Spring Outreach

As the winter thaws, we are looking to start hitting outreach hard. The biggest buzz so far is our Dave Ramsey class at Cocco's Pizza. I can gratefully say that I do NOT have to run the class, but one of our regulars has run two classes before and is volunteering to do this class as well. While the Ramsey material has some spiritual holes, the concepts and training on how to manage money is a HUGE need in our community, and nation for that matter. We are already getting a bigger response than any other ministry or campaign we have tried thus far.
We are also planning an Easter service outreach, multiple flier drops, another summer kids camp, and several grandparents are offering free babysitting once a month to help invite young couples with kids to join our community. Please continue to pray for an increase and worthwhile discipleship. Thanks.

Church Planting Community

One of the many things I try to do is attend monthly meetings on church planting. There are many church planters and coaches present from all over the region, all with various experiences in starting churches. We usually have a guest speaker, time for prayer, and then an interactive discussion about questions, issues, or concerns. It is a bit of a hike to these meetings with all the traffic, so I usually try to set up a lunch appointment with some guys after the meeting.

Sunday Night Fellowship

This is an older picture of some folks from our home Bible study on Sunday nights. We continue to have this study as well as men's and women's groups each Tuesday at another house.

Pictures from 12-12-10 service

Ready... Set... Launch!

Oh, I wish we were ready! Not that we are grossly unprepared, but ready or not, here we go. Redemption Fellowship launches this Sunday! I am in a somewhat surreal state of mind, since this has been years in the making, and has so many years to go. We first started with going to the assessment center back in January of 2003! We spent several more years getting ministry experience, searched long and hard for a strong call, raised support, all the while tent-making, and moved to Philadelphia 2 years ago. Then, we learned the area, adapted, got involved, got ordained, and gradually grew a core-group. We filed Articles of Incorporation, secured insurance, non-profit status, etc. as we started casting more vision and introducing songs to our core-group. We partnered with CEF and ran two summer clubs for kids, put ads in papers, invited people, dropped fliers, ran two Bible studies per week, did outreach events at local stores, advertised on Craigslist, sent out 30,000 mailers, etc. etc. Now, the house of cards must stand against more wind. I am excited to see what God is going to do! This has been a hard process, not merely starting from scratch, but starting from scratch in this location. I have for a long time now felt that we are absolutely waiting on God and completely dependent upon His own desire to build His church. Though beaten down at various times with doubts and concerns, I feel confident in God's providential care over this project and look with hope and expectation that we will not only have a launch service but many anniversaries as well. Many times I have been comforted by looking at our long list of supporters and growing in faith, being encouraged that God was in this, and many of His people were behind it. I thank each of you for your support!
The needs and potential in this area for the Kingdom of God are great! To Him be the glory!

The end of the preview services

Well, 5 months have come and gone and our once a month preview services are all over. The launch service is Sept 12 and we are looking forward to it with faith and fear. Faith that God is doing something, as we have been encouraged by the last 2 preview services. Fear since the week to week demands will be overwhelming for our family.
We continue to see great potential in this region and keep pressing on knowing it is God who builds His church. Today I sat out in front of Wal-mart handing out fliers and raising money for charity. It was a hot but beautiful day and I was joined by the ever faithful Brian who plays guitar for us too. Tomorrow it is off to a local church to tell them about our vision and ask for prayer support. There is always something to do when church planting from scratch.

July 4th Parade in Aldan

Just a few shots of our Independence Day parade. It is always good to get out and see some people and talk about what we are doing. There are short-term invitations and then there are long-term, relationship-building invitations. We are working on both. Events like the 4th help with the latter category.