Gearing Up for Another Great Summer in Cleveland!

While it may only be the beginning of March, we are already in full swing summer mission team planning mode up here in Cleveland.

The summertime is one of our favorite times of the year! Half of that is because it is actually above freezing hahaha! But really the summertime is actually our favorite because of all the outreach we cram in to two months! We love getting the opportunity to serve those in our community and through that service getting to have countless conversations about the gospel!

Some of you reading this have been on or are gearing up for a mission trip to Cleveland, others might be Cleveland natives, and still others of you are just nice enough to read my blog haha! Whatever category you fall into, check out the list below, hopefully it will be helpful, and feel free to comment with even more mission trip tips!

Tips for a great mission trip to Cleveland:

1) Be open to your new context.

A true Clevelander LOVES Cleveland. There was a recent article floating around saying Cleveland is the one place you look like a tourist if you’re NOT wearing a Cleveland T-Shirt. Most of the rest of the country hates on Cleveland, whether they call it the “Mistake on the Lake “or hate on Lebron and his skills. So Clevelanders show their city extra love. The city is our own secret treasure.

That being said. be open to fall in love with our city and the people in it too. Cleveland will for sure be different than your town and your context but embrace the differences. Don’t knock that the houses are so close together, embrace that everything is only 10-15 minutes away from your door step! Don’t hate on how bad the browns are, embrace the fact that you can start a conversation with just about anyone in the city with “How about them Browns”. They are always a great conversation piece!

2) Be people focused.

Don’t be afraid of people that look, speak, & potentially smell different than you do. Large cities like Cleveland attract people of all kinds of different cultures, backgrounds, & home lives. Remember that God created them and loves them dearly and so should you. Don’t be shocked when a non-Christian acts just like that, a non-Christian. When someone’s heart has not been changed by Christ, they have no reason to act differently from the world. Keep listening and loving them as Christ would. People can tell if you care about them or not. Ask them about themselves-“How long have you lived in Cleveland” etc – don’t run immediately to the question “If you died tonight where you would you go?” people will see you have an agenda and not give you the time of day.

3) Be ready to share the gospel.

A lot of our teams are from the south and that southern accent sticks out quickly. Use that to your advantage! When someone asks where are you from and why are you in Cleveland, respond letting them know you’re here on a volunteer trip serving because Christ has served you. See where that conversation leads.

Being ready to share the gospel might mean preparing your own testimony of how God opened your eyes to your need for Him, preparing a few scriptures ahead of time to share, or having a short explanation of the gospel ready. That explanation might look like: 1) Who we are (sinners separated from a Holy God) 2) Who Jesus is (God’s Son), 3) what Jesus has done for us (lived a perfect life unlike us, died on the cross bearing our sin and shame, and rising again conquering sin and death), and 4) What their response should be (Turning from sin & reliance on self and turning to faith in the work of Christ) 

4) Don’t wait till you’re on the mission trip to share the gospel.

I’ll be honest, if you’re not intentionally looking for ways to share the gospel now…..the chances of you sharing it once you go on your mission trip are slim. We, yes myself included, run to find any excuse not to share the gospel (even on a mission trip). We think-“It will make things weird” “They might not like me anymore and avoid me” “What if they ask a question I don’t know the answer to”. The Lord will equip you for the task, I promise! As Nike says Just Do It!

5) Don’t stop sharing the gospel once you go back home from the mission trip. 

One of the great bonuses of going on a mission trip in the states is that many of the things you do in Cleveland, you can do right at home like getting involved in a community garden, throwing block parties, getting involved in your community etc. Look for ways to be intentional in your own community.

6) Be flexible.

It will rain when you need it be sunny. Not as many people will show up to events as you expected. People you talk to may be rude. Things simply will not go the way WE think they should go, but that doesn’t mean God is not still at work. So keep your chin up, roll with the flow, and trust in the Lord’s plans.

As we were painting a home last year, one of the neighbors would say we could use his driveway for ladders & scaffolding, but every time they would set the items up, the neighbor would come out of his home yelling to get off his property. This stopped this house from being finished in one week. So what did we do? We prayed. The next week, the neighbor kept his cool, the house was completed, and we actually met several more neighbors because of the ruckus he made. God’s plans were not thwarted.

