Our church planters depend
on the prayers and encouragement of God's people. OUTREACH NORTH
AMERICA provides this monthly prayer letter to inform you of some of
their specific needs and praises so you will know better how to pray
for them. Thank you for your prayers and the
interest you show by your phone and e-mail responses. Your prayers
truly encourage your church planters. (See the bottom of this
e-mail for a summary of all the mission churches included in this
update.)
In general
Pray for the Church
Planters and Family Retreat in Jacksonville, Florida January 5-9.
Pray for safe travels and a restful and encouraging time.
We rejoice that many
people (outside our church plant) continue to give of their means to
support our work.
We rejoice that a church
plant (from another Reformed Presbyterian denomination) has decided
to begin attending King's Parish. This is an additional 10-15
families!
Prayer
Pray for continued
financial support.
Pray for the enfolding
and transition of our visitors/regular attendees.
Keep pleading with the
Lord that our dream of becoming a self-sufficient, self-supporting
congregation would happen by the end of 2015. This is s bold
request, but it is our heart's desire.
For the outreach we had
at First Friday Fort Mill. We started relationships with new people
in our community.
We got to meet some of
our neighbors at the Halloween outreach at our house.
For the Bingo Night
outreach at a local elementary school.
For the outreach to the
men who come with their partners to the pregnancy center. We have
been able to counsel 8 men as they choose life for these new
children. We've been able to share the gospel in many of these
sessions with the men.
For the man who is
considering joining us as a provisional session member.
That our intern, Zach
Simmons, was approved by ONA.
We're thankful for
several churches and individuals who made year end financial
donations to our church.
Pray
For a family in our
neighborhood who has visited several times. Ask the Lord to help
them commit to our work.
For our neighbor who is
closed to spiritual things. Ask the Holy Spirit to soften his heart.
Ask the Lord to raise up
more laborers for His harvest. We need people that are willing to
engage the unchurched around us in compelling and compassionate
ways.
Pray for Becky. She
teaches in a preschool that meets in the facility we meet in for
worship.
Pray for several
community groups that we hope to launch in the New Year.
Ask the Lord to raise up
leaders.
Pray for our "Read
Through The Bible" initiative that we started January 1.
Pray for our ongoing
fundraising efforts.
Ask the Lord to use us
to see people come to Christ and engaged in our church.
At the close of 2014,
and the start of the New Year we praise the Lord that:
He has kept us in tact
as a vital, connecting community.
He has built into us a
hunger for more of the community life in Him, as well as has us
seeking to find how we can serve this community effectively.
He keeps us humbly
dependent on Him-- as we seek a better facility in which to meet, we
are thankful for the little chapel.
He blesses us with good
piano/keyboard music for our worship services--the lady can play,
and is obviously being blessed as well as blessing us; and He has
blessed us with His presence in worship services--and the special
services have been marked with wonderful experiences of the Spirit's
power.
Pray
That our
leadership/advisory team will grow in dependence on Christ for
wisdom, and direction as we discover how to effectively represent
Him here.
That our search for help
in worship leadership and youth outreach ministry would be
successful.
That the Lord will give
the gift of "birddog/retriever" to our people's pursuit of neighbors
to engage with the gospel.
The Lord will complete
the transition from a dependency on "program" and "attraction/event
outreach" to bold, individual initiation of friendships with the
unchurched.
That the Lord would
continue to bless the home group development (one so far!), and the
ongoing men's and women's groups, the Bible study at the senior
center, the neighborhood book club/outreach, the Muslim studies
outreach in our home, the hospital chaplaincy work, and the ministry
among "the boat people," both stink potters and sailors. (Wanted: a
golfer to retire here and help develop a golfing outreach.)
We are seeing life
changes among those who have been attending Renew; growth and
commitment to Christ is increasing.
We are beginning a Kids
Club at Horizons, a government housing project in our area. We have
partnered with the Resident's Council for over 2 years and now have
an invitation to bring the gospel to bear on children's lives!
We are seeing leaders
step up and take on important roles and responsibilities in the
ministry of Renew.
Pray
Our 3-year funding ended
on December 1. We have some funding from Presbytery coming in, as
well as some from ONA to supplement. However, we need to grow in our
attendance and giving to become self-supporting and to pursue our
vision of planting other churches.
We are looking at
reducing some costs by moving our worship space into a less costly
area at Cypress Lake Middle School. We want to do what is wise for
the church at this point.
We are actively looking
for a worship leader. We need prayer for God to bring the right
person to this important role.
We pray for our new
church chorus. We have an experienced good conductor to organize
chorus team. We need good leaders for each parts of chorus team.
We need church van and
driver. To pick up more new members and students from Queens College
who do not have the transportation. We have about three meetings per
day, as well as normal worship services. We have morning meetings
every day at 5:45 AM, except Sunday. Also, we have everyday Bible
classes in the morning and evening. The total Bible classes are 14
classes per week.
One of our members on
fire for the Lord and has been given a hunger for the
Scriptures.
Another gal has come to
know the peace of God.
An out of town guest
worshipped with us one Sunday and left before we got his
name. We just received a large gift from him for our work.
God has blessed us with
a teenaged boy who attends with his parents.
Pray
On January
12, David Cortman and Jeremy Tedesco of Alliance Defending
Freedom will be presenting our sign case, "Reed vs. Town of Gilbert"
before the US Supreme Court. They are flying us out. The case
concerns the violation of our First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
If successful, it could have implications for church signage
across the nation.
On December 15, the
Sunrise Senior Living facility where we have been meeting (free of
charge) was informed by their corporate office that we could no
longer meet there as a church because of one of their
regulations. We are presently holding our Sunday
morning service in a home while we negotiate with Gilbert to
rent an elementary school (probably after the holidays). The Sunrise
folks still wanted a service, so we still have 2 services at a
nursing home. We are being allowed to hold our Wednesday Bible study
at Sunrise, but only with the church members who have bee regularly
attending. (They are classified as volunteers.)