“We hope to shock the City of Charlotte!”

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“We hope to shock the City of Charlotte!”

Project 22:39 Leader Christie Ponjican—The ninetyandnine.com Interview

July 16, 2007

By Kent d Curry

North American Youth Congress 2007 will feature many “firsts,” yet the biggest will be Project 22:39, Christian service projects that may leave its mark on the city of Charlotte, North Carolina for years to come.

To handle something this ambitious, the UPCI’s General Youth Division tapped local believer Christie Ponjican to coordinate the effort. With her Associates in Business Communications, Ponjican works at The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, where she assists community leaders in raising funds and plans receptions and performances to thank top-tier donors for their contributions.

Though she hasn’t always lived in North Carolina. “I was born in Maryland, married my wonderful husband, Dan, from New Jersey, (we just celebrated our 8th year anniversary on July 3rd!), lived in Maryland, New Jersey, then Delaware, when we felt the call to Sri Lanka,” she gushes. “After our six-month appointment on the AIM Program, God opened a door for us to minister in NC—so we walked through it. August 28th will be four years for us in NC.”

Besides her very serious call to serve God, she also has a delightful sense of whimsy. After sending in her official photo, she asked us if she could send in something more “creative.” Less than an hour later, a second photo arrived that involved a camera in a tree and a sheet in her yard. It’s definitely more memorable.

Obviously, she’s successful in whatever she sets her mind to accomplish, and Project 22:39 seems destined for a memorable local and national impact.

We interviewed Christie Ponjican July 5-9, 2007.

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90&9: So what does Project 22:39 consist of?
CP: Wow! That's a loaded question. Project 22:39 is based on Matthew 22:39. The cropped NLT says “...love your neighbor as yourself.” That's what this project is all about—giving something of ourselves in hopes that Charlotte and Mecklenburg County will see Christ's love through us. We want to take our attention off of us and place it on our neighbors to impact them in an incredibly positive way.

We have quite a few giveback opportunities that we have organized to put Matthew 22:39 in action, some of which include collection and distribution of school supplies and canned food items.

During our Project 22:39 time slot on Friday, August 10th we will have a group of volunteers working with Second Harvest Food Bank to help package Senior boxes and Kids Back Packs for those at risk of hunger.

We have also lined up a fantastic opportunity with the parks and recreational facilities of Mecklenburg County to help them with planting flowers, mulching, painting basketball courts, and picking up trash.

There are other opportunities that we have lined up as well for local student ministries to take part in. I'm sure you will hear more about these at NAYC.

90&9: That’s a lot of projects! How many people will you need to participate?
CP: We have discussed having as many as 3,000 students and adult volunteers involved in this great project.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how many register for Project 22:39 in the next few weeks. (hint hint)

(Editor’s Note: If you have not yet registered to participate, you can click on the Project 22:39 link!)

90&9: So what exactly is going to happen on August 10^th? How will volunteers know where to show up and participate?
CP: At 2:30 p.m. on Friday, August 10th, we are going to rock Charlotte and Mecklenburg County!

Once the volunteers register online, we will be in touch with them via email to give them their assignment for Project 22:39. This is why it is so important that everyone who plans to participate take time to register online in advance of NAYC.

90&9: What happens if they don’t register?

CP: We will have a backup plan for sure. We want anyone who wants to participate to be able to do so. We still prefer, however for everyone to register online.

Registering online will help my contact with Parks and Recs tremendously. My contact will be ordering paint, paint brushes, mulch, flowers, trash bags, etc. so that we will have what we need to accomplish a great amount of work in a short period of time on August 10th.

90&9: How is the city responding to these plans?
CP: So far, so good. We are generating a great deal of excitement in the city and county with this project.

90&9: How do you know this? What have they said?

CP: I have spoken with the city and county offices, individuals in the school system, as well as several executive directors of local shelters that we hope to help through Project 22:39. Every person that I have spoken with is amazed that we would go to such great lengths to organize a project like this to put our words into action.

90&9: Why are these service projects important to us as Christians?
CP: Because by participating in service projects like these, we are serving others, and I think that is on the top of God's list of cool things to do.

90&9: How did you get involved in the planning/organizing?
CP: Bro. (Todd) Gaddy called me one afternoon a few months ago and asked me to help with this project.

90&9: Any idea how he found out about you being able to do this?

CP: Bro. Gaddy preached at a North Carolina camp in 2005. Bro. Ronnie Ingle, former NC Youth President, (who I might add, is at the top of my list of awesome Youth Presidents) introduced Dan and I to Bro. Gaddy during that camp.

90&9: What are the best possible results you dream will be accomplished by Project 22:39?

CP: Kent, long term, the best possible result would be that each volunteer experience something so life-changing on the 10th of August that they can't wait to go back to their community and encourage “Loving your neighbor as yourself” in their student ministries by orchestrating projects like these on a regular basis—to truly impact their surroundings in a positive way. I would love to hear testimonies of how this project started a Matthew 22:39 lifestyle in student ministries across our organization. (I know that sounds like a huge result, yeah, I may be dreaming a little…)

Short term, I hope to shock the city of Charlotte! I want every citizen to know that we are there, that we are rockin’ out with thousands of students who care to make a difference in their generation by showing the love of Christ in a practical way.

90&9: Are there plans for the local churches to continue what Project22:39 will start?

CP: That’s a great question. I will be in touch with my contacts in the Charlotte church to see how I can help them keep this momentum going after August 10th.

We have definitely discussed organizing these types of service projects in Winston-Salem, where Dan and I currently go to church.

90&9: Whose church do you attend now and what ministries are you involved in?

CP: We attend Pastor Harold and Sis. Lisa Linder's Church in Winston-Salem, NC. Dan preaches there regularly and we travel quite a bit to surrounding churches to assist in various opportunities, from sharing fundraising ideas, assisting in implementation of those ideas to teaching at local youth nights.

We are currently working with Pastor Harold on innovative follow-up techniques and programs for our first-time weekend guests.

Whatsoever our hands find to do is pretty much what we are doing right now.

ninetyandnine.com

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Kent d Curry is an executive editor of ninetyandnine.com, a college and career speaker, and now, a part-time literary blogger.