WooHoo!!

Oh man, things are moving quickly! So this week we've got a lot going on. We received the official release from Vineyard Corporate! WooHoo!! What that means is that we are on the national data base, have completed all the requirements for the plant, received signatures from all of our overseers, Joanie and I passed our background check, and now we have a 3000 dollar budget. (Big Sigh) So this week and next is about digging in and getting more prepared. (Deep Breath) We will be prepping Oak Streets upstairs for kids ministry, getting a website up and running, opening a bank account, finishing details on what a service looks like; lots of meetings, lots of lists, and on and on and on. All great stuff, but lots to do. :) If you're tracking with us, please be praying for us, peace, patience, wisdom, and strength. If you're plugged in with us, get ready, here comes the ride!

Benson

A Dependent

This morning my kids have kept coming up to me asking questions. If I don't immediately answer them I hear this, "But Dad, I NEED your help!" So they're tugging on my leg, and I'm trying to get stuff done, then I realize they can not accomplish this task without my help. This leads me to another thought. Remember what Jesus said "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these." There's a dependency. A need. And it's simple trust that Dad is enough to solve the problem, to help in the time of need. A simple dependency. God, let us have that kind of faith and trust and hope, that you are enough, that we can depend on you. Help us to have a child like faith.

And we have a building!!

Well, I feel as though things are moving very quickly now. Last night our Core team got together and looked at what will be our first building and meeting place! We'll start off using another building here in Silverton for our Saturday Night services. 502 Oak Street Silverton, OR at Oak Street Church. This is a great location, it's right down town. AND we've been given the green light to make the upstairs what we want to for children's ministry! It is so exciting!! We'll be meeting Saturday nights, likely from 6:00 - 7:30pm, starting September 10th. :) The evening spent over there was really good; we toured the facility, worshiped, and prayed and then discussed. The worship time was really sweet and from that many in the group felt like God was speaking to their hearts and shared their excitement as well. One of the things we talked about was the picture of an infant learning to walk, which at first it is clumsy and stumbling (just like we will be). But the Father is the one helping us up, and before you know it they're off and running (just like we will be)

Neighborhood night out success!!

This last Tuesday we threw a block party for National Neighborhood Night Out! And it ROCKED! We saw tons of local people come out of their homes for some free food, music and children's games! The feed back was fantastic and we all had some much fun doing it! Thank you thank you thank you to all of those who donated time, energy and resources to this. So many people said, "Why haven't we done this before?" and "When can we do this again?" I love this type of thing. I believe that being genuine and loving and serving our communities comes in may forms. Sometimes it's knocking doors, sometimes it's prayer, sometimes its feeding and clothing those in need, sometimes it's a Sunday morning service, and sometimes it's a huge block party that starts the conversations!