Madison Christian Giving Fund
By Fred Grossenbach – Dear Friends, Dane County is home to incredible Christian ministries—transforming lives through compassion, leadership, and service. Yet, so many of these efforts go unnoticed. What if more people knew? Imagine the impact we could have together. Last week, I attended the second quarterly meeting of United Madison Christian Givers. The event was held at the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship offices on Whitney Way and featured presentations by six Christian leaders in Dane County. About 65 people attended. What struck me was the reach and life-changing impact that each of these organizations has. Read more of this letter…
By Fred Grossenbach – Backpack drives are taking place all over the city as school openings approach. This year Lighthouse Christian School and Church partnered with Christ Church Madison to “take it up a notch” to bless the community in multiple ways. Christ Church provided over 300 backpacks. Assisted by a generous grant from the Madison Christian Giving Fund, Lighthouse provided free school supplies. Pencils, pens, notebooks and calendars were available for free on a first come first served basis. But there was more: a bouncy slide and face painting for the kids, a taco truck, music and the Extended…
The Madison Christian Giving Fund (MCGF), which has raised and disbursed over $1 million to local Christian ministries over the past decade, is in a leadership transition. Fred Grossenbach, who has been a key MCGF leader and most recently served as executive director, is stepping down. “Due to unexpected health issues that have prevented Fred from being at 100% capaciity, he has decided to step away from his leadership role at MCGF,” reports an April 13 post on the MCGF website. The article includes a lengthy reflection from Fred on why MCGF was begun, on what it has accomplished in…
YADA is a store, and also a ministry, working with women and their children who are in need of love and support following deep trauma. “We are clear that although we can provide for some of their physical needs, it is Jesus who can bring the love and hope they are searching for. “We have prayed with many of the women…the response to a sincere prayer moves most of them to tears and many have asked to be prayed for again. A few have been open to going to church with us. This has led to deeper spiritual conversations. “We…
“It’s truly beautiful to see what God is doing in this city,” said Lighthouse Church pastor Marcio Sierra, the keynote speaker at the Madison Christian Giving Fund (MCGF) Tenth Anniversary Celebration of Generosity. The celebration was held Friday, October 20, 2023 in the Micah Center at High Point Church. As a pastor, Sierra is used to seeing God at work in his congregation, and perhaps in the congregations of other pastors that he knows. But he said he got a greater perspective through his involvement with MCGF. His involvement has been as a grant recipient for Lighthouse Church and School,…
Madison’s Brat Fest started 40 years ago with a table, three chairs and a grill. So selling over 100,000 brats over a holiday weekend is impressive. So was what looked like the largest crowd ever at the annual Brat Fest community worship service. For the second year in a row, the 2023 worship service was hosted by Sun Prairie’s Heartland Church. A show of hands revealed about two-thirds of the crowd at the Main Stage Sunday morning were from Heartland. One count put attendees at 950. Looking out over the sun-soaked crowd, Heartland pastor Jon McNary said, “I think this…
By Fred Grossenbach – MCGF – Twenty-two young scholars of Lighthouse Christian School were baptized in the Lighthouse church sanctuary this week. Originally, nine students were scheduled to be baptized, but over the weekend, Bob Lenz from Life Promotions, was used mightily by God and 13 more students committed their lives to Jesus. “The Gospel is preached daily to our students and every year we have a baptism service for children who have received Jesus into their hearts and do not attend a church of their own,” said Marcio Sierra, Senior Pastor of Lighthouse Church. “This year, many children have…
In a room “full of entrepreneurial, grass roots, mission-minded leaders,” in the words of keynote speaker Dave Bechtold, three visonaries were recognized for their leadership. A surprise presentation began the Madison Christian Giving Fund’s Celebration of Generosity held Friday evening, October 7, 2022, at High Point Church on Old Sauk Road. Tom and Barb Hoffner, and Scott Haumersen, were recognized as Faithful Servants by Ryan Klund of the National Christian Foundation Wisconsin. The Hoffners and Haumersen took the lead eight years ago, launching the Madison Christian Giving Fund (MCGF) and the Madison Christian Generosity Council (MCGC) under the umbrella of…