December 2022

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Breakaway Winter Retreat 2022

Open Bible Church holds a conference for teens in Des Moines each winter, and we hope to send a group every year. We took nine teens on this 3-day retreat, and as you can see from the comments below, it was an amazing time.

“I’m so grateful to Open Bible Central Region for putting this event together every year for us! I’m so grateful to God for how He speaks and transforms lives when we gather in one accord and seek Him!”
-Tracey Gerard

“Oh my goodness. Breakaway (it isn’t Winter Retreat, no one can convince me) was so, so amazing. So many people touched by God and so many good times together. I love this group and am so, so proud to be able to watch them grow in God. We are small but we are strong, and I could not be more proud to be walking with God with anyone else. Thank God for this experience, for the people I met and for the people I got to know better. Thank God for meeting us there. Can’t wait for camp!”
-Lorelai Gerard

“So beyond blessed for having the opportunity to encounter God with you 💛 I’m gonna miss these retreats so much but I thank God for giving us such a mighty little youth family 🙂 you guys will have a special place in my heart forever.”
-Karissa Heishman

Our Roots youth group was richly blessed by spending time in worship, hearing biblical teachings, and growing in friendship. Each person had a powerful testimony of what God spoke to them during this conference.

Join Roots youth group every Wednesday night if you’re interested in this ministry. We’re excited to see what God does with this amazing group of teens in the new year!

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Exemple

We’re really proud of our talented pastor, whose show, A Carol Play, was performed at the Brooklyn Opera House over the weekend. Josh wrote the play as a fresh take on Dicken’s classic A Christmas Carol, with an emphasis on the true meaning of Christmas. Several from our church family had a role in this Christian comedy, and they had a lot of fun during each performance.

A Carol Play was a family-friendly event, complete with goodie bags for the kids. For a discounted ticket, attendees could bring in a canned food item for the Brooklyn pantry, and we’re happy to report that donations far exceeded expectations. Our community seemed to soak in the comedy as well as the quieter moments from the stage.

Tracey said, “It was so surreal to see this play that Josh wrote 15 years ago brought out of the vault! He did a fantastic time writing and directing, and the actors’ delivery was amazing! It was a full house! Lots of laughs!”

Here are some photos of the highlights, taken by our very own Tracey Gerard.

Pastor Josh has a long history of acting, directing, and writing plays. We hope he continues impacting our community with this work! (Or should we say “play”?)

God bless us, every fudge.

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