Dear Love Denver Volunteer,

It is hard to believe that nearly two months have passed since Love Denver!  Have you recovered??  Early on in the planning stages of this project, we anticipated the opportunity to invite our city’s law enforcement personnel to come together with churches in the Mile High Association for a follow-up celebration.  In a more formal (and less stressful!) way, it would allow us the chance to express appreciation to our city servants and continue building bridges for future ministry.  To that end, our churches have plans to host five celebration events around the city this fall. 

In recent days, the Denver Police Department set aside a date at the end of this month to join us for a downtown celebration.  We are planning to host hundreds of officers at the Police Protective Association on Wednesday, October 29 at 2 PM.  In addition to a snack reception, there will be a brief program led by some of our MHBA pastors.  The highlight of the event will be the presentation of a small token of appreciation to each officer. 

We would love to have volunteer participation at this event.  After all, you represent the heart of what Love Denver was all about!  Due to space limitations, however, we are only able to accommodate 100 volunteers.  If your schedule allows and you would like to participate, please RSVP via e-mail to jhall@riversidebaptist.com.  If attending, we would like to ask you to arrive by 1:00pm that day in order to coordinate your help and participation with the event. 

Here is a quick summary:

Event:  Love Denver Celebration 

Date:  Wednesday, October 29

Time:  2 PM – 3:30 PM

Location:  Police Protective Association (2105 Decatur Street – near Invesco Field)

Note:  Please plan to wear your Love Denver t-shirt

**RSVP to jhall@riversidebaptist.com by Monday, October 27

We continue to hear stories of how God used your ministry efforts during the DNC.  Thank you, again, for serving Him through one of the most significant kingdom projects that Southern Baptists have ever experienced in Denver.

For His Glory,

Love Denver Leadership Team 

It has been just over a month since the DNC and the news is still talking about how successful the event was and how professional the police were during that week. I would like to thank all of the members of Love Denver for their superior support behind the scenes during such difficult times. You made the best of one of the toughest assignments and showed the true love of Christ through your ministry. God bless you all.

Darrin, Aurora PD

Dear Love Denver Missionary:

You made Love Denver successful!  God must have smiled as he saw you and more than six hundred other volunteers leaving the comforts of home and routines to join other passionate Christians in this massive project.  However, it was never “just a project!”  This was a ministry of love and spiritual concern for the well-being of law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and OUR CITY. 

So that you can rejoice in the impact of this ministry, I want to share some statistics with you:

•  647 volunteers represented  26 MHBA Southern Baptist Churches and six non-SBC congregations.
• 14,182 volunteer hours were donated; the average volunteer gave 22 hours of service.
• 50,500 meals were served.
• 1,750 Peacemaker New Testaments were distributed.
• 147 Professions of Faith were recorded through the ICE teams and Love Denver contacts.

Law Enforcement and volunteers alike note this effort as “life-changing” and “the first time I have every felt this way” and “I never saw the church involved in a city like this!”

While I want to congratulate you for an incredible job, we must stop and admit this was far too great a task for 647 or 1,000.  This was a God-sized task, and frankly, apart from His power and work among all of us, it would have been a catastrophe.  This was a Missions Trip TO OUR OWN CITY!

Over the next two weeks, we will be asking the questions “What next?”  The answers must come from your local churches.  I hope every person involved in this effort will see that this kind of activity can become the strategy of your local church – on a smaller scale of course.  I hope you see the possibility of dreaming ministry through your church that is GOD-SIZED.  I pray that you realize that your dreams can be accomplished when our churches work together. 

Bob Ryan, Mile High Baptist Association Team Leader

Hello to all! I am a Police Officer with the City of Aurora, whose assignment during the DNC was Division 5 at Civic Center Park. I wish to take a moment and express the warmth I felt each day coming into the down room area where all the truly awesome people in the yellow shirts made me feel welcome, relaxed and appreciated. To all those who volunteered and to all who helped make such times more than pleasurable, THANK YOU!! Thank you for everything. 

Mark, Aurora PD

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I am so appreciative of the volunteers hard work and smiling faces during the DNC. We prayed for God’s Holy Spirit to be present during the DNC and it was. We saw the spirit in the volunteers and their hard work. Thank you. Praise be to the Father!

Bill, Aurora PD

I am a police officer with Aurora Police Department and was assigned to Division 3 during the DNC. I want to thank all of you for the hours and hard work you put in to make our job easier. You manned our “down rooms” 24 hours a day. Some of us may be used to the odd hours but I’m sure you’re not and your sacrifices were truly appreciated. You always had smiles and kind, encouraging words for us. Thank you for your love and concern.

Annette