A BUILDING!!!!

Well, almost 3 months have passed since my last blog. SHAME! A lot has happened. Our dear friends, evangelists Franco and Sherilyn Platania came to minister in our church three times, we had our annual Ignite Conference with revivalist Rick Mayo, organized and hosted the CPD's annual womens conference (which far surpassed last years!), a couple of wonderful young people adopted into our family, running the family business, as well as fitting some travelling in. Our summer has been FULL to say the least. We are just now finding the time to breath.

Through all of this, we have been feeling the need to purchase a church building of our own. Life Church began 12 years ago by us opening the downstairs of our home for Bible Studies and Children's Bible lessons. This continued for approx. 6 months before we met the first couple who wanted to commit their lives to God. Carolyne Toole and her two children are still faithful members of Life Church today and we commend them and hold them dear to us. Since that time, Life Church has moved to three different locations ending in our present rented spot.

Unfortunately, our present location is not ideal as there are maintanence issues that we are unable to have fixed. Our roof has had a major leaking problem for the past 3 years and we have had to put out up to 32 bins (that's right bins, not buckets) to catch all the water. The cost to repair the roof is in the tens of thousands which our landlord seems unable to fix. We have had to dissemble our youths recreational hallway and take down approx. 20 ceiling tiles as they kept collapsing from the weight of the water which was an accident waiting to happen. A few times the sudden collapse of a ceiling tile has startled us during service. However, we are blessed for as of yet, we have only one leak in the sanctuary area. Praise God!

Last year we had a few ministers counsel us that it is time to buy our own building. Our current location has wonderful exposure but it is not ours. We also feel the need to have a free standing building that lends itself to more of a church atmosphere. Since that time, we have looked around. There have been a few options but none them "spoke" to us.

In May, we heard of a building that would probably be coming available in the fall and with a few inquiries we were able to confirm it to be true. Upon first entering the building, it felt like home to us. We received a call today once again confirming that the building will be for sale in two weeks and we are being given the first option to purchase. It is a solid brick church in immaculate shape which can seat up to 180 - 200 people. A wonderful stepping stone for Life Church of Medicine Hat! It also boasts a full basement with two sunday school rooms as well as a small nursery and office upstairs just off the sanctuary. The back of the church has a wonderful large parking area as well as alot of off street parking. As you can probably read between the lines, we are excited about it's possibilities. Fundraising is FULL STEAM AHEAD!

My dear Sheena is in Spokane right now but when I was talking to her and told her we heard from the church today, her first reply was, "I'll sell my car mummy....that'll be about $5000 for the downpayment." It made me catch my breath and say, "Thank you Jesus, we must have done something right for her to be who she is." I can't even say I am surprised at her saying that. It is just "Our Sheena."

Fundraising will consist of:

• Seeking pledges and donations from family, friends, ministerial and business associates
• Bottle drives (the return doubled on bottles last year! Bonus!)
• Themed Dinner Fundraisers
• Peroghy Fundraisers (Alot of work!)
• Youth out doing yard work.
• Garage sales
• etc. etc. etc.

Please hold Life Church in Medicine Hat in your prayers. We are so excited about what God has done in our city in the past 12 years since we came here and know He will do much more!

I am posting pictures of our "dream" church. Enjoy.

Revival with the Platania's

What an awesome two weeks of revival we have just finished....or begun. Our dear friends Franco and Sherilynn Platania along with their two children came to minister in our church. In preparation for the revival services, we hung 5000 door hanger invitations. Two people were baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost as a result of those flyers. Definitely worth the expense. In all 8 people were baptized and 7 received the Holy Ghost in the past two weeks. What a time! Looking forward to our annual Ignite Conference July 9-11 with Rick Mayo and the Platania's again July 23-25.

5000 Doorhanger Invitations

5000 Doorhanger Invitations.

The doorhanger invitations I designed and ordered online arrived this morning and must be handed out by Wednesday. That is ALOT of walking. After church tonight, my love and I went for a walk and handed out 150 in one hour. It felt so good! Any and all volunteers are welcome....hint, hint. LOL


FRONT ...............................BACK

New Deck

Our newcomer Bible studies have been growing and we were running out of room in the house so we decided to expand the deck to help out in the spring,summer and fall months. Thanks to the guys of Life Church who donated their time (especially Eric, Dete and Jordan) who spent many hours building it. I love it!

IGNITE CONFERENCE 2010

What's been going on in our lives.

First of all....GOD IS GOOOOD....alllllll the time!

We have undergone some renovations in our home which many of you know can be a trial. I cannot stand a messy home as it turns me into a crazy lady. My family can attest to this. We did some re-flooring, painting, upgraded to a hydro massage tub (I love it!) and almost doubled our deck in size for church fellowships and Bible Study BBQ's.

