Art has always had a major role in the history of the Church and now it has one at Westwood. We are rolling out an art initiative to display original works on campus that will allow us to worship the Creator in new ways.

Curt & Judi Quiner are missionaries that Westwood is proud to partner with. Along with their two daughters, they serve the motorcycling community in the Twin Cities and beyond. They share a little about their ministry, their successes and some of the challenges they face.

Westwood’s partnerships with missionaries like Jim & Lynne Jackson help us reach people here, near and far with the love of Jesus. Lynne and Jim co-founded Connected Families in 2002. Their ministry works to inspire and equip parents to receive and pass on God's grace and truth by imparting a Biblical framework for parenting.

Westwood member Rachel Jeffries didn’t set out to be an advocate for victims of human trafficking. She was living her regular life when God ignited a passion within her. While she was in India visiting family, Rachel said she saw first-hand the vulnerability of people there. “I saw the need, and I saw the work the local International Justice Mission field office (IJM) was doing to bring healing and hope.”

A tradition started at Westwood many years ago. A tradition that began with the simple idea of giving away. You see, at Christmas, we celebrate God giving us the greatest gift of all—His son Jesus. And this gift of a baby born in a stable long ago, was given by God with the knowledge that it would be given away. That this precious baby would grow to be a man who would die on the cross for all of us.

Steve Lattu is hard at work building a deck. Wood is being measured, cut and hammered into place. But Steve won’t be the one lounging on the deck when it is completed. In fact, Steve is working on projects for a house he doesn’t live in, for teens he may never meet.

Hope House, the house located on Westwood’s property, is soon going to be “re-purposed” to meet a growing need in our community–homeless teens. Every night, there are teens in our backyard who do not have a place to stay. Many end up crashing on friends’ couches. Many end up with a much sadder fate by entering in to the dark world of sex trafficking. The need in our community is real.

During the month of January, Pastor Joel spoke on injustice and ways in which we are called to “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” The greater need in our world today, and the purpose of the Food Pack, is to not only feed God’s hungry people – “in body and in spirit” – but to also challenge injustice in our world today.

IT WAS THE SINGLE HARDEST ASSIGNMENT that the Senior Investigator from International Justice Mission (IJM) had experienced in his 30-year career. For many years, he had led IJM teams into dark and dangerous places to rescue children and adults suffering violence. When he went with IJM to investigate child slavery in the West African nation of Ghana last year, he was wholly unprepared for what he saw...

As I look back on that snowy evening in November at Perkins, it is amazing to think of all that the Lord has done since then to form just the right teams for each country, have essentially three mission trips happen simultaneously, see such outpouring of His Spirit and grace, keep everyone healthy and safe, and to witness how He longs to meet the needs of the people we came alongside. We stand in awe.