83 women attended the retreat this year, held at the Best Western in Sonora, CA. Hanan Haddad did a phenominal job of organizing the retreat. The topic of the weekend was contentment. The time was filled with the opportunity to find contentment in Christ, while building valuable relationships with one another. The food was fabulous as always and our women took time to serve our soldiers by preparing gift bags to be sent to our soldiers serving abroad.
These are exciting days in our ministry as the summer comes to a close, families return from vacation and school is now in session. We will be launching a special series of Bible studies entitled “40 Days of Community” in our church. I cannot wait to preach on this topic because I believe it is a message that we can all rally around. It is a message of love where we lock our arms together so that we can express the love of Jesus to our community.
We believe that we can make a far greater impact by serving our community in ministry teams as we ask God to use us to be salt and light in our world. Don’t hesitate to jump into a group for the next six weeks as we enjoy this ride of faith together.
We are currently pursuing buyers for our current property. There is some activity by those who want to purchase a portion, but not all of our land. Please continue to pray for the right buyer to come along soon as we are continuing to pay for the 25 acres of land that we already own in preparation for our relocation.
Standing in the gap!
Pastor Stan
My youngest son, Adam, returns to high school, for his junior year, in two weeks. Where did the summer go? It looks like Adam will also get his driver’s license in the next two weeks. Where did my life go? As I write this, my wife Robin is spending three days with my 97 year old grandmother, learning about life from the perspective on one born in 1911. My son Kyle is on a mission trip to the Ukraine and Serbia with Nick Vujicic (Life Without Limbs), an amazing preacher, born without arms and legs. I look forward to having Nick with us sometime in the future. You won’t believe how God is using this amazing young man to open doors for ministry around the world. My daughter, Heather is spending the summer working at Hume Lake Christian Camp.
So what did Robin and I do with our vacation time this summer? On the top of our list was spending time with our children, so we headed for Southern California and slept on my son Kyle’s sofa bed in his apartment. While Robin connected with some friends, I enjoyed playing golf with Kyle & Josh (sons #2&3), shooting my #2 & #4 (Adam) sons with an air soft rifle, while navigating rattlesnake infested terrain. I’m happy to say that I survived with only one casualty, and the wound on my face from the plastic air soft pellet healed in a few days (thanks Adam). Adam was able to find the poison oak again! It is his specialty. We are now purchasing Calamine Lotion by the gallon.
I am a blessed man! Life is all about relationships, and everything else is just details. It starts with our relationship with the Living God and then it flows to our relationships with one another. Are you enjoying your summer by connecting with those you love? I hope so!
Does it seem to anyone else that life is speeding up? Whether it is spending time with grandma, children or grandchildren, it is important to make the most of every opportunity.
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to get away with my family this summer. Thanks to the Pastoral Staff, Support Staff and Elders who held the fort together while we were gone. I want you to know that I am so excited to be back in the saddle and look forward to what God wants to do in our church as we serve Him together for His glory.
Love in Christ,
Stan
We are continuing to pursue buyers for our existing property. The good news is that we are continuing to acquire the required permits on our new property, and ultimately the conditional use permits. The challenging news is that we anticipated selling our current property in order to pay for our new site. Because of the delay, we are accumulating debt on the interest payments.
Our Elders are actively preparing a financial plan to limit the financial bleeding during this transitional period. Anticipate seeing this plan in the near future as we seek to meet our financial goals as a church family. Be praying that God will give wisdom to our Elders to come up with a balanced and doable plan for our church’s financial goals.
If you have been negatively impacted by the poor economy, please don’t feel the need to give. Others may not be affected by the economy, and are able to do something to help relieve this debt on our land at this time. If that is you, please consider giving to our “Building For LIFE” initial phase to acquire the land. If God has blessed you with unexpected income, know that this would be a good time to give.
Our church building design team has diligently developed plans for a 20,000 sq ft building that will seat 500 people and handle our active and growing ministry to children and youth. This multi-purpose building will be a wonderful tool for impacting our community, while functioning as an equipping station for all of our dear LIFEhouse family.
The building will be a wonderful place for us to invite the community to host awards banquets and ceremonies by our local schools and civic organizations. The kitchen will be a wonderful tool for encouraging these types of events.
This multi-purpose building will be large enough for a modified full court basketball court and full sized volleyball court. It will be a great tool for all of our midweek youth events and games.
Remember, this is just the first of three phases that we have on the drawing board for our property. The second phase, depending on the pace of growth for our church, will involve a 1,000 seat Worship Center. See pictures of our 25 acres…
Brian will be preaching this Sunday as part of our “Heart of a Pastor” series of messages. Come and hear Brian share straight from his heart on his vision for our church and your youth. Read Ephesians 2:1-10 and come prepared for God to speak to your heart.
What a treat to welcome Brian and Jennifer Neuenschwander to our team. Robin and I were able to visit Hume Lake for Brian’s first week on staff as he counseled our students during our youth’s summer camp week. It is so clear that God has not only given Brian a heart for students, but also the wisdom to know how to shepherd and lead them well.
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