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Found this in a special section of the Orange County Register. (well actually my friend did)
The Welldone Awards: celebrating extraordinary stories of faith
Wednesday, May 30th Coast Hills Community Church- 5 Pursuit, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
6:30- 9:00 pm
Featuring: Chris Gardner (Inspired the movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness"), Katharine McPhee (American Idol Finalist and RCA recording artist), Bebe Winans (R&B/ Gospel Legend)
also appearing- World renowned hip hop dancers The Groovaloos, American Idol Chris Sligh, Grammy Award winning saxophonist Dave Koz, The Dailies Band and Violonist Roddy Chiong
for tax deducatable tickets go to www.kingdomassignment.com or call 949-715-7155
That is all the info on the newspaper clipping!!
You guys!!! I am so excited to see this appearance!! The video I did for the troops and families set to the song Ordinary World, was inspired in part by reading the book "Kingdom Assignment"! I soooo wish I could be there!!!
I found out about this book when I was reading about who told Kat about the battered women's shelter at Christmas that she and Nick visited and brought gifts to. I read that she found out about the shelter through her pastor's wife who co-wrote Kingdom Assignment! I bought the book and have read it, some of the stories brought tears to my eyes and was an inspiration to me when I made the video thinking "what can only one person do?" Since then I have found out just how much one person can make an impact in the world. WOW!! I would love to be there for this...oh well...jobless mom of three teenage boys who eat me out of house and home...can't afford a trip like this!
Oh someone, please go and let me know about it!!!
The “WELL DONE™ AWARDS” will honor ordinary people who have done extraordinary things by opening their minds, hearts and souls to challenges within their own communities, positively changing the lives of others.
In November 2000, inspired by the message in the Bible’s “Parable of the Talents,” Pastor Denny and Leesa Bellesi handed out $100 bills to 100 members of their congregation.Church members took the money and a challenge to multiply the dollars – via their own talent – to assist the less fortunate. This lesson ignited a movement that has inspired phenomenal giving around the globe.
Hundreds of churches, organizations and individuals have experienced a twist in their mindset…to think big and wide with this idea of being good stewards of everything in their lives.
The Bellesi’s have traveled the world encouraging others to participate in the Kingdom Assignment. The three books they’ve written detail three assignments that were given to their congregation. The first telling the stories of how the original $10,000 given to 100 members of their Aliso Viejo, California church grew to millions of dollars of charitable assistance. From a shelter for abused women and children, medical care for patients fighting life-threatening illnesses and a myriad of help projects. The Kingdom Assignment has inspired thousands to be good stewards of their own talents, treasurers and time.
The event on Wed., May 30, 2007 is a first in what will become an annual event/fundraiser benefiting the Kingdom Assignment Foundation, a non-profit organization assisting people in need all over the world.
Guest Artists: American Idol’s Katharine McPhee; "The Pursuit of Happyness" Chris Gardner; Entertainers Bebe Winans, The Groovaloos, The Dailies Band, Dave Koz, Roddy Chiong and American Idol’s Chris Sligh
Where can you find an inspirational speaker who was born with no arms or legs, an Aliso Viejo CEO who spends his spare time trying to save the natives on a primitive island, a Hollywood producer, a homeless guy and "American Idol" superstars Katharine McPhee and Chris Sligh, all hanging out together?
At Coast Hills Community Church.
Tonight.
Leesa and Denny Bellesi call their event the Well Done Awards.
Their inspiration is Matthew 25:23. "Well done, good and faithful servant!" the Scripture reads.
Well done.
Those words kept bouncing around in Leesa Bellesi's head.
"Why do the Snoop Doggs of the world get honored?" she asked herself. "Why not honor people who have done amazing good things?"
People like Todd Johnson, who shook his wife awake at 5 a.m. one day to announce that he had a great idea: "Let's start collecting one penny for every person who has died of AIDS in Africa and then send that money along to ease the suffering of those still alive." More than 3.4 million pennies (and one cracked garage floor) later, Got Cents has gone global.
More than 30 winners in all will get trophies engraved with Matthew's "Well done" verse.
Money from ticket sales will go to a foundation set up with the goal of eventually seeding 50,000 churches and nonprofit organizations around the globe.
It's the latest installment of the Kingdom Assignment, a phenomenon the Bellesis started seven years ago at Coast Hills.
Denny, the pastor at the time (he is now the interim teaching pastor at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena), took $10,000 of Coast Hills' money, broke it down into $100 bills and handed them out to 100 random church-goers one Sunday, asking them to go forth and help their fellow man.
