of the boys and I)to make it an even $100. After consulting with Adrian numerous times this week, trying to speculate how we could bless Anda and her sister, Brea (18) with our blessback offering, we decided I'd write a sympathy card and explain why I'd chosen them to be my blessback recipients, giving them cash, rather than a gift card as only they know the best use of the money. Adrian and I are going to meet for lunch next week and she'll give the card and our gift to Anda and Brea, and I pray they'll find solace in some way by it.

I couldn't believe that the church had gave us money back to be a blessing to someone and all I could think of was to pray that the Lord would send someone to me, instead of me looking for someone. My son and I were eating Japanese, and this beautiful young girl came in and said she needed help. She had just gotten off work and had a flat tire. I told her to give me a few minutes and I'd be right there. The tire was so worn the wires were showing. So we got her spare, and loosened the lugnuts, jacked up the car and the jack started breaking. So I had to get my jack. We finally got the tire off and put on the spare. And it was slack. So I got my little air compressor, and it wouldn't pump it up. So I had some fix a flat and that helped. So then I followed her up to the Wilco and pumped it up a little more. I didn't feel safe with her on the interstate, so I followed her to exit 45. She just lived a few miles off the interstate. At the exit ramp she got out of her car and thanked me 2 or 3 times for helping her and then was on her way. So I got back on the interstate headed home. And then it hit me. Why didn't you give her the $20 that you got from church to help buy a tire. So I remembered that she worked at the new KFC in Mooresville. So I took $40 dollars and wrote this note.
Hi Tiffany, I hope you made it home ok. I have enclosed $40 to help you buy a tire. I hope it gives you many more miles through your journey in life. I just wanted you to know that God loves you very much. It's all for His glory. Stacy Lee I put this in an envelope and asked the manager to call her and make sure she got home and to give her the money for a new tire. He thanked me and said he appreciated me helping her in that way. When I was changing the tire, my hands were black and the wires from the tire kept cutting my hands. And it just kept going through my mind. This is nothing compared to what Jesus did for me. Praise his Holy name.

I am not a member of your church, but I ran across the article online today about your project.
Back when I was a little girl, I grew up in foster care, where we were forced to go to church all the time. That is not something I have ever believed in. I don't feel God's word should be forced upon anyone, but accepted into their heart when the time is right.
I will be completely honest with you and tell you I have not been to church since I was 12 years old...partly because of what I endured as a child. My other reasons have been that I am a single mother, I work a 40 hour plus job every week, I take care of my daughter and the daughter of my ex sister in law (who got addicted to drugs) I work temporarily as a contractor at Bank of America in Charlotte, so I struggle and I selfishly take the very short weekends to be at home, and have stated so many times that I can worship God as well in my home as I can in any church.
The point of me writing to you all today, was to let you know that I have sat here at work today, and I have read every single entry about this project you have all been doing.
I want you to know that you have touched my heart in a way that has never happened before, and you have renewed my wavering faith in the Lord.
Thank you for that.

As soon as I heard we were going to receive an offering to bless someone, I had someone in mind immediately. I also decided before opening my envelope that I would double the amount and add to it, knowing that it could be a major sacrifice if the amount was large as money was a little tight right now. But as you know God knows all, my envelope had only $10.00 in it, I increased the amount by $20.00 and still that was a great blessing to the receiver and a blessing to me.
Now for the story of the receiver. My neighbor had become a single mom of two by default and has been struggling to keep her house and keep everyday life normal for her children. I had spoken to another neighbor just the week before and had suggested that we talk to some of the neighbors and have different people drop off groceries each week. I said that to say this, as I dropped off "the blessing" another neighbor had just dropped off groceries. My neighbor could not believe that her neighbors actually cared enough to truly bless her at her time of need.

I had some struggles with the offering of $5 that I was given. I was lead to give with the offering and personally to the 106.9 billboard campaign. The small amount that I have given has been repayed 10 fold by the joy that was recieved from a blessing in my life group. Thank-you Cove Church.

I, a 15 year old citizen of Mooresville, NC, student of CCTL Early college High School in Statesville, was quite shocked when the Cove decided to "Pass around the Basket". Coming from a southern baptist background, I was even more surprised when I found we were TAKING money from, not giving. I hope that things such as this really do shatter some misconceptions as churches being nothing but business for revenue in the name of God.

As the two people that were accompanying me opened their envelopes of $10 apiece, I thought,"That guy up at exit 33 could use some money." I had read an article about him in the Charlotte observer. He is a fellow Christian, and it is God who provides for his followers needs. I reached into the shoe box and withdrew an envelope containing $50. It wasn't even a complete minute before I already had the urge to pocket the money. Its amazing just how quickly Satan can attack. I quickly disregarded this and put God's will as mine.

When I was finally able to get the money to the man, he told me a bit about himself, and how God has a plan for everything, and that there is a reason where he is right now. I was glad to be a tool of God. It may not have been THAT bunch money, but thats one less day of waiting on a street side under a blazing Sun while people assume he is nothing more than a fraud.

I thought a great deal about how to best use the money entrusted to me. Since it is the Lord's money from the Cove I wanted to ensure I thought and prayed about the best use. I decided to send flowers to my new next door neighbor who just found out she has cancer. She and her husband are in the process of moving in and they do not go to church. What better way to invite them to the Cove than to tell them they should visit the place that bought them the flowers.

On a regular basis we see homeless people in need of food so we made brown bag "lunches" consisting of healthy items w/long shelf life and bottled water to hand out during our daily travels. If we see a homeless person seeking food, we just roll down the window and share the wealth! Our $20 will feed nearly 20 people!

I had been praying for over a week on what would God have me to do with the money. Yesterday I was driving to Greensboro and was listening to 106.9 The Light radio station and heard them talking about raising money for a billboard campaign.

I had $50.00 in my envelope. They said that a $100.00 gift would reach 345 people and also that 10% of all money collected would go to the Samaritan's Purse to help rebuild Church's in Sudan.

I put $50.00 with the $50.00 I had and gave it to this cause. We may never know truly how many people this will help on this side of Heaven.

I was on the phone with the girl that took my call telling her what the Cove Church had done and one of the other call takers heard her talking with me and handed her a note telling her that they had also taken a call from someone at the Cove doing the same thing.

May God bless the Cove Church and 106.9 The Light Radio Ministries.

I attended the service when we started the Ignite series and kicked off the BlessBack Project. I was lucky enough to select an envelope containing $1000 and I was shocked. I had no idea what to do with the money because I didn't want to let the Cove Church down or myself, so I thought and prayed on it. I felt God would lead me to the person who needed the money the most and as I asked teachers around my school if they knew of anyone who needed help my Algebra 2 teacher Mrs. Corriher came up with a great idea. She gave me the number to a good friend of hers who is over the Main Street Mission in China Grove. She set me up a meeting with her which was earlier today and we were just going to sit down and discuss possibilities on what I could do with the money I recieved.

I knew when the right person or family came up God would tell me and it just so happened a woman came in right before we had arrived. While in the meeting Mrs. Anne Corriher who is over the Main Street Mission was telling me the lady's story. Her story was that her mother had been diagnosed with cancer and she had become the primary care giver and couldn't really work. She told me that this Lady was behind on bills and just was trying everything she could to keep her head above water, take care of her mother and to enjoy this time with her. Mrs. Corriher asked me if I would like to meet her and of course I said, "YES I would Love to meet her." She brought her into the office and introduced her to my mom and myself. I explained to her what the Cove Church was doing and I asked her if she would allow me to help pay her power bill and she started to cry. The feeling I had at that moment, I am unable to put into words. I was almost in tears myself. She replied yes that she would very much appreciate the money and then she hugged me. She said that she had no idea how she was going to make it when she walked into the Main Street Mission today, but felt god would lead her through it. After we spoke she hugged me again and I invited her to the church. The look she gave me the way her eyes were full of tears, I will never forget that moment that felling that I helped someone in their time of need. It was like God led me to her and I knew when I heard her story that I was supposed to help her. Then after this lady had left us we discussed a few other families.

The next family was a family who had two daughters and unfortuanatly the 16 year old made a mistake and had a baby. To top this off her father was then hit on the head at work and is on workers compensation now. He is not bringing in enough now to support them and pay the bills so we stepped in and also payed there power bill which took a heavy burden off of them. I look forward to helping this family and others if needed with the rest of the money.

Another family I plan to help is an 8th grade girl who wants to go to a camp and if I remember correct it is a christian camp that she has attended in the past but her family can't afford it at this time. I plan on presenting the money to them so she is able to have that experience because it seems like she is headed in the right direction and why not help her. She needs it and I can't wait to see the look on her face when her parents tell her she can go to camp agian. I will post more as I use the money to help through the community.

I plan on also speaking to my old church and churches around the community about helping at main street mission as well and helping to just pack their storage rooms. I also plan on seeing if I can keep giving after this and volunteering at the main street mission after school and such. So thank you Cove Church you have helped get me started giving and I have fallen in Love with it. It is the best feeling ever God Bless.

Yesterday my roommate and I were blessed by an angel who oddly we have known for a while. We have been having some financial difficulty recently and had a hard time paying our rent this month. We went to the office to pay our late rent. We were quite embarassed that our rent was not on time as it generally is. We went in and spoke with Jacqueline about some of the problems we were having. Jacqueline is the property manager for my appartment community. Jacqueline was very understanding and helped us every way she was able. When we were done talking about rent she asked if we had time for a story. We both agreed on having more time to talk with Jacqueline. She asked us if we were familiar with The Cove church. I moved here a year ago and have heard of it so Jacqueline continued on her story. She explained that it is not mandatory to give offerings at this church but a choice. We spoke about growing up Catholic in the north and how offerings are expected. She explained a bit about the church, but then it all changed. She told us that they were trying to build a new building due to overgrowth and that the pastor reccomended that there be offerings. We were astonished to find that the offerings were going back into the hands of GODS children. She said that she had been praying for GOD to tell her what to do with the money. As we were sitting in the apartment office Jacqueline reached under desk and pulled out a small white envelope and announced that GOD has told her to give it to us. Rachel and I immediatley starting crying and by the end all of us were ( how funny if someone else had come to pay their rent). I feel so blessed to have an angel looking over my shoulder when sometimes it feels as if no one were. I was so homesick and alone, but now I know that I have a home and a family away from home and that I CAN do this. Thank you Jacqueline we appreciate you ( I know you will read this)! Jacqueline finished off with a hug for each of us and invited us to come to The Cove. We left the office and immediatly drove to The Cove to ensure our directions were correct so we wont be late for mass on Sunday.

