Christmas Eve at Walnut Creek Church

Join us at one of our three Christmas Eve services. This year Walnut Creek Church will be hosting two services at our Downtown location and one at our Windsor Heights location:

Walnut Creek Church – Downtown

December 24 @ 4pm and 6pm

323 East Locust Street, Des Moines (Use South entrance on Walnut Street)

(515) 418-9994

Walnut Creek Church – Windsor Heights

December 24 @ 6pm

900 64th Street, Windsor Heights

(515) 418-9994

Awana Children's Choirs Perform "Star of Wonder," A Christmas Musical

The Awana Children's Choirs perform "Star of Wonder," on Sunday, December 13 at Walnut Creek Downtown. 

The Awana Children's Choirs performed "Star Of Wonder," a Christmas musical of hope, on Sunday evening. The Downtown and Windsor Heights Awana locations joined together to perform, bringing about 125 children and their families to Walnut Creek Downtown for the Christmas Program.

Through scripture reading, songs, and dialogue, "Star Of Wonder" shares the story of the miraculous birth of Jesus. The cast of characters includes six different stars who are all awaiting the biggest announcement in history. Throughout the program, the stars discover that Jesus is the real star of Christmas.

The Cubbies perform a few songs before the musical begins. | Photo courtesy of Jill Udey

The Cubbies, children aged 3 to 4 years old, performed their songs first. Then the Sparks and Truth and Training groups took the stage to begin the musical. Some of the songs included "Hangin' Around The Heavens," "God Chooses Who He Uses," and "Big Band of Shepherds."

"The kids were really singing out. You could tell they enjoyed the songs," said Pastor Joel Swanson.

Prior to the program, Awana Music Directors Tiffany Fahy and Megan Coakley held two Saturday practices and a dress rehearsal the day of the musical. Children who had speaking roles also had additional practices.

"I am so proud of all of the Awana kiddos and the hard work they put into tonight's program," said Tiffany Fahy. "They looked beautiful on that stage, and they sounded amazing."

The Christmas Program was hosted at Walnut Creek Downtown and brought together the Windsor Heights and Downtown Awana locations. | Photo courtesy of Jill Udey

Megan Coakley thought the program went very well, especially because of the children's excitement and joy. "The kids were excited to sing their songs because when preparing for the program, I told them we were planning Jesus' birthday party," said Megan Coakley. "The Sparks and Truth and Training worked very hard each week to learn their songs. I loved when they really knew the songs and would sing their hearts out!"

Walnut Creek Kids Director Jacob Bennett, as well as Tiffany and Megan, would like to thank everyone who worked behind the scenes to make the program a success, including the tech crew, refreshments, leaders, and parents.

"I was encouraged to see God glorified through the mouths of so many children," said Jacob Bennett. "I’m really excited to see them grow in faith and see how God uses their lives in the future!"

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By Jackie Wallentin  

Walnut Creek Windsor Heights 

Walnut Creek Church Shares Christmas Joy With the World

Volunteers from Walnut Creek Church load gift-filled shoeboxes to deliver them to the Des Moines area collection Center.

This year, the members of Walnut Creek Church packed 687 Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoeboxes. A total of 24,128 gift-filled shoeboxes, including the ones from Walnut Creek, were recently loaded onto trucks and taken to the Midwest distribution center in Minneapolis.

OCC, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, works with local churches and ministry partners to deliver the gifts and share the life-changing Good News of Jesus Christ with children in impoverished and war-torn countries. Since 1993, more than 100 million boys and girls in more than 130 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts.

“It’s so much more than a shoebox,” said Kelly Hill, who helped coordinate OCC efforts at Walnut Creek and also volunteers on the Des Moines area OCC team. “It’s a great way to get the gospel of Christ out. There are so many kids who need Christ, and a lot of them have never even heard of God. This is a way to introduce them to gospel and serve them at the same time.”

The 687 boxes were packed with the help of many volunteers and events. Starting back in July, the annual “Christmas in July” packing party at the Downtown congregation brought in more than 300 boxes. An annual vendor fair fundraiser at Walnut Creek coordinated by Kelly Hill and Emmie Hawk brought in another 70 boxes and more than $1,500 in funds. The rest of the boxes were packed by individuals from all of Walnut Creek’s congregations.

To learn more about OCC, go to www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/.