Holidays can be especially lonely and difficult for some of our Single Parent Families, so our desire is to make their Christmas special. We held two dinners and all the ladies and their children were given gifts. We were able to honor the Single Moms in Northern Colorado and the Denver area. We love these events as we are able to partner with community businesses to share the need for Single Mom Families.

One mom wrote " Your organization, the gifts, the help, and most of all the encouragement of your sweet event and the warm welcoming dinner did wonders for my discouraged heart". Our goal at BTG is to allow them to see that we as well as so many others care about them.

2014 is here and there is always a lot of buzz this time of year of what was bad or what's trending from last year and what changes may need to happen. In the world of faith, I read about the declining numbers of church attendees for the Sunday morning services and events. I can give you pages of statistics from Gallup, Barna and others about the declining numbers from all ages who have ceased attending Church.

So as we start 2014 I have some bad news, good news and some great news. Bad News - It is true and sad to see the attendance of church decline over the last decade. I know attending church has played a large role personally in our family life for the positive. We learned a lot, met some great friends and had life changing moments in church. I know I speak for the majority and pray that hopefully this trend will change for the positive.

Good News - Even though Sunday morning church attendance may be down, the thirst for God is still alive. 88% of adults say their faith is important to them and 64% of those are pursuing their faith in an environment that's different from a typical church. So head counts may be down on Sunday morning but heart counts are up in people wanting to live their faith. Simply put, their faith is not a subject they want to study each week, but their faith is a relationship they want to live out.

The Great News -  In the book of Matthew Jesus asked, "Who do people say that I am" Simon Peter said, "You're the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus came back, "God bless you, Simon, son of Jonah! You didn't get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am. And now I'm going to tell you who you really are. You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church..." The church, therefore, is not a place. It's not the building, it's not the location, and it's not the denomination. It's people like you and I who love Jesus Christ and exercise our faith with outpouring of resources, time, energy and love for the world around us.