The Month of May...
Monday, May 26, 2008
Where did May go? It is hard to believe how fast time is moving and how quickly the "tidal wave" that is Overflow is expanding in the region here.
Here are just a few snapshots from the month of May:
- We celebrated our 11th week of public worship this past Sunday and continue to see visitors each week, along with a great diversity economically and racially, that truly represents the surrounding region.
- The Bennett family is officially residing in Benton Harbor, while still waiting and praying for the sale of our home in Battle Creek
- Our Women's Ministry held their first annual "ladies tea" the day before mother's day at the mall (see picture)
- Overflow celebrated mother's day by holding our first child dedication service with 5 children being dedicated (see pictures)
- The Overflow Bus is officially painted and ran its first route 5/25. Please pray for God to fill this bus with those we are intended to reach.
- We had a "Serving" project, under the leadership of Randy Willis, to prepare an apartment to receive our first intern on 5/31. Matthew Hooper and his new wife Kim will join us from Bethany Bible College as he completes his major in church planting with this 6 month internship.
- Sunday, May 25 was the wrap-up of our "Tidal Wave" series our first Sunday with our guest worship leader Nellie Blue-Bolenbacker that will be joining Mark Ficks (our music director) the first Sunday of each month.
- Our Men's & Women's ministries both finished the small group material "Outflow" and were led in various ways to impact our community with Christ's love.
- On Monday, May 11 we ran our children's program at Berrien Homes and received over 50 children and a number of parents as this program continues to grow under the incredible leadership of Mark and Mary Thomas.
- This coming Thursday-Friday (May 29-30) we are traveling to Chicago with a group 0f 12 to visit Lawndale Community Church, Willow Creek, and Urban Ministries as we continue to ask God what He has for Overflow in the form of outreach and community development by learning from others.
Prayer Requests:
- Sunday's continue to be a true Worship Celebration and a continuing journey for many of the un-churched and de-churched people that are attending. Please continue to pray that God will work in and among their hearts to draw them to Himself.
- Please pray for our influence to expand into new territories and for the diversity of our leadership team to continue to grow and reflect the vision of Overflow.
Thank you for your continued prayers & support!
In Pursuit,
Brian
Romans 15:13
posted by Brian @ 10:14 PM,
1 comment,
Our Sunday Series:
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
posted by Brian @ 6:55 AM,
0 comments,
The power of love and a few bucks
Thursday, May 1, 2008
This week is an exciting week for us at Overflow and I wanted to be sure to share an incredible God story with you that happened today and with a challenge for you to also “pour out” this week.
Last Sunday I finished our “Rhyme and Reason” series (by the way podcasts are now up and running at: www.overflowchurch.org) on the book of Galatians by teaching Galatians 6 and the legacy we are leaving. We talked about how we can sow seeds of love in others lives and what it might look like to do that with our: family & friends, our community, and our world. We asked people to consider this while watching the following video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvqwHGH3Tlw&feature=related) and as our band played the song “The 21st Time” live. It was an awesome to see how people responded by writing on post it notes during the song the legacy they would like to leave and coming forward to place it on a large “O” we had made to put in our mall window and share with others.
This is just where it started to get cool, though; as we then were able to share with them that we had received a donation that week and that we were going to use part of it for “Overflow Pours Out”. We were able to give every adult $5 and every child $1 to go and share God’s love with someone as they felt led and then to share the story with us during the week. Look for more stories to come, but here is one from today.
I had a little extra money leftover from Sunday that I have been praying about and looking to bless others with. Today, I saw a mall store manager walk by and I said “hi” and asked her if I could buy lunch for her and her other 2 employees today. She was really excited and said sure. Less than a minute after she left the store one of the workers came running in very excited and gave me a hug and asked me if God talked to me through my thoughts or something. I said that “yes, I think he does sometimes” and she said that if she wasn’t a believer before she was now. She said that her and her co-worker had just been talking about how hungry they were, but that neither of them had any money. Just then her boss came in with the lunch money! God’s timing was amazing. Right after she shared with me the other employee came in and gave me a hug and shared the same story and then how just last night she decided to start reading her Bible again for the first time in years and prayed that morning to live her life more for God and for him to provide for her. I was able to share with her how God was already blessing her and showing that he was right there and loved and cared for her that much!
It was truly an amazing experience to see how when we follow God’s leading, even in something so simple and non-expensive, how God can use it to impact others with His love!
So your challenge…..pour out this week! Share God’s love however He leads and if you need the $5 to do it let me know and we will see how we can help. Enjoy pouring out and I would love to hear the story!
In Pursuit,
Brian
Romans 15:13
posted by Brian @ 9:16 AM,
1 comment,
