2007 In Review

Happy 2008 to all of you who have invested in the ministry here at Parkland Chapel. Whether you are involved physically, financially, prayerfully, or any combination of the three, we praise the Lord for your integral piece in the puzzle the Lord continues piecing together at our little fellowship in the Parkland.

King Solomon, in all of his vast wisdom, said in the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, “there is a time to build”. 2007 was a “time” in which the Lord visibly built His church. He has built physically, numerically, and most importantly, spiritually. Some of the building that He has accomplished is more noticeable than other aspects, so it is my desire to you a brief rundown of all that our Heavenly Father has done here in the past year.

Physically…
In the kids area downstairs we finished the drywall, painted the walls, carpeted the floor, replaced every ceiling tile, and had a natural gas heater installed to supplement the existing unit that heats the rest of the building.

On the outside of the main building we had a porch constructed to cover the front entrance, and later, a couple in the church poured us a beautiful stamped concrete pad underneath the cover. In addition, we had the roof ridge cap replaced, finished painting the back side of the structure, and installed a new door leading outside from the kids area to the second building.

In the spring, a couple from Maranatha San Marcos generously gave of their time and energies to come and re-grade the parking lot to eliminate drainage issues, fix a huge sink hole in the pond dam, and to re-gravel the parking lot.

In late summer we began working on the second building. We tore out a kitchen sink, food bar, a rickety old bathroom and ripped up the odiferous carpet. Later in the month we scrubbed the walls and painted the concrete floor. In early November we held our first reception there! Shortly after Thanksgiving we contracted out the construction of a foyer, two bathrooms, a storage closet, a sound booth, and a stage. This work will be done by the time you receive this letter.

Numerically…
I noted in my journal that the first week in January we had 35 adults and 12 kids in attendance. An entry marked the first week of August showed 50 adults and 25 kids. The last week of December nearly 80 adults and 30 children attended.

After nearly two years of faithfully serving our children, Jared Burke and his wife Jessi left in May to take a youth pastor position in California. Many people have stepped up in their absence and the Lord has blessed. To better serve our ever expanding kids ministry we now have a nursery, and classes for pre-K, K-2, and grades 3 thru 6. Since the expansion of that ministry we have had five children profess faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!

As a result of all of the growth, I was able to resign from my position as a school bus driver in June and attend to the flock full time. There is a season for everything, but praise the Lord that the season of spit wads on the back of the neck in the wee hours of the morning has passed for now. It is with an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I now put in office hours in the room where our church nursery used to be.

Spiritually…
In the past year we have completed the verse by verse study of Romans and 1 Corinthians on Sunday morning. On Sunday evenings we completed Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Since March, our Wednesday men’s Bible study has studied 2 Timothy,1 & 2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude, and we are now in Ecclesiastes.

People are growing strong and beginning to reproduce themselves as they feed on the word corporately and personally. There are over 25 people reading through the Bible chronologically this year. There are more than 20 people signed up to take “Sharing Jesus Without Fear” in Feb. (That makes me recall one of the high water marks of my year. On a Friday evening in the fall, I had the privilege of leading a grandmother of eleven to the Lord, while two of her daughters and a few of her grandchildren sat and listened to her pray to accept Jesus as her Savior!)

We are beginning to look for opportunities to reach out. Locally, we participated in the Ministerial Alliance “Help the Hungry” bake sale. We also support the Parkland Pregnancy Resource Center. To be involved globally, we support the Havertape family, missionaries to Kolchugino, Russia.

Thank you so much for partnering with us. We look forward to the Lord adding to His Kingdom in 2008.

God bless,
Mike