The Capital Christian Center has a mission to "care for those who protect us." According to Pastor Tim Minter, "Capital Christian Center started supporting military families over 15 years ago. We conducted an event, A Tribute to Those Who Serve, at the Capitol Building in Olympia. Since that event, we've created ministries like Military Fellowship where our military families can come together monthly to share food, play fun games and make memorable friendships. We've thrown Veterans Day banquets to honor those who serve, and we have a Memorial Day picnic to pray for our nation and the families whose servicemember made the ultimate sacrifice."

Minter is a veteran and really understands the unique needs of military families who are away from their friends and family. "My experience as a retired veteran does give me some insight into how we can support military families. I can recall being assigned to Fort Lewis 15 years ago, over 2,000 miles from my extended family. I yearned for family-like relationships that my Army assignment had separated me from. The Army did a great job making me and my family feel comfortable being a part of the Fort Lewis team, but it wasn't a great substitute for the family-like connections that I longed for. Today, I meet young military families who are far from their grandparents, parents, siblings and relatives who are experiencing that same need for family connections. The church fulfills those needs with spiritual relationships very similar to that of their natural families," said Minter.

The church has a variety of events and programs that are of interest to military families. Every second Friday of the month at the Lacey Campus they offer a Military Fellowship. It is an opportunity for military families and their church community to come together. "Every Saturday night, we offer what we call Date Night. Date Night includes free child care and dinner, for children ages birth-12 years old. Those watching Date Night participants are background checked, CPR certified, and excited to spend time with the kids. We ask parents to come, enjoy our Saturday night service (which begins at 6 p.m.) and then go have a great time, knowing your children are cared for in a safe environment," said Pastor Diane B. Rice. "For military parents, we offer child care during all services, and most events. For example, on the first Friday of every month, we have a women's dinner. Dinner is free, and we have great fellowship and fun together. For those dinners, we offer child care for a small fee."

One of the special ways the church community supports military servicemembers is with the Dog Tag Prayer partners. When a military church member deploys or a relative of a church member deploys, they create a special dog tag with their name on it. During the deployment, members of the community will take turns wearing the dog tag and praying for the servicemember each day. When they return, the church has a service and the dog tag is returned to the military member.

For more information on the Capital Christian Center, visit their website at go2ccc.org. At the top of the page click the "Are you new here? Click here to Start", on the menu, there is a section for military.

Capital Christian Center, 4431 Martin Way E., Lacey, go2ccc.org