I've already told my story, but after submitting mine and my son's I went on to read many...most of the others and now I'm sitting here at work with tears streaming. How touched I am at what God has done through this campaign, how many lives have already been touched. I have attended The Cove since the first year in the small cafeteria/auditorium at LNE, and besides the building and the size of the congregation nothing has changed. The Cove is still as warm and inviting as it was on my first visit and God's presence is powerful. Mike's vision and leadership has remained consistant and that can only be attributed to God's plan for him and his life. Thank you Mike, Carey, Rick and all of the others on the staff, and those that volunteer and serve for making The Cove such an amazing place. I'll be praying for all of you.

We just decided today (4/8/08) what to do with our money. We were listening to 106.9 this morning waiting on the bus and they are having a big advertising campaign to raise money for billboards to go up all around the Mountain, Foothill, and Piedmont regions of North and South Carolina. They are hoping to be able to reach 750,000 people with these billboards.
Also, 10% of all money raised goes to Samaritan's Purse for aide in the Sudan.
Shane and I decided to pool our money (plus a little more) to be a part of this campaign to reach hundreds of thousands for Christ!

What an awsome way to carry out GODS promises , my husband and i have visited the COVE several times , what an amazing church , that so alive with JESUS !,The music , stirs the soul, you feel invigerated ***, We recieve 10 dollars each , we thought hard on how to give this money , we decided to give it to our favorite chairty , Samaitans Purse, i know that money which we felt led to double will be used wisely and where needed most , also help bring others to know CHRIST , my prayers go out to the cove, GOD is doing wondrous things in this church, and im glad my husband and i can be apart of it , when you give in HIS name you get ten fold back , thats GODS promise !!!

I received fifty dollars from the Bless Back project. I bought my friend a Bible,CD,and a Evange Cube. A week later I talked to him and told him about Jesus.He seemed overwhelmed and glad that I told him. We prayed together and he accepted Christ. I noticed alot of change after that.He seems happier and now I will try to keep in touch.

I received $20 and immediately thought of two young men at the school where I work. They have enormous potential and I wanted to bless them by taking them out to lunch. Due to confidentiality issues, I cannot share all of the details but I pray that my time with them at lunch today will inspire them to finish high school strong and to know that someone cares about them.

Last week the home of one of my co-workers was broken into. They destroyed her home and many of her things. She is a single mom, goes to school at night and is really trying to get her life back on track. Rebecca and I prayed over the money that we chose from the Blessback offering and feel that God wanted us to help this young woman. With the money we received from Blessback, plus a personal donation we are helping her replace her front door and her daughters TV. God's timing is always perfect, since this young lady has just started her walk with God. What an important time in this walk for her and her daughter to see the LOVE of JESUS! Thank you Cove Church for having the HEART of JESUS and giving us as a family the opportunity to serve Him!

I've been praying for 8 whole days about what God wanted me to do with the money I recieved. I was sitting at my desk this afternoon making calls for delinquent rent payments (I manage an apartment community)! Tomorrow we file court papers for eviction. Two roomates came in to pay rent via credit card and were telling me of thier hardships financially. How they were home sick, broke, lonely, disapointed and kinda ready to give up. I asked them if they had a minute, I explained the entire "Bless Back" project. As I told the story of what the Cove is doing to change lives and how it had changed mine and my husbands' lives, they both cried. I pulled out my little envelope (that I still had not opened yet), explained that God was telling me this was the moment to share his love and gave it to them. As a result, they both want to come to the Cove and find out what's missing in thier lives. They could have cared less that it was $20.00. All they saw was the love of Jesus shining through me.
Thank you COVE CHURCH! You are doing such amazing things.

I got 50.00 dollars to bless back. I of course prayed about who to bless. My first thought was my daughter. She believes in God but does not have a church family because in simple truth, she does not believe in "organized religion". It has always been hard for me to share with her, my dependantcy on prayer. How God had answered my prayers so many times..Mostly prayers for peace since both my children have traveled the world..mostly volunteering..my son actually is going to be a missionary. It gave me an avenue to talk to her. I told her the story of the bless back project. I told her I wanted her to have the money..She works..but salary does not provide for much extra. I told her that God loved her. She was very touched, She donated half the money to a person in Ghana. Thank you Cove church..I feel I have planted a seed.

My name is Carrie Phifer and my sister Sunshine Miller is 31 and undergoing the "fight of her life" with breast cancer. She was diagnosed in the middle of November and underwent bilateral mastectomies the end of November and is now almost through with her chemotherapy. Once she is finished she will proceed with 6 weeks of radiation. For the past 5 years we have been very active with the Mooresville Relay for Life, American Cancer Society. We have our own team called the Alley Cats. Well when I received the $100 during the Remix service I knew exactly where that money should go. It did take quite a bit of praying and talking with my life group to make this happen though. I just wanted to make sure that this is where God wanted and not just where I wanted it. I donated this money to the Relay for Life in hopes that one day there will be a cure for cancer.

At the service that night I was shocked when I got $100. I didn't know where I was supposed to give it and was bombarded by the possibilities. Originally I had planned out where I wanted it to go and put a lot of prayer behind it. But when problems arose I found out from God that the money was ment somewhere else. So when I got to school the next day I realized that it needed to go to one of the lunch ladies at my school. I found out that she goes to the Cove and when I gave her the money she gave me a huge hug and thanked me. I couldn't believe how much God can help someone with just a little money

Sorry that I left this out of my original story. I guess I should let you know that Tom is a server at Denny's and his wife died suddenly of a heart attack. She leaves Tom and two girls 8 and 4. I am sorry that I left this out.

Last week I received $10. I had no idea on how I was going to bless someone. I prayed about it and decided to take the money with me where ever I went and when the time came to use it I would have it.

On Saturday I was at work and my manager was on the phone with her daughter. She was asking people to buy t-shirts from her for $20. So I asked what it was going toward and she said her daughter was going to Africa for 3 months!! I assumed it was a mission trip, I asked, and my assumptions were correct.

Everyone at work was buying one, which surprised me because I thought they were a little on the pricey side. But she asked one lady and she said she did not have enough money. My manager replied with, " Just give $10, every little bit counts." Immediatly I thought of the money from church, well from God! I pulled out the ten dollar bill and explained to my manager what it was and that I would love to buy a t-shirt and give her an extra $10. She and her daughter were amazed that the church would do that. They greatly appreciated it!

After church last weekend, I was really concerned about how I was going to be able to know who would be deserving of my envelope. I meet a friend for coffee in the mornings before going to work. (This is our chance to get our brains working!) We meet at Denny's and have gotten to know the staff there pretty well. When I walked in last Monday morning it was like I had blinders on. All I could see was this poster with Tom's name on it. As I read I began to cry. I knew at that point what I had to do. Tom was not there that morning so I held on to my envelope for a week.
I went in on Friday and there he was. I asked him to come and sit with me when he got a chance. Tom came over and sat with me and I began to tell him about our church and our bless back project. I gave him the envelope that contained $50. We sat and cried together right there in Denny's. He proceeded to tell me that his family has been to The Cove a couple of times and that they really liked it and felt welcomed each time. He also told me that he had received a couple of envelopes already and was very thankful for each one. He wanted me to let you know that his girls are doing well and that they do plan on visiting with us again soon. Thank you Mike and all your staff for this incredable opportunity. It has really made me feel good inside and proud to have such a loving and caring church. Something I have never had before!

My mother and I have a rough relationship and it has been that way since my father died almost 8 years ago. She doesn't live the best lifestyle so I have been trying to be a better example to her through my life. Last Saturday, the day before the offering, I told my mom that I wanted to take her out to lunch to talk to her about our relationship and life. Then I received the $10 and prayed about what to do with it. It made since to me that I use the $10 towards our lunch and talk to my mom about Jesus, something we've never really talked about. She showed interest in coming to The Cove and changing her life. I feel like God wants me to help her believe and that's what I'm trying to do.

Our family was not present during any of the services when you gave out the money envelopes. We had a family emergency that week and were out of town. We so wanted to be a part of the Bless Back Project, so our family prayed about it and came up with what we thought was perfect. I read about the woman who gave someone a pedicure and manicure and was inspired. There is a lady that I have known for years, however, we never really spent time together or kept in touch. But over the last few months I keep running into her over and over again. We exchanged numbers but never got together. I had always been worried about her because I have always believed that she is a women that lives with domestice violence. Her husband and children treat her poorly and her huband dictates where she can work, who she can see, etc. Well, I called her today and told her about the Cove Church and the Bless Back Project and spoke to her about our church and how my entire family had been saved because of the Cove. I talked to her about Jesus and his love for her.We had a great conversation. I then told her that I know she never does anything for herself and that I was going to schedule her for a pedicure and manicure. She was so overwhelmed that she cried! Right there on the phone she cried and said that no one has ever done anything like that for her before. I invited her to the church and told her that Jesus loves her and to put her faith in God as I have. We exchanged cell phone numbers and am making it my personal mission to get together with her regularly for lunch or whatever and am going to spread the word of God to her. She was very open to it and so very grateful. She will have her pedicure and manicure this week and we are meeting afterwords to talk and share time. Thank you for starting this project. It feels so wonderful to give to someone in need!

Everyday you hope that you will get a chance to show God's love to someone. This Bless Back project is such a wonderful way to let others know the love of Christ. My husband, daughter and I each received $10. We decided to put it together and give it to our friend whose wife has been in the hospital for a month now with serious medical problems. He drives about 3 hours, round trip, everyday to be with her so she won't be alone. Their life has been completly changed, not knowing if she would pull through or not. Thank you for allowing us to show God's love to them and to let them know HE will never leave either one of them alone...HE will always be there.