7) Encourage the pastors & planters you are serving with.

Cleveland is a super lost city, and it is hard work the pastors & planters do here week in and week out often with little visible fruit from their sacrificial labor. The pastors & planters have also been in the context longer than you. So trust in the plans they have for you to reach out to the community over the week you are here. Don’t run to instruct them of how you would do it, instead run to encourage them. Feel free to offer up suggestions as we need each other to help us think outside the box & no pastor or planter is perfect but do so after running to encouragement first.

We have actually had an anonymous person from a mission team use our offering box as a suggestion box for how they thought our Sunday service went or should I say how they thought it should have gone……yeah…..don’t do that, just talk to them face to face.

The last thing I’ll say is that mission teams & your service really do work. We have seen people come to Christ and get involved in the church after each and every summer. It makes the long hot busy days of summer 100% worth it.

So bring it on summer of 2017! We can’t wait to see all that you hold in store!

Let Them Eat Cake!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Tony’s 29^th birthday this last weekend! His last year in his 20’s! We got together with his family at Heck’s, a Cleveland burger place that has been open since 1974, and then came back to our place for cake!

 Tony always requests a Banana Nut Cream Cheese Cake for his birthday. It’s pretty much banana nut bread turned into a cake with cream cheese frosting. It’s delicious, even if I do say so myself. It’s a bit of work as it’s a 3 layered cake, but I can’t deny the birthday boy his favorite cake right?!

Several of you requested the recipe so check it out below. This cake is one of my mom’s specialties! She also puts a thin layer of sliced bananas between each layer of the cake. I love the pecans and like to put a layer of those with the frosting between each layer. So whatever hits your fancy-go for it! And let me know how it turns out!

Banana Nut Cream Cheese Cake

Cake Ingredients:

3 cups flour (plus more for sprinkling on pans)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

3 eggs beaten

¾ cup vegetable oil

3-4 large ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup chopped pecans

1½ tsp vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients: (I double this frosting recipe when I make it so I won’t run out)

1 8oz pkg cream cheese (room temp)

½ cup butter (1 stick) (room temp)

1 pound powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Prep Directions:

1) Grease & flour 3 (9 inch) cake pans

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Cake Directions:

1) Stir flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, & salt together in a large mixing bowl

2) Add beaten eggs & oil and stir just until dry ingredients moisten (Don’t beat)

3) Stir in mashed bananas, pecans, & vanilla

4) Divide the batter among the 3 pans

5) Bake for 23-28 minutes (or until inserted toothpick comes out clean)

6) Cool the cake layers in pans for 10 minutes

7) Then turn them out onto a cooling rack to completely cool before frosting

Frosting Directions:

1) Blend cream cheese & butter together in a bowl

2) Gradually add powdered sugar & beat until fluffy

3) Beat in Vanilla

4) Fill and frost the completely cooled cakes

Celebrate Good Times C'mon

Happy New Year Everyone! Can you believe it’s 2017 already? Crazy how time flies! I’ve let 4 months go by since my last update and so much has happened in just 4 months time!

We had a great end of 2016! Tony and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary together in Niagara Falls. Crazy that 5 years could come and go so quickly! And yet I struggle (in a good way) to remember what life was like before we were together. In 5 years time, we have laughed a lot, grown a lot, accomplished a lot, & forgiven a lot. We have a couple in our church that has been married for 56 years, and they say the secret is they are big forgivers. And I say…true that! We are wonderfully “stuck” with each other through the good times & bad. 

We spent Thanksgiving in Alabama with my family. We had a great time catching up with them, eating way too much food, going fishing, and enjoying temps in the 70’s!

 

It was fun and a wee bit hectic having both Christmas and New Years Day fall on Sundays this last year.  In some ways it was really nice gathering together as believers to celebrate the gift of Christ on Christmas Day and starting the New Year off together at church! But if it was like that every year, I’m afraid I would need more than 6 days in between the two celebrations hahaha!

My parents came up to Cleveland for Christmas this last year and we had a great time celebrating as both Loseto’s & Cooper’s!