Our church roof leaks....not just leaks but actually pours at times. We constantly have sodden ceiling tiles crash to the floor which can be very distracting during the preaching or altar call. LOL. Our landlord is very reluctant to fix the problem so we are currently looking at purchasing our own property. In order to do this, we need to come up with a downpayment...of course. I was praying to God and kind of put Him on the spot concerning this problem. I reminded him that we are his bride and it's hard to keep looking pretty for Him when we are constantly getting wet. Not really but close. Well, as everyone knows, God does answer prayer. He responded by giving me the inspiration to start a peroghy fundraising program. It is ALOT of work but we are excited by the response we have received in Medicine Hat. I have also developed a fantastic recipe for Kuchen (a German custard fruit pie) in the near future which we will be adding to our lineup.

We have a wonderful group of ladies who have committed themselves to a 2 day production week and we are still having a difficult time keeping up with orders. Be careful what you ask for as Gods answer may be more than you bargained for. lol

Chazil is growing up

I have been working like a busy bee this past month in preparation for the annual Christmas Market at the Cypress Center. This year both sections were full of vendors and I was blessed to have a wonderful location in the market. As thousands of people milled about over the two days, my sales were off the wall and I had to stay up making more products Friday night for Saturdays market.

I filled two pages with custom orders and have bulk orders for stores in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat. I continue to receive phone calls with more custom orders and a hair salon has also requested to carry my feather hair accessories. The reconstructed and recycled clothing has garnered alot of interest as well with two locations about to carry it. It is exciting and it looks like I will be busy for awhile. Thank you to Sheena and my mumsy for helping work the booth. Link to my online store is www.chazil.etsy.com I have yet to add all of the items I have for sale but it has a little of everything on it.

Our budding music ministry.

Our church has undergone some changes in our music ministry in the past year and it is developing into what I have dreamed it to become. These are some of our musicians jamming after the Mexican Fiesta. Give it another year or so and with God's leading and guidance, it will be fantastic. Exciting!!! Now to start a quartet or choir.

Mexican Fiesta FUN & YUM!

The Mexican Fiesta Fundraising dinner was a time of fun, food and fellowship. The next one on the agenda is Italian Night.



Sheena hamming it up as per usual.



Cory not realizing his moustache was falling off...
many laughs at his expense.



Pretty girl.

FOOOOOD.

Hamilton and Cory with Cory's mum and little

brother.

Decor just before we started.

Early comers

1st Annual CPD Women's Conference

We are so excited about our first annual Women's Conference. Gwyn Oakes has graciously accepted our invitation to minister to us. I was in a meeting many years ago in which she spoke about prayer. It was powerful and inspiring to say the least. We will also have tables available for rent in a Mini-Trade show allowing the ladies or churches an opportunity to showcase items for sale (crafts, clothing, etc), hobbies, or ministries. After Friday night service, we will be heading to a catered banquet where we will play some relationship building games and will have door prize draws. All in all, it is bound to be a great time of spiritual growth and fellowship.

Click on the pictures to enlarge...you can then print them off.

Red Deer Camp Meeting

Camp meeting was packed out this year. Awesome
preaching, worship and fellowship. Ray Sirstead and
Kenneth Bow ministered and did a fantastic job. My
kids say that Kenneth Bow is now one of their favorite
preachers. I LOVE that I can say that! So many kids
idolize sport, movie or rock stars but my kids look up
to great preachers. Thank you JESUS for that!


Packed house.


The beginning of the prayer line.


The "12 disciples" according to Bro. Kenneth Bow.

Bro. Hall's unique dance. Gotta love it.

Ignite Conference 2009

The Ignite Conference was fantastic once again this year. Rick Mayo never fails to bring exciting and powerful preaching to the pulpit. Many people were renewed and lives were changed. Looking forward to bigger and better next year! Special thanks go to Sis. Ellen Mayo, Zac Mayo and Jared Robe-From for their help with the music.


We had 97 in attendance.


Mike J. being baptized. He is so excited.


Cory M. being baptized. He too is very excited.


Sheena and her dear friend Aurey.


Aurey adores her Papa

After service Ministerial fellowship

The ladies enjoying the deck and roasting marshmallows.



Bro. Mayo is awesome on the guitar!

Mac and Cheese Prayer

I thought this was one of the cutest things I have seen in a long time and wanted to share it. Sheena and I were trying not to laugh too loud as we watched it because the rest of the family are in bed sleeping. They say laughter is good medicine. Enjoy!

WANTED: 12 or 15 Passenger Van

We consistantly have many visitors coming to church
now which is exciting and encouraging! We had 27
visitors this week and 39 last week. Most of them require
rides, especially when it rains as it did this morning.
Today alone we made 8 trips between ourselves
to pick up people for church. A wonderful problem really
but still a problem.
As soon as we are done fundraising for our Ignite Conference
next month, we may need to start raising funds for a
passenger van. It will be so cool to see a white van with
LIFE CHURCH plastered on it's side cruising around town!

IGNITE CONFERENCE 2009

Everyone is welcome to join us for a wonderful time!

The "Life's Amazing Race" will be an amazing time of fun

evangelism. BBQ to follow Sundays service.

On a side note, we had 29 visitors in church this Sunday. They just

kept coming in! Our attendance has been steadily climbing for the

past 6 weeks or so which is very exciting. Woo Hoo!

SOOOOO, if you want a seat for the conference, be there early!