CS Lewis was once quoted as saying..." Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours." On Sunday 3/30 as Mike kicked off the Ignite Campaign, I sat quietly to write out my tithe check. After writing the date, payable to the Cove Church, the amount I wrote was $100! Now realize that I am a single mom, and have worked into my budget to give $25 weekly- I just stared at the check for a moment before signing it and thought to myself, "what are you doing? how will you handle this?" "How will I make this tithe and buy a gift for the Robertson Family?" A peace came over me I signed the check, changed the date for 4/4 with a small note to not deposit until 4/4, knewing my paycheck would hit my account on that day;and figured, God would make it all okay. Moments later, Mike announced an offering and I about choked thinking how am I going to give more?! Pleasantly surprised, I was greeted with the words of using the money received to be a blessing to others. I knew that I would use the money to buy a gift for the Robertson Family. You see,my work has me traveling more than normal and during spring break these dear friends of mine cared for my precious daughter while I was training a new employee in Virginia for the week. They would not allow me to pay them anything although with two daughters of their own and the haunting past of owning their own business they continue to struggle financially. Now let me tell you that the Tuesday to follow, a client of mine gave me (4) tickets to the Saturday night Bobcat game, court side, private concession stand, 5th row! YES 5th row! Although I was tempted to use them for myself- I then knew God was calling me to give the $50 received and the(4) tickets to the Robertson Family to enjoy together. This was AWESOME!!!!

Last Sunday was my first time attending The Cove, when I recieved my money I was really unsure what to do with it and I prayed and talked to other people to get ideas what to do with my money... I was really confused and had several ideas in mind, last week I went to go pick up some lunch for my mom from Denny's and they had a jar and they were taking donations for this family, I continued to read about why this family needed the money and realized, recently a 40 year old women died of a heat attack and left behind two young daughters 4 and 2 years old along with her husband. I knew then they needed my help but not only do they need the money but they also need someone to turn to in this time of need, and that was God. I was so upset to know these two young girls have to grow up without a mom and not only that her husband had to rasie these two little girls by himself. My heart goes out to this family and I have prayed for them everyday.

The timing of the BlessBack Project was amazing. The weekend before, a co-woker of mine had a significant event occur in his life that affected him both emotionally and finacially. Due the the public nature of this posting--I will not provide details but just relay that the money The Cove provided him was greatly appreciated and needed during this time in his life.

First of all, I have to say WOW!!!! What an Awesome idea, whoever thought of this project is a God-powered genious. Who would ever think of a church kicking off a building campaign by "giving away money". However that is what the Cove is all about, it is not about building a building, it's about building relationships, building community, and building up each other, and introducing our friends to Jesus. I Love Love Love this Ignite series. I am truly Ignited and Blessed beyond my wildest dreams. When God guided Billy and I to NC, we had no idea that he would Bless us so tremendously, with the Cove, our Life Group,and all of our friends here at The Cove. We have grown in our walk with Christ, and God is so so good! When we held our envelopes in our hands we both looked at each other and shook our heads Yes, WE knew exactly what WE wanted to do woth the $. We prayed about it for several days because we wanted to do what God wanted us to do with the money. God is so Loving indeed, He told us our original thoughts were right, and good. My envelope had $100.00 and Billy's had $50.00, Diane who is in our life group had $5.00 and the same idea we had. We have a friend who is going through a really tough time, both financially and emotionally. We bought a beautiful card with scripture and placed the money and our prayers for her inside. The 3 of us gave it to her together with lots of hugs(which I am famous for) and kisses and love. She cried, and said we should have given it to someone who really needs it(silly girl). We told her we did, and that it was a gift form God, not us. I am so thankful to The Cove for this, because if it was just our money and our idea, I do not for one minute think we would be as Blessed, but since it has been touched by God, Blessings are overflowing in Mooresville, and the rain isnt the only thing showering our community. I Love God, I Love The Cove, I Love the leaders of The Cove, and again I Love God. Thank you Cove church for this project.

A week ago, I sat in Saturday service, amazed as to what I was hearing. A church giving each member an offering? What a great idea though! I waited for a few hours after getting my envelope before opening it--honestly, secretly hoping it would not be a $1000. How could I possibly handle that sort of responsibility?

Well I did not get a $1000, only $10 but have prayed over the use of the money daily as if it would have been the larger sum. How could I really impact the life of someone with just $10?

I sat in service one week later since praying for God to show me how to use my gift. After service, I met some friends for dinner at a local restaurant in Mooresville. The restaurant was very busy, as most are on Saturday evening. I did notice a family of 6 sitting at a table behind me (2 adults and 4 smaller children). As they were ordering, I heard one of the children ask their mother if they could order a "regular" meal instead of something off the kid's meal. The mother was very nice but told the child that she could not afford her to do that. At this time, I did not think anything else of it and continued socializing with my friends.

After the meal was over, the "birthday" singers came out and sang to one of the children in the table behind us and brought her the "brownie" and mom the bill, while dad stepped out of the restaurant. The daughter was so excited with her special dessert.

As the rest of the family was gathering their things to leave, the mom asked for to go beverages for each of the kids to take with them and boxes for any of their leftovers. It was easy to tell that a trip out like this was rare and that they needed to get their money's worth for every cent of the bill.

At that moment, I felt God tugging at my heart. Why hadn't I used my blessback money to pay for this family's meal? Since the family was leaving, I assumed that the bill was paid. I could not get this feeling to go away that I needed to do something for this family.

As I was leaving the restaurant, I passed the mother at the hostess station paying her ticket! I proceeded to go outside and could hear God telling me that I had to go back. I left my group and went inside. I asked the mother to step aside to talk to me for a second. I told her of the church and of the Blessback project and asked her if I could buy her family's dinner. She agreed to do so.

The look on the children's faces was priceless. The only son in the group asked me why do you want to buy our meal? you don't even know us. I was almost at a loss for words. I told him that I beleived that God wanted me to bless their family tonight with this gift. I encouraged him to "nag" him mom and dad to bring him to the Cove to learn more about Jesus.

As I was waiting for my credit card receipt, the lady thanked me over and over and told me what a relief it was. She had taken money that she had been saving for eyeglasses to splurge on a dinner out for one of the girl's birthday. I could see the relief in her eyes.

As I was signing my receipt, I thought, "Wait God...my blessback offering was only $10...not $55." then I thought to myself..use the $10 for the tip!

Hopefully, we will see this family in church soon.

Last week, I received $50 for the Bless Back Project and all week I have been praying that God would show me what to do with it. I could totally relate to what Mike said tonight in the service about looking at everyone he meets to see if they are the one. I have been doing this everywhere I go. Tonight after the service, I stopped in Duckworth's to pick up a coffee and a newspaper. I saw a couple at the doughnuts when I walked in, but didn't really pay attention to them. Suddenly I heard a man from behind say, "excuse me, Maam". I turned around to find a young man standing there with his hand out holding a quarter and some other change. He told me he wanted to buy a doughnut for his wife but was a little short. I wasn't sure I heard him right, and I asked him what he had said. He explained that his wife was pregnant and that she really wanted a doughnut, could I spare a dollar or some change. As I looked at him, his wife came up behind him. She was a young lady who was quite pregnant. She looked a little embarrassed and I just knew these were the people. As I reached in my purse, I started explaining that my Church had handed out money last weekend for us to bless someone who needed it and that I had been praying all week. As I handed her the $100 I told her that I felt that God had led me to them. The look on her face was incredible. The husband, started to stammer a bit, and said, "what? You are giving us $100?" I said, "yes. God loves you and wants to bless you. I hope you will use this for your baby and to improve your situation. If you do not have a church, I hope you will come to mine". When I told them I went to the Cove, the wife got very excited saying they had been to the Cove at Easter. She said they would definitely come again and thanked me over and over again. The husband said, "you have no idea how much we need this. We are about to have this baby, we have no insurance. God bless you and thank you". I hugged them both and told them I would look forward to seeing them at the Cove. I want to thank the Cove church for blessing me with this incredible experience, and I ask that all who read this will say a prayer for this couple that they would have a healthy baby and that they would get their lives back on track.

SEE HERE HOW THIS GOES, MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN UNABLE TO SEE HIS SON FOR OVER 2 YEARS THANKS TO SOME UN-NEEDED DRAMA. WE FINALLY REACHED OUT TO HIS SON'S MOTHER AFTER LOTS OF PRAYER FOR HER AND OUR SITUATION AND SHE INFORMED US THAT SHE WAS GOING TO TRY TO COME TO NC SO THAT ELVIN AND HIS SON COULD BE RE-UNITED. THEN SHE CALLED US BACK AND SAID THAT WITH GAS PRICES THE WAY THEY WERE, SHE WAS NOT GOING TO BE ABLE TO COME. MY HUSBAND PRAYED AND HE PRAYED EVERY NIGHT FOR GOD TO HELP US FIND A WAY TO SEE VINCENT. THEN WE ATTENDED THE BLESS BACK SERVICE, AND WE RECEIVED $130 FROM FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT KNEW OUR SITUATION. UNFORTUNATELY, IT WAS TOO LATE FOR HIS SON'S MOTHER TO MAKE SUCH QUICK ARRANGEMENTS. SO WITH THAT SAID, MY HUSBAND DECIDED THAT HE HAD TO TRY AND FIND SOMEONE ELSE IN NEED. HE WENT TO HIS LIFE GROUP ON THURSDAY, AND WAS TOLD OF A SINGLE PREGNANT MOM IN SERIOUS NEED, AND HE FELT GOD TELLING HIM THAT THAT WAS HIS PROJECT. SO HE GAVE UP HIS MONEY TO SEE HIS SON. LITTLE DID HE KNOW THAT WHEN HE ARRIVED HOME, HE HAD AN ENVELOPE IN THE DOOR FILLED WITH $113 STATING "RE-UNITE WITH YOUR SON!!" WOW!! ISN'T THAT PAY IT FORWARD!! IT ONLY GETS BETTER!! I WENT TO MY NEIGHBOR WHO ALSO ATTENDS THE COVE AND SHARED ELVIN'S STORY ABOUT HIS BLESS BACK PLAN, AND POURED MY HEART OUT THAT I WANTED MY HUSBAND TO KEEP THAT MONEY HE HAD ALREADY PROMISED!! (SHAME ON MY FAITH!!) SHE TOLD ME TO SURRENDER TO MY HUSBAND FOR HE IS THE RULER OF MY HOME, AND TO ALLOW HIM TO FOLLOW HIS HEART. SO HERE I GO, I SUBMIT!! WELL, WE GET HOME THAT VERY DAY TO ANOTHER ENVELOPE WITH $200!! OH MY GOD!! SO LONG STORY ON AN ON!! HERE WE COME VINCENT!!! WE CAN'T WAIT!!! THANK YOU COVE CHURCH, COVE FAMILY AND FRIENDS!! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE FOR MY HUSBAND AND OUR FAMILY!!!!!!!

