Happy Birthday Tammy!

My wife celebrated her birthday today!

That special day of marking another year has come for my lovely bride. We celebrated her birthday as a family tonight. Our middle son even joined us as he wasn't scheduled to work at Pizza Hut tonight. We had a great time together!

Tammy picked a Bar-B-Que restaurant as the choice for her birthday meal. Everyone gets to pick where they want to go when it comes time for their birthday. Good food tonight!

If you're from CFA you know what we had for dessert...a DQ ice cream cake. That's another tradition in our home. Now that's really good stuff - ummm...ummm...good!

Got home and watched her open her cards and presents. Thanks for sending her your cards to celebrate her birthday. She even laughed on a few of them.

This weekend we enjoyed a wonderful service together on Sunday morning. Lots of guests in the house this past Sunday. Word is getting around of what God is doing in our fellowship.

Church mail call found two envelopes in the pile with gifts for our Flood Fund today. One from a close family member and the other from my friend's new and growing church in Tennessee. Thank you Jesus for continuing to touch hearts and also churches in assisting us with our extensive rebuilding campaign!! Little by little...the job will get done.

Will you join my FLOOD FUND REBUILDING TEAM? You can send your gifts to our church: CFA, 2100 Tenth Street, Columbus, IN 47201 or visit our church website:
www.columbusfirstassembly.org and click the online giving button.

Have a blessed week in the Lord!

Love to all.

Looking at the 2/3 that remains...

Looking forward with excitement to our church service in the morning!

This will be our 4th gathering back home @ CFA since the Flood of 2008. We're definitely happy seeing the numbers go this way vs. services that were conducted in the borrowed church. The rest of our regional worship center facilities is taking much longer to see completed. (In fact, this accounts for 2/3 of our entire ministry facilities. ) Architectural plans still have not made it through the completion and approval process. We continue to take it day by day in these areas. More patience Lord!

One spark of progress continues to be the renovating and remodeling of our fellowship hall, overflow room and new library room. These areas have been approved by the Fire Marshall for us to rebuild and occupy for ministry functions. The first event back in our fellowship hall will be our Annual Missions Banquet on October 18th. Missions remains the heartbeat of the church.

We witnessed some action this past Friday as the painter began painting and the mason worked on closing in an unused door space that was off to the right of the old platform. The old platform was removed after the flood. The old stone partition wall was taken down. And the old baptistry, steps and platform surrounding it was demoed too! Plus the stone wall in front of the baptistry was cut out to make way for our new storage area. A newly designed platform was built that will have an updated sound system too. Lots of upgrades have been made in these various ministry spaces! Thanks Lord for what we see happening to improve and update our new ministry center.

Tomorrow is going to be another great day of ministry and outreach. I am anticipating the Holy Spirit to continue tugging at the hearts of those who need to surrender their lives completely to follow Jesus Christ. God has been tranforming the lives of many people during the last several weeks. May God be praised for the work He is doing in our church!

We continue to believe and pray that God would provide the funds to rebuild totally DEBT FREE! It is still way beyond our ability to carry out but right in the ballpark for one of His amazing "beyond all limits" miracles. Please continue to pray for us as we rebuild our regional worship center one stage and step at a time!

If you would like to make a contribution to our FLOOD FUND, you may go to our website and click the online giving button. Thanks for your love and support!

www.columbusfirstassembly.org

If you are ever in our area, please stop in and join us for one of our worship services. We would be overjoyed to have you visit. Just drive on over to 10th & Iowa Streets here in Columbus, Indiana.

God bless and keep you!

SYATP

You guessed it...today was See You At The Pole Day!

Started the day off early by bringing my two teenage boys to their high school's flag pole by 7 am. It was dark when we arrived...and a small gathering had formed a circle. I even stayed around to join in...since I saw several other adults there too! Before it was over, a group of about 40 had assembled, including the High School principal. Glad to see many of our church's youth group there with our two boys. Pastor Joel went to one of the other schools...but he was the only adult at that one!

Tonight there was a SYATP Synergy youth rally at our church. Pastor Joel and another youth pastor worked to put this together. I believe there were about 6 or 7 churches that were represented. Good idea...great night for our students!

No progress on the building side of things the last couple of days. However, the next several days should change all of that. Will have an update on some progress for you tomorrow night!

Last night we enjoyed a good bible study for our mid-week service at our borrowed church. Attendance was up over our previous Tuesday night gatherings!

More plans are being laid to help out the church selected for our Missions Convention project. Hope to have more for you soon.

Keep the faith alive. Post your encouragement notes here. Would love to hear from you!!

Love to all!

Give unto others

We are gearing up for our Annual Missions Convention in October!

It is one of the biggest events on our church calendar. I am so thrilled that we will be able to host it in our own fellowship hall...after everything the Flood of '08 threw at us back in June (we had been looking to hold it elsewhere!). We are anxious to use all of that spacious area for ministry functions. Today they were working on mudding the drywall areas that have to be finished before painting. Progress is moving forward nicely for this goal to be realized! Thank you Jesus.

