God still cares!

In the crazy world we live in it is often a struggle for us to believe that God really cares. This struggle is compounded by the fact that God often answers prayer on a time schedule that is vastly different than ours. We live in a society that is bent on instant gratification. I am personally one of the people that is seeking the instant fix. I want my computer fixed now, my line at the gas station to be empty and fast, my service at the restaurant to be speedy, I want it all and I want it now. However I know this is not the right attitude to have so I have to constantly remind myself, and my wife reminds me too, to be patient and wait.

Well as most of you who are following the progress of the church know we recently started planting churches around the county and even globally via video sermons and live worship. This has been exciting, but far from instant gratification. This last week we ran into our first major road block with one of our daughter church plants. We have a church plant this is meeting in a Long Term Care Nursing Home, and is comprised of two workers and a group of about 17 residents/patients at the facility. Through a series of unfortunate events, some brought on by us making a few minor mistakes in nursing home protocol, and some by misunderstandings we were told that our church could no longer meet there. This was a severe blow for many of the residents of the nursing home, and was an extreme test of faith for us.

Two or three years ago I probably would have went through the roof. But God has been working on me with patience, primarily teaching me patience through our daily early morning prayer meetings here at the church. Instead of going through the roof we decided to pray about this and ask other churches and C&MA leaders to pray with us. This past Monday we went to the nursing home where Xtraordinary Fellowship meets and met with Brian Vermilion, who is the administrator. After talking with him a very brief time Xtraordinary Fellowship was allowed to continue meeting. Right now we are a little unsure if it will be allowed to use the activities room or if it will have to meet in a residents room, but either way it was a great turn of events for the church and we really appreciate Brian's understanding and care for the people there. No doubt Bell Court Terrace is taking great care of the residents/patients there. Would you continue to pray with us as we minister to this community of great people. Also pray for the nursing/care staff of Bell Court Terrace as the job they have is a tough one at best, and every day is full of unique challenges for them. We know the staff there is full of love and grace, and your prayers for them is very much appreciated.