What do you do with a bunch of runners in church?

You make them run, of course.

24 people from NPC are currently training to run the ING Atlanta Full or 1/2 Marathon on March 21st, 2010.  What's their motivation?  Is it just to get out of going to worship?  That might be part of it for some, but the real reason is much better:

To be the church.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible comes from Galatians, "Bear one another's burdens, and in this way, you fulfill the law of Christ," (6.2).  I am convinced there are countless ways to live out that passage.

We have a young man in our congregation with Cystic Fibrosis.  So 24 of us are running in honor of him, raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Cystic Fibrosis Reaching Out Foundation.  We are doing this through the 65 ROSES organization.

Take a few minutes and watch a couple of the videos presented here.  You will understand very quickly how important this cause is.

Over the last five months we have been training, praying, challenging, and celebrating with one another on this journey.  We have been raising money  and counting on your your encouragement and prayers as well.  Remind us of what Paul wrote to the Philippians, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (4:13).

Who is TEAM DEAN you ask?  Don Bowler, Ralph Cimperman, Tim Cundy, Katie Day, Patrick Day, Chris Girard, Nancy Girard, JJ Gorman, Lisa Gorman, Sarah Hackler, Jennifer Hansen, Amy Hinkel, Doug Hollowell, Alyson King, Larry King, Rebekah Lignugaris, Andrew Page, Leah Patterson, Caroline Riffel, Drew Sills, Beth Stafford, Tim Thomas, Stephanie Tonra, and Carla Ussery.

This is an exciting way for us to take the church into the world.

To check out the fundraising web site, click here.

To learn more about the work of 65 Roses and the foundations they support, click here.