His Glorious Church

Have I kept you in suspense long enough?! You haven't been holding your breath all this time, have you?!

Recently, I posted about our upcoming move preparations and hinted at another move going on down here. Let me tell ya all about it...

"...Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

Ephesians 5:25-27 

The church that we have been privileged to be a part of here has been renting a building. Property is very expensive here in the central part of our town and unfortunately the prices are only continuing to rise. For the past 10 years, the pastor/church has only been able to afford renting a renovated house to meet in. Thankfully, the church is growing and this space is NOT meeting our needs anymore. The teenagers have been having Sunday School outside on the patio for months because there is no room for them. Now that it is fall time and getting quite chilly out they have come back inside and booted me and my class of littles into the itsy-bitsy hallway. Seriously, it is tiny! It is quite the sight to behold all of the classes get into their rooms and get situated before we can begin teaching. It is truly a science; the classes have to be dismissed and set up in such a way that everyone can get to their proper spot and set up, then once you are in your area, you are in for the long hall. Hope you didn't have to go to the bathroom 'cause there's no escaping! In fact, I pin up my flannelgraph background on the back of the bathroom door! Let me tell ya, it definitely makes me feel more like an authentic missionary! It is "do with what ya got" all the way!

So, after many attempts to raise funds and purchase a property, I am very happy to announce that we are days away from moving into our very own church building! Renovations/cleaning/decorating are all in the works as we prepare to have our first services in the new place this coming Sunday, complete with an international dinner to wrap up our missions month. It is so exciting to see how the Lord has provided for His people, especially after seeing closed door after closed door. But, as always God knows best and is in control. Our pastor showed interest in our newly purchased property over 6 years ago and the owners were not interested in selling at that time. However, they recently put the place up for sale and they couldn't believe that after all this time our church was still looking to buy and they were very pleased to sell it to us! God is so good!

Here's a little glimpse:

Front entrance--the door is open, come on in!

Auditorium--I can't wait to see it full of people!

Fellowship hall/Classroom

Sunday School Classroom

My Sunday School Room to teach my "Little Stars" :)

Beautiful backyard (Teenagers S.S. class is the small building in the back on the right)

Paddle Ball Court at the very back of the yard

 So much space and potential! There are more Sunday School classrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, grill, off-street parking, and best of all no more renting!! Such a blessing to see the Lord answer prayer and meet the needs of his people. Will try to update again soon with pics of our first Sunday!