Speaking of celebrating, we just celebrated our 2 year anniversary as Gateway Church Old Brooklyn this past Sunday! How exciting! Once again, I sit back and wonder how could 2 years possibly go by that fast, but at the same time, I have a hard time remembering what life looked like before church planting. Before the getting up early each Sunday to set up sound equipment, fold bulletins, and brew coffee. Before cramming as many people in our home as possible for Bible study (For the record, you can fit way more people than 3 on a couch and a pillow on the floor totally counts as a seat). I think one of the hardest things to get used to was no matter how well or poorly you felt like service went on Sunday, you only have 6 days until you need to do it again haha! Let me tell you, that’s a quick deadline week in and week out!

But we couldn’t be more thankful for Gateway Church Old Brooklyn! We have seen people come to put their faith in Christ, be discipled, and make disciples. It’s been an awesome two years, and I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for the future!

Spring & Summer 2016 Update

Man oh man it’s been almost 9 months since I’ve updated this blog….can I get a YIKES!?!

Well to catch you up, a few snapshots of awesomeness that has happened since my last update:

Gateway Church Old Brooklyn had it’s One Year Anniversary in January….YAY! That might not sound like a big deal, but when you begin anything especially a church plant you are not guaranteed to make it even to your one year anniversary. So we’re  super excited to have met that milestone and to be continuing the church planting work in this second year.

In May, we also got to see 3 of my favorite people baptized….ok so everyone that goes to Gateway Church Old Brooklyn is my favorite….it’s true…but these 3 are pretty special! Chris, on the right, is the guy that’s always there early, stays late, and happily volunteers for any work that needs to be done no matter the task. Curtis and Jessica, on the left, were one of the first families to come from a summer camp, check out the church, and stay. That’s quite a commitment as we’re a new church plant with limited programs for kids! They all faithfully serve and encourage our church body on a weekly basis & it was such a blessing to see them follow in believer’s baptism!

This summer the Lord allowed us to pull off a total of 4 kid’s camps, 2 block parties and 13 housing repair projects this summer!

The kids’ camps were a blast! We had a football/volleyball camp, Frisbee camp, soccer camp, & arts & crafts camp. Each day we would have a snack break & use that time to share the gospel with the kids. You would really see these kids start to grasp what Jesus had done for them & several were hearing this good news for the very first time.

The construction projects went fabulously this summer. They are always a little nerve racking as to whether or not we’ll actually get everything done, but praise the Lord for the 3^rd year in a row, all the projects were completed from painting 6 homes & 1 garage, demoing 5 garages, and rebuilding 1 porch….it all got done. There were definitely bumps along the way but we got through it all. We had one incident where we needed to use a neighbor’s driveway to paint the side of one of the homes. The neighbor would say we could use his driveway but as soon as the group would set up ladders, he would come out yelling at them to get off his property. We prayed and prayed for this man and this situation as we couldn’t finish the project in those conditions. And wouldn’t you know, the Lord did a mighty work and the man all of the sudden became calm and peaceable the 2^nd week of work. Also the neighbor on the other side of the house came out due to the previous ruckus and was very interested in the church. You never know what the Lord is up to even when things don’t go according to “our” plan.

2016 has been a fun & interesting year so far, and we are excited to see all the Lord has in store for the fall! Check out Gateway’s Summer Outreach Video at the link below if you haven’t already! It brings a smile to my face each time I watch at as I see all the Lord did this summer in our community!

http://gatewaychurcholdbrooklyn.com/summer-2016-outreach-video/

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Merry Christmas Y'all....'Bout Time for an Update!

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 2^nd 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.

Summer Project Make Overs 2015

As always let me start my blog off with an apology that it’s been SO long since I’ve updated it! But I promise it’s only because we’ve been SO busy doing such great stuff!

During our 4 weeks of mission teams this summer, we had two weeks of construction teams through the World Changers P2 program. These teams were made up of youth that came from all over the United States to help us complete 10 housing projects….yes 10 projects!

These youth not only sacrificed a week of their summer but also paid money just so they could come to Cleveland, participate in these housing projects, and share the good news of the gospel! It doesn’t get much cooler than that! Each day the teams would do a Bible study at their work site and often times the homeowners would participate as well. These youth left a great lasting impression in the Cleveland neighborhood of Old Brooklyn.

