Church Update
One of the reasons I started this blog was to keep friends and family in touch with what is going on with our church plant. It's hard to believe that on May 1st we will have been here for 5 years. Time has really zipped by.
It has been so amazing to us to see how the church is suddenly taking off. We have limped along in the high 20s and low 30s for 4 1/2 years and in the last 6 months we have grown by leaps and bounds. We are averaging in the 50s and some Sundays have had as many as 70 people in attendance.
More importantly than numbers we have seen people's lives change. We celebrated the baptism of 3 new believers in January. We see many others who have never stepped foot inside a church beginning to come and find Jesus Christ. The 3D Girl's club that I run every Thursday night has been a wonderful way to teach these little girls about Jesus but their parents are starting to come and learn about Him too.
One major prayer concern we have right now is a place to meet. We currently meet in a chapel on a campground. We have the run of the entire building and it is miraculous that we are there at all. 3 years ago the camp closed down and told us that we had to vacate the premises. Through God's intervention, they had a change of heart and we are the only tenants there. However, they have since put the camp on the market, they have a buyer and they are in the closing process.
We have been in contact with the buyer and he is not kicking us out - yet. He told Dan that he does have use for the building and needs us to find another location. That is the problem. The rents in this area are outrageous! Nobody wants to rent to a church - we've asked every available location. The schools don't rent to anyone nor do the fire halls. The only available place we can see right now is a VFW hall but that would kill anything that we have going on mid-week as they will only rent to us on Sundays. We are looking into one possibility but it requires major renovations and our district office is deciding whether they want to fund this project or not. The more we look at it, we feel we are going to outgrow it before we move in.
So please keep this situation in your prayers. We are trusting God in this and really have a peace that He will find a place for us. It looks bleak but we've seen Him come through before in a miraculous way with this church.
I know this was long but I thought it was important to give those who are supporting us in prayer an update.
It has been so amazing to us to see how the church is suddenly taking off. We have limped along in the high 20s and low 30s for 4 1/2 years and in the last 6 months we have grown by leaps and bounds. We are averaging in the 50s and some Sundays have had as many as 70 people in attendance.
More importantly than numbers we have seen people's lives change. We celebrated the baptism of 3 new believers in January. We see many others who have never stepped foot inside a church beginning to come and find Jesus Christ. The 3D Girl's club that I run every Thursday night has been a wonderful way to teach these little girls about Jesus but their parents are starting to come and learn about Him too.
One major prayer concern we have right now is a place to meet. We currently meet in a chapel on a campground. We have the run of the entire building and it is miraculous that we are there at all. 3 years ago the camp closed down and told us that we had to vacate the premises. Through God's intervention, they had a change of heart and we are the only tenants there. However, they have since put the camp on the market, they have a buyer and they are in the closing process.
We have been in contact with the buyer and he is not kicking us out - yet. He told Dan that he does have use for the building and needs us to find another location. That is the problem. The rents in this area are outrageous! Nobody wants to rent to a church - we've asked every available location. The schools don't rent to anyone nor do the fire halls. The only available place we can see right now is a VFW hall but that would kill anything that we have going on mid-week as they will only rent to us on Sundays. We are looking into one possibility but it requires major renovations and our district office is deciding whether they want to fund this project or not. The more we look at it, we feel we are going to outgrow it before we move in.
So please keep this situation in your prayers. We are trusting God in this and really have a peace that He will find a place for us. It looks bleak but we've seen Him come through before in a miraculous way with this church.
I know this was long but I thought it was important to give those who are supporting us in prayer an update.
This is so encouraging Terri coming from a church that has been limping along for some time in the 20-30 people range. We are ready to see lives changed and people transformed! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update, Terri and we will continue to pray for the Lord's Guidance and help with a place for you to worship in! "Nothing is impossible with God"!! We will continue to believe that He will provide for your Church is His Work!!
ReplyDelete