We want to start by thanking God for bringing the written Word to Life, here at Gethsemane, through the transforming Power of the Love of Jesus Christ!

Our church continues to faithfully give 10% of our offerings to missions. We also give an additional 1% of offerings towards our benevolence fund. This faithfulness on our part is bringing into reality the fact that God's blessings are pouring out on our members in such an uncontainable way!

We have youth in our congregation on fire for evangelism and missions. This burning in their hearts actually inspires the rest of our congregation. Not only are families reconnecting, the community in which we live is experiencing an overflow of life changing love through their knowledge that they CAN make a difference in the lives of others, whether locally, nationally, or internationally!

The desire to serve God has ignited several new ministries and outreach events in our church. We have continued to support our missionaries this year with over $30,000 in funding. We had the opportunity to support the following through missions:

- Helping our youth pastor enter her own ministry as pastor of a local church,
- Funded several trips to UAE and Sri Lanka, which included Steve Adkins, from Lifebuilders,
- Helped Taylor Kerns go to Costa Rica with Teen Mania Ministries,
- Assisted a few of our youth over the summer with travel expenses to Cherokee, North Carolina,

New and revitalized ministries include:

- The Stephen Ministry,
- United Methodist Men,
- Hospitality Team,
- Two new classes for the Singles' Group.
- Love INC.
- Beth Graves, a homegrown missionary, is entering the field with Pioneers in Sudan

We were also very fortunate to temporarily host Destiny Christian School in our fellowship hall. This school for special needs youth has since found a more permanent location.

Last spring, we held our very first Blessing of the Bikes event, where in association with the local Christian Motorcycle Association, three lives were brought to Christ. This saving knowledge of the Lord taught us how much fun it is to live for Him. This event actually became a stepping stone for our congregation, as we proceeded to hold a fall festival.

In October, Gethsemane hosted the Wishing for Water Fall Festival, and the Fourth Annual Race for Faith Mission Fundraiser. This was a turning point for our church when it comes to evangelistic outreach. During the early summer months, we were inspired by one of our youth, Kim Graves, who is seventeen, to help supply clean water to people in Africa. With the help of God, the local community was able to rally around her vision, and raised over $6000.00 for the people in need that reside in Kinshasa, Congo!

God continued to pour His blessings on us as we jumped into our next big outreach, Operation Christmas Child, of the Samaritan's Purse organization. In years past, we have been quite successful with our congregation supporting this international project of shoebox gifts. This year our church was elected to be the area Collection Center. Dawn Wallace took on the role as Area Coordinator for the Delmarva region. Our church came together, in connection with over 100 area volunteers and almost 300 churches, organizations, and private donors . We welcomed the receipt and distribution of 7760 shoeboxes from the people in this region.

This year also marked the first time that musicians from Vertikal Xpressions, one of our worship bands, will participate in the Seaford Christmas Parade. This event is the largest of it's type in the area. Our youth participated in decorating a trailer that was donated by one of our members. This is yet another example of our church coming together to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

SLAM, our United Methodist Mens group, continued with their participation in The Angel Tree Project, of the Prison Fellowship organization. The church stepped up, and helped to provide Christmas gifts for local children, who have parents that are incarcerated. This group also has a Hunter's Banquet scheduled for early next year, in which sportsman from all around will converge on Gethsemane for a great time of fellowship.

This has truly been an awesome year for outreach. Sometimes Satan will tempt us to give up; By telling us that we can not handle all the work, or that our church will not come together for these events. This year, we proved it wrong. By trusting in the Lord with all of our hearts, we revealed that God's Word is alive and true.

"Don't get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don't give up." GALATIANS 6:9

In the spirit of humility, we thank God for not letting Gethsemane give up, no matter how hard the task at hand presented itself. We pray, that as a Body of Christ, we will always search for ways to be His hands and feet, doing His will. God, You are an awesome God!

Be sure to check out the NEWS page for the most current Outreach information and events.