Merry Christmas Y’all! Where is the time going? And where do
I start this blog LOL!?! So much great stuff has happened and is still
happening since my last blog! So strap in, hold on tight, and I’ll do my best
to make this action packed blog as short and sweet as possible!
This summer was AWESOME! We had 4 great weeks of mission
teams that achieved so much in such a small amount of time!
Lewisport Baptist Church from Kentucky did a fantastic job
helping us at our local Community Garden, promoting our kids camps, and hosting
a game day at our local Rec Center-Estabrook!
Mt Airy Baptist Church from South Carolina sent us a group
of 60 youth….yes that number is correct-60….that made a huge impact on the
community. The whole neighborhood was talking about the sea of purple shirted
students that were helping them with landscaping, loving on their kiddos at
soccer camp, and serving the community with a free Block Party!
Our World Changers P2 Teams, did a phenomenal job completing
12 major housing projects! Not only did they do great work, but they also held
daily Bible Studies at each of the homes which many of the home owners
participated in.
Our final team, View Acres Baptist Church, helped us finish
the summer strong as we were able to participate in food pantry delivery,
sponsor a Frisbee Camp, and host a second Block Party!
Jumping to the fall, we had our 2nd annual Fall
Festival and our very first Baptism Service! With help from a mission team from
Mt. Airy, we were able to reach out to just under 400 people at our Fall
Festival! What a blast! Then that Sunday we had our first baptism service! We
had the blessing of baptizing Dwana who had recently made Jesus Lord of her
life! Our friends Hector and Denisse with Connect Church also baptized Edwardo
that had also recently come to faith in Christ through their Bible Study Group.
I’ll be honest and the first to say, we don’t always get to
see the fruit of the labor that goes in to all the ministry we put out.
Cleveland is a hard context to share the gospel in and has lots of “hard soil”,
but every once in a while the Lord does give us glimpses of the fruit our labor
is producing just like these baptisms.
A few other glimpses include:
-Dereonte. After attending our first block party of the
summer, a teenager named Dereonte walked almost 3 miles on his own in the heat
of July just so he could attend Gateway Church Old Brooklyn. He is now off at
college, but he had the opportunity to hear the good news of Christ before
heading on to this new season of life.
-Bobby Lee. An elderly war veteran named Bobby Lee was one
of the homeowners who we helped landscape and repaint his home over the summer.
The teams that helped Bobby Lee didn’t stop at painting his home, but they also
shared the gospel with him. He says he now has New Life and has started
regularly attending Gateway Church Old Brooklyn!
-Several Families have also gotten involved with Gateway
Church Old Brooklyn after their children’s involvement in our summer sports
camps.
Exciting stuff is happening! Whether you came to Cleveland
and made these events happen or are one of our faithful prayer partners, THANK
YOU! We are limited with what we can do without your partnership through
physical participation, financial provision, and prayer! Thanks for reading the
blog! Always feel free to keep up to date on Gateway Church Old Brooklyn’s
Facebook Page or our website www.gatewaychurcholdbrooklyn.com.
