Wow! God is STILL LEADING US!

Family and Friends,


Just over two years ago our church family was over $20,000.00 in debt with dropping attendance and under a general cloud of discouragement.

God spoke to my heart to challenge us as a church to become debt-free so that we could become more effective in reaching the hurting and the lost. The mission seemed so impossible that we lost a couple more families. As the church shrank, I felt the need to do away with the inter-structure of the” church"; we simply didn't need an administrative team if there really wasn't anything to administrate.

As God always does, we took the first step and He has accomplished what would have otherwise been impossible without Him. Little did I realize that God would restructure our whole ministry and call me into bi-vocational ministry, but He did. He also called us to move and in short order call us to move a second time; first to lower rent and then by the generosity and the loving support of a pastor friend of mine (an extended period of "NO RENT"). This as much as Jim and I giving back our salaries has allowed all offerings to the ministry to be divided between touching lives of those who are hurting and needy and debt reduction.

As you can see from the forwarded message from James yesterday we have paid off all our debt, including credit cards down to a balance of just $500.00. A month ago, I was hoping to sell equipment and furnishings that are no longer necessary for our ministry in order to pay-off the debt. Selling the trailer and equipment we own is still on the agenda, but God has raced ahead of us while increasing the effectiveness of the community and ministry of the people called New Hope Community Fellowship.

What does the future hold? Once the debt is paid, will Jim and I "go back on salary?" Will we rent a bigger building or buy a place? I know we won't return to salary and God will need to pick us up and move us again, but as of now, where we are is our promised land; I want to pour every dime and every spare moment into broken lives; we want to build people, not a ministry. We want to lift-up the Name of Jesus that those who have yet to come to Him will have the opportunity. Other ministries have supported us TO ENABLE US to be the hands and the feet to reach the hurting where they are.

God's Word says, "Give, and it shall be given to you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, SHALL MEN GIVE INTO YOUR BOSOM. For with the same measure that you mete with it shall be measured to you again."

When God’s people all come into unity caring more about the building people than building their “Own Ministries”, God is gloried and the lost are reached and the hurting (within and outside of the church” are healed. Jesus said, ‘IF I BE LIFTED-UP, I WILL DRAW ALL MEN UNTO ME”.

Join me in thanking our brothers and sisters in Christ who have allowed God to work through them to accomplish this first step toward our greater vision. Amen

Gary