At SYCAMORE, we’re strong believers that the road ahead is bigger and better than the road behind. But the road behind is what brought us to where we are today. Take a look at the journey, the things we’ve done, where we’ve been and how God is using this ministry to “help others see Jesus.”
We’re going to Oregon!
In early February the search began to send an “orange envelope” to one of the nearly 3,800+ churches in the Beaver State. You may wonder how we go about this…well it’s as complicated and as simple as you might think.
Today, we had the honor of sending out an “orange envelope”….to our 69th location.
Springfield Faith Center is in Oregon, about an hour away from the ocean and just across town from where the Ducks play football. A few weeks ago the community was struck by an ice storm that crippled the area. Many people were without power for nearly 2 weeks. Despite no ability to turn on lights or sound equipment, the church gathered and the Lord’s name was praised.
Oregon in many ways is just as liberal as California and it desperately needs the truth of God’s word to be proclaimed. A special thanks goes out to everyone who supports SYCAMORE. Together, we’re helping others see Jesus.
On February 13, we had the honor of sending out an “orange envelope” to Hilltop Community Church in Carson City, Nevada.
While on the phone with Pastor Kurt, he told us about an idea he had for Easter Sunday, but had no idea where he’d find the $$$ in the budget to pull it off. He said, “now, it’s not an issue.”
Starting out the year we had two ideas in regards to the amount of places we wanted to bless. The idea of 24 made sense (2 a month and 24 in 2024). However, this goal didn’t seem to require the type of faith that we’re asked to put to work.
So our goal for 2024 is to bless a total of 36 locations (3 a month) which would result in us completing the 50/50 challenge.
We’re so excited! Thank you for joining us on this journey.
Next we set our sights on New Mexico. As we searched the state looking for a church to bless, it was easy to see the differences between life here in MN and life down in NM. In some ways it’s nearly the complete opposite. Yet, our number one concern in both states is still the same…JESUS!!!
On January 19, we talked with Pastor Bryan from Day3Church in Farmington, New Mexico. We moved forward and blessed his church with $500 to help them toward accomplishing their goals for 2024.
Pastor Bryan grew up in Farmington and after several years on the eastside of the country moved back to where he was from and started Day3Church. Their located in an area of town that desperately needs a “life giving” message and we’re so excited to be able to partner with them and ultimately help others see Jesus.
The money given from SYCAMORE was used to reserve the Horse Drawn Carriage for this event.
Some big things happened in the month of December. Things we’ve been working on for over a year. We finally got word back that SYCAMORE is officially “trademarked.”
What does that mean?
It means we have the legal right to the name SYCAMORE under religious fundraising. This is no small thing and we’re so excited to have been able to take this step.
We became aware of Northwoods Life Church through an event in Rochester, MN. One of the members of the church filled out a nomination form and we’re happy to have been able to move forward and bless this church.
During a phone call with the Lead Pastors, lots more developments took place and we’re excited to continue to partner with this church (in various ways) over this next year.
After our board meeting in December we took some time to play a game.
Penny Drop.
If you have the chance to play this game you won’t regret it. It’s tons of fun for the whole family.
In the month of November we had the honor of going to the campus of Living Waters Church in Elk River, MN. There we met up with Pastor Renae and she gave us an amazing tour of their grounds and facility.
Here’s some pictures of our booth at MYC (Minnesota Youth Convention) in Rochester, MN.
We sold necklaces, shirts, hats, wristbands, etc.
The most exciting part was that people were able to nominate their church to be considered for a $500 blessing from SYCAMORE.
This is the “back 40” so to speak at Living Waters Church. Here they will be hosting their second ever WinterLights Festival in late January. We’re honored to put together a team of people to help them prepare for this event.
Liberty Church is pastored by James Leonard and was nominated through our booth at MYC in Rochester, MN.
The money given from SYCAMORE will be going to the student ministry at Open Door Church. It’ll go towards making their meeting space feel more like home.
The month of October was a banner month for SYCAMORE. We blessed 4 Locations within the month and we went to our first Youth Convention in Rochester, MN.
Here’s some pictures of our booth at MYC (Minnesota Youth Convention) in Rochester, MN.
We sold necklaces, shirts, hats, wristbands, etc.
The most exciting part was that people were able to nominate their church to be considered for a $500 blessing from SYCAMORE.
Over the years we’ve developed a great connection with Southway Floral in St. Cloud, MN. On top of helping us with our SYCAMORE Trees they also offer our products in their store.
Jackie (the owner) is a wonderful person and we encourage everyone to go to her store for all their floral needs.
In the month of August we moved forward and blessed Two More Locations.
1: The first location is in Sauk Centre, MN.
2: The second location is in Holdingford, MN.
We connected with First Lutheran Church through the Stearns County Fair. There food booth was right next to the 14|27 (basketball) area.
For 4 days, FLC served the community good, not over priced food that was a blessing to so many families. They also blessed the 14|27 Team with Free food!!!
After seeing all their generosity Tommy brought the idea to SYCAMORE’s board about blessing FLC. In a matter of a few days, this generous church became our 57th Location.
We’ve known about Community County Church for several years. Our friends with Central MN Cornhole attend the church and have been involved in various ministries for MANY years.
After hearing more about the church at the recent SYCAMORE Cornhole Classic we decided to move forward and bless this church.
CCC just started a school in the Holdingford, MN area to provide a Christian based education to children.
Any time Tommy sees someone wearing SYCAMORE Merchandise he tries to grab a quick selfie with them.
Every necklace, shirt, bracelet, hat, etc. helps further our mission of “helping others see Jesus.”
In the month of July we did 2 Things as an organization that we’ve never done before.
