August 2020 News Report

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."
1 Chronicles 16:34

Peak Week 2020

Back in November I (Juli) was approached by the Children’s Pastor of another local church, Restoration Church, to see if I would be interested in collaborating with other churches to put together a summer camp for pre-teens. As the year started and this pandemic arrived, we saw how difficult it could be to make definite decisions without knowing if the camp could even happen. However, we decided to keep moving forward with planning the specifics and praying, while also promoting it among our churches.

A week before camp started, the husband of one of the camp director became sick with Covid-19 and the position of camp director was moved to the Pastor of Magnolia Cowboy Church. She did an amazing job with the transition and there was a lot of grace in regards to making things happen. Finally, the day came and we went to camp, both Nathaniel and myself. The theme of the camp was “Reset, Refresh, and Recalibrate” which was based on 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Overall, we had an amazing time! I was there to help in whatever was necessary; taking pictures, encouraging the kids to do a very silly dance, as well as encouraging the children one on one. We hosted 115 pre-teen campers, and throughout the camp, 10 of them gave their lives to Jesus! Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, towards the end of the camp, Nathaniel broke his collar bone during one of the activities, but was still able to encounter Jesus personally and see him at work through his camp leaders. Here are his own words about his time at the camp. “I was able to conquer my fears (he had an accomplishment list) and made me more connected with God”. He also experienced God’s protection, because while in camp, one of the leaders in his cabin came down with a fever due to Covid-19, and to this day, he is still fine. He felt God was actively protecting him through that.

As the camp came to a close, it beautiful to look back and see what it looks like for the body of Christ to serve together in unity. God's goodness was prevalent throughout the camp, even during the difficult moments we had to overcome. I am very thankful to everyone who contributes to our ministry that allowed for Nathaniel and myself to be a part of this beautiful work of God in our community.

An Attack on our Health

Over the last month, we have seen a number of health issues affect our family. As you read above, Nathaniel broke his collar during one of the activities of the camp. It is always amazing to see how strong that little guy is as he was able to continue to the end of the camp, before David finally was able to get him to a doctor. He is doing great and has been healing at a very quick pace. In fact, from the moment the doctor put him in a sling, he began praying and believing for God to heal him quickly so that he would not have to wear the sling long. God has definitely seen and responded to his incredible faith.

We have also had our own battle with COVID-19 as William began to have some minor symptoms and later tested positive. It is one thing to know of friends to test positive, it is another to have it in your own home, especially knowing that you too have had close contact with the one affected. It was not long after his symptoms began that Ariela, Juli, and David also began to not feel well. Praise the Lord, all 3 tested negative, but that result did not give answers to the way we all felt. Turned out that Ariela was dealing with an ear infection, David was dealing with just being exhausted (we think), and Juli was dealing with some sort of digestive issue (we think). Needless to say, these last few weeks have been difficult and we ask that you pray for His Divine healing and protection to fill our home.

David's Recent Blog

Finally, we wanted to share with you a blog post that David recently wrote as he was reflecting with the Lord about the situation the United States is in right now. It is heart breaking to see the destruction taking place in all levels of society, however, there is hope. The early church was also faced with situations where they had to deal with the temptation to divide and break relationships with one another. You can read his blog, “Keeping Your Eyes on Him in the midst of Chaos” by clicking here.

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Our ministry would not be possible without the generous giving of our friends and family. One of our core values as a family and ministry is to serve God with all of our heart and trust Him to provide for our needs. We have recently re-opened The Street Revolution, the 501c3 we opened years ago, thus 100% of your giving goes to ministry and is tax deductible. If you would like to give a gift and join our ministry support team, please visit our website or send us an email.