VSIBC Update!

Wow, I know it has been almost a month since my last post, but with the birth of the new church-plant, our time seems so precious. 

Here are some highlights from the past couple of weeks in the life of Victory Springs Independent Baptist Church:

-- We have seen visitors come every single Sunday (5 weeks in a row)!  We are excited to see folks who still want a church with time-tested values and that use the King James Bible.  We are planning another mail-out of Invitation Cards to 3 more postal routes.  We have seen such a great response with the first mail-out of our Grand Opening Promo Cards, we are excited to raise the funds to do another!

-- We have been preaching through a series on Sunday evening called, "Walking is Wisdom".  This is a close-up look at the book of Proverbs.  The intent is to take God's wisdom and apply it to our life, thus having the blessings of God in our decisions and lives.

-- Our Wednesday night series is called, "A Journey with John".  In this series, we are studying the reasons John tells us that he has "written" his letter entitled 1 John.  We have looked at, 2 of his sections called "That your joy may be full." and "that ye sin not".  Basically, John tells us how our joy may be full and how to have victory over sin!

 

We had a Cookout Fellowship at our home this past Saturday.  We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and families brought all sorts of sides.  We had 24 that came out to eat and fellowship!

Competitive game of Corn Hole!

 

Kami hosted the very first Kindred Hearts Ladies Fellowship meeting for the ladies of VSIBC.  9 Ladies came out for the meeting and they had a great time!

As the husband, I had to try the desserts ahead of time for quality control!  My favorite were the Blackberry Buttercream Cupcakes!

 

Thank you all for praying for our family and for VSIBC...we are excited about what God has in store for our second month!

 

 

Opening Day!

I am going to let the pics do most of the talking with just a few highlights:

Setting up balloons on Saturday!

 

 

 

With the cleaning done and everything set up...it was time to wait for Sunday morning!

Meeting and greeting for the opening service...

 

Kami, Joshua, Elisabeth & Brenna did a wonderful job singing the specials for the day.

Singing time...

For the opening day, we had 31 in attendance...20 are folks who live in the community! 

Preaching time...

 

We praise the Lord for Joshua (the dad) who accepted Christ as his Savior at the invitation time!

 

 

Overall, we had a great Opening Service.  Thank you all who prayed and worked to get VSIBC to this point.   We are excited to see what the future holds!

 

2 More Days!!!

It has been a while since I have posted, but I am quickly learning that time is precious and the days are running short!  We have spent most of our days painting, organizing, cleaning, preparing and spending so much time 'running around' getting things ready for the Opening Day of VSIBC.

Along the way, many folks have been a blessing to us as we prepare for the birth of the new church.  Two couples in particular have been such an encouragement and have helped us more than they could possibly imagine!

The Sodrel's and the Smith's came on March 11th with their camper and motor home.  We hooked them up at the church and they dove right into the work!

 

We were starting to 'run behind' in our preparations for the big day and these two families arrived at the perfect time.  They helped us to finish the garage/work shop in which will be used for the teenagers.  They painted all day and helped us to get things cleaned up.  They went out door-to-door passing out the Promo Cards for the church for several days and they had an overwhelmingly positive response!  Several folks said that they would be coming to the opening day!  Mrs. Smith also led a young girl to the Lord while out visiting. 

 

Then they pitched right in and helped us to stuff 1500 envelopes with Promo Cards and Gospel Tracts for a mail-out.   Praise the Lord for their faithful work and love of Christ!

 

We enjoyed their fellowship and had a few meals together as well.  Silas, Callie and Micah attached themselves to these 2 families and talked their ears off every time they saw them.  They made the week they were here so special!

We have also started seeing some allergy symptoms start as Spring is now in full force!  After it rained last week, I went outside and say this huge puddle of yellow...all pollen!   Everything is covered in yellow.

 
Pleased be in prayer for us this Sunday.  It is our desire to see souls saved and lives & families restored.  We believe that God has great things in store for the High Springs area and we are excited for the birth of VSIBC...

Sore Muscles and Work in Progress!

A couple of weeks ago, one of our supporting pastors (who is a general contractor here in Florida) called and offered to bring up some guys to work on the church renovations with us.  What a blessing!

We have worked long hours, day after day, and the church building is looking great!  Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of what used to be a repair shop/feed store/pizza shop/sub shop/motorcycle shop!

The first thing that we tackled was cutting down the auditorium to make a baby nursery (on right) and a Sunday school room (left)...

 

Kami and the girls made meals each night and took care of the construction crew!

We loved the work and more importantly, we loved the fellowship!

 

 

Working on the nursery...

Lots of painting...

 

Here is the men's room...Thanks to my father-in-law who provided the automotive décor!

 

 

Beginning the huge task of laying tile and carpet.  My back and knees hurt!

Finally getting to see things come together!

 

Kami did a great job on the toddle nursery. 

 

We will post some more pics soon of the baby nursery, SS room, and the garage...

Keep praying for our Opening Day...March 22nd!!!