Depending on your perspective, Central Christian Church is either a church with a dog park, or a dog park with the church. Opening in the fall of 2006, Central Dog Park was created to give dogs and their owners a fun, relaxing, safe and friendly place to exercise and socialize. Shade trees allow a pleasant place to sit under and talk to friends while you watch your dog have a great time. Central Dog Park normally opened seven days a week from sunrise to sunset.

Bring Your Dogs & Worship With Us On Sunday!
Weather permitting, we have outdoor worship in the dog park every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. Come as you are and, of course, your dogs are welcome too! Click here for a map.

Outdoor Worship to Go Underground Until Spring
November 29th was the last Sunday of the season for the outdoor worship service in the Central Dog Park until spring. We’d like to thank all our friends who passed through this year and joined us in worship, friendship, and prayer.

Services will start again around Easter.

New Issue of the CDP Newsletter Available
Vol. 4, Issue 1 of "Unconditional Love," the Central Dog Park Newsletter, is available to download. The newsletter is published four times per year. Back issues are also available so you can catch up on anything you missed.

Click here for the newsletter archive.

Westside Café Bible Study and Worship 
Do you need another approach to Bible study and meaningful wisdom for your life? You are invited to the Bible Teaching Ministry of the Westside Café, with Pastors Todd Boddy and Dr. John Cunyus. Join John and Todd each week as they teach, converse, and thoughtfully engage each other from the Biblical text at the Westside Café.  It is fast paced, in depth, and strong on application. Become part of the deep conversation as the Spirit speaks through the scriptures.

Click here for details.

GoD and DoG Video by Wendy Francisco
"I look up and I see God ... I look down and see my dog." It's not often that one finds a systematic theology in a two-minute YouTube video but here is one! A lovely song and animation by Wendy Francisco in which the first two lines of the song convey that people are in the middle, between two kinds of sincere devotion.

Click here for details.

From service dog to SURFice dog
Surf dog Ricochet's inspirational video highlighting her journey from birth, to service dog training, to turning disappointment into a joyful new direction, to surfing with quadriplegic surfer, Patrick Ivison, to fundraising for charitable causes.

Submitted by Todd Boddy on 01/26/2010

Click here to read the full CDP Community Blog.

Central Dog Park
Great people you meet in our dog park!

Submitted by Howard Wall on 12/01/2009

Click here to read the full CDP Community Blog.

Guidelines for Our New Bloggers
Friendship is all about being part of positive conversation in our community. My hope is your conversation through the blog will spark a warm note in others about the benefits of real community engagement and the unconditional love our four legged friends give us and demonstrate.

Submitted by Todd Boddy on 11/24/2009

Click here to read the full CDP Community Blog.

Talking With Dogs
She looked at me and said, “I want to show you something.” Max went into one of his barking mantras and she went up to him and began rattling this bottle in his ear every time he started to bark.

Submitted by Todd Boddy on 11/24/2009

Click here to read the full CDP Community Blog.

The Blessing of the Animals In the Sanctuary of Central Christian Church - St. Francis Pet Blessing
All The original outdoor-indoor worship service moved completely under the roof of the main sanctuary in light of the Noah’s ark deluge on tap the entire weekend of Sunday Oct. 4th.  Many overcame the rain however with rubber boots, high steps and a little courage. A towel patrol waited at the front door if needed.  And no, the ark never pulled up, but it could have. This year’s Pet Blessing service reserved the first four pews for owners and their animals. The service was shortened up a bit for those dealing with ADADD (adult doggie attention deficit disorder). Representatives from the Central Dog Park and Central Christian Church served as the official blessors.

Click here for details.
Media from the service can be found in the sidebar at the right.

Small Doggies Rejoice!
The Central Dog Park is now equipped to handle doggies which might be intimidated by the size or novelty of the dog park. As you enter into the main arrival gate, there is a new gate on the right which enters a fenced area set aside from the main section of the dog park. We hope this will give a respite from times when the big dogs run a little too hard. We want to thank Frank Whittington, Dustin Taylor, and Colton Boddy for their hard work in constructing this beautiful new fenced area.

The Puppy Connection to Border Blessings
There had been this idea: take a group of willing workers to Brownsville/Matamoras for a week or so and build a small house on the Mexican side of the border for a deserving family.  Central Christian was sending thirteen of it’s own on the trip. A quite diverse group! One seventy-something, two teenagers, four women, nine men.  Some skinny, some fat. . . gay, straight. . . you name it.

Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries designed this program of cross-border exchanges.  During the past two years approximately sixty small houses have been built.  Perhaps just a drop in the ocean, but an important drop.

Click here to learn more.

A Love Story from the Dog Park

No, no, this is not a human story; it’s the story of a man and a dog.  Several years ago my friend, Craig Tomanek, was seeking to purchase a male Yorkshire terrier.  He had a female, Ellie Mae, but she was getting up there in years and Craig felt she needed a young companion to keep her youthful.  He found a male online and phoned the woman in far north Texas and went immediately on a Sunday night to meet his new dog.  The woman said she was a breeder and the price would be $1,275.  Craig went immediately that Sunday night.  When he arrived he saw a puppy mill, not a breeder but he wanted the dog so badly.  She wanted cash so he went to the only ATM in this small town and it was out of cash.  This was the second red flag so he decided against purchasing the little dog.

Click here to read more.

CENTRAL MEDIA PANEL
Check out our featured media below. In this panel we will highlight either our special or most currrent media that is available on this site. For additional media, please go to the "Media" menu in the primary navigation above. 

2009 ST. FRANCIS PET BLESSING
"From Knighthood to Sainthood"
October 4, 2009
Rev. Norm Stolpe & Rev. Todd Boddy

Click on the "Start" arrow on the Flash player below to hear the most recent Sunday service. Or, for all of our recent Sunday sermons, click here for our 2009 Media Catalog and links to sermons from earlier years.

ST. ROCH SUNDAY
"Hidden Savior, Unconditional Love"
St. Roch Sunday
August 16, 2009
Series: What Good Is Being a Christian?
Part 5 of 6

Click on the "Start" arrow on the Flash player below to hear this spcial Sunday service. Or, for all of our recent Sunday sermons, click here for our 2009 Media Catalog and links to sermons from earlier years.