June 2008
I just returned from a partnership development trip to Mississippi and it was great to meet up with some of our partnering churches there. If I didn't get to see you on this trip, I hope you'll shoot me an email, or leave a comment, as I'd love to hear from you.
It was also great to meet new pastors and leaders, sharing with them what God is doing here at The Light. Please pray for those relationships, and their continual development.
We also got our Summer Missionary, Christa Clarkson, a Mississippi College student from Holly Springs, MS. She has served with us twice on missions trips (once for Artscape last summer, and again this last March, over her Spring Break), both times with a group from her church, just like the teams who are with us this week. It has been exciting to see her return, on her own, to serve again with us and join with what God is doing through our church in Baltimore. She has been a HUGE help as we have been working hard and preparing for a busy outreach season. Thank you, Christa, and thank you to the Mississippi Convention who was instrumental in making her presence possible!
Most of this month has been spent on getting our new space ready. After the team from Temple Terrace came, we were in a much better place, as I mentioned in my last post. Many in our team have spent their free time in painting and prepping the walls, but there was still more to go!
So another great team came from Morrison Heights, Mississippi, led by Mark Sandifer. They were crucial in getting most of our kitchen in place, and laying most of the new flooring. While they were only with us for a short period of time, they got so much done. Thank you, Morrison Heights - for your help, your partnership in our plant, and your friendship in ministry.
However, we still have plenty to do. We need to finish the flooring, more painting, laying of carpet in the small back office, and lots of little touch ups. Please pray for an additional team in the next 2-3 weeks, so that we can finish up, pass all of our permit/inspections, and finally start outreach events following Artscape.
Artscape begins this next weekend (July 18th-20th), and there is a lot to pray for! We do have 2 teams for this busy time, again, and are glad for the help. This year, we DO have a booth in the Family Art Park, and have some great ideas for involving what happens there with our new location. Essentially, we are hoping to encourage the kids who come to make art that can be installed in our new space, in a new and exciting way. Our hope with this is simultaneously to create great art, with the involvement of the community, while getting the word out about our church and gallery.
Please pray for all that needs to happen this week (this includes a Health Inspection! and other inspections before we can "open"), as well as the Artscape weekend itself.
Pray that we would be able to meet as many people as possible, building relationships and reaching as many other people who will be coming to the festival.
Pray for the artists we will meet, that we would establish good connections for the future and develop a sound reputation in the community (both for quality and integrity), as well as show them a true, living, and loving God (even if they don't recognize it at first!).
Pray that our outreach efforts would be effective and that God would open the doors for effective outreach. Pray for those "God moments" with the missions teams, that the people they meet would have soft hearts, and that God would reveal Himself through them!
