The one church was a new plant, two and a half years old, whose pastor was leaving to help plant another church. It was comprised of young families and filled with promise. This is the church we believed God wanted us to help, so at the end of March 2018, we moved to Fort Collins, CO. There our transition included moving into a rental and having church in a school.
We soon realized that the church was going through a transition of its own due to the loss of their founding pastor. Close to 30 people decided to move on as a result of the change and this left the remaining attendees with a decision to make. Did they believe this church should continue and did they want to be a part of it?
I am thankful to say that a solid core of people decided to commit to the work and there is a good sense of ownership and anticipation. We have an average attendance in the high 30’s right now.
The last nine months have been a time of building relationships with the people God gave us. This has been part of our transition since the CA church was primarily older folks and this church is mostly families in their 20’s and 30’s. We are the old folks and and in most cases old enough to be their parents. This has been different for them but it has helped bring a new stability and they have welcomed it.
Another part of our transition was finding our own house and moving again. After living here for several months in a rental we were able to find a house located centrally making home ministry easier.
The church has also made an effort to reach out to the community. We have sent out direct mailings, hung door hangers and had some evangelistic activities. Our website has been improved and an effort is being made to do more advertising online. We were recently given a $10,000 a month grant from google to be used for google ads. Thankfully we have a young man who knows how to utilize this.
We are thankful for the new people God has directed our way. Leesa lives down the street and walks to church. Keith and Shirley recently moved here from UT and are attending regularly. Two college students have been attending on a regular basis and another young family of five joined us for several months but recently found a job out of state and are leaving.
We are grateful for God’s grace through all this transition and are looking forward to a new year of serving the Lord and moving forward. We live in an area where housing developments are going up all over. There is certainly an increasing need for this church and we believe God is going to use our efforts in ways we aren’t even aware of yet. Thank you for your prayers. We need you to pray specifically for our church to live by faith, trusting God for everything. Also, please pray that we will learn what Paul means when he says, “I have made myself a slave to everyone in order to win more people.” Pray that our ministry would be more than words, also exhibiting the power of God. We certainly want to see people coming to Christ.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_images picture_size=”auto” hover_type=”zoomin” autoplay=”yes” columns=”3″ column_spacing=”13″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”yes” lightbox=”yes” class=”” id=””][fusion_image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”https://bcpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/28578960_Unknown.jpg” alt=””/][fusion_image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”https://bcpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/28578832_Unknown.jpg” alt=””/][fusion_image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”https://bcpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/Sunday-setup.jpg” alt=””/][fusion_image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”https://bcpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/28578880_Unknown.jpg” alt=””/][fusion_image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”https://bcpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/Jim-and-Janice-1.jpg” alt=””/][fusion_image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”https://bcpusa.org/wp-content/uploads/First-lunch-August-2018-e1546634297385.jpg” alt=””/][/fusion_images][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
