Celebration Community Church

Mike Hammer planted Celebration Community Church with the idea of reaching the community. Mike was formerly the youth pastor at Camp Hill. Upon entering the Dillsburg Area, Mike new there had been a problem with the youth in the area and their co-operation with local residents and business owners. In recognizing this, Mike opened a place for youth to come to. They built a student center equipped with pool tables, flat screen tv's, and computers with the internet. The center has been extremely successful. This center has opened various opportunities within the community, all before Celebration Community Church was even planted.

Upon the first day of service for the church, the had already established themselves in the community. Their first service ever, they had 300 people. The church which meets in a country club, has been successful in its initial years. While it has not quite maintained the attendance of its first service, they have continually grown.

The church has implemented the Bridges system. Bridges was developed to:

"Provide each person a unique way to change forever their outlook on LIFE, work, career, family, and themselves."

It exists as a 3 day program as they dig deeper into a persons life. So often we choose to live our lives about the water. We as humans and Christians find it much more difficult to dig deeper into who they really are. This system is helped to:

• Discover who you think you really are
• Who God thinks you are

This tool is the main form of discipleship and outreach within Celebration Community Church. It allows people to break down barriers that are preventing them from getting to know God. It has also built a strong form of discipleship.

Personally, I think the system was a good idea, but within the culture we live in among our age group I don't think it would as affective, because they are still so young and are still ever changing. It was also difficult to do this in one night. While I recognize the need for healing, Mark stated himself that this is a 3 day program. I would be hesitant to expose all of these things to students who are not going to have any follow through on it. You did cover that on your end, but Mike must be careful exposing such issues to people without knowing where we as students could get help.