This past Sunday southwestern Wisconsin had the sun shining, there was no major snow storm and the temperature was actually close to freezing – a welcome relief from around 90 inches of snow and cold temperatures, much of which seemed to fall on the weekends. We had a good day with Pastor Dennis and Sela Jones and the Beulah Wesleyan Church. Pastor Dennis played his guitar and sang. He did a great job. I didn’t know it, but he came from a very musical family and was close to launching a musical career before the Lord steered him toward full-time ministry. Another interesting thing that many don’t know is that they also have two Great Danes – and they’re BIG! After lunch and my annual dialogue with Dennis, Reenie and I headed to Minnesota to visit with some good friends and give Reenie a chance to do some shopping before the wedding.
Transformation City
Jason Butler and the new north Milwaukee church plant had their first service back in the Rosebud Theater last Sunday. In addition to the launch team and others, they had 8 people there for the first time. They didn’t reach their numerical goal, but they were encouraged by the response and the fresh start at their new location. One of the things that has happened through the past several months of wrangling with the city fathers is that it has opened doors to communicate the vision and dream with the community and leaders. It has also served to unite and encourage the entire faith community to work together to reach the community with the gospel.
Baraboo
Saturday about a dozen men got helped Pastor Josh refurbish the Jubilee Wesleyan Church in Baraboo. Pastor Josh and Jamie had led the congregation in redoing a lot of the interior and exterior of the building which had fallen into disrepair and was in desperate need of upgrading. An office and nursery have been added upstairs and the entire main level is being insulated and dry-walled, with new windows, lights, and sound system. With the help of Pastor Dwayne and some men from Eau Claire, Pastor Roger Miller, a local carpenter and his son, and a couple of men from the church, the entire ceiling was insulated and sheet rocked. A local reporter even came out, took some pictures and interviewed Josh. The story was on the front page of the paper.
Iglesia Cristiana Wesleyana, Casa de Restauracion
I’ve had two meetings with Pastor Juan Morillo and Pastor Daniel Munoz in the past week to discuss the exact location for this new church plant. Waukesha County has the fastest growing Hispanic population in the state of Wisconsin and will soon surpass the total in Milwaukee County and we are feeling this is where we need to move into. Please pray as we look for housing in the Waukesha area and work out a location for the new congregation to meet. They are presently meeting in one of the family’s homes on Saturdays.
Focus Tour
Pastors and staff will be coming from all over Wisconsin next Thursday, March 6 to spend a day with Phil Stevenson and Jim Dunn. The focus will be on the pastors themselves and on being missional churches and a missional district. Please pray that the Lord would speak through and empower the presenters to encourage and challenge us.
Calendar
February
26 Red Cedar LBA
27 Dialogues
March
1-2 Red Cedar Visit
4 Dialogues
5 Nicaragua Partnership Meeting
6 Focus Tour (Pastors)
8 Casa de Dios LBA
9 High Point Visit
10 The River LBA
15-16 Mt. Pisgah Visit
17-20 DS Institute, GBA
23 Easter Sunday
25—4/1 Vacation (our son’s wedding)
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