Free and clear!

David ripping it out early on

Demo pile

Demo phase

Petri at work

Drew getting dirty

Stuff pile

More stuff

Tons of stuff

After

The old utility closet

Looking at where the old ramp used to be

Clean and clear

Portable storage unit

Progress is moving slowly on the rebuild for the rest of the church building.

This past Wednesday we issued a call for workers to help clean out the toddler wing in preparation for work to begin on the renovations. We had a good group of volunteers that helped to carry out the "stuff" that was dropped into this one area of the church. Lots of CFA people showed up to provide the manpower (and woman power) in getting 'er done. Most of the "stuff" was carried out to the portable storage unit parked out in the parking lot. Other items were carried into the fellowship hall, overflow or toddler rooms.

Clean and clear. That's what the old toddler space looks like now! It's ready for the contractors to begin working in this area, but none came this week. All that was done was a few lines drawn on the concrete basement floors for walls and sump pump pit placements.

Believing that work will begin in full force this coming Monday. Gotta believe!

Have a great weekend!

Love to all.

All systems go!

The letter of release we've been waiting for!

Part of the "stuff" that sits in our toddler space!

We finally received state approval for the architectural plans on the rest of our facilities rebuilding!

That necessary piece of clearance from the state was received last Friday...ALL SYSTEMS ARE NOW A GO! Now we can continue to rebuild the other much-needed spacious areas of our flooded-out regional worship center. It has been quite a long time in coming - but it's here!!

The job site manager dropped by today to let me know that they would like to get started mid-week. The area that they want to start working in is our toddler ministry area. This is the oldest structure in our three-phase church facility. The only problem is that it is full of "church stuff." You know...chairs, bookshelves, desks, filing cabinets, one blackboard, sound equipment, kitchen equipment, boards, boxes, boxes and more boxes!!

What do we do now? All the things that have been moved out of all the other areas in our church have been positioned there. It's quite a mess. It looks like we will be renting a portable storage container to store all these items during the rebuild and reconstruction phase of this part of our facility.

Men of CFA: Watch out for an urgent "call for help" bulletin from your pastor in the next day or so. It will be all hands on deck! We've got to move things one more time in this faith journey. One thing for sure - we will be well experienced when this whole rebuild is finally finished!

Plans call for a new entry opening in the west wall of the toddler space and also closing the former double doors on the south side. The hope is to accomplish this before the worst of winter hits. Plus, a new stairwell and exterior entry project awaits our contractors as well!

Stay tuned...it's about to get dirty and dusty again!

Keep praying for us. We need your prayers and are still believing to rebuild DEBT FREE! We are operating with no real classroom space @ CFA...thus the need for the borrowed church on Tuesday nights.

Visit our website: www.columbusfirstassembly.org to make an encouraging contribution!

Love to all!

Oh What a Day!!

Service this morning was an absolute inspiration.

Let me share with you how God blessed our time together in His house today. It was a wonderful service. First of all I met with a group of candidates eager to be baptized in water. This group was ready to follow the Lord in this all-important next step which came after their salvation. We studied the Bible together and prepared for the service.

The service opened with a sense of anticipation. Worship was especially energized and passionate. God was in the camp with us and we were loving it! Right in the middle of worship we had our water baptismal. I love to celebrate what God has done in these new lives with testimonies that declare His grace, love and mercy. Six people came into the waters of baptism and pleased the Father with their personal action of obedience. It was a beautiful and touching sight. Many were deeply moved by the Holy Spirit as they were baptized. One said, "This is totally awesome...I love it!" They felt the power of God in a special way today. Thank you Lord for the transformations you have brought about in the lives of these precious people! They radiate your glory. I love to see the expressions on people's faces as they come up out of the water...simply amazing!!

We also had the joy of dedicating a baby to the Lord this morning too! Little Kolade was a gift from God to the Dada family. This morning Mom and Dad brought their second born son to present him to the Lord for his hand of blessing and protection. Plus, they desired God's strength to teach and train him in the way that he should go in following diligently after the Lord. I love baby dedications!

