It all started with an idea drawn out on a napkin.

But that idea, “Outrageous Christmas,” is now a way that members and friends of newlife church are celebrating the reason for the season.

“Christmas is all about the giving of gifts to celebrate the birth of Christ,” said Wes Davis, pastor of newlife. “I don’t know if we celebrate it big enough because it’s when God became flesh as a little baby and gave us eternal life.”

Davis, who began newlife church in Kitsap County in October 2000, said Outrageous Christmas came about through an assignment given to church members.

“We asked everyone to draw out on a paper napkin what God put in their heart,” he said. “I told them ‘If you could dream big, what would that be?,’” he said.

It was Ashley Irish who drew and wrote out her dream — that “Christmas should be about giving.”

“I think we’ve gotten away from that,” she said. “I had a website at the time that asked people to perform random acts of kindness. And I thought about how that could be done at Christmas.”

She asked Davis about beginning something like that through the church. He thought it was a great idea and together they named it “Outrageous Christmas.”

The celebration has a website, www.outrageouschristmas.com, where anyone needing something can register their need. And then, others from the church as well as anyone, can go to the website and fulfill a need.

Church member Erina Weible said Irish’s idea was a way to bless the community.

“As I remember, the napkin had many positive words on it and lines — like arms outstretched and wrapping themselves around the world.”

Last year was the first year that Outrageous Christmas was done. In all, 72 needs were met at a value of more than $50,000, according to Davis.

His favorite need was that of a family that was behind in their electricity bill.

“If you recall, it got cold last year in December and the family was afraid that they’d be without power,” he said. “But someone stepped up and paid their bill.

“And the father in that family was so blown away by that, that he wanted to meet a need. So he saw on the website an elderly couple who needed wood chopped for their fireplace. He knew how to do that, so he did. It’s like everything came full-circle. He had heat and because he wanted to help, the elderly couple also had heat all winter long.”

Some of the requests are pretty specific, like a person who needed an electric chair lift. But Davis said there was a man in the church who owned a medical supply company and made sure that need was met.

“God knew just who in the church would help with that one,” Davis said.

This year, there’s been 474 requests and 364 people offering help. As of the end of last week, there were still 59 requests being processed.

Because the needs are registered on a website that has world wide reach, help has come from 47 states and 33 nations, and through eight different languages.

This year, some of the requests that have been met have included a family that needed gasoline gift cards to travel from Kitsap County to Tacoma daily to see a family member who is in the hospital.

Another was a young man who lives in Kitsap County, but whose family is all on the East Coast.

“The giver bought him an airline ticket so he could travel home for Christmas,” Davis said.

And, to make Christmas even more outrageous, this year the church has selected needs of its own members that are met in public during church services.

Last week, the church gave a couple a romantic weekend at the Salish Lodge near Snoqualmie Falls.

“They are just the most wonderful couple and she, as her husband puts it, is about two months past her expiration date,” Davis said. “She has cancer. They’ve been married 34 years and have done so much for others. So this was a surprise for them.”

The church also gave a family four new tires so they could travel to see family for the holidays.

“Even that one spread,” Davis said. “Firestone, where we got the tires, found out about this family and threw in other things like a free oil change.”

The week of Christmas, there will be surprises for other members of the church family, including some in the military and some with special needs children.

Davis said Outrageous Christmas will continue every year as a tribute to God’s love and the birth of Christ.

And Irish said she’s proud to be a part of it.

“It’s great love-filled, God-centered awesomeness,” she said.

There are six newlife campuses in the area including one in Silverdale, Bremerton, Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island. For more go to www.outrageouschristmas.com.

Members at all campuses are taking part in Outrageous Christmas, Davis said.