Here are some of the current challenges in the
ministry here:
It’s been an unsettled time with (too?) many unusual
things at church: missionaries, guest speakers,
schedule changes, etc. I think our people are a little
worn out by all of it, and they are ready to get back
to a more consistent routine (and having their pastor
preach once in a while?!). Attendance in August was
very good but has dipped in September.
We’ve had very little fruit from our outreach efforts
this summer and fall.
We’re also making our new budget and really feeling
the financial pressure of being a self-supporting
church. 2007 has been an expensive year for us, and
the new budget is very tight.
And some of the blessings:
We have some men who are interested in being developed
for leadership. It’s a delight to help these men
mature in the Lord and pursue God’s best for them. In
the next 6 months to a year we may add 1 - 3 deacons
to our leadership team.
We have a new couple that is ready to start a
new-believers discipleship study with me.
We had a wonderful Sunday (Sept. 16) with Lewis & Ruby
Kong. They did a great job of sharing about their
ministry and sharing the Lord’s grace in their
salvation and call to ministry. On Sunday night we
packed more than 40 people into our living room and
spent an hour and a half learning more about ministry
in Hong Kong. It was a wonderful time.
The Lord provided for Adam & Kristi Lee to be able to
purchase a new home about two weeks ago. They are very
excited to be in their own home and have baby #1 on
the way.
Lord-willing in October I’ll be beginning a new
expositional series on I John. I’ve been having a
great time doing the background preparation for this
series.
For obvious reasons I can’t share specific prayer requests on a blog like this. But we would love to have you praying with us. If you can email us (lovegroves@findhope.net), we would be glad to send you more specific prayer requests.