Imediatly after I received my gift I knew exactley what to do with it. Someone very near and dear to me has been having some difficult times lately with money. And if that weren't bad enough the truck he depends on just broke down. It was almost impossible for me to get him to take it, but after explaining to him where the money came from. It all made sense to him and he was very Greatfull

Sitting with my wife at a Chinese resturant, a young lady came in with three small children. One by one she took each one of them up to get there food. I really didn't think much about it until she came back with the last one and her own food. Then I heard the mother and the oldest two saying Grace (The youngest was to young). It really did my heart good to hear this young family Praying together. That's when I realized what I would do with my gift. After asking the waitor to give me there check
(He litteraly looked at me like what are you up to) Any way he brought me the check I explained to this young lady. I was given the responsibility through The Cove Church to be a Blessing to some one in the community and after hearing there young family Pray I felt GOD wanted it to be them.

My family and I have attended several Cove services. I was at last Sunday's service and was amazed by the BlessBack project. I received $10.00 and prayed over what to do with the money and waited. This morning I was reading this website and read about the collection jar at Denny's for the man who lost his wife and is left raising two small daughters. I also have two daughters and was very touched. I went to Denny's today and put the $10.00 into the jar along with an additonal $10.00. The Cove Church is great and we are definitely planning to attend future services.

All week I prayed and wondered what to do with the $10 we got at church Sat. night, it felt like a great responsibility. On Fri. we were driving and listening to the radio, 95.1. Ace & TJ were doing a fund raiser for the Grin Kids which is for terminally ill and chronically disabled children and their families. The fund raiser was you donated money to hear any song you chose. All of a sudden it came to us. I called the station and donated the $10 plus in the name of the Cove church in Mooresville.

I started attending The Cove about two years ago. That was a time in my life at the end of my marriage, and my renewed faith in Jesus helped me pull through the challenges. Now, I'm a renewed person, and have shared with many how my faith and The Cove changed my life. When I received $20, I was not sure what I would do. I prayed on it, and after a couple days I had my answer. My younger dog had gotten into a dry cleaning bag containing a never-worn brand-new pair of pants that I had had pressed. He must have thought the button looked tasty, so he chewed it off, and chewed a big hole in the pants along with it. I was so angry, as I don't get new clothes very often, and these had never been worn, and now they couldn't be fixed. I thought, what am I doing with this dog, my other dog never causes problems, two dogs are more expensive, and he's destroying things that cost me money. And as immediately as these thoughts crossed my mind, I knew all the answers to those "why's". The comfort, companionship, and loyalty of these animals is so important in my life, it is difficult to express the way they make my life feel less empty after the loss of a spouse. Both of my pets came from rescue agencies that foster dogs which would otherwise be put down at shelters. I'm so grateful that the volunteers and foster families in these organizations invest in placing these loving pets with families. I sent my $20 to Lake Norman Animal Rescue today.

A new person in my life is a Jesus believer, but not a follower of the word and does not attend church becuase of past obsevation of what some churches can be like. We often have disagreements of how one should live life, especially living a life of purity. So, the recent message on purity was my chance to share messages with more knowledge and confidence to my friend. I tell him often of the Cove Church services, the atmosphere, the praise and worship, and invite him. So, with this money I purchased CD's to copy the messages on purity, a nice notebook to take notes, and copies of the weekly handouts. I'm praying that my friend is receptive, and will at least listen to the messages. Hope to deliver my gift next week. All Prayers for his postive and open response are appreciated.

God Bless

Monday, March 31st, my daughter and I drove to Huntersville (to my job) to see me friend Sheila. We were filled with excitment as we thought about Sheila going home to California. The anticipation of what was about to be was overwhelming for me. We arrived at the salon, my co-workers were surprised, as this is my day off. When they asked what we were doing there, I said, I have something to tell, that happened at church last night. All the ladies had customers in their chairs, and all ears were on what I had to say. I began telling them about the aonderful church family I have, and how much I love being a member at the cove. I began to share with them about the "bless back" project,and how the money was given to us from our church. (I think I saw a few confused looking people) whoever heard of a church giving every single person attending that weekend and envelope of money? Ha! I directed my conversation to Sheila. I shared with her how I'd been praying for her to get back home and she was in my heart. I told her that I knew, no matter what amount was in the envelope, she's who I would give it to. She had a very stunned look on her face. I pulled out the envelope out of my back pocket, and handed it to her and said, "you're going home". Her eyes welled up with tears as did mine, we hugged so tight, and she whispered, I can't believe you! I told her to thank God for this blessing, and when she gets to California, and gets settled, she had to do something for someone else, she had to bless back. She promised she would. Maybe when she blesses back, the person she blessed will bless back and then that one and so on.(she set her going home date to April 19th) Praise the Lord

I am a manager at a restaurant in Mooresville and my family and I attend the Cove. Today one of our server, Tammy, was a little down after being up all night with her dog who is not doing well. She took the dog to the vet's office and the treatment cost close to $200. With the condition of her dog along with the cost of the care it has her pretty frazzled. During the lunch shift two nice women, one of whom has twins, came in and Tammy was their server. The ladies noticed how tired Tammy was and the conversation turned to the dog. When the women left one of them left her $100 as a "tip" to help her out with her situation.
She told Tammy the money came from her Church to use to help people in need and she thought Tammy could really use the help. Tammy was stunned and and so was the rest of our staff, along with some of our corporate people who were in town at the restaurant.

I have also shared this story with our company as the company encourages our staff's to make what we call "unbridled acts" for our guests whenever we can - for once we had a guest do an "unbridled act" for one of our own!

One of our other managers and myself both knew what Church this woman attended as we both go to the Cove.

If this is one of the ways we will be putting the seed money into action I cannot tell you how much good this will do. This small gesture meant the world to Tammy today and I cannot thank this woman and the Cove enough for making a difference in her life.

You can be sure the 75 or so employees of our restaurant are well aware of what happened and are well aware of the Church that was behind the effort- Way to go Cove Church!

My son Sammy has been growing out his hair to donate to Locks of Love since summer 2006. In February we were told our friend had cancer. Last week his mother sent an e-mail with an update on how he was doing, she also told us we can double donate Sammy�s hair, by shaving it as well. We looked into it and signed up. You know how Mike is always saying look for the "signs", when we came to the Cove on Sunday, I knew Sammy�s pay it forward was about to snowball into something bigger than we ever thought. Inside my envelope was $10, my daughter Lexie�s had $5, and Sammy�s had $50, we added more to it and made the starting donation $100, and it�s been growing since!

I'm so proud of my son Sammy, that I've sent this to all my contacts, please help him reach his goal, and pass it on to your family and friends as well, together we can make a difference! Thank you, Patti

Please Check out Sammy's Webpage!

http://stbaldricks.org/referral.html?Ref=L3BhcnRpY2lwYW50cy9zaGF2ZWVfaW5mby5odG1sP1BhcnRpY2lwYW50S2V5PTIwMDgtNDg3MzQ=

Please help me reach my donation goal.
Thank you for your support!!!
Sammy

My envelope contained $5. What could I do with $5 to make a difference in someone's life? I prayed about this that the Lord would guide me to 'invest' this money wisely. I have several coworkers who do not attend church and a few of them have families with children. I told them about the Cove Church and how awesome it is and the wonderful programs they have for the family. I told them their kids would love the Cove! I invited them to come, and then I told them I would 'pay' them to visit ONE time at the Cove. I felt that after ONE visit, they would be hooked! I gave each of them $5 and gave them info on the Cove, the website, and asked them to go to the website and check it out. I do not think they will be disappointed. I pray that my investment will be an 'eternal' one!

When the pastor first passed out all that money I thought, "wow! That's so cool. I've never heard of any church doing that." As soon as I got the envelope I knew who it was for. There's this girl that I met through my job that I've had since November. I've recently come to realize that the relationship I've built with her is probably the only reason I got this job. Anyways, now that our friendship is stronger we've started talking about faith and religion. I found out a couple weeks ago that she was raised Catholic, but doesn't go to church and isn't really sure about it. Then last week, before pastor started the Blessback thing my friend told me she started to read the Bible and it was really interesting. So, when I gave her the money she said, "I think this is a sign. I'm going to keep reading my Bible."
God is so awesome!

When driving back from the Cove last weekend, Immediately I was thinking about what I was going to do with the $5 that I received in my envelope. I most recently came to faith in Christ, and it was a close friend who brought me to the cove which really got me thinking. I wanted this $5 to go to to somebody really special. I go to UNC Charlotte and there is a cleaning lady that goes around the halls and sings Christian songs and prays with us whenever something is going wrong, or whenever we feel like praying. She has the whole bible put to memory, and it is her dream to run her own church, and be a preacher. I told her about how the Cove gave out $52000 over the weekend, and how we have to be a blessing in order to be blessed. I then told her that I wanted this $5 be put towards the first payment towards a church. She was extremely happy, and I was feeling so great. She told me she was very thankful, and promised me that the 5$ would go towards the purchase of a church. She left my room yelling "thank you Lord! thank you Jesus."

I didn't even get out of the auditorium after Remix before I discoverd what my blessback money was for... I found out there was a family that needed money to pay a water bill so I gave my $20 to them.

I got an email from someone who is just hurting and struggling financially. She's moved from the area, but I just felt I should send her a note of encouragement with my �bless back� money and the rest of the cash in my wallet. She wrote back today saying she had no words and was in tears because of this compassion and saying �thank you Cove Church for this unexpected blessing.� Yeah God!

I went ton church on Saturday night and found out the church was giving out 52,000 dollars, WOW! Of that money I received 20 dollars! My dads secretary is going through a really tough time with her husband he has really bad cancer and could die. I booked her a manicure and pedicure and while she was realaxing I was answering the phone at the office for her! I just hoped she could relax and give herself a break!

