New Year, New Location, New Home

Happy New Year!

We can't believe it is 2015 and March will mark 2 years here! Wow. So much has happened since our last update - I can't wait to share.

Rust Coffee

As of November, we were meeting in a coffee shop in NE Portland. We met there for a little over a month. We knew that location was temporary - it was a small shop and there was no place for kids ministry. However it was just what we needed at just the right time. We truly loved that shop. It was small and intimate. Our services were at 5pm and the shop stayed open until 7pm. That meant people would be coming in the shop while church was happening. I've never experienced that before. People would sit and listen or come in during the middle of service. One night, there was a young man talking on the phone near the front where Trevor would be speaking. We politely let him know that we were about to start a church service and he was welcome to stay but we wanted to let him know. He said oh k thanks. Then continued his phone conversation and said, "Oh the coffee shop I'm at has a church service starting in a minute. That's Portland for ya!" So true. Church in a coffee shop was SO Portland. He ended up staying the entire time and afterwards came up and thanked me for leading worship. 

We were grateful for the opportunity to do church in a space like that -where on any given night we knew there would be 5-10 non Christians coming into OUR church. Incredible. We continued to pray about a long term location and asked God to direct us. 

Thanksgiving Meal

We planned our 2nd annual Thanksgiving meal to be at a place called the SMILE station in SE Portland - in a neighborhood called Sellwood. A few people in our church live in Sellwood and it is kind of in the middle of where everyone in our church is spread. We had about 35-40 people join us for the dinner and it was a GREAT turn out. This is a tradition we hope to continue on as we have seen much fruit from it. The SMILE station is an old firehouse. It has a kitchen and a room for the kiddos. We had considered it for a church location before but it was only available for morning services and we didn't know if Sellwood was the neighborhood we should be in. However, after having our Thanksgiving dinner here, all of our leaders felt a unanimous feeling of home  - like this was a building in which we could and should have church. We talked to our leaders and prayed about it and decided to move forward - make the switch to Sunday morning services and move our church to Sellwood. 

The SMILE Station

We have been having services here for a little over a month and we LOVE it. We signed a year lease and the rent price is perfect for what we need. Sellwood is a great neighborhood and there's not a lot of church going on out here. We all felt our church really needed some stability - a set time and location. A place where people knew they could come each week and we would be there. A lot of our leaders have stepped up to take on refreshments and worship - it's been incredible to see. God is doing incredible things. After deciding to do church at the SMILE station, Trevor and I really wanted to move out to Sellwood. We moved to Portland to be a part of the community we wanted to reach. Our apartment was about 15-20 minutes away from Sellwood and we definitely weren't "in" the community. We did some looking and found an amazing apartment RIGHT next door to our church building. And I mean RIGHT next door. 

We actually got in a tiff on our way out to view the apartment because I knew our lease wasn't up until September and it would cost about $2400 to break it. $2400 we did not have. I said why are we going out there when we aren't moving - it's not possible right now. But nonetheless - my husband, the dreamer and man of amazing faith, convinced me to go and see it because if God wanted to He could move us there. It wasn't beyond Him right? So in the beginning of December we viewed an apartment - loved it. But there were some obstacles. 

1. Our lease would be $2400 to break. 

2. The complex wanted 3 months rent - 1st, last and one month security. Which we didn't have. 

3. The rent was a little higher than could fit our budget. 

Moving is also expensive and while I didn't pray about this aspect, it was in the back of my mind. 

We decided to pray about it and just ask God to do what He wanted. We wanted to move but honestly I saw this as impossible. We couldn't do any of those 3 things. We didn't really share this with anyone -just a few leaders. 

I began praying and just said OK Lord. This is on You. We didn't force anything, try to get out of our apartment - we just prayed and waited. About 3 weeks passed. Then Friday December 26 someone in our church contacted us and said they inherited some money and wanted to tithe $2400 to us to break our lease. WHAT??? Wow. Trevor and I were both shocked. Pretty amazing. So number 1 was checked off. However, we had seen the apartment 3 weeks prior and didn't even know if it was still available. So Saturday morning I called the lady at the complex and asked if it was available. It was! I explained our situation saying we had to pay to break our lease and just said we couldn't afford to pay 3 months rent. She said no problem she could waive one of them. Number 2 - check. I then asked about the price - it was on a special so it was $100 off the normal price. We thought it was for the whole year but she explained it was only for the first 6 months. Trevor and I talked about it and decided that was too much for our budget. So I called her back and said I'm sorry - we will have to pass - we just can't afford that. She said no problem - we'll keep it that price for the year and after a year it will go up by the normal rent raise percentage. Number 3- done. There was NO haggling. No arguing. It was the easiest thing I've ever experienced. 

Every single obstacle that we brought to the Lord He overcame. And we did NOTHING. Well - not nothing. We prayed. He worked. On Monday December 29 we signed our lease and planned to move that week. We have a friend up here who has a moving company. Great Christian family and we wanted to support them. We explained our situation and he said because we were a church they could move us FOR FREE! And not just move, but also provide boxes, tape, and pack and move us. And they could do it on December 31. 

Ephesians 3:20 immediately came to mind 

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

God did EXCEEDINGLY more than I could think or ask. Far above. Not only that, but He also took this offering of $2400 and multiplied it. One of my favorite songs is called Multiplied by NeedtoBreathe. They sing, "God of mercy sweet love of mine

I have surrendered to Your design
May this offering stretch across the skies
And these Hallelujahs be multiplied"

When we give, God multiplies. 

So by January 1st and in less than a weeks time, God moved us right next door to our new church building. He is SO good. We are excited to live in the community we want to reach. 

Thank you for taking the time to read ALL of this! I know it was so much but I had to share all God has been doing here. Much more to share in our next post - will share soon!

Prayer Requests:

1. More opportunities to serve our community 

2. Atheist/Agnostic Bible study - continued growth and fruit

3. Praise Him for His work in Sellwood and all He has done