Then I preached a message on Biblical Economics from I Timothy Chapter 6. Together we gleaned 7 principles for the child of God that chooses to live according to God's holy standard, even in times of financial upheaval and worldwide market downturns. This message was a word spoken in due season because everyone is facing these same troubling times. But friend be of good cheer because God has overcome the world! Relax and let God control your ship...He knows what He's doing!

During the altar service another precious soul gave her heart to Christ. Earlier, two young girls committed their lives to Jesus Christ before the service began. This lady was the mother of the two young girls and she was glowing about the decisions that their family had taken on this special day. Witnessing the transformations that Jesus Christ makes never gets dull or boring. It is always miraculous...and so supernatural...and always thoroughly exciting. Looks like we'll need to schedule another baptism next month!

Many guests continue to come for worship services because they've been invited by a friend. One friend invites another friend. One recently saved reaches out to another that needs the grace and mercy of a loving God. We are watching God move in our church in a special way!

The Flood of '08 came and went. Our church has been completely changed inside and out. Our facilities have been badly scarred and marred, but the work at Calvary is leading many to repentance and many are finding peace with God through His son Jesus Christ.

Little by little we are putting back this regional worship center together much better than we had it before the flood. God is good and providing what we need. We continue to trust Him to provide for every bill that comes. He is always faithful!

Rejoicing in God's favor and goodness. I am one most blessed by the Lord!

Much love to all!

"Is IT in You?

Vote Values on Nov.4th!

God's Kingdom Advances!

Dan & Laura Pongratz, Tammy & I

Lunch @ Red Lobster

Pastor Ballard, Jeff & Bill

Susan, Monty, me and Pastor Joel

Susan and her "babies"

What a joy to witness the Kingdom of God aggressively marching forward!

It was an absolute joy to participate in activities that advance the cause of Christ around the world and also across the block. My last blog entry spoke concerning the Saturday night Missions Banquet in our newly remodeled fellowship hall. What a celebration of victory for our church family. But what I didn't mention was one of the goals that we set out to accomplish through this missions convention. We planned to bless a church three blocks away that had been flooded out like we were. We set our Cash Offering Project to be used entirely for their sanctuary carpet fund. On Sunday morning we surpassed that goal! Wow...what a thrill to accomplish this!

Two members of my missions committee met me at this local church to present the gift to our neighboring friends. I captured the exchange between Bill and Pastor Ballard and Jeff. It was a special moment! Thanks CFA for running with the vision!! We are blessed to be a blessing!!!

I was happy to have Dan & Laura Pongratz join me for this special Kingdom Sunday! Dan preached the Faith Promise Rally message. What a great service!!

Sunday was a great day to focus on raising our 2009 Missions Budget. The Faith Promise Rally was a gripping experience...extinguishing fear and fostering faith for the funds to arrive in meeting our new missions commitments. I applaud CFA for the steps you are taking to reach yet another historic mile marker in our journey of faith in reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

A new team of workers arrived from Virginia today to work on the upholstery for the balcony pews. They tackled the first "little pew" and encountered some tremendous difficulties in removing the ends and also fabric and pad. It appears that these pews had been recycled in the past and the previous pew workers did an absolute "sorry" job of upholstering! It was so bad that this team would not, and could not, perform a job that would meet their set of high expectations. So we have another little setback in the road. What's new??

Around noon today my good friends Monty and Susan embarked on their trip down south to Texas. They are setting up camp in Webster, Texas to begin assisting in the rebuilding of homes and families following recent hurricanes. We will miss them! We will miss seeing their camper and trucks in our church parking lot, but God will use them in another field of disaster relief ministry work. One good note...they promised to come and surprise us in the near future with a visit back home here @ CFA. We look forward to that reunion!