This is a follow-up from our orginial story. After getting a nudge from The Holy Spirit, We sent out an e-mail to our closest friends and explained the Bless Back Project. We let our friends know what we were planning to do with the money in our envelope. We didn't even give the name of our friend in need. We simply said that one of our sisters was hurting and needed us to love her like Jesus. GOD IS SO GOOD!! That same day, someone left 8 bags of groceries on her front porch and we have collected close to $400 for her! The $80 that was innitially in the Bless Back envelopes has turned into $400! That is so amazing to me. Sometimes it is hard to believe that the world is good, I refuse to believe this! It is wonderful to watch God work in lives. I am so proud of my church and my sisters in Christ! The flame is alive!!!

Last Sunday I received a five dollar bill and I was so excited I wanted to give it to a homeless person, donate it to the children's hospital or a shelter. But I did what Pastor Mike said and went home and prayed about it. On Monday when I got back to work I ran into one of co-workers that I care for very much and has had a extremely hard life. She is married to a man that is a severe alcoholic and abusive to her and now her children. I use to get so upset with her because I didnt understand why she just won't leave him. I mean their married and he charges her rent and he is spiteful she has had to hide food in her car that her and kids like because he will throw it away(like oreos). But I guess I never understood having that much fear of some one. She is so sweet, caring and one of the best people I've ever met and when I saw her that morning I knew that is who God wanted me to help. She was teary eyed and so grateful as was I. I also gave her a cross my grandmother gave me so she can keep her faith in the Lord during hard times. I know one day she will be free from her situation and be able to truly smile. I love her so much thank you for giving me the opportunity to bless back.

I think this Blessed back message is inspiring. I went home after saturday night service and began thinking of what i would do with my money ($20). I am an Alzheimers Nurse, when I went in to work on Monday,I received the sad news that a nurse i work very closely with passed away Sunday night Very unexpectly with a Cardiac arrest.She was 45 years old and the soul bread winner at home with a husband disabled. Her brother and his wife and 2 step children also lived with her. She was the proud grandmother of a 4 month old girl. I put my money in a card and I am collecting from other people at work and other residents family members to give to her daughter and grandaughter. I pray God will give her family strength in the hard times.

After returning home from the 11:15 service, I found the news paper Ihad saved in regard to the tragic death of the 6 year old only boy of a set of triplets due to an accident with a tractor trailer, Christmas Eve 2007. Planning to help out in some way, Iknew where the $10.00,plus my donation was going to go. Besides the emotional struggle with theloss of thier son "PARKER', there were hugh financial due hospital and airlift of Parker to the hospital of $7,000,on top of the funeral expense. I mailed our donation with a note telling them about our wonderful "COVE CHURCH ". The next day a lady rang our door bell and asked for my husband Jud. She had met last at our little park in our development Jud was walking slow with a walker as he has been ill and does not walk very well'Would you believe she and her husband brought him an electric wheelchair that his mother could no longer use and wanted him to have it if and when he needed,HOW GREAT IS THAT? Thankyou The Cove .Ijoined The cove shortly after your open house a few years ago, the best thing I ever did. Thank you

My wife and I co-own an animal hospital in Salisbury and we have been contemplating bringing a bible study into the workplace for the longest time. After we heard the testimonial last week about prayer in the workplace, we both looked at each other and just knew that we were going to use our money to get this study up and running in our clinic.
As owners, we really aren't confined to a HR department that tells us what we can and can't do in this regard. We have always been so worried about offending someone or nobody caring that we never have gone forward with it. But, that testimonial and this series has ignited us to share the love of Christ with our staff.
In our monthly meeting yesterday, I mentioned that we will be starting this voluntary bible study once a week after we close. Within the next hour, I had several employees come to me and tell me that they were interested. And already, after a sign-up flyer only being posted for one hour, I have over 15 people that will be attending (that's half of the staff). Praise God!
We will be using my $20 and my wife's $5 to purchase some of the study handbooks for the group. Any additional expenses, we will gladly pick-up so that we can hopefully do just a fraction for others what The Cove has done for us.
Thank You Cove so much for igniting our hearts!

After receiving my bless back envelope on Sunday I prayed and thought where do you want me to use this $10.00 God. I then was reminded by God that it wasn't so much about the money, as it was about blessing someone else. I then thought of a dear friend who I know could use some encouragement and love. She has had a close friend pull back from her and has grieved over that. I picked her up today and took her to lunch, gave her a Blessing Box filled with wonderful scripture blessings to remind her each day that in Christ everyday is a blessing. After I paid the bill I had the waitress come over and I explained that our church was doing a Bless Back project and I wanted her to have this $10.00 as a gift. She looked at my friend and I and said "you don't know how much I need this". She is going through a custody battle for her son and would be moving to Atlanta in 2 weeks. I asked her what her name was and told her we would be praying for her. She was so grateful and the friend I took out to bless got to be part of someone elses blessing. God is good all the time, God is good. Thank you Cove church.

Just a follow up to my last entry. There has now been a fund set up in our cafeteria called the Give Back Fund so when children go through the line now and don't have money on their account they can take it out of the fund. I'm going to make sure there's always money in the fund and going to spread the word about it too to fellow teachers - some of them might want to give too.

Having both received $5 last weekend we decided to combine our money. We went home and prayed about how to use it. We had the idea to take a friend out to lunch and talk to her about the Cove. However we came up with an idea that could touch many instead of just one. So here is our story.

Our plan was to take our ten dollars plus some of our own money and buy balloons to give to the Summit Place assisted living center in Mooresville and the pediatric unit at Lake Norman Regional Hospital. In line to buy the balloons, Evora suggested we buy lunch for the staff at Summit Place to go along with the ballons.

We were putting the ballons into the car and one refused to stay in so we handed it to the man parked across from us. He was shocked that we were giving him a balloon but happily accepted it.

We went to the hospital and had a terrific time handing out the balloons to the children, families and staff at the hospital.

Then it was off to deliver lunch from Subway and balloons to the staff and residents at Summit Place. We provided lunch for at least 18 staff members and tied a balloon to each table in the resident's dining hall.

It amazed us that in such a short time we were able make so many deserving strangers smile and let them know that they are special. It was such a blessing to us that we were able to spend the morning speaking to so many people in the community and brightening their day. Some we simply said we wanted to make them smile and some we were able to talk to about the Cove and the Ignite program.

The most exciting thing was that it wasn't just the people at the assisted living center and the hospital that we touched but the cashier who blew up the balloons, the woman at Subway who agreed to make the subs even though there was not a 24 hour notice, and the woman standing behind us in line when we bought the balloons. All of these people were touched by the Bless Back Project.

It is amazing the ripple effect that started with just $10. In looking back at our day we were thrilled to know that we personally able to make 80 people smile today.

We are so grateful for the Cove showing us that we can make such a differance in our community.

One of my friends is going through a very hard time in her life, but she is being very strong and i am so proud of her. She has been depending on her faith and her friends to get her through this time. Her birthday is this week I wanted to get her something special. So my $5 went to buying her a new bible for her birthday present. :)

I gave my donation to USA CARES. It is an organization that gives financial assistance to members of the military on active duty who might need help for their families at home. Their website is www.usacares.com

I felt cold chills as Mike explained what the BlessBack project was. I had just received an email on Saturday asking for my help to provide groceries to a struggling family at the Cove. I looked at my husband and said that I knew exactly what to do. I took my $10 plus and purchased groceries for this family. After visiting them, it not only felt wonderful to see the joy on the mom's face but I was reminded of my many blessings as well! Our God is so good! It is such a reward to serve and see God provide! Thank you Cove church for the message that you live out each day!!!

I feel so blessed that we found the Cove in 2000, it truely was a breath of fresh air. I received 5.00 and gave it plus my donation to the community outreach program at the Y.

I worked as a waitress through college. I was not a Jesus follower. I hated working on Sunday because the church goers didn't tip well if at all. I remember many times receiving a witness track AS the tip. It quickly found it's way in the trash because that didn't pay the bills. I received $100 in my envelope. I split it into 2 $50 bills and made invitations on business cards to the Cove and attached a $50 bill to 2 of them. After explaining the bless back project, I left them as gifts for my waitress the next 2 times I was out to eat (along with my tip - a good $$ tip) and invited them to the Cove. What a blessing!

As I was reading through everyone's inspiring stories, I came across one story that stopped me in my tracks. Brenda Laxton wrote how she went to Denny's and found out about the man who had just lost his wife and was left with two small daughters to raise himself. I work in a preschool where this man's daughter attends. I too was pondering what I should do with my money ($20). I arrived at work on monday to learn of this man's tragic story. I just knew I had to do something for this man and his family. I told my boss about the Cove Bless Back campaign and how I wanted to help this family. She agreed and we are now, along with my money, taking up a collection for this family. How GREAT is our God? Thank you Cove for touching my life.

First let me say that The Cove continues to blow me away with its love and generosity. I received $5 and I gave it, along with The Cove's address, to a homeless person that stands at the end of my exit on I-77...

At the school where I work as a teacher, if children owe more than a certain amount of money they have to have a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch instead of a proper meal. I used my money to pay a few students lunch charges.

I gave the first portion of my Bless Back money to a dear friend and previous neighbor who is going through a very hard time. Her business is going through a rough year and 1/2 and she is praying but not hearing/feeling God. While we stood and prayed and cried in the middle of a busy golf course full of parents at First Tee in Mooresville on Tuesday night I knew God meant for me to give this to her. I silently prayed for Him to give me the right words to say to her in her time of despair. This money gave me the chance to tell her that God loves her so much. That instead of stressing over finances and praying for her business I encouraged for her to continue waiting upon the Lord and to pray for peace beyond understanding in this storm. That our JOY comes from his Son who He sent to die for us so that we wouldn�t have to live a life where sin separates us from God forever � and that joy and peace do not come from financial success. When she was concerned that she was praying but not feeling anything and not seeing any improvements in her business I encouraged her to pray for God to strengthen her faith. We talked about her submitting her life and her business to the Lord and that it�s better to live in His will than out of it and that His plans for our life are so much better than our own plans. And that sometimes in life we go through trials and He puts us into the fire and pulls us back out again and over the course of our life He molds us, changes us, transforms our minds and someday when we stand before Him we will be so shiny that He�ll see his Son�s reflection in us - So not to fear and do not be anxious or depressed in these hard times in life. And the other miracle in this whole conversation with her was that this was what I needed God to tell ME. The past six weeks in my life have been like in 1 Kings ch. 17 when Mike explained how �the brook dried up�.