Last week our missions committee met to work on the missions convention. One of the items we were ironing out was the focus of our Cash Offering Project. Every year we pick a special missions project to give directly to during the convention. This year we were leaning to picking one of the zillion things that we need here at home...because the flood washed away so much! But one of the members then mentioned they felt we should look outside and bless someone else...even in our greatest time of need. The Lord used that moment to direct our team to focus on a flooded out church just 3 blocks away. The Holy Spirit was moving in that meeting...

I met with that Pastor tonight on my way home from the office. We talked in the middle of their church foyer...complete with dust, drywall sheets, brooms and tools. Men come every night...and the women too...to work on their church building. They haven't been able to get back into their sanctuary like we have in ours. Their goal: sometime in October! I know they are anxious to gather their congregation all together back home and complete their wilderness wandering like we did about three weeks ago...yet we still meet in the borrowed church on Tuesdays!

They have been worshiping down at the Methodist Church downtown. Plus they also have another fellowship, a Hispanic church, that they started about 8 years ago that worships in their building too. Double the need to get back home! We are going to help them.

Our committee has adopted this church, Seventh Street Church of God, as our primary group to bless with a sacrificial offering during our convention. Details will be forthcoming to this very special project for a fellow church just three blocks away from us!

As I walked through their facility I was again moved at the destruction the Flood of '08 caused to so many buildings in our community, even to other churches...just like it did to ours. They have so much rebuilding to do to get back to where they were before June 7th. The highest point of the waters was 7 feet in their educational wing. It was 5 feet in their main sanctuary. All you have to do is take a walk in another man's church and you will feel the pain that he feels; yet my brother in Christ wasn't bitter, he had a sweet spirit, plus genuinely trusting faithfully in God, and hope filled! Awesome!

Join me in praying that God will grip our hearts and perform spiritual surgery in all of us during this year's World Missions Convention!

Much love to all!

Kingdom victories!

Pictures captured on our first Sunday back: 9.07.08

We rejoice in many kingdom of God victories recently!

Today was our third Sunday back home in our regional worship center. We are just plain happy to be back in our own sanctuary and have the space to grow again. Since we have been back we have added many to our church family. Last week was our "Blowout Sunday" with lots and lots of special guests in attendance. But today we had more of the same. Visitors keep coming to witness what God is doing @ CFA. A family moved to Columbus from Ft. Wayne and joined right in our worship today. Others joined at the invite of their friends and family. Another lady brought her friend. A young man brought his mother. Every service is exciting!

This morning I had the privilege of baptizing four individuals who have been saved recently. Two men and two ladies following the Lord's command to "repent and be baptized!" My dream is to see the baptismal tank filled weekly with people continually coming to Christ and taking that next step of water baptism. It totally energizes our congregation when we hear the testimonies of people finding Christ and making Jesus Lord! It never gets dull...always a blast!

Last Sunday there were six people who responded to the altar call and made decisions of faith. This morning we saw another one come to the altar and give his heart to Christ. It is what the church is all about...seeing lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ! Thanks Lord for the spirit of transformation that is taking place in our church...we pray that you will keep it going!

We have about four weeks to go until our fellowship hall and overflow rooms are ready to go with active children's ministries. It has been hard to juggle these ministries with proper classroom space (in fact, we've had none!), so we have had to adapt during this season in our church life. I am proud of everyone for their understanding of our limitations and their spirit of patience in this whole process. The next phase will be an exciting one to enter as well! We will have a new ministry platform, updated sound system, new library space and new storage for tables and chairs. Yes, there have been some positives to this flood disaster...we are rebuilding with more and more updates and improvements that we ever could have done on our own before!

Our Florida Team left for home on Saturday morning. We have had some awesome work teams that have accomplished much in the rebuilding of our community homes. Let me invite you and your church to schedule a missions trip to Columbus, Indiana! You will never forget the impact that it will make in your heart and life! Give us a call @ 812-376-7833. Monty and Susan are awaiting many more good work teams to lead in these rebuilding efforts! Still lots and lots of homes to go.

We continue to believe and pray that funds will come in for our FLOOD FUND. We have passed the $75,000 mark and are keeping an eye out on our $350,000 goal that we must have to rebuild DEBT FREE. Would you pray for our church? Would you believe for a "beyond all limits" miracle of supernatural provision to come in for the rebuilding of our complete ministry facilities? Would you give to help this miracle come to pass? You can go to our website:
www.columbusfirstassembly.org and click the online giving button.

May you be blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ!

Love to all.

Visit to three homes in progress...

John & Mary Lou's home!

Tim filling the home with God's Word!

Monty giving a quick class on Mudding #101!

Good day today...even though it was my day off!

