Exciting Ministry Update

We are so excited to share with you that today officially marks the first day of the lease of our new locale in Caselle! We as a group are thrilled to see this first step come to fruition as we move forward in the church plant in Caselle. The Lord has provided for us a location that is central, visible and affordable. The small storefront rental was formerly Antoinetta's shoe store. She opened her store 6 years ago with the thought that one day it might serve as a good place to start a church. Over the years she has not only invested in her community but has made wonderful relationships with so many. The business was never profitable for her, but she kept at it and ministered to many who would just stop by to talk with her on a regular basis. She began the work of relationship building and establishing trust that we now hope to continue through our center. We have many thoughts and ideas of how to use this property and we pray for God's wisdom in each decision as we look to open our doors in September for ESL classes, Bible studies, a ladies group, guitar lessons, church services etc.

Our new location is the store with the pink flyers on the window. There is a parking lot a couple of doors down (another huge plus for a city center location).

Thankfully, the place is in good shape and we will only have to make minimal upgrades to get it ready. The biggest expense we are looking at is buying chairs. There are 8 families in our group that make up 27 people, including kids. To maintain the regular expenses it is a sufficient sized group, but the start-up costs will be more difficult for us. However, we are moving forward in faith as we are confident that this is the Lord's timing to open up our center/church. Pray with us as we anticipate how the Lord will provide for this larger expense.

Our group in January 2008

We are excited to see the group take ownership and responsibility in this endeavor. With our group being small in number each needs to help carry the load. The group is varied in gifts and talents and we are all seeking how to best use each person to effectively function as one body. We are excited needless to say!

We'll post some more pictures of the interior when it is all cleared out. And we'll need to take an updated group picture at some point, so hang in there for more updates. Here are some key points of prayer to keep in mind in regards to the locale:

• Choosing a name for the center.
• Marketing for the classes we want to offer in the fall. We hope to have enough interest to start 2 levels of English classes at this point.
  
• Our start-up expenses (purchasing of a min. of 30 chairs) to be met prior to September.
• That this neutral location would bring new contacts to our Bible studies. Samuel's teacher, Nenny, asked if she could come to one of our services sometime.
  
• Pray that we will be an effective blessing and light to our community.