Ministry Update

Dear Prayer Team,

Thank you so much for your prayers. We are doing very well. Our family is settling into the house and we are beginning to explore the area around us. This afternoon we are going to two family festivals that are being held near us.

Ministry at the churches is definitely taking shape. I can sense God giving me more direction and focus as each day passes. Our attendance is just about the same 25 or so at Ft. Miller and 20 or so at Chestertown. The offerings are averaging about what they were before I came. I held vision casting meetings at both churches last Sunday (7-26-09) and they seemed to be very well received. There were children at both of the meetings and we are redesigning our Sunday AMs to be 'kid-friendly'. I am especially excited about the children at Ft. Miller. They definitely understand that children and teens are essential to their long-term existence and vitality. We are beginning Children's Church at Fort Miller this week because it is going to be a need beginning this week. We re-established Children's Church at Chestertown last Sunday.

On Thursday morning we had a prayer meeting at Ft. Miller with 7 in attendance and that afternoon I worked with 2 Chestertown teens on helping to lead worship this coming Sunday (wow, lots of energy - I could barely keep up with my guitar). Thursday evening we had 15 at their Thursday night prayer and Bible study. Definite signs of life there. There seems to be a good buzz going around about the new direction the church is taking. Both churches have a yard sign that tells what time the services are being held. This is temporary until we can find a more fixed way to display the service times.

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One last update item and prayer concern. There will be a work team coming from another church the week of August 17th. We have established three kind of projects for them to help us with - Definite Projects, Possible Projects and the Faith Project. The Definite Projects are needs that we have raised funds for already and we have most of the resources on hand. These projects include some clean up, making the nursery and children's church area acceptable for new families, installing some doors and windows and some small exterior cosmetic work. The Possible Projects are repairing a back exterior wall which is rotting because of a drainage issue (and fixing the drainage issue), replacing the new sign out front, and make a long dark hallway brighter and less scary. The Faith Project is to put vinyl siding on some or all of the building. These last two kinds of projects can only happen if we are able to purchase more supplies. Please pray with us about these possibilities.

In Faith,

Pastor James