Sweater Weather / scarf, coat, boots, socks, thermal weather

Hey there!

Where did Summer and Fall go? I have no idea! What a whirlwind! It's cold here now - 30s or so and rainy! Loving it so much. But it is COLD!

As I dropped off a friend tonight, I had a moment of awe where I realized that I was driving without needing to use a GPS and that this city is my amazing home. I love our city. It sounds simple but it was just a reminder of God's presence and hand in our lives - the fact that we are in Portland is pretty incredible.

Sunday Meetings
Since January we have been meeting on Sundays at Tabor Space and since June we had been meeting there every week. We have been praying for months about our location -if it's the right one, the right area, long term, etc. In Sept/Oct we had a few scheduling issues and were looking for other potential locations. We had 2 other places that became available and were praying about the right one. In the mean time, Trevor met with the pastor at Tabor Space to discuss our vision and their vision and see if we were going in the same direction and if our partnership could continue. We left the 2 other potential locations hanging until this meeting happened because he had a feeling this meeting would be very telling.

He met with the pastor of Tabor about 3 weeks ago and during that meeting it became clear we needed a new space. We were moving in two different directions and Trevor knew we had to give our notice. That meeting was on a Tuesday and we had service scheduled for Sunday. As Trevor and I discussed our options, we realized that based on his conversation with the pastor, the other locations also wouldn't work for us. That left us at square one. The easy thing to do would've been to stay at Tabor until something else became available. Smart right? Why put all our eggs in one basket (God's basket)? Let's just wait it out...But we knew God was closing the door at Tabor space and that deciding to leave there was an act of obedience - not choice. Would we obey God and leave that location when we had no other place to meet? Trevor felt sure that this was what we needed to do - and he also felt sure God wouldn't reveal a new location until we had cut our ties with the old one. We all believed obeying Him would give Him an even greater opportunity to work.

So Trevor announced on Sunday that it would be our last week at Tabor. As he said this to our church on Sunday evening at service, he followed by saying that we also don't know where we would be the following week. We needed God to provide some place for us to meet and when He did, we would let them know.

Needless to say, that week was a trying one. Lots of faith, lots of prayers. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Nothing. Ok God... this is your church. Where are we going to go?

Thursday afternoon, Trevor stopped into a coffee shop by his work that he frequents regularly. He talks to the owner a lot and she happened to ask about our church at which point Trevor said something along the lines of 'funny you would ask because we're homeless.' After a short conversation, the owner said she and her husband had been wanting to open their shop up to the community for events. She said she would talk to him. Seemed like a long shot and on top of that the owners aren't Christians. And we needed the space on Sunday. In 3 days. Trevor gave her his card and said to contact him if they want to talk about it. She text him that night and they set up a meeting for Friday morning.

Friday morning Trevor met with the owners and shared our vision, our needs, our budget, everything. They were so supportive and open. They were completely on board and said they would open their shop to us for our services to try it out for a few weeks- they wouldn't even charge us! We had a location!

A few things about this are incredible. The owners aren't Christians. They aren't charging us rent (at least for now) and since we have been there they have had more profitable Sunday nights than they have ever had. God provided a location for us in a mere 5 days. God strengthened our faith and reminded us of His sovereignty and goodness. The shop stays open until 7pm and our service is at 5 so we have people coming in and out of our church service - people sit and listen as they come in for their coffee/kombucha/tea. So many things God is doing!

I am so excited to share this and all God has done. He is so good. We have been meeting at the shop for 3 weeks now and plan to for the near future until God leads us elsewhere.

Our Wonderful Leaders
Lastly, another huge blessing is that Trevor, Ali and I were able to take our first family vacation last week. It was incredible to be able to leave our church and know they would be well taken care of by our leaders. Trevor has done an amazing job raising up leaders- he has poured into so many people. God has truly gifted him in this area and we have had a great example in this from our pastor in California. Since we arrived in Portland almost 2 years ago now (WHAT!!), we have been going going going without much rest. We are so grateful we were able to get away for a week as a family and recharge. It was much needed.



Prayer Requests: 
-Location -long term solution/short term? direction
-Nov 23 we have our 2nd annual thanksgiving feast - where we gather as a church and invite people outside the church to join us. Last year we saw incredible fruit and many who came to the dinner are now a part of our church. Pray God would do amazing things


Thanks for reading! God bless.