Ok enough yapping from me:) Check out some of the highlights below!

 

Thanks to all the volunteers that made these projects a reality as well as a huge shout out to the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation that partnered with us in finding not only the homes but also the necessary funding! What a great summer!

Some Visiting of Our Own!

Hi Friends! I hope your summer is starting off well with some time in the sun, some BBQ on the grill, and a nice glass of sweet tea!

Tony and I figured we had had so many visitors come our way lately, it was time to do some visiting of our own! So we headed down to Louisville KY and reunited with a lot of great friends! Tony and I had the opportunity to share with our old church, Crossing, about all the Lord has done and is doing in Cleveland. We also had the opportunity to help raise support for our friends Colin and Marianne as they prepare to move to Cleveland and help us in our church planting efforts! What a great time! It was a blast being there and catching up with old friends!

 

















When we returned to Cleveland, life quickly became overwhelming between our Wednesday night community group needing a new location, major construction beginning on the road our Church meets on, and our church computer crashing. Welcome home right;) But we’re still trucking along and leaning in to Jesus more and more with each day!

Michael and Aubrey Meadows, our North American Mission Board Interns, are officially in Cleveland! They’ve been here less than a week and have already been a tremendous help and encouragement! We couldn’t be more thankful that the Lord is allowing us both to play a part in each other’s church planting journeys-what a blessing!

We are anxiously, excitedly, and expectantly gearing up for a summer full of mission teams! We receive our first team this coming Sunday. Can’t wait to see how the Lord will use this team of 12 people from Lewisport, KY to further the kingdom in Cleveland!

Please keep us in your prayers sweet friends! Continue to pray for the Lord to bring us a music minister. We know he’ll bring us the perfect person in his perfect timing. Please pray for all our summer activities and mission teams. Pray that these activities would result in people coming to know Jesus as their Savior and joining the local church body of Gateway Church Old Brooklyn.

Now time to get back out in the sun and soak up some rays in the garden! Thanks for reading!

Visitors, Visitors, Visistors:)

I hope each of you had a great Mother’s Day this past Sunday whether that means you were celebrated or you had the opportunity to celebrate or commemorate the lovely ladies that have been in your life-I hope it was a great one!

Since my last blog, we have had several visitors.

The first visitors were Michael and Aubrey Meadows. Michael and Aubrey will be interning with us through the North American Mission Board starting in June! They could easily be the cutest couple out there, and we may or may not be counting down the days till they join us!

The second set of visitors was a Sunday School Class with Mt Airy Baptist Church from South Carolina. We have a lot of teams we host, but this team was absolutely top notch! They came ready to serve, ready to share the gospel, and ready to support and encourage Tony and I. (Quick Side Note When Bringing a Mission Team Anywhere-please strive for those three things! Please make sure your team doesn’t think themselves above any task, isn’t timid to share the gospel, and isn’t quick to critique. Ok soapbox speech over:)) Despite the temps being at least 20 degrees cooler than what they were used to, this team rocked it out at our community garden going above and beyond what the garden leaders expected to accomplish. They then delivered food to several homes, helped an elderly resident with landscaping, and flyered the neighborhood. Several of the residents they spoke with even came to Church the next day! Mt Airy, thanks SO much for the impact your team made in such a small amount of time!

The next set of visitors were Pastor Steve Yowell and his wife Sherylyn from View Acres Baptist Church in Oklahoma. We had the blessing of receiving a group of their students led by Greg McElroy this past summer as a mission team, and we have the blessing again of receiving an even larger group from their church this summer! We had a blast showing off our city to them and sharing stories of all God is doing in the neighborhood! It was a really encouraging weekend. Can’t wait to see you guys again in July!

 

Our final group of visitors is coming this weekend, and they are my parents:) While it has already been staying in the 80’s so far this spring, Cleveland wanted to give them a proper welcome, and the temps are plunging back to the 50’s hahaha. Some things are just out of my control!

Thanks for checking out our update! Please pray for us as we continue our search for a music minister, get ready to welcome Michael and Aubrey to Cleveland, and prepare for this summer’s mission teams! I hope each of you has a terrific week!

