FAMILY UPDATE:

Yesterday, we met with a builder.  He comes from a family that has been long time friends of the Colemans.  He is easy to talk with and helped us work through the details on the addition of the garage.  And, I told him:

“this garage is a test.  If we can come through this in one piece—we’ll talk about the rest of the remodeling that we need to get done.”

We’ve been praying about this for months and feel like this is a clear breakthrough.  So, thanks for joining us in this journey.

MINISTRY UPDATE:

Miami is part of the Send City strategy to reach North America.

Yesterday a couple of the next steps started to come into focus.  We are planning a special conference with the IMB—it’s called EthneCity.  If we are going to reach the cities of North America, we have to recognize diversity and the different People Groups (ethne) living in the cities.

Also, we are looking to help church planters host some special events that give them ways to serve their communities and make more connections.  More on this later….

I am going to Miami next week to spend some time with local leadership talking about this work and praying for God’s direction.  Pray for Miami.

http://vimeo.com/33246395

Lots of people have checked out the blog….and I’m assuming that means you are responding to our request for prayer partners!

We have seen the hand of God moving through relationships and giving clarity of thought on some key decisions.  Here are some updates (and additions) to the requests from the first of the week…

Personal: 

• KK and the Gilbert boys did fine on the trip to Boise.  We really enjoyed seeing Mason and Zeke during these last few weeks and KK was glad to accompany them home to spend a couple of days with Josh & Erin.
• The garage:  we will make some of the final decisions on Saturday and Monday.  Always a little stressful when you want it to work for the next 30 years!
•  Remodeling/updating KK’s dad’s house:   we need some help on the design.  Pray that we can find the right person/people to assist us.

These may sound like simple things but we need a place to entertain, have overnight guests, etc.  KK needs a kitchen that is functional.  We need to get our stuff out of storage.  Until these things are settled—we feel unsettled. 

Ministry: some major LoveLoud initiatives that I am working on this week:

• East St. Louis Ministry Center expansion project– we believe this is the right direction and we are starting the process
• City partnership with H.I.S. BridgeBuilders– need to determine how to set up training & multiplication
• Pilot Project with Connect Ministries– great meeting!  Now, we visit the Send Cities that will host pilot projects 2013/2014.  Pray for the right relationships to make this work! 
• Next Steps to expand Volunteer Mission Projects:  working out the kinks on new platform.  Will have test site in August
• Faith and Work Roundtable:  Decided to postpone for a few weeks.  Good decision and prayer clarified it.  Thanks! 
• Send North America Conference the end of July:  working on presentations.

Ministry: Preaching this weekend at our new “home church” (Northside Roswell)   Studying the “Fruit of the Spirit” from  (Gal 5:12-25)

Thanks for reading and praying.  It is hard to describe the strength that I am receiving from your interest.