Hey everyone,
We have been telling you that we will update this blog soon. Apparently that means two months. That was the last time we updated this thing. Angela and I are doing well; we just returned home from a much needed Thanksgiving break.. We gorged ourselves with turkey and dressing for three straight days and the other two days had some Texas Roadhouse and some authentic Mexican food. Oh yeah, we got to see our families too!!!
Seriously though, it was a great break. We had forgotten how great Texas is! Hanging out with our families for those few days was awesome! On a side note, it was so good for Kyleigh to experience grass and other dogs, both of which were entirely new to her urban life. Also, the weather was beautiful–50 degrees warmer in Texas than at the same time in New Jersey.
Our college ministry is rockin’ along. We started this summer with nine students and are up to around 65. (Although the most we have ever had attend a gathering is about 30). I really feel that we are beginning to make a ripple in the landscape here in the community with our church and with the college ministry. We have students coming from at least four different campuses and we have talked to several others who are going to hopefully join us this Sunday night.
On Halloween, we turned our church property into a festive carnival complete with a moonbounce. We met about 500 people from the community and established relationships with many of them. It was really good for our church. I firmly believe that the best way for a church body to be healthy is by taking care of others. Churches exist to reveal God’s glory to a fallen world and one of the best ways to do that is to serve our communities. With this being said, our prayer for our time here in New Jersey is to help BCI in this area. We want to see the image of the church changed. Not that people in the community think poorly of BCI, but most don’t think anything at all because they have never seen us. We are in the works of planning several more community outreach projects. We really desire to see God use BCI to reach hundreds even thousands that live here in Garfield.
To change the subject, On Columbus day, Angela and I got the day off and go to take a two-day, one-night road trip to Vermont. It was incredible. We got to see some awesome fall foliage, hang out in the mountains, pick apples in upstate New York, and just relax for a day. It was really cool. The Northeast has some beautiful landscape, especially in the fall.
We are so encouraged by everyone who reads this blog. We thank you for your support, your
prayers, your encouragements, and your commitment to partner with us in ministry here. Please pray for us this week as it is huge! I am wrapping up two classes at Southern and have lots of reading and two papers due by the end of the week. Also, I have to prepare a lot of stuff for the church for strategy for 2006. Angela also has a really busy week with her first graders as she is back from a short week with them last week.
Also this week, please pray for the well. {visit the well online}. Sunday night, Aaron Coe, a church planter living in Soho (a really cool area of Manhattan) is speaking at The Well. Aaron is a very gifted speaker and has a huge heart for college students. Please pray that we will be successful in spreading the word and that many will come. Our gathering is on Sunday night at 6:00. Please pray for Aaron as he speaks and for our worship leaders and for everyone person that comes. This is our last official gathering for 2005, so we really want to go out with a bang to build momentum going into 06.
Thanks again for all your support of our ministry and your friendships. Please email us or call. We would love to catch up. We love you guys and will talk to you soon.
For His glory,
justin and angela
