Good news!

Our friends in Cedar Park, who are starting another daughterwork, had their first person filled with the Holy Ghost Sunday! We were just telling them Friday night when we met at Starbucks that God would honor their sacrifices— and HE DID! They were so excited when they called right after church! I know a lot of you don't know them, but some of you do. Keep praying for them because it is not an easy thing to do. They have been having service since January and having weekly home fellowships since last August or September. WOOHOO! God is so good.

Something drew them...

I am back in school this week...so this is a little late. We enjoyed a great weekend with 48 in attendance on Sunday. God's presence was so strong throughout the morning and the altar service was especially moving.

We had two brand new ladies who were headed to another church across the street from us (a BIG church), but they said something made them see our storefront and drew them to our service! We know who that "Something" was and it is truly a miracle. There is NO way they could have just seen our little place by accident and felt to come without God working on our behalf. This other church sits on 52 acres of land and is well-known in our area.

These ladies were greatly touched and enjoyed the service and message tremendously. God refilled the younger lady with the Holy Ghost and they said they would be back! (The other church they were headed to doesn't believe that the Holy Ghost is for us today.)

Our two VBS boys who were with us last weekend returned this Sunday! Their mom was sick, but I believe she would have been there if she had felt good.

James, Carmen and Jeremy Cain were on vacation and came through to be with us. We had them sing "Picture of Grace" in service and it was beautiful. They came in on Saturday evening and left Monday evening (today). It was great to visit with them. They blessed us in a number of ways and we want to say "Thanks!" to these good friends. We acted crazy and laughed our heads off!

The boys went with them today to visit the Texas Capitol, the Texas History Museum, Mount Bonnell and Guitar Center while I was in school and Karla was at work.

23rd in Nation

You may have heard it on the news this week, Forbes Magazine named Pflugerville as the 23rd fastest growing suburb in America. To quote the news....

The Austin area is in the midst of a population boom. Two spots outside the city made a Forbes Magazine list of the Top 25 Fastest Growing Suburbs In America. From 2000 to 2006, Pflugerville grew 70 percent, adding about 12,000 people.

And Cedar Park almost doubled, growing from 27,000 to 52,000 people. The research said these areas have some of the more affordable homes in the region. But understandably, transportation expenses are steep.

Cedar Park is ranked 11th on the list. This is where our friends, Melvin and Lisa Reddy, are starting another daughter-work church called The Sanctuary.

It is amazing to look at the top 5 suburbs on this list! Lincoln, CA has grown by 236.8% in 6 years! I know how crazy it has been here in Pflugerville for them to keep up with utilities, schools and the other government services - so I can't imagine how hard it must have been for this #1 suburb. Right now there are 3 elementary schools being built. A new junior high and high school is already being planned and Cameron's high school just had their first graduating class!

I just thought this was interesting. Crazy name - "FLOOGERVILLE!" So crazy that people really do want to live here?

Class update...

Just to keep you updated.... This afternoon I passed my final in the Principles I class at the (with a 97!) I attended class Monday-Thursday, 8:30am-5pm, week before last (Law of Agency), this week, and will also attend next week for Principles II. I do enjoy learning, although I really am ready to launch my business. Launching a new church, going to school, starting a new business — it is basically creating a whole new LIFE! No wonder my back muscles are so knotted up. LOL!

Another one filled with Holy Ghost!

We are so excited to tell you that we had a wonderful lady filled with the Holy Ghost during worship service this morning! As we were singing she suddenly came out of her pew and fell to her knees at the altar worshipping God. Within a few minutes she was speaking in tongues! It was so exciting. She is the wife of the gentleman who was filled last Sunday morning!

We also had a visiting family from our VBS this week. We had a special slide presentation of the week and the children sang two songs with the young people who helped every night this past week - with all the motions!

We also gave certificates to the boys who were in service: Blake, Lorenzo and Leo.

We welcomed 14 new people who have chosen to be members of New Life Church today! They have been coming, but we needed to let the church know that they have made our church their home and add these families to our directory. We now have 11 young people! We are so thankful for what God is doing.

We also enjoyed having Sharon Bivens, Karla's best friend, with us from Friday night through Sunday afternoon. She had been in town through the week for training and came over to be with us when class was out.