Bring on the Weekend!

We’ve made it to Thursday friends-now let’s just keep rolling in to the weekend-deal? We’ve had some pretty exciting weekends here in Cleveland lately! 

Last weekend was the Cleveland Indians’ Home Opener Baseball Game! This city comes alive for its sports teams! Downtown’s streets were flowing with people in blue and red ready to cheer on their team! The home opener game always sells out of tickets and then the poor stadium’s stands remain pretty empty until the weather warms up a bit more LOL!

The weekend before that was our first Easter Sunday at Gateway Church Old Brooklyn! It was a really great milestone! We had about 42 people in attendance. To be honest with you, we thought we may have more people attend, but Tony and I both wholeheartedly agreed we have never been a part of a congregation on Easter Sunday that was so excited we serve a risen Savior as we were this past Easter Sunday. We decided 42 people that were excited to be there was way better than a larger crowd only there by obligation! Funny how we think we know what's best or what to pray for and the Lord turns that upside down!

That same weekend I made a big batch of cookies to take to our neighbors to chat with them and invite them to church. We knocked on four doors and wouldn’t you know not a single one opened their doors to us! (we know for sure several were home too!)  Their loss of both super yummy cookies and great conversation haha! We took the cookies up to the local Rec Center instead and to say the least the Rec Center employees and kiddos were really excited about them! We LOVE our new neighborhood, but it was a good lesson that day that these neighbors could care less about free cookies/kids camps/etc. that we have to offer. The only way you will get a peep out of them is by being their neighbor-doing yard work next to them, shoveling the sidewalks side by side, or taking walks around the neighborhood and taking time to ask about their pets or families. It’s a stark contrast to our last neighborhood….those cookies wouldn’t have made it past 2 houses!

Other exciting news, I put my notice in to my work, and my last day at my job as an Administrative Assistant (for 4 people) will be May 1st. Me working full time and doing ministry full time was getting to be too much. It is still bittersweet! When we moved to Cleveland the first thing I told Tony is that I wasn’t going to work downtown, but that is exactly where the Lord put me and I have LOVED it! I have LOVED the people I’ve worked with, LOVED being in the center of the happenings of downtown Cleveland, and LOVED seeing the city skyline each day as I drive in to work. All of those things will certainly be missed, but I’ll still be popping downtown when I can. I'm really excited to help Tony this summer with the mission teams and then we’ll see what the fall will look like for me potentially picking something up part time.

We have 5 weeks of mission teams coming this summer. Two of the weeks we’ll have back to back teams of 120 people in town for housing projects in our neighborhood so it will be all hands on deck keeping up with everyone and everything! It will bring great opportunity but also bring great need for a vacation when everything is said and done;)

Well I’ve bent your ear long enough! I hope each of you has an awesome weekend ahead of you and keep us in the loop of all your comings and goings!

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung friends! This was the winter that I thought might just last forever, but according to my calendar it is officially spring. Not every day feels like spring yet here in Cleveland, but we have seen 60 degrees already so I’m content.

Tony and I have officially settled in to home ownership complete with fixing a running toilet, a door that fell off the hinge, and a door that wouldn’t shut. LOL consider us broken in home owners folks!

Things are going great with Gateway Church Old Brooklyn! We are coming up on Easter Sunday this Sunday and are celebrating our 12^th service! We are officially in the double digits! We continue to have people from the neighborhood check out the church on Sundays and already hear regular visitors calling Gateway Old Brooklyn their church home….how awesome!

We have officially multiplied our community group in to two groups, and things are going great! As with any change, it takes time for people to adjust, but we feel most everyone has found one of the two groups that works well with their schedules and is making it a priority to attend. We are super thankful to the Senal family for opening their home for the second group. While Tony and I are attending both groups at the moment-it is so nice not hosting both groups!

We had a mission team from Tennessee in town this week. We set up shop at our local Rec Center with popcorn, face painting, and games and promoted summer camps and events that we will be hosting this year. It has been such a blessing to have such a great relationship with our local rec center and has been such an open door to be involved in the community.

 
















Please keep us in your prayers friends as we enter Easter Weekend! We sent out another set of post cards to the local neighborhood for Easter. Please pray for the people receiving these post cards to come Sunday!

