A Ministry Is Born
Christian Community Action (CCA) was founded on February 22, 1973, by a small group of Christians studying the Bible in search of the meaning of love. We were compelled by what we had learned and committed to become a visible channel of God’s love.  It was this resolve that led to the organization of a continuing community effort focused on living out the mandate of Jesus Christ to care for "the least of the brethren."

Building A Foundation For Service
Initial efforts focused on local, mainstream Christian pastors and their congregations.  They asked for food, clothing, furniture, house wares and money. Although slowly at first, the resources began to come in. Even though initial efforts were difficult and even met with resistance, the overall progress was positive and gratifying. Personal garages, a donated tractor-trailer and the back room of a funeral parlor were our first “mini-warehouses.”

Finding The Poor
We designed flyers that read "If you are in need of help, call us. Because we are Christians, we’ll do our best to lend a helping hand." We distributed them across Lewisville focusing on areas where needy families could be found.  One by one they sought us out, and we began to learn something about the extent of poverty in our own community. We provided gifts of clothing, furniture and house wares and organized volunteer work parties with donated materials to repair and paint their homes.

We soon learned that though gifts of clothing and house wares and repair services were helpful, the real need was for financial assistance.  These families needed medicine, health care, help with their rent and utility payments…  Children needed toys at Christmas, and school supplies in the Fall…  if we were truly going to make a difference, we had to seek out financial resources and broaden our reach.

Helping Families to Help Themselves
This completely changed the nature of our relationship with the needy families who sought us out.  We could no longer be a superficial, arms length support medium.  We now became involved in their lives on a personal level. To significantly impact them we had to ask hard, and often embarrassing questions about income, spending habits, planning and budgeting. For the first time, we really got to know the families we longed to serve.

Expansion and Infrastructure
In 1975, our strategy began to be more universal.  To help more people, we had to discern between true needs and wants.  We had to build an infrastructure that would allow us to cast a wider net in our efforts to impact an even greater number of families.  We focused more diligently on corporate donations, and larger scale initiatives.

CCA Resale: The Foundation for Momentum and Success…
Our decision to create CCA Resale stores which provided “second hand treasures, first hand bargains" brought together three distinct economic groups in the community: affluent families and businesses, bargain hunters, and families in need.  Gently used donations, excess inventory and the incentive of tax benefits provided quality goods attracting bargain hunters from every walk of life.   This revenue stream now accounts for 54% of our  total organizational income and allows us to provide consistent financial aid to families in more than 46 communities.

This year our three resale stores are creating more than 110 jobs (with benefits!) and generating gross sales of $5.5 million per year for the ministry.