Hey Journeyers, as we get ready to head into summer we wanted to thank you for your generosity last Christmas through our Hope Christmas Project. We wanted to update you on the ways that your generosity is making a difference all around the world and helping people experience "relationships, not religion" far beyond our reach along the lakeshore.

 

CityGate Church

John & Cherie Gilfillan are launching CityGate in Kalamazoo. They currently have about 50 people on their launch team and are planning to launch the new church this fall, bringing "relationships, not religion" to Kzoo as they reach out to people disconneted from Jesus! They've had their first baptisms as a church and are planning events this summer to serve the city! Thank you for investing in them!

 

Verve Church

We continue our partnership with Verve Church in Las Vegas. This year they have grown by about 25%, have added another service and continue to impact the lives of broken, hurting, searching people. Many of the stories are simply devastating as you listen to all that they have walked through. Thank you for your continued partnership with Verve. As they bring relationships, not religion to a very difficult place.

 

 

SPLAGNA

Splagna means "guts" or "compassion" and it's an organization that we are charter members of with Verve Church and a few other like-minded churches. This past year we planned to help a church in San Francisco get started. We even watched a video as a church from the pastor of this new church that was to start. But things changed. Our partners in Splagna were tracking with this couple and over the course of several months they determined that they were simply not doing what needed to be done to start the church and that our money invested in them would not be a wise use of resources. That couple has since quit and moved away from San Francisco. We're grateful for our patnerships who care about doing what is right even if it means changing plans. In April, I was able to meet in Florida, with Shaun Clarke, who is starting a church in Ybor City, FL. Ybor City is just outside of Tampa and 7th Avenue in Ybor City is kind of like Mardi Gras every weekend night. Shaun is doing a great job and through Splagna we are looking at shifting the resources planned for San Francisco to this new work. We are waiting for a few more reports and progress before we fully support this work, but we believe Shaun and his team can do great things in a difficult place in Ybor City.

THANKS FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!