Please pray for us to be prepared for the people that walk through the church's doors Sunday morning whether that be a large or small number. Pray that we can show them the love and hope they can have in Christ.

Please also pray for the Lord to give us wisdom and patience as we continue to search for a music leader!:)

I hope everyone has an awesome Easter weekend! He is Risen!

Winter 2015 Church Planting Update

Brrrr! Man what a winter we are having huh? Even my southern friends are getting a taste of the below freezing temps and snow and ice. My northern friends and I have gotten much more than a “taste” of the awful temps and snow…..it is I’m afraid the norm:/ I keep crossing my fingers for a snow day at work….but I don’t think it’s going to happen!

I have lots to update you on with the Church Plant!

Our Launch Sunday could not have been much more awesome! The Lord blessed us with 83 people at our Launch Service! It was amazing to see the Lord fill the auditorium with people. One of our partner churches, Mt. Airy Baptist Church from South Carolina, sent a team to help us pull the Launch Service off. We had a blast with them that weekend serving the community and getting the word out about Gateway Church Old Brooklyn. They even helped us throw a Pancake Palooza at our local Rec Center! It was a major hit!

 We are coming up on our 6th service this Sunday! We have been averaging right around 40 people at most of our services, which is right where we were hoping we would be when we started. Our core team has been awesome and so faithful to be there each Sunday to help ensure everything is set up and all the details are taken care of!  Many of our visitors that have come just keep coming, which is so cool to see! Impressive too! Out of our 5 services so far……two of them required a snow plow for the parking lot…..and one of them was a high of 2 degrees! That’s dedication people!

We have had a community group meeting in our home for the last year and a half. The Lord has grown this group for us to now multiply in to two groups! One group will remain on Wednesdays but at another member’s home, and the second group will meet Sunday nights at our home. Tony and I will continue going to both groups for now and are praying for a leader to take over the second group in a few months.

Tony is still both music leader and preacher…..and while I may be biased…..he’s totally rocking it out at both. Just consider me his little groupie:) Other core team members have jumped in on drums and guitar, and we continue to pray for the Lord to bring us a music leader.

One quick story, and then I’ll wrap my update up I promise! We recently moved in to our new home, and one of the bummers about moving was losing our old neighbors Jerry and his sons. I’ll be honest, they weren’t the quietest bunch….but we sincerely loved having them as neighbors and had countless conversations about Christ and the Church over our fence line. We invited and invited them to church and Bible Study, and they never came. We hated to move and lose that relationship, but we knew God was in control. Well guess what…..our God is bigger than moves. A few weeks after we moved, Jerry decided he wanted to visit Bible Study one Wednesday night. And since, he has been to the last 4 Bible Studies and 2 Church Services bringing his sons every so often with him too. How Cool! Don’t give up inviting people….you never know when the Spirit will work in their hearts!

Friends, please pray for us as we transition in to two community groups starting this week. Pray for the Lord to grow Gateway Church Old Brooklyn through this multiplication of groups.

Please also pray as the Lord forms His leaders for Gateway Church Old Brooklyn!

Thanks SO much for keeping up with our updates, friends! Stay warm and remember Spring is coming!

Launch Week!!!!

It’s launch week people….AHHH!
We are officially launching Gateway Church Old Brooklyn, this Sunday morning at 10:30am.

Friends, we would so love your prayers! See some fast rapid ways you can be lifting us up this weekend:)

We have had three evening preview services over the last three months, and they have all gone really well-praise the Lord! We have had 50-60 people at each service and have had new visitors each week from the local community! Please pray for people in the community to continue to come. We want to be a church that looks like our community.
While Church Planting work is crazy exciting, it is also crazy exhausting all at the same time! Please pray for us to lean into God's strength and not our own!

We sent out a mailing of about 5,000 post cards to the local community letting people know we are opening our doors this Sunday morning. Please pray for people to come check out the church after receiving the post cards.

We also have a mission team of 19 people coming in this weekend to help us out. Please pray for safety for the team in all their travels, and for the team to have opportunities and boldness to share the gospel with the people of Cleveland while they’re here.

