November - Guests

      November found us traveling again and grateful guests in Holman, WI.  We were invited to be a guest missionary family at a missions conference for Holman Baptist Church, and were blessed by the experience.   After traveling a long way, we sat up late into the night talking with Pastor Habegger and his wife, who stopped to read bedtime stories to our children.       

      We were also excited to have our own guests at Lakeshore Baptist last month.  Bay City Baptist School sent a music group to minister to our congregation, and Pastor Brown was the first guest preacher in our pulpit.   God continues to bless us in numbers, and in the fellowship of our group of believers.  We came together as a church to participate in the Samaritan's Purse Christmas Shoebox Project.  The families at Lakeshore were excited to participate, and we doubled our goal, shipping out twenty boxes with gifts and a gospel message to needy children.  We look forward to our Christmas Day service and a vision Sunday in January as we continue to move forward.

October: Fellowship and Firsts

     This has been an exciting month of firsts for Lakeshore Baptist Church!  We've shared in our first fellowship meal, observed our first Lord's Supper, and begun our first Sunday School classes.  Both the adults and the children's class are studying from the book of Genesis this quarter in Sunday School, and we're averaging seventeen attenders! 

     Micah Bender and Brittney King have been coming on extension from Northland and have begun teaching Sunday School for the primary children and nursery pre-schoolers.  We are so thankful for their help and smiling faces in services.

     This month we welcomed the WFBC director Wayne Vawter and his wife to our fellowship meal, and our weekly visitors from Bay City have been such an encouragment. We praise God as He continues to add to our numbers from the community, and our core of families from Bay City remain faithful in attendance and ministry.  Sunday morning attendance averages thirty-one and twenty-one on Thursdays.  We are excited to see new people getting involved in services.  Some of the men have begun serving as ushers, and the ladies are providing refreshments for Bible Study and have initiated a Christmas giving project. 

     Please continue to pray for new contacts from our follow-up visits.  Ray was able to help a man move across town this week, and rubbed shoulders with some of the man's friends as well.  We are so thankful for the men from Bay City who have gone out in the evenings to make those visits with us.  Pray also for safety as we travel.  We were in other churches across Wisconsin for four of the five Sunday nights in October, and Ray made an overnight trip to Hannibal for a Wednesday service.  We have enjoyed seeing some college friends at two churches this month.  Tiffany caught up with a classmate in Fon du Lac, and we talked again with Ray's good friend who is the assistant pastor in Marinette.  We continue to pray as well for the purchase of a house in Kewaunee, so that we can really get involved in the lives of the people in the community.

First Service!

       It's here!  Sunday, September 18th marked our first service at Lakeshore Baptist Church in Kewaunee, and we praise God for His blessing.  Forty-one people came out to fill our fifty chair auditorium storefront last Sunday morning.  A few of those were from Bay City Baptist, as some families have committed to helping us get established; but over half were residents of Kewaunee or neighboring Algoma.  Both of our ushers Sunday morning were faithful attenders of Thursday Bible Study who live in Algoma.  We have enjoyed meeting a number of couples and single men and women from town who express excitement about the work.  We welcomed special music from our guest Kay Lealiou, and sang hymns to an upright piano for the neighbors to hear :)  Ray preached a salvation message from John 3, and we know from conversation that there were unsaved souls in the service.  Pray for those who have heard the gospel, that they might come to trust Christ.  We had a full nursery, and I taught four children in Jr. Church as well.

      Assuredly, people will come and go, especiall at first, and that's all right.  God has placed us there at Lakeshore to minister to whoever comes through our doors, for whatever time they stay.  We do enjoy seeing some of the same faces through the weeks, though, and have established friendships that we hope will continue.  This Thursday brought a new couple to Bible Study who attended the first service, and they returned again today adding to our attendence of twenty-six.  I was also able to pick up a young mother for Bible Study Thursday who I met during visitation in August.  She is unbelieving, but searching for the Truth, and has agreed to come with me again next week.  Please pray that she will continue to come and allow Christ to reveal Himself to her.

      Thank you all for your continued prayers and support.  We are grateful to God for this attractive and furnished place to meet, but we are eager now to move from preparing the building to declaring Christ to the people of Kewaunee.    

      

Open House

      Tuesday night we hosted an Open House at the church building in Kewaunee.  The ladies from Bay City who now attend Lakeshore Baptist each made pies, and we served coffee and punch.  We wanted to provide a casual and non-confrontational opportunity for the community to come meet us and see what was going on.  While there was no mob breaking down the doors to get in, we were excited about a handful of friendly people who came out.  Each of them were fellow believers who expressed joy in having a Baptist church so near.  Of the six adults who visited with us, four said they would be out Sunday, and another is a "snow bird" who plans to worship with us when she returns from Arizona in the spring ;)  Thank you to the families from Bay City who came out Tuesday to greet the community with us.

