Church truly makes an Impact on 'Serve This City' Day

Story and photos by Tommie Brown, Staff Writer

Last Sunday found over 400 bright blue t-shirt clad congregation members crowding themselves inside the building of Impact Church on New Hub Drive in Menifee. Members of all ages stood in matching “Live and Love Like Jesus” attire, ready to serve the community.

With a focus of community outreach at Impact Church, leaders have made great efforts in service projects that benefit the people of Menifee. However, Sunday’s event, “Serve This City,” was the largest scale outreach the church has yet to provide.

Over the course of the last few months, the church has been focusing on a ministry they call “Help Wanted.” While the country is seeing mass amounts of turmoil and aggression, pastors of Impact saw the need to dive into the study of what God is calling the Church to do in these problematic times.

After studies on not so simple topics such as immigration, racism, poverty, and gun violence, Impact found that “ultimately, the challenge for all of us was to do everything we can to show God’s love to people in real and tangible ways,” said Pastor Ryan Sharp.

Stopping all Sunday church services, the congregation took their ministry to the community.



“We shut down our Sunday worship services to spend Sunday worshipping through service,” said Sharp. “I couldn’t have been prouder of our church.”


If you happened to find yourselves in the area of the Boys and Girls Club or near Quail Valley Bible Church, you surely saw the crowds of blue t-shirts doing manual labor. From painting and deep cleaning to landscaping and rebuilding, the 400-plus members of the community wasted no time in their renovations.

“It’s taken me a long time to find a church like this,” said congregation member Hannah Butler. “A church that really does actually serve its community the way it preaches one should."



Not only did the Church renovate the two locations, they also supplied major maintenance to homes and lots in the Quail Valley area, built a wheelchair ramp for a disabled veteran’s home, and spent time visiting at Assistant Living facilities around town.

And all while having smiles on their faces and a pep in their step.

“We visited with people, prayed for people and served people. Everyone worked hard and did it all with enthusiasm and joy,” said Sharp. “I was blessed to see so many families serving together on different projects. I learned later that one couple who served all day was celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary. What a way to celebrate!”

Notably among the volunteers were the large amounts of families who took their children out to serve the community as young as months old, serving with smiles in their strollers.


“It was great to have the whole family out … seeing lots of people willingly giving their mornings to serve others,” said Joe Ellett, accompanied by his wife Sue and their four children. “Looking out for the needs of others is a huge part of what we have tried to instill in our children. My hope is that [Sunday] was a practical example for them.”

With not one pouting face or tired body in sight, the children of Impact Church did more than their fair share in lending a hand to the community. Standing on chairs to clean windows, using extensions attached to extensions on paint rollers to reach the high spots, and gathering together to join forces in digging and weeding, not one body went to waste.


Six-year-old Kenneth even found himself the star of the Boys & Girls Club playground as he dumped his weight in fresh woodchips.

“It’s fun to do things God is asking us to do,” said an ecstatic Kenneth in between his woodchip runs.

Kenneth’s mom, Sherena Finn, said while paint chipping with her sister Jessica Rovang, brother-in-law, and daughter in a stroller arms-length away, “There’s just really no excuse.”

While the congregation members were full of the joy in giving back, the community members who were served shared the same excitement.

John Whann, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club in Menifee, thanked Impact Church, Sharp, Jeff Johnson and their team of staff and volunteers.

“It was amazing to see so many motivated people volunteering their to time to make a positive impact on the children and the families we serve,” said Whann. “We sincerely appreciate all the help and would like to thank everyone involved.”

Sharp even noted that he “saw many tears of happiness and hope from those [the church] was able to help.”

Amid the shoveling and raking, drilling and hammering, there was the echo being heard around every task of what is taught within the walls of their church: To have such a big impact on our community, that our community cannot live without them. Sunday was a good indicator that Impact Church is on the road to that success.