| Prayer Requests |
| 1. Praise!! We have moved safely and with little insanity to Greensboro, NC. We are home owners and are so grateful to God for our house that has been so well taken care of by the previous owners. I'll post pictures of the inside soon. Please read below for updated praises and prayer requests as of 10/9/06. 2. We have mostly praises to share. Our Wednesday night program--High Point Community Cafe began a month ago. Over 50 people are attending dinner and various discipleship classes. Our core group was stretched and challenged by our efforts to reach the community, such as handing out bottled water at Wal-Mart and knocking on doors to hand out homemade cookies. Though those tasks were a challenge to some (actually to many), the Lord blessed their efforts and many are thankful for what took place. 3. The Wednesday night meetings also include an outreach component. About half a dozen Christ Church members travel accross the street to an apartment complex that houses many Sudanese Refugees. Some are Christian, many are Muslims. Our deacon meets with the "leader" of this group, Gabriel, who is a Christian. Two of our women are teaching two Muslim women how to speak and write basic English. The others from our group are playing soccer with and ministering to about a dozen children. One boy was so excited when we arrived last Wednesday that he said, "I love Wednesdays." Pray for this unique ministry opportunity!! 4. Sunday night worship services are going very well. We have probably added close to ten new regular attenders since beginning in July. Our services are spirit-filled. God is very present and our church body feels edified and unified during this time. We are becoming a very welcoming and loving church which is something very dear and precious to us because of similar experiences with past churches. We are excited to be a part of this growing community. 5. Elijah's jobs are going well. He's not lifeguarding as much at the YMCA as he had hoped, but it's an easy source of income for us. The unity and vision among the shepherding team at Christ Church is very strong. The "guys" get along very well and laugh often. Elijah has much freedom to pursue what the Lord puts on his heart. We are very thankful to God for this strong leadership team and brotherhood for Elijah. 6. Brandi is working as a preschool teacher at a Lutheran Church in Winston-Salem. The job opened up quite miraculously. All the jobs she had been pursuing with diligence never worked out. Brandi had been praying for God to give her the job, and He literally did. A man from Christ Church, who Brandi hardly knew, happens to work at this Lutheran school. He gave high recommendations of her to the school without even telling her there was job opening. Soon the prinicpal and childcare director began calling Brandi. There was a hitch. We only have one car and Winston-Salem is a 30 minute commute from Greensboro. During all the decision-making time, another Christ Church member gave, yes gave, us their van. The answer is clear--Brandi is to be a preschool teacher. It's a morning job and very enjoyable and continues the ministry that began at Noah's Ark Preschool in Destin. We continue to seek and pray about Brandi getting an afternoon job. 7. Finally, please pray for what we anticipate to be the public launch of Christ Church this Christmas season. God has given Elijah a vision for what this launch could look like and Elijah has diligently been pursuing it. It has the theme of "Awaken the Liturgy." Maybe Elijah can give more details in a blog if he ever decides to actually blog. But in the meantime, just know that this involves a special service December 17 as well as the public launch service on Christmas Eve. Right now, please pray for facility details to work out. For guidance on promotion and finances. For financial provision for the promotion of this launch. For many opportunities to minister to the community during the promotion time. Also pray for opportunities at Wal-Mart. Elijah has reserved several days to do evangelism at Wal-Mart leading up the launch of Christ Church. I am sure the Christ Church website (found on our home page) will have more details in November. 8. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers and faithful suppor of us. Please forgive us for our lack of communication and laziness in updating this website. Know that you are dearly loved by us; although, our silence may make you wonder. We think of our many friends, who are literally across the globe, often. |