Update: Susan called me this afternoon with news of another blown-out tire. They limped to a rest stop...then limped to a repair station. They will have to spend the night in a motel, but should be good to go sometime tomorrow morning following their tire repairs. Please keep them in your prayers the next couple of days while they are in route!

We continue to pray and believe that God will meet our financial needs as we must finish the rebuilding projects of our regional worship center. We desperately need the classroom and ministry space!! We still have $250,000 to go for our hope of rebuilding DEBT FREE! If you can sent us a contribution for our Flood Fund or visit our website and make an online gift, we would be most encouraged!

Mailing Address: CFA, 2100 Tenth Street, Columbus, IN 47201

Website: www.columbusfirstassembly.org

Thanks from the bottom of my heart. God continues to go before us and meet our daily needs.

Let me hear from you...please post your comments!

Much love to all!

Missions Extravaganza!!

Carolyn, Donna, Lisa, Amy, Karen, Chris, Herb - missionary guests!

Lisa & Tammy

We celebrated the call to reach EVERYONE with the gospel of Jesus Christ at our missions banquet tonight!

Great event for world missions @ CFA this evening. It was the first event that our remodeled fellowship hall hosted since the Flood of '08. Our church family enjoyed the historic moment that we shared this evening...

• First time back in our fellowship hall...lots of neat changes!
  
• Remodeling completed in the library room (but now will serve as our toddler ministry space), overflow room and fellowship hall!
• Five missionaries joined us for this special missions banquet!
• We had a great attendance that filled up the hall!
• The food was fantastic and the servers were awesome!
• The fellowship shared was priceless!!

Tomorrow we gather for our Faith Promise Rally. We have the largest amount to raise for the biggest budget that we have ever projected here @ Columbus First Assembly. We believe that God will help us to achieve another new milestone in CFA world missions...until EVERYONE has heard that Jesus loves them and has a glorious plan for their lives.

I've captured some pictures of this wonderful night for you to enjoy!

Love to all!

3 Days Away...

Sound guys working on new stage

Tons of little wires...

My new office suite

New bookshelves have finally been installed...PTL!

More work yet to do...

More sanctuary pew pics...

Sanctuary finished!

It's hard to believe that our Annual Missions Banquet is just 3 days away!

Plans are moving nicely for hosting the banquet in our newly remodeled fellowship hall. We have been pushing and prodding the workers to complete their tasks so we can utilize this spacious area for ministry. The missions banquet will be the first event to open up this area of our flooded out facilities. Remember, it has been four months and eight days since the church went under the waters of Haw Creek! Thank you Lord for the progress you have helped us to make in our rebuilding!

Lots of small projects have been completed in the fellowship hall and overflow room areas. The one still outstanding is the completion of our sound system installation for the new platform space. The sound guys said that tomorrow they should be able to wrap up this project. PTL!

We still do not have approval on the architectural drawings for the rest of the facilities that need rebuilding, but at least they are in the hands of the State Approval Board now. We continue to wait...and wait...and wait!

But this Saturday will be a special time for our church...we're holding the Annual Missions Banquet with 5 different guest missionaries. It's going to be a great time! We've scheduled a catering company to provide the full line buffet of delicious food for this special night. Lots of work has already been done for this upcoming weekend...but I still have some more things to do to be completely ready.

Please keep one of the young men from our church in your prayers. Drew was involved in a four-wheeler accident tonight. He was rushed to Jennings County Hospital where he was examined, but later sent on up to Methodist Hospital in Indy for further testing. Lord Jesus, may your healing power rest upon this teenager and provide the miracle we all are praying for!

We continue to pray in the funds for our rebuilding project after the Flood of 2008. If you would like to help us get back into our church building completely you may go to our website and click on the "resources" tab...then scroll down to the "online giving" and make your contribution:

www.columbusfirstassembly.org

Thanks so much for your help!

**New milestone for "PASTOR'S BLOG"...passed the 6,000 mark for visitors visiting my page...wow, that's amazing!

Much love to all.