We will be hosting a Pancake Palooza at our local Rec Center this Saturday. Please pray for people to fill the rec center with an appetite not only for pancakes but also an appetite for God’s Word and the truth of the gospel. Please pray for these same people to come visit Gateway Church Old Brooklyn this Sunday!

Lift up Tony as he prepares and preaches his sermon Sunday. Please pray for the people that come to have open ears and hearts to the truth.

Your prayers and support mean more than you could ever know! Thanks Friends!

Bring It On 2015!

Man 2015 is just 2 days away! I always heard my parents talk about how the years just fly by, and I never believed them until now! Time is flying by and at warp speed!

We had our third and final preview Service December 14^th. That weekend, we had a mission team of 40 college students from South Carolina help us throw a winter festival at our local Rec Center. We had Gingerbread House Building, Balloon Animals, Face Painting, and Hot Cocoa…..what more could you ask for! We had one of our lowest turn outs at this event (75 people not counting the mission team), but we had more gospel conversations with people than we have ever had at any of our other events. Isn’t funny how we worry about numbers or have what we think is the metric system for success and the Lord just turns that upside down!

 

The preview service went really well although I don’t know that I have the time nor space in this blog to tell you all the “bumps” we hit along the way that weekend. From almost not having a gym to throw the winter festival in, to the printing of the fliers for the church plant, to mics magically working and not working, if it could be difficult-it was. But despite my expectations not always being met as to how I thought things should go, we had an awesome weekend and an awesome service and the Lord was glorified (which is way better than my expectations)!

 

We will have our actual launch service Sunday January 18^th 10:30am. From there, we will have weekly morning services. We will be sending out a mailing prior to our launch service. Please pray for these post cards to reach the people of our community. Please pray for these post cards to be put on the fridge and not in the trash can.

We will have one of our partner churches, Mt Airy Baptist, coming in for our launch Sunday as well. They will be helping us spread the word that weekend and throwing a Pancake Palooza the Saturday before the service. Please pray for people to come to the event, for us to have gospel conversations, and for the people to come check out the church the next day.

One last bit of news….Tony and I are official home owners of this lovely little house! We could not be more thrilled! While we are already quite busy with the church plant, we could not be more excited to be in this house. We had the blessing of having so many people pass through the doors of our old home and the joy of having so many gospel conversations with friends - please pray the same for this home. We hope it will be used for His glory!

Thanks for all your love and support you’ve sent our way in 2014. Cheers to 2015 and all the Lord has in store for each and every one of us!

Christmas Time is Here!

Hey Friends! We are just 17 days away from Christmas, and this girl can’t wait! I love the decorations, music, ugly sweaters and all!

Since my last blog, I won first place at the Old Brooklyn Chili Cook Off making me the two year reigning champion woo-hoo! I’ve always known Mom’s Chili Recipe was good, and I am glad to see the people of Cleveland agree!

We had our second preview service. I would be lying if I said it was an easy service this time around. But God is good both in easy times and not so easy times, right? The week prior to the service we had several discouragements along the way including having no clue who would be leading music, but the Lord provided both a music leader for the time being and the encouragement we needed. We had right at 50 people at our second preview service, and we couldn’t be more excited to see all the Lord is doing in our community as He continues to draw new people bit by bit!

We went to Alabama to see my folks for Thanksgiving. We had a blast hanging out with family (especially my adorable niece Abby)! Mom kept us well fed with great food, and we totally got in to the southern spirit by going cane pole fishing in my Dad’s pond and shooting a gun for the first time….Roll Tide!

 

This coming weekend (December 13-14) we will have a mission team in town of 40 college students from South Carolina. Please pray for this to be an easy team to manage and for both us and the team to be an encouragement to one another in the Lord. We will be hosting a Winter Festival this Saturday at our local Rec Center. Please pray for lots of people from the community to not only come but also connect with our members and join us at Gateway Church Old Brooklyn. Lastly our Third Preview Service is next Sunday evening. Please pray for the Lord to draw His people to HIS Church to hear His Word.

Thanks friends for your support! May we not be overwhelmed this season by the chaos that often surrounds our Christmas Traditions, but let us be overwhelmed by the gift of God’s Grace in Christ and let the chaos fade in to the background.