The last $10 of the bless back money I gave to my daughter (11 �) who took it and made 200 flyers with it promoting her shoe collection for orphans. She has been collecting shoes for orphans for 9 months to be distributed by www.buckner.org . She has 1 month left to collect new shoes before heading to Dallas to deliver them to Buckner in May. She is going door to door and business to business with these flyers telling everyone she meets about the Shoes for Orphan Souls program. Buckner visits international orphans around the world to give them brand new socks and shoes and to also tell them about Jesus. She has 51 pairs so far and her goal is 100 pairs of shoes before May 2. I love her childlike faith when she says "Mom I bet God is going to give us more than 100 pairs of shoes to help all those kids".

We are new-ish members to the Cove and to LKN. The Cove is one of our very favorite things about LKN. We are so happy and excited to be apart of this growing church family.

Just as soon as this Sunday was over I immediately knew of someone.
I gave this Blessed $20 to a co-worker for his daughter.Tragedy has hit this family and his daughter was actually shot by her mother. Her ex-friend did it.It sadly has been in the news for days...My co-worker is single and trying his best to pay for her medical expenses and then some.She is in the county jail and will most likely be transferred. Her mother sadly was involved with drugs...and I guess she must have experimented with it too.I have seen this child grow thru the years and she used to attend church. I pray this will get her & her family back to Jesus Christ and will invite them to The Cove. When I gave this to her father he had tears in his eyes. I told him sometimes you have to be down far enough to look up.

One of my co-workers father just had a stroke. She had just returned from visiting him in Puerto Rico and learned the next day that this had happened. I explained to her the "Bless Back" campaign and I gave it to her. It brought a tear to her eyes and a smile to her face.

My children and I recently started attending the Cove Church. It seems like since we have been coming that our lives are once again focused on Jesus. My 19 year old daughter, Marian received a Hundred dollar bill in her envelope. That same night she went to her girlfriends house who was pregnant and gave to her. I am so happy to see my children following the Lord again. Thank you Cove for being a blessing in our lives.

The initial "prompting" I had as soon I took the envelope, at the Cove service, was for a young man RIGHT next to me and his girlfriend/wife! I didn't know them. As we all prayed during the service, I asked the Lord, "Lord, are You sure about this, or is it just my impatience manifesting itself - again!?" The "prompting" became stronger and stronger as I prayed. I felt at peace about it. I gave it to him! (We were both astonished to learn we had the same first name.)

Awesome....this project it totally awesome. I gave the money to a young Christian lady who spends countless hours volunteering with teen girls so she can help cover gas expenses going to all of their events. She has worked so hard with the girls and has a genuine heart for Christ. It was amazing, because the blessing was supposed to be for her, but giving her that envelope, it was me who was blessed seeing the look on her face.

I blessed forward a Single Mother with 4 small children who is unemployed and attending college full-time, all the while doing this with no family support in the state.

God Bless the Cove for such an awesome project that we can bless our community.

First I want The Maddings and all of the ministry staff at the Cove for their willingness to follow God no matter where He leads them and to lead the Cove with integrity and passion. Secondly, I want to thank everyone who posted their stories here. Your stories have touched and inspired me.

Two years ago I was attending another church in Mooresville. It was a nice church but I really longed for a church with a serious passion for Jesus. I prayed to God that He would lead me the right church if it was His will. I told no one about my prayer. Two weeks later a co-worker invited me to the Cove. From the first day I knew God blessed me by leading me here. I can't thank that co-worker (now friend) enough.

Now for my envelope. In my envelope there was a crisp $5.00 bill. I prayed with my family that God would let us know how to use it. Right away He put my neighbor on my heart. I have known her for about a year. All is well with her and her family. So I was a bit puzzled as to why God would put her on mine and my husband's hearts. When I took the envelope to her I found out that she and her family are still trying to find a church that is a good match for them. Just like I had been! They had a great church back home that was like family to them and they have been missing that. I let her know that she and her family were always welcome at the Cove. I know that God will lead her and her family to the right church. He did it for me!

The Bless Back Project has ingited in me the passion to start finding other ways to give back using my own money. Thanks for getting the fire started!!!

I am new to the Cove and I must say how impressed I am to be surrounded by people with so much faith in God and in life. My sisters heard about the Cove through some friends and we have been attending since the week before Easter. I have signed up to a life group and I am really looking forward to my first session.
I opened my envelop right after the service and got a $5 bill. Last night when my son came home from school I found a note in his folder about an upcoming field trip to the Patterson farm. I wrote a check for $10 to get in, plus $2 for pizza. And then the light bulb went on! and decided to sponsor a child and donate the $5 from the Cove and cover the rest. I am happy to know this child will be able to attend this field trip, and all because God's actions are being reflected through ourselves. There is no greater feeling in life that seeing a child smile!
Thank you for this blessing Cove Church!

What a wonderful and great way to help and minister to others.....Thank you Mike and what a blessing to belong to such a wonder christian family...Anyway we know this young man who attends the remix service and cove kids every week. His Mom and Dad are separated and he lives in a shelter...we are trying to get one or both parents to attend just one service but gas or this or that seems to be the issue..so with this money and a little witnessing it is our prayer that this young mans mom will come to the cove...again thank you cove and we here at the Meyer house just love all of you

As I left church Sunday night I opened my reverse offering and I had $5 and I was just confused. I didn't know what I was going to do w/ my $5 and I pondered on it the entire time I as in my van. I got to Denny's to eat supper w/ my family and it was a sign from God staring me right in the face. Sitting on the counter was a collection jar for a family in need. A man's wife has passed away and left him alone to raise his two daughters ages, 4 and 8. I know $5 is not a lot but I feel good knowing that we as a congregation we helped him even if it was only a small amount!

I got my answer today. I had no clue on how to answer the Cove Bless Back request. Then....in walks Ping into my office. She is sad, actually devastated about the downsizings at my company....is blaming herself. I said "thank you Lord" and then proceeded to share that she was not in control of anything that happened...God was. I explained that worrying about our comrades fates was not in our hands but in God's. She seemed confused. My example was my Mom's recent death. I could not stop her death...it was God's plan. Although Mom died and I miss her, God blessed me throughout that week...He gave me insight to just leave work and go to my Mom's side even though she "just had a broken leg" (I got to spend the last 24 hrs. of her life with her), He let me know through her faith that she was in heaven, and third, with His promise, He has assured me as a Christian that I would be spending my eternity with Mom. I explained to Ping that all we could offer to the people out-of-work is our friendship, our contacts, if we had any, AND our prayers. We did lunch on the $10 that I received plus. After lunch, we went to my office and joined hands and prayed for our downsized friends. I am not sure what religion Ping follows. We prayed to God in the name of Jesus Christ....WOW!!!!! We called one of the guys affected right afterwards. AJ was driving to his first interview and was told that it was just a formality. He interviewed yesterday and will know on Wednesday if he has the job. I told AJ that Ping and I had prayed for him. He said that he hopes it works. Two opportunities in one $10 bill...how awesome!!!

WOW! What a great and wonderful God we serve. When Mike said we were passing the plate I thought that Eric's jaw was going to drop to the floor. The Cove was passing a plate. Could not beleive it. We could not wait to open our envelopes. Eric received $10 and he knew exactly what he wanted to do with the money. His best friend has visited our church, come to support us Eric when he was baptised and is on the fence about how he feels about God. He told Eric that he sees how he has changed over the past 2 years and how our marriage has grown and he wants that. He enjoyed our church but felt like it was too big. Eric has decided to buy his friend his first Bible along with a daily devotional that will help get him started. I didn't know what to do with the money I received until I went for an unexpected appointment with my manager on Monday. We visited Prospertiy Unlimited which is a NON Profit Organization that helps Low to Mod income families purchase homes. I walked in, sat down and noticed the Bible that was opened in the waiting room. This organization helps families in the Cabarrus, Rowan, Stanley and part of Mecklenburg purchase homes. They run solely on donations and any funds available from the counties and the state. I gave them my $20 along with another $80. Taylor opened her envelope and there was $50. WOW....what was she going to do. She was not really sure of what do until Monday night when she realized that her envelope was gone. She has torn our house up looking for it and can not find it. She has prayed and has decided to earn the $50 she misplaced along with another $50 and has decided to purchase Bible's for teenagers and will be taking these to the womens shelter and giving to the kids there.

Though I have attended church all of my life, last Sunday was my very first personal experience at taking a gift from the offering plate. How powerful it was to reflect on the fact that Jesus was entrusting each of us with His money. He does that every day, as all we have belongs to Him; yet, it is easy for me to forget when the checks I receive are made payable in my name.

Before opening my envelope, I prayed for God to show me where to invest the dollars I received that would provide the greatest return for Him and the most blessing that could possibly be squeezed from these funds. I can�t say that He immediately sent me an email with the answer because that did not happen. Finally, I opened my envelope. Before looking at the money inside, I knew I really had no creative investment plan that would significantly impact the world for Jesus regardless of the amount enclosed. I found inside the envelope a crisp, new five-dollar bill.

I went to the web site and began reading about some of the investment blessings others had made. I was awed at how quickly they knew exactly what God wanted them to do. I continued to pray for guidance. I didn�t want to make a poor investment with Jesus� money and thus, I was feeling more accountability than is normal for me. Simultaneously, I was being awakened to the fact that every choice I make regarding the gifts God has given me, I am accountable for, even the small ones. Sometimes, the smallest blessings can become the greatest and are deserving of the same reverence, honor, and gratitude. Then God showed me His answer for my $5.00. It was clearly written on the card contained in my envelope. BlessBack.

All of my life, I have been blessed with great teachers, leaders, and pastors. It was time to BlessBack. I wrote letters to the churches in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia where I received the blessings of Jesus through others. I expressed my gratitude for their teachings, love, unwavering faith, and their examples of daily living allowing the light and love of Jesus to shine through them. I duplicated the gift I was given for each letter sent. It is my prayer that they not only feel the blessings of Jesus when they receive my letter, but that they are able to continue to bless others with the gift inside.

Thank you Mike for your leadership, your dedication to Jesus, and for causing a commotion in my soul this weekend. It moved me to reflect on my life, my blessings, my decisions, my accountability, and to look for ways that I can bless others for Jesus and in His name.