The Kiddos

Thought you might want to see the kiddos that we have been working with all week. We framed these pictures and added our logo to send home with the kids tonight. We sent a note home last night asking that each family bring their children to sing their songs and see a picture presentation on Sunday morning in our worship service. The parents that we talked to were very favorable. Its been a great week - tiring - but fun! Please pray for these kids today in your prayer time.

Backyard VBS

Things are going good despite rain today. It rained early in the day, but cleared up for the evening. Thank the Lord! We had 7 children tonight and it was a great time. We will update more later, but I just wanted to show you a few pictures today.

Holy Ghost Rain

I don't have a lot of time since our VBS is tonight and we have had no time to fully prepare! But, I wanted to let you know about yesterday's wonderful events.

We had 2 brand new people and a wonderful service. At the close of my message, we had three people really seeking God. A couple that has been coming for about three weeks and a brand new lady. This couple has really been enjoying services and God really moved on them in a special way. He has a Pentecostal background and she has been Catholic. He was filled with the Holy Ghost today and she was very close. He was so excited when he left service! He couldn't quit crying. They are in their 50's. He also told us before he left that he has a CDL license and would love to help with the Bus Ministry! This is the couple that I talked about last weekend that wanted to pay their tithes here. It was beautiful to watch.

The other lady was deeply moved and said she would bring her children next week. She has 3 or so kids that weren't with her.

We left our service, drove through McDonalds, and headed to Bastrop about 45 minutes away for service at 2pm. I preached for Pastor Grady Chandler who was on vacation. We got there at 2:05pm since our altar service went so long! A young lady was refilled with the Holy Ghost who has been gone from church for many years. She had her body all marked up and pierced, but God received her back so beautifully. She is the former pastor's daughter and the church was so excited to see her back.

We left that service and drove the 45 minutes directly to Bro. Bernard's for choir practice at 4:30pm! They were "trying-out" a new music minister to possibly come and take over their music program, so we had to be there to help in this process since Karla has been the interim choir director. It was a great service! I saw at least one brand new person filled with the Holy Ghost there also.

Needless to say, we are all zonked. VBS is every night this week at our house, but we have 8 children from our neighbors who are supposed to be here! Keep praying for us. God is moving.

Bi-vocational

I am starting a new career to supplement our income. As is usually the case in a church start-up, there is a period of time that the pastor must have another source of income until the church becomes self-supporting. We have been blessed to have this past year available to devote most of our time to organizing the foundation for our church. Karla took a part-time position (9am-1pm) a couple of months ago with Keller-Williams Realty here in Austin. She is a part of the office staff of the Northwest Market Center, entering new listings into the computer and contracts when a house is sold. This had created an open door for me to get into Real Estate and I have joined Keller Williams as a REALTOR. It should allow me flexibility with my time for ministry although the first little while will require extra effort to get started. I have started classes at the Austin Institute of Real Estate and just passed my first test today! I should be able to take the state test at the end of August.

Already I have met many people and got to talk about our church. This is also an added benefit - being in the community and meeting people who are new to the area. If you know us at all, you know we have always been interested in real estate, construction and sales. My college degree is in Marketing and I plan to put this training to work. Please pray that God will provide a quick start and that I can balance this new endeavor with the call of God that we have followed to Pflugerville. If you know someone moving to the Austin metro or interested in selling their home in our area, put them in contact with me! Also I can, most likely, refer you or your friends/family to a REALTOR in your area and help support my family in the process.

Sunday guests

I just wanted to update you on our weekend events! We had 41 in service on a regular Sunday. We were pleased to have 4 first time guests and a returning couple from last week. The couple from last week said they loved our church and asked if they could make this their church home (and, "Could they pay their tithes here?")! Of course, I said, "Yes." He used to be Pentecostal many years ago before being married. They are both hungry for God. We had a new young couple with a 2 year old. The wife works with Bro. Mike Crawford from our church. They tried to find us last week and got lost for about an hour! But, they really wanted to come and they found us this time! He said that from the time they walked in the door they felt an overwhelming love and it felt like home. Thank the Lord! They said they would be back next week and want to participate in our Backyard VBS coming up next week. Keep praying for us that we will follow the Lord in all that we do. We also were privileged to have Trevon Norman and Cosme Ojeda join us for service Sunday night at the Bernard's church. It was great to spend some time with them.