By the time everyone reported back in 90 days, the $10,000 had morphed into hundreds of thousands and good deeds galore. One bill alone, through various twists and turns, grew into a shelter for abused women.
A second "assignment" challenged 1,000 congregants to sell something they treasure – and then give the money away. Items such as a prized Faberge egg and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle were sold to raise $400,000 to benefit Orange County's poor.
As word spread (a trip to Oprah's couch didn't hurt), pastors around the planet began copying the Kingdom Assignment. The Bellesis have since published two books to guide other churches.
Now they say they want to recognize some of the amazing stories the Kingdom Assignment has spawned along with a shout-out for a few entertainers who are making a difference.
"American Idol" runner-up Katharine McPhee is one of them. She will get an award for McPhee Outreach, which helps hospitalized kids.
Bellesi considers the way she met McPhee early in the 2006 "Idol" competition nothing short of a miracle.
She had been watching the show one night in her Laguna Beach living room when she began praying for McPhee. A month later, McPhee strolled into the church where Denny Bellesi now preaches in Pasadena, and asked him and his wife to pray for her. She and Leesa Bellesi have been friends ever since.
When McPhee made the top 12 on "Idol," Leesa Bellesi gave her a silver bracelet engraved with Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to give you a hope and a future." McPhee wore the bracelet every time she took the stage.
This year, the "American Idol" connection continued. Leesa Bellesi, who works for a company that supplies the swag to celebrities at various events and award shows, was at the Four Seasons Hotel during Oscar week when she ran into Paula Abdul.
Bellesi told Abdul the story about how she and McPhee met through prayer. Abdul then asked Bellesi to pray for her – and be her guest on future "Idol" shows.
Before parting, Bellesi slipped onto Abdul's wrist a silver bracelet engraved with Psalms 91:11, which reads: "For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways."
A few "Idol" shows later, Leesa Bellesi met contestant Chris Sligh, a worship leader from South Carolina. Backstage, Sligh confided that he missed his wife but she didn't have the money to come out and stay. Bellesi offered up her house in Sherman Oaks (which she and her husband have since sold to move to Lake Forest).
The night that Sligh was voted off the show, Leesa Bellesi attended his farewell dinner party. "Idol" contestant Jordin Sparks was there, signing everyone's tickets. The next day Bellesi looked at her ticket and was stunned to see that under her autograph, Sparks wrote "Jeremiah 29:11," the same verse Bellesi had engraved on a bracelet for McPhee the year before.
Leesa Bellesi had an identical bracelet made for Sparks. The young singer wore it the night she was named this year's American Idol.
But bracelets can't pay the bills. So Leesa Bellesi has started a foundation to aid financially strapped "American Idol" contestants in the future. She recently bought the domain name aiministryresource.org and will have a Web site up by January so "Idol" fans can support their favorite top 24 contestants with money, transportation and prayers.
"I want to minister to the people on that show," she says. "I just have a burden for the people going through all that; to encourage them and pray for them and lift them up."
And sometimes give them a bed. The Bellesis lent Sligh and his wife their South Laguna trailer home/retreat this week so the couple could attend tonight's event, which is being billed as part awards show, part sports event (the Bellesis are threatening to wear cheerleader uniforms) and part rock concert.
McPhee will belt out a number with gospel music legend Bebe Winans. The Groovaloos hip-hop dancers will perform. The Dailies will rock out. And stories will be shared.
Among those taking the stage will be the executive producer of "The Pursuit of Happyness" as well as Chris Gardner, the inspiration behind the movie, which is about a single father who perseveres to become a Wall Street legend – while living on the streets.
It's about as unlikely a story as that of Emmy Blakely, an Aliso Viejo homemaker who, given $10 and a copy of a Kingdom Assignment book, wound up providing an entire South African shanty town with school supplies and then clothing more than 200 of the children in soccer uniforms collected from Orange County kids.
Like the trophy says: "Well Done."
First annual Well Done Awards: 6:30-9 p.m. Wednesday at Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo. Ticket prices range from $500 in first few rows to $25 in balcony and can be purchased at kingdomassignment.com, 949-715-7155 or at the door.
A review of the Well Done Awards will appear in the Orange County Register Friday
Contact the writer: lbasheda@ocregister.com or 714-932-1705
this is a super inspiring press release. You may want to contact the writer of this article and tell her more about Katharine's efforts with other charities.