When I received the envelop I prayed for a moment that I would use this to benefit God's will - I had been out to eat a few days earlier at Denny's restaurant and saw this sign saying Denny's would have a bake sale to help Tom (one of Denny's servers) whose wife died unexpectly at 40 years old with a heart attack. She left Tom with two small chilren which were 3 and 8 years of age. I felt in my heart that is where I would put the money as well as add to it. I went to Denny's after the Church Services to give that to Denny's for Tom. However, there was a young guy about 19 years of age (a new server) came to wait on me. As a CPA and in tax season I was working on tax returns while I dined. The young man asked me what I did and I told him I was a CPA of which he didn't know what that was. I began a conservation with him and he told me he was at Mitchell College in Psychology. Said he was raised in foster homes and he wanted to go back and help all those in those homes as a career. I learned his father was incarcerated for drugs and his mother was not in his life much. I proceeded to ask him about his faith He said he went to Church sometimes with his Uncle at a small church but was pondering about his faith. God then told me to give the money to this young fellow who was struggling to make it. I explained the purpose of the gift and told him to think about the foundation he needed as he struggled to overcome the situation in his family life. This was entirely different than what I went to Denny's that day to do. I believe God told me that I was going to give money to Tom anyway and this young man needed some encouragement and I needed to plant the seed in this young man. He may even visit The Cove as he said he had received some literature of the Church.

Thank you Cove Church - This was a blessing in my life - I hope to see this young man in the future

Barbara Orr

Thank you God, Mike and Carey,
When I opened my envelope Sunday after church, there was a $5.00 bill, I said to myself $5.00 is not much to give to someone that is in really in need, I prayed about and it made just since that I could make a difference in someone life just by adding to the $5.00 dollars. I put $45.00 with it making it $50.00. I have sent this money to Tammy who is struggling to make ends meet while going to school full time. Where she lives in Dobson, NC all the manufacturing jobs have gone either to Mexico or overseas. Her husband drives a truck, and is often laid off. This is a lot of money to them.
Thank you Cove Church.

As Larry and I received our Bless Back envelopes Sunday morning, we both looked at each other and we knew at that moment who in our lives needed a blessing - my sister, Debbie Miller. She was just admitted to Lake Norman Regional Hospital on Thursday and received a tentative diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. She is facing a very serious surgery Wednesday morning and has only Medicare insurance coverage.
She was thrilled when we gave her on of the handbags that we purchased at the Cove Store and we put the unopened envelopes in them for her to open. God does work in mysterious ways. Thank you God and thank you Cove Church.
Shirley & Larry

My neighbor's daughter suffers from clinical depression and cannot work. Her husband is a truck driver and is the only source of income for the family. They have two small children. My neighbor often pays for her daughter's prescriptions for her depression. Two weeks ago the daughter's husband was laid off when his employer went out of business. I gave my money to my neighbor to help cover some of the prescription costs.

Upon opening our envelope, I received $10.00 and my husband received $100.00 We donated this money, along with our own personal money to the MS Challenge Walk. It's April 24th, in S.C. This cause is very dear to our hearts, as our daughter was diagnosed with this decease nearly 1 yr. ago. To walk, each person must raise $1500.00 There are 4 people on our team, and we've almost raised our total amount of $6000.00. Whatever is needed we plan to add to that. We hope that with this walk and the money that is raised, they can continue to do much needed research to help find a cure not only to maybe one day help our daughter, but to help the many others afficted with this incurable decease.
We are not members of The Cove church, but visit with our daughter, and son-in-law very often. We belong to a church in Hickory.
We can not tell you the joy and presence of the Lord that we feel when we visit. We simply love this church.

It didn't take long for us as a family to decide what to do with our money. I received $50.00, Jr $5.00 and my 12 yr old son Trey $20.00. On the way home Sunday after Remix, we prayed together as a family for God to help us in finding the "special person" to bless. When I got home I checked my email and I had one from Carolyn, a lady in my life group. She told us that there was a lady in desperate need of help and that she had $101.00 to give and asked if anyone in the lifegroup wanted to add to it. I told the others and once again we prayed and God told us in his own special way that we needed to do it. I don't know this lady, but I know for a fact that she will see how great God is through Carolyn and myself and hopefully others. Thank you Mike for being a wonderful pastor and thank you God for putting all these special people in my life. Sunday's sermon really helped me make a decision to pursue the opportunity to become a biblical counselor. God is so awesome and I thank him everyday for allowing me to be here. This campaign is going to be awesome.

When I received my Bless Back Pack, I prayed over it, opened it, it had 20.00 in it. After I prayed several times over time, lifting it up to God, Anointing it, and ask God to guide me in who I could give it to. I have carried it with me any and everywhere I went. Sunday afternoon, I went to Hollywood Video to rent the Movie "Left Behind". There was a lady behind the counter, whom I asked where the Inspriational Section was. She said we really don't have one, they are all mixed together, what are you looking for? I told her, and she asked me which one. I had no idea, I didn't know there was more than 1. So, I got the 1st "2". As I left, while walking to my car, there was a voice that said "She was the one who I needed to give that money to. I continued leaving, and prayed about it. I wanted to make sure that it just wasn't me imagining it. Tonight is Monday 3-31-08. I had watched my 2nd movie tonight. I went back there to get the last one. I took my pack with me, and ask God to let her be there if it was meant for her to have it. As I pulled up, I looked thru the window hoping to see her (that money was burning a hole in my pocket, after all I am a woman :) and I saw a guy standing in there alone, she wasn't there. I thought wow, I was so sure that was what I was to do with it. When I walked in I heard a voice say "Did you come back for the last one?" It was her!! I got so excited, and said yes, and I also have something for you. I told her about my church and what we were doing. Then I handed her that 20.00. She stood there in complete shock! Then she told me her story. She said My husband had cancer 2 years ago and it came back this year. I was talking to my mother today telling her how my husband and I are both Christians, and where was God. She said on the way to work tonight she was singing that song, about if God never does another for her, he had been good to her. Then tonight, I showed up, and handed her 20.00. IT was the most wonderful feeling to see the look on her face, and to hear her saying "wow" several times as she walked back to get my movie for me!! We talked about how good God is, and how sometimes, he is just behind the scene, and just when she thought he wasn't there, I came with a message for her from God.
THANK YOU TO GOD, MIKE, AND THE COVE CHRUCH FOR BEING SUCH A BLESSING TO ME, OTHAT I WAS ABLE TO BLESS SOMEONE TONIGHT. I feel just as blessed if not more than her. I love God more and more every day, and am So blessed to have came from a life of despair, destruction, and spiritial Bankrupt!! I have a direct connection with God, He talks to me walks with me and he truly works through me today.
I am PROUD TO BE A COVE MEMBER. I love each and everyone of you at the Cove, you help make my life complete today!

Hello all.

I am very new to the Cove Church and am so thankful for the person who introduced me to it! I received a 10 dollar envelope. I have prayed over this for awhile and the same person kept coming to mind. She does not "need" the money, but God kept laying her on my heart. I have sent my money to a sweet angel named Teresa. She is a nurse midwife in another community. She is an incredible person and bravely gives her cell phone number out to every one of her patients (can you imagine?!) SHe works hard, long hours and runs herself ragged. She is currently taking care of her mother while keeping up with her immediate family needs as well. The idea of spending time with her over coffee sounded great, but we live so far apart now. So, in lieu of coffee, I sent her the money with a long note explaining how God kept bringing her to mind with this Ignite project. She is in such a good spot for sharing the "Good News" with others while providing the awesome service of birthing babies. What an amazing job! So, I will be praying for her and her strength that only God can give. It is also my prayer that she find a new, renewed spirit as a result. She has sacrificed so very much!

Even though I did not share this gift with someone in the Lake Norman area, God nudged me to send it to her. A new buzz will be created outside of the area with the good things going on at the Cove. I am so excited and honored to be apart of it!

I received $20 this past Sunday at The Cove to bless someone with. As I was leaving the church parking lot I asked God who He wanted me to bless with this money. The answer was James. James goes to kidney dialysis in Mooresville 18-20 hours a week. He does not have a car and the Red Cross transports him back and forth from his home in Huntersville. That is how I got to know James. Last September my business slowed down so I had time on my hands. I volunteered at Red Cross to drive James and some other dialysis patients to their treatment each week. James lives with his son in a house that does not have heat. If James is not at kidney dyalysis throughout the week he is visiting his daughter who stays in the hospital 90% of the time. He either walks to the hospital to visit her or sometimes takes a bus. When he finishes visiting her at the hopsital he goes over to her house to take care of her 8 children. This past Sunday I had bought a ticket for James to go on a boat cruise which was a fundraiser luncheon/Lake Norman cruise for the Red Cross. James thought I was taking him do Disney World. I went to pick him up and he was all dressed up - a sports coat, turtle neck and hat. This was his big day. After having a grand time on the boat with food and music I took him home and gave him the $20. I told him I had been blessed with someone giving me the money and I wanted to bless him with it. Words will never describe the enormity not only of this boat event in James life but ending it with gift of money. Only God could have scripted this day. I have learned many lessons from James. He does not have money. Times are hard and even moreso with the additional responsibilities of his daughter and her family BUT James NEVER complains or has a negative thing to say about life. It is not about James - he gave up his own self years ago - it is about others. God brought me to a hard place in my life and I can look back and see why He did that to bring me to James. There is not enough money that I could have given James for all the life lessons he has shown me but Sunday afternoon James would have disagreed because that $20 was like $20,000 to James. Thank you Cove Church for the opportunity to experience how rewarding the power of giving is!

Hi Everyone,

Mine went to a an area so dear to my heart, God's little animals. So, I gave my $10.00 to Iredell Humane Society and the following poem is just one of the reasons why:

Help Me! Help Me!
By Shellie Garay
-- -.

Help me. Help me! I feel so alone. This place is so dark, I want to go home.

We came in this world, 8 weeks ago today.
But with "free to good home", my siblings went away

Since no "free to good home" for me could be found
In this cardboard box I was brought to the pound.

This cage confines me, and this place is so sad.
If I don't get a home, the outcome is bad.

How much I would love, to run and to play.
But in this cage is where I must stay.

People pass by me. With so many to choose I am not adopted, once again I lose.

This place is getting full, and my time is growing near.
Be glad "free to good home" You don't have to live here.

Today is my day. I have been here too long. Why can't I wait? What did I do wrong?

