God is always at work in His people. Even during the "barren times"--the times when we can't seem to see any real spiritual fruit--God is still actively working to accomplish His will. Of late, at least from my perspective, we have been experiencing a time of reaping the spiritual blessings and benefits that come from God's good hand.
Just over the past month we have seen several individuals turn from sin and trust Christ as Savior and Lord. I've had the privilege of baptizing four disciples and welcoming them in to our church family. Our numbers--in both offerings and attendance--are on the rise. I'm having to be especially disciplined in my time management because my schedule is literally soaring. There is a flurry of activity and it is mostly positive stuff. But, these are not signs that God is beginning to work. God has been faithfully at work all along. We are just in a special season of reaping some of the blessings of God.
For both of you who follow my blog (just kidding, I know there are at least three of you), I want to ask for your prayers. Over the past two years we have continued to see growth in our church family and have been trying to figure out the solution to our long-term facility needs. New Beginnings has been leasing space in an office building since my arrival in June 2008. We have already doubled our space and while our finances are stronger than ever, we recognize that we need to find a permanent home for our church family. We need to replace our expensive lease with an equity-building situation that will enable us to be even more aggressive with sharing the gospel both "at home" and elsewhere.
Little by little the Lord has been shedding light upon our path in regards to where we need to land permanently. God has blessed us with godly landlords who have a sincere heart to see their building (we lease the bottom half of it) used for the glory of God. After many months of prayer and dialogue our church leadership has reached a financial agreement with our landlords for the purchase of the entire 12,000 SF building. However, there are certain (and major) contingencies that must be satisfactorily resolved in order for us to take full ownership. Would you please pray for God's will to be done for us? There is a lot of work ahead but we believe that God has placed us right here in Woodbury Heights for a very special purpose.
Here are a few pictures from our development over the past few years...