1: We had our FIRST ever SYCAMORE Classic.
2: We created a radio add encouraging listeners to go online and submit a reason as to why we should bless their church.
We went to Willmar, MN for our first ever SYCAMORE Classic.
We invited teens from area churches and ministries to meet us at the YFC to compete in the 14|27 Basketball Challenge.
Any competitor was able to nominate a church for us to bless and the winner of the event won $100.
A special thanks goes out to Thrivent for sponsoring this event.
Over the last two weeks in July we put out an advertisement on the radio for listeners to go to our website and nominate a church / ministry that we should consider blessing.
After going through all the submissions we decided to bless Serenity in Crystal, MN. This church does AMAZING things for the community and it’s an honor to be able to bless them in this way.
We have the honor of blessing churches / ministries all across the country. That said, we are very mindful about making sure we bless locations right here in MN.
Tommy and Angela were driving through Elk River, MN when Tommy spotted GATEWAY Church just off the road on the left hand side. Immediately Tommy asked Jordan (daughter) to write down the name of the church so we could look into blessing them.
A few days later, Tommy listens to a message not knowing that Pastor Jeff was going to talk about Zacchaeus and the SYCAMORE Tree. The rest is history.
Through the SYCAMORE Cornhole Classic we were able to bless the Pregnancy Resource Center here in the St. Cloud area.
This ministry is hugely influential in helping mothers / and couples make smart and educated decisions in relation to pregnancy.
Gateway Church cares for people and that includes you! No matter what your background you can expect to be treated with respect and care when you come to Gateway.
In the month of May, we had our 3rd Annual SYCAMORE Cornhole Classic. Since the first year, the Cornhole Classic has raised $1,000’s for churches and ministries across the country.
A special thank you goes out to Central MN Cornhole and Thrivent for helping us put on this amazing event. We’re already looking forward to the 4th.
The first Teen Challenge center opened in New York in 1960. Since that time there is now 250 Centers in 48 States and over 1,000 Centers in 95 countries.
For those of you who don’t know, Teen Challenge helps individuals who struggle with addictions find faith in Jesus and overcome their issues. Through Team Bobberdown’s efforts to raise money for MnTC we are now helping those who struggle with addiction See Jesus.
Team Bobberdown has raised well over $100,000 for Mn Adult & Teen Challenge. It’s an honor to join with many other companies and individuals to help them reach their goals.
Since the infancy of SYCAMORE, the Necklace has been a part of spreading the message “helping others see Jesus.” It has come in different shapes and forms but always with the same type of wood.
If you’d like to pick up a SYCAMORE Necklace for yourself or someone you care about, we encourage you to check out our Etsy store. There you’ll be able to get one of the latest styles of the SYCAMORE Necklace.
We decided to go to one of our neighboring states to find a church we’d like to bless. This involves looking into communities, then churches, then the vision of the church/leadership and then moving forward in blessing them.
On March 21st, we had the honor of speaking with Pastor Kurt from New Song Church in Bismarck, North Dakota. New Song has a vision of ministering to families in ways that meets real needs in their community…and they’re accomplishing it.
New Song Church is the first Foursquare Church we’ve blessed through SYCAMORE.
One of our goals is to make giving to SYCAMORE as easy as possible. With more and more people switching to electronic forms of giving we took the step to bring SYCAMORE to the world of Venmo.
We look forward to connecting with you on Venmo. Feel free to share our information with others and together we’ll continue to “help others see Jesus.”
We’re halfway there. We’ve now supported 50 Locations since the start of SYCAMORE. Over the years, 1,000’s of people have been impacted by our mission of “helping others see Jesus.”
We’re believing that very soon we will complete our goal of blessing 50 locations in MN and at least one location in every state. A special thank you goes out to all of you who’ve helped SYCAMORE get to this point.
The month of July provided us an opportunity to do something we have not done before. Our 43rd Location (in Cadillac, MI), had a catastrophic fire that burned the building to the ground. SYCAMORE’s leadership jumped to action and we decided that all the funds that come in over the course of July will go to support Revival Center | Cadillac.
Together, over the course of July we raised $4,244.09 for Revival Center. This marks our largest financial blessing to date. A special thank you goes out to all of you that gave to support this specific effort.
Revival Center | Cadillac has recently secured an old JC Penny store for their new home. They are in the process of renovating the space. Their first service at the new location will be on September 18 (they’ve been meeting under a tent since June 26).
The months of May and June were amazing. We took some big steps forward and we’re excited about what God is using SYCAMORE to accomplish.
1: Branch Out
One of our goals through SYCAMORE is to not only bless churches financially but also help them with “physical / manual labor.” What better way to start this effort than helping a church in the state of Minnesota.
We reached out to Granite Falls Assembly and Pastor Jim Wolfe. Fourteen of us traveled there on June 11th to be a blessing…and God helped us do just that. We scraped, primed, painted and more for 8+ hours. It was amazing and we’re excited for the next location that we can bless in this way.
The month of April was a month of pursuit and a realization of many dreams and goals coming to reality.
The SYCAMORE Store officially opened. This was not something we were anticipating. But through the desire to partner together with a local organization the need to create an online store became evident. Every product made by SYCAMORE can be purchased at our online store.
The month of March (in some circles) is known as March Madness. Though no one went mad…we certainly had a lot going on.
The SYCAMORE Cornhole Classic is coming up on April 9th. It’s being hosted at Joy Christian Center. We’re happy to be partnering with Central Minnesota Cornhole. The SCC will have a 50% payout, the rest of the proceeds will be going to benefit SYCAMORE and its mission to “help others see Jesus.”
February was a month we’ll never forget. Many dreams came to fruition as prayers were answered. We are forever grateful.