I know someone will want me, It takes time you see
But I take up room,
And now I must leave.

HELP ME! HELP ME! I died here alone.
What a shame, how sad, I didn't find a home.

I was ten weeks old and in the sun never played. I came here in a box, because my mother was not spayed.

We were racking our brain to decide how to use the blessing we received this past Saturday. On the news we heard about this remarkable minister who is rescuing homeless people from under bridges and along our highways. He is the minister to the SC Highway Patrol among other ministries and has been doing this for about 34 years. He has been featured on WBTV news twice now. I spoke with him for about 20 minutes. He is a God inspired man. What courage. Mike and I have donated our gift to this ministry: Christians Feed the Hungry.
P.O. Box 10042, Rock Hill, SC 29731. 803-389-2939.

I gave my $10 to a recent widow for gas money

As I drove home from the 5:30 PM Saturday church service I knew that I wanted my blessing to multiply and reach someone who really had a serious need. My envelope contained $10. I added to the amount and divided it into two different envelopes and drafted a letter explaining the BlessBack Project. I instructed the recipient of the envelope to take the money if they needed it. If they did not have a need of their own, they were to pass it along to someone else until it reached the person who really needed it. They could add to the amount if they desired and were able. My husband and I took these envelopes to work Monday morning and planted them quietly (anonymously) on the desk of co-workers who we felt were compassionate members of the Lake Norman Community. I asked that whoever finally gave out the blessing go to the website and give us the story � maybe we will know where this blessing ended and maybe not, but I hope it will not only be a blessing for whoever receives the money but also for those whose hands it passes through.

Randy and I got $5 and $10 to give to someone, and we added to that amount. We wanted to give it to a stranger. Anyway I prayed to God for guidance in this. I went to the new Wal-Mart in Iron Station to pick up dog food today. I had the money with me. Upon checking out, I spoke to two women who worked there, and explained that I wanted to give this to someone who really needed it. One woman said a co-worker a couple registers down was really going thru a hard time, and was really struggling to make ends meet and was tearful today, because she couldn�t afford her medications. I approached her and explained that I wanted to give her this money. It was so touching, she cried and hugged me, and stated how I just came along at the right time. She was so grateful. I just wanted you to know how neat this was for me, it was so touching and I just really felt the love of Jesus!

The envelope I got at church Sunday morning I gave to a co-worker. I think it was really a blessing. When she came by my office this morning there were several folks in here, so I told her to take the envelope open when she got back to her desk and call me later and I would explain it to her. A little later she called and as I told her the story behind the money she started to cry. She told me that while she was in her church yesterday she was wondering how she would make ends meet this week. This lady is a single mother of four children. So, I told her to take the money and use it as she saw fit.
While I was at lunch with some other co-workers, one of which attends the Cove I was ask if I had given the money to a worthy cause yet. I told them I had and who I had given it to. Man, it opened up right there at the table. The guys said they didn�t know she was struggling and the money started rolling in for her. It�s a great thing the church has done.

A friends' daughter was collecting money through her soccer team for her coaches' wife's fight with cancer. I matched The Cove gift with my money to help her with medical expenses and to let her know there are people praying for her recovery.

I received an email a few weeks ago from a neighbor. She had a friend of a friend who was requesting prayers for a little girl named Meredith. Meredith was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was in the hospital receiving treatment. At that same time, the mother was in another hospital giving birth to their new baby boy. I forwarded this email to my life group and we continued to pray for Meredith and her family. I could not help but think about this family with the BlessBack Project. After praying, I decided to give the money (both mine and my husband's) to this family along with a personal donation from our family. I just felt that even though it was only $20.00, this would give them hope and/or maybe encouragment that their are people out there, complete strangers, praying and supporting their family through this difficult time, and most importantly reminding them that God is so Awesome !

We have a friend that is really struggling financially so we pooled our money together to give to her. One of us was out of town and not getting to any of the weekend services. Kathi called her and told her she had to go. She told her what The Cove was doing and said "you might get the 1000 dollars for our friend". She hurried home and made the remix service. She came out with $50! Together we have $80 to give our friend. She has 2 children and is receiving no support from their father. She would never let us help her and now we CAN! We can't wait to give her this money straight from our Heavenly Father!! Thank you Cove Church!!!

I was really trying to think of something clever to do with the 50$ i got ... But that was just me being selfish trying to decide what i wanted to do with the money...This morning at work i was telling people about the cove & the blessback project & a light went off in my head One of my coworkers wives just got diagnosed with breast cancer ..So the money went to them to help pay medical costs ...Thank you cove church & all members..Ihave been attending for only a short time but each week Ifeel more a part of GODS family Paul Recore

Lori and I have a son on his second deployment to Iraq. He is with the 101ST Airborne group. He asked me to see about getting him a new study bible three weeks ago. We were in Hickory and went to the Family Christian Store I bought him a new bible and also bought him the Tony Dungy book to send him over in Iraq. I was checking out the lady behind the counter informed me if you buy Max Lucado's book 3:16 they will send an additional one to soldiers in Iraq. We prayed after yesterdays service what we should do with out $110.00, I received $100.00 Lori $10.00 we combined our money. The answer to our prayer was to return to the Family Christian Store in Hickory and use the money to purchase as many books as we could. We purchased seven books and the store is sending seven additional books to Iraq for our soldiers. We brought our seven books home with us and will send them to our son making sure they will get in hands that need them. Thank you for the idea we both felt very blessed to be doing such a task. The people at the store we amazed one lady said she was going to tell her church she attends about the idea.

Wow! What a night at the Cove. The message was great, the music moved me to tears and the "Bless Back" project was very exciting. When we had prayer time, my spirit moved me to put my prayer on the cross. I've been praying for a friend of mine. Her name is Shelia, her husband walked out on her and her son, some time ago. She's been trying to sell her house to have enough money to get home to California, to be with her family. The way the housing market has been lately, it doesn't look like it will sell anytime soon. A couple of weeks ago she told me she was trying to save enough to get moved, and would come back when the house sold. I asked her what it would take for her to move. She said she had $1,000.00 saved but needed $1,000.00 more to make the trip. Many times I have wished I had the money to give her but I don't, so I pray for her. When Mike was talking about the "Bless Back" project, I knew whatever was in the envelope I was going to give to Shelia. Every little bit would help her get home. When we left the church, my daughter asked me if I had opened my envelope yet. I said, "no, I need to pray over it first". As we drove down the road I prayed God's blessings over the envelope and thanked him for helping Shelia. We stopped for gas, and as I got back in the car, my daughter said, "come on mom open your envelope." She knew I was going to help my friend with it. I opened the envelope, and Bless the Lord, it was the exact amount Shelia needs to go home, $1,000.00. Tomorrow, I look forward to seeing her at work, and telling her of the wonderful gift given to her by my family at the Cove. What a wonderful feeling to "pay it forward", to bring joy to someone who can't see past today what tomorrow will bring. Thank you for the gift, given to me, to be given to a deserving woman. Her life will be changed, and I have joy in my spirit because of it. God Bless you all at the Cove. I love being apart of this family.

I am going to use my $10 dollars for recycling for my school and home.Which later on will help people.It also helps are beautiful earth.Thank so you much. Your service was very moving.

Oh My Gosh!!! This is so AWESOME!!! What a concept. When the offering was happening, I prayed that I would not get the $1,000.00 because I was afraid I would not do the Cove justice. Now that I have found the perfect recipient I wish I could re-wind. I'll be darned if I didn't receive a phone call this weekend that was the perfect answer to my Bless Back Project. I have a friend that is a police officer. He does prisoner transport. While he is transporting prisoners from point A to point B he witnesses to them and gives them bibles for them to have in prison. These bibles are not donated, he purchases them out of pocket. I responded with what the Cove was doing and asked him if he would accept my donation. He was so excited. While he is working with a company that sells the bibles for cost, there IS still a cost. I never expected to have the opportunity to do something like this and that it would present itself so quickly. It gives me hope to carry on and thru this small donation I will be giving someone else hope when they find themselves in a drastic situation.

Thanks so much Cove!
Barb

I sent my 5$ to the Baby Bottole Boomerang Community Pregnancy Center of Mooresville.
(I sent it in a little baby's bottle)

I have been asking myself what can I do to help someone. I signed up as a big sister a few months ago, but I am still waiting for a child to help. When I picked up my envelope today I knew before I opened it, that there was more than $1-$5 in it. I know it was my push to get out and do something. I also knew right away before I even opened it, that I wanted to help women and children in need. I came home and got on the computer and almost right away I found my mission. The center of Hope. The name said it all. They posted a list of needs, personal hygene items, diapers, towels etc. I quickly did my best"sale shopping" to get the most for my $100 bill. I was at the shelter by one o'clock with 9 full bags of supplies. One woman was going in the building, I asked her if she could help me carry my bags in, and I told her of this wonderful gift from my church. She said oh do you have tooth paste. Of course I did, and she said please I would love to have some. Such a simple thing made her day. I am matching your donation and picking up other things that they said they really needed more of. What a wonderful feeling. Thank you for my jump start! Nancy

With the start of Ignite, we brought 10 people with us this week. We usually have about 3 or 4, so this was quite a weekend for us. I did a testimonial that is for use during Ignite, and I thought it would be a great way to invite several people to come along. When we have a smaller group, we go to brunch and I find myself picking up the bill. Occasionally we will trade off. I recently made a job change, for the better, but am left out of sorts financially for the next 6 weeks. We are working from our savings right now, waiting for the cycle to get back on track. Everytime we move money from savings, I cringe. We took enough out this morning, so we could pay our part at brunch, and everyone was okay with paying their part. Just last night, I had read that exact verse about Elijah and the woman. There is no question that regardless of what was in the envelope, I had to take care of the brunch. In exchange, I did ask that everyone continue to return until my segment aired. Once they saw it, they could make their own decisions on returning to the Cove. We all opened our envelopes at the table, and my wife and I drew the $5 bills. 3 people had $50 bills, and began discussions on how to use it for the purpose it was intended. I have begun giving One Year Bibles to those that seem ignited when they see me reading mine, and offered that suggestion as well. After eating, I told the rest of the story of Elijah and the woman, and her son's resurrection. I have no regrets giving until it hurt, knowing it was well received and I will be cared for during this financial drought.