Wednesday, April 10, 2013

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA

There is a new church getting started in Tallahassee, Florida-
The Oaks Church




This past weekend, Sandy and I traveled to Tallahassee to visit the Donohos and participate in an Operation Saturation (going house to house to spread the word about the new church).

The stage area of the church
Nice, comfortable seats in the auditorium
The Tallahassee team has done a lot of work getting this building in great shape to have church!


Ken Akers of the Masters Men is the main sponsor of the Operation Saturation.  Here he is in the blue shirt.
On the left is home missionary, Cliff Donoho.
On the right is Cliff's son, Chad.
They are our only father-son team of home missionaries.
The two children are Chad's daughter, Anna, and son, Luke.
                                     

Sandy Atwood passing out information about the church.
She took one side of the street and I took the other.

Children's Ministries building

The Operation Saturation group
This small group covered a lot of houses.

Cliff is giving a tour and showing their top of the line sound system.

Cliff and his granddaughter, Emma

The young couple on the right, Adam and Rebekah Garrett, moved down
to help start the new church.  I love to see unselfish people like that!
In the small world category, Adam's father, Rodney, is a friend of mine from
my home church in Maryland.
Before the service, there is free coffee and doughnuts.
Kathy Donoho (Cliff's wife) is trying to decide about having one.


Chad Donoho leads the worship service from the keyboard.
His wife, Jenny, is on the praise team (in green).
They did a great job with the music, especially considering this was only the 2nd service.



Cliff Donoho preached a good message about the storms of life.

Announcing the Grand Opening Service


The Donohos are old friends and it was good to see them.
This is a great area for a new church and we are excited about the possibilities there!


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

EASTER 2013 IN HOME MISSION CHURCHES

Easter Weekend turned out to be a great time for outreach for many of our new churches!

The Marana, Arizona church with Jeff Goodman and Josh Bennett had over 200 first time guests with a total attendance of between 350 and 400!




The Heritage FWB Church in Greenfield, California broke their record attendance with 132 people present.
Pastor Jim Kilgore had promised to eat a goldfish if they broke their record.


Daryl Grimes and the Flagship FWB Church in Erie, Pennsylvania also broke their record with 71 attending, 13 visitors, and 3 people saved!

Allen Hall and the church in York, Pennsylvania had several visitors and an attendance of 72!

Another record broken - Tim Riggs and the Bay City FWB Church in Mobile, Alabama  had 155 with 1 saved and other decisions!  They had 29 first time visitors - some of which they have been inviting for 2 years!
Tim's son, Caleb (on the left), after church.


Len Blanchard in Oxford, Alabama reports 3 new families on Easter!

Steven Gray in Collinsville, Illinois is excited about the 170 people present with 2 people saved and 3 who want to be baptized!

Speaking of baptism - Jeff Cates in Canyon, Texas has baptized people 3 weeks in a row.
Jeff Cates' baptistery

Brian Williams and the church in Buffalo, New York are excited about their biggest outreach event yet - their Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday.  Around 500 people participated!

Tim Osborn in Oakland, Tennessee had an ablation procedure of taking cancer off his liver on Monday.  But he was in church preaching on Easter.  They only missed their record by 2 - had 79 with 1 person saved!

Florence, Arizona (Howard Gwartney) - 129 with lots of visitors!

Colorado Springs, Colorado (Dexter Guin) - 130 with 2 saved!

Suffolk, Virginia (David Sexton and Marc Neppl) - 166!

Aurora, Colorado (Barry Long) - 10 guests!

Clarksville, Tennessee (Chad Kivette) - 50 for Sunrise Service on a cool, rainy morning!

Rochester, New York (Jim Martin) - 68 with 4 visitors and 1 saved!

Castaic, California (Keith Bartlett) - 99!

Thank God - He is still working in people's lives!