Spent half the day in the office catching up on things and pressing other items through on my busy agenda. It was a very profitable morning! Good to see the two workers back from the contractors company. They are moving full steam ahead to keep our time line intact to be able to use the fellowship hall, overflow room, plus library, in one month! They are making tremendous progress! Thank you Jesus for your favor and help in this next phase!

A surprise contribution from a serviceman overseas came in today. This young man had grown up in the church where I served as his pastor. It is amazing the journey he has taken from that point to this. Lord, I pray for his protection and care while serving his country. Cover him with the precious blood of Christ and keep him safe day after day during his tour of duty!

This afternoon I took the opportunity to check in on three homes that have received much attention from our volunteer workers. Two of the homes have been the focus of attention from the currrent Florida missions team and the previous one from Ohio. Both homes have made considerable progress with a group of capable and willing workers, and a careful and detailed jobsite leader, Monty Scales. He's doing a terrific job leading each team with their assigned tasks..and taking the time to show them how to do things the right way!

I also took the opportunity to drop by the home of one of our members, John & Mary Lou Washler. The Florida team also gave some attention to the landscaping and lawn that had been much overgrown. I peeked in the windows and saw their beautiful paint and carpet. It shouldn't be long before they are able to move back into their home. I also know they are very anxious to do so!

Enjoyed a bike ride with my daughter tonight. It's been quite a while since I set out with my 21-speed bike. The cool, crisp evening air was refreshing!

Picked up my middle son from work and am now finalizing this blog post.

Looking for some more friends to connect with on Facebook. Send me your invite...I'd love to touch base with you!

Love to all.

Clean 'er out!

Today was a good day preparing for the next phase in our rebuilding project!

Enjoyed a good start to the day. Joined in prayer with my friend early in the day...then conducted a 9 am counseling session. Some more office work then I prepared to work on the next big assignment: Clean out the fellowship hall and old command center to prepare for the next phase of reconstruction. What a job! So grateful to the Lord for the strength He has given my back to help out with many of these tasks...plus the work day last Saturday!!

I was hoping to have some help from our Florida missions team that is here working on two homes in Columbus. Monty set it up to have 4 of their team members join in helping us out after lunch. Then I phoned David Tayes to help me complete this 7 person moving crew! We were in for a full 2 hour job!!

For more insight into the Florida missions team read their blogs @ http://blogs.northlandchurch.net/2008/09/17/toms-testimony (make sure you read the rest on the right side of the page under Recent Posts in the Indiana Blog!)

Each one went right to work to move all unnecessary items out of the fellowship hall and overflow room. Where does it all go? Some went to the dumpster. But then what about the rest. Don't forget, we still have to rebuild both older buildings plus the basement in the near future. But we found lots of open space in the toddler wing so much of these items went in there. Other stuff went in the nursery, hallway, closet, etc. Do you know what I dread next? Moving it again when we get to that area of the rebuild in the near future!! Oh well, that's life in the flood re-construction zone...

The sound guys were in today to finish up some more inside work on the new platform for the fellowship hall and youth room. They were wiring up the floor pockets and stringing them out to the sound board and amp room. Little by little...work continues on the next phase!

Guess who else showed up today? The carpet guy. He was in to get an early start on ordering the rolls of carpet for this next phase...he better get it right this time...or else I think I might explode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Early this evening I invited David Holman and two of his workers to help empty out the remaining desks, filing cabinets and other items out of the old command center. Where did it go? You guessed it...most of the stuff went back into the toddler wing. Now that area is getting crowded with lots and lots of stuff! When they got to the fire safe cabinet...they grunted...and they panted...and they even groaned to get that 250-300 pound item out and over to the toddler area. But they got 'er done!! Thanks to Dave, John and Richard!

The old command center will now become our new library! It will be more spacious than the old library room. There will be much room to grow for Helen and her many books and resources. I also plan to set up a donated computer on a donated desk in the new library. This will be a valuable asset to our new and improved church library resource area!! Thanks Lord!

Last night @ Bible Study we had a load of guests. Eight team members from the Florida Missions Team, and four other guests...plus lots of our own. It was a great night of fellowship, prayer, praise and the Word!

Anticipating a little down time tomorrow. Been pushing it pretty hard leading up to last Sunday's Grand Re-Opening, plus pushing our contractors to keep moving on the next phase (the fellowship hall and overflow room) to be ready for our Annual Missions Banquet. They assure me it will be done and ready! Thank you Lord. This space will also serve our Kid's Church ministry area (which currently is not meeting due to no space!), plus our toddler church. Every part of this rebuild puzzle is exciting in its many various stages...

If you are a Facebook member please send me a friend request. I just got started with this social network at the urging of a friend about a week ago and have been hooked ever since! I would love to hear from you and connect online. I'll be waiting...hurry up!

Leave me a comment posted today...I'd love to hear from you!

Love to all.