      We are very excited about a specific answer to prayer for our children.  We have been praying all summer for some children to come to Lakeshore, so that our kids could have new friends, and someone besides their siblings in their Sunday School classes.  God has sent a wonderful Christian family who will be attending every service beginning last Thursday night.  They three children and one due in November.  In God's generous way, the children's ages are within one year of each of our own!  Please pray now for a few older ones, for our dear Curtis girls to spend time with.   I am so thankful that He is showing Himself a caring and prayer answering God to our children. 

      Our first service begins tomorrow morning, and I hope to post pictures of that soon.

More To Do

      Before I get to the pictures, let me praise the LORD for His faithfulness!  Thursday night, we welcomed another Christian woman from Kewaunee to Bible Study.  She was saved and baptized in a Baptist church, and now attends a non-denominational church in Green Bay.  We enjoyed her participation in the study discussion.  Our new friends from Algoma have also continued to come, and are now regular Thursday night attenders. 

      School started for Joe and Megan on Wednesday, and it looks like we'll have at least a month living in Green Bay to transition before the longer drive begins. Things are moving along well with our house sale.  This week the inspector came, and we made an acceptable agreement with the buyers on the report, which led us to do a little window shopping for appliances at Sears ;)  Please continue to pray about the bank accepting our offer on the house in Kewaunee.     

      This week we have made a few follow up visits from the survey cards, and scheduled another deputation service in a WFBC church.  We've been hanging bulletin boards, clocks, and coat racks; and I'm ordering S.S. curriculum for the children's class.  Thursday night was the first night the classroom and nursery were ready for use, so we were able to bring our own children to Bible Study.      

     Ray and I sat down this weekend and wrote down all of the final details and loose ends that must be done by September 13th's open house.  We were suprised to see the list was so long!  (We each had our own lists, but had not yet combined them)  This week will be busy, but we are still enjoying the work of the Lord. 

Wisconsin Rapids

      After a few hours of rest Sunday afternoon, we finished the weekend with a visit to Faith Baptist Church in Wisconsin Rapids.  Pastor Stever Steinmetz invited Ray to preach and present the Kewaunee ministry in their evening service.  We had beautiful weather, and enjoyed talking with their church family until well after service ended.  The children played with new friends from a family who had offered to put us up if we decided to stay the night.  After our exhausting week, we declined the invitation but welcomed their company until the church doors locked, and it was time to head home.  We praise the Lord for such a refreshing end to this busy week.

Friday & Saturday

      Well, the big week is over, and we've all got that "good tired" feeling in the Anderson house.  Praise the Lord for all the work and evangelizing done!  So many came out from Bay City  Baptist that we were able meet all of our canvassing goals.  EVERY door in the city of Kewaunee was knocked on, with either a personal conversation and/or a church pamphlet and Gospel of John left behind.  As well, thanks to a busload of teenagers and Tuesday's volleball team, information pamplets were hung on EVERY door in Algoma!  We were able to see two men come to salvation and have a total of 45 homes open to a visit from the pastor!  (I can't help the exclamation points today :) 

      The carpets have been installed and the old carpet scrubbed, and I was able to move some of the nursery furniture in so we can use it during Bible Study.   I'm so thankful for Megan and Joe's excitement about the church.  They both enjoyed "protesting" (as Joe mistakenly called the canvassing) with Daddy this week, and each had a project in the building.  Joe got to use tools and assembled one of the Sunday school benches, and Megan used her gift of organizing to move in the nursery toys. 

      Today we travel to Wisconsin Rapids to present the work in the evening service.  Pray for traveling safety and for one more energy burst for Ray as he preaches.  Then we should have a  "normal" last week of summer vacation before school begins.  The kids will be glad to have Daddy back home before bedtime, and we'll all get some much needed rest.  We couldn't have asked for a better week though, for both the family and Lakeshore Baptist Church.  To quote a young lady I canvassed with Wednesday, "My cheeks hurt from smiling so much :)"

Wednesday & Thursday

      Wednesday and Thursday stayed as busy as the beginning of the week.  Ray hi-lighted our maps for every block that was visited door-to-door, and we are very excited about the area that has been covered!  With so much help from Bay City's families, we're turning Kewaunee/Algoma "blue."  I was encouraged by a few visits Wednesday morning, including one young lady with a baby Titus' age, who invited us in to share the gospel with her.  I hope to see her at Bible study soon.  PRAISE the LORD - Dave Fizz was used to lead two men to salvation on two different blocks this week!!  Pray that they will desire to grow and come out to services.  

      A local couple from Algoma have now become consistent attenders on Thursday nights, and we enjoy their fellowship and participation.  This week's study was attended by a local pastor and two of his friends.  He pastor's a non-denominational church, and wanted to meet us and see what we were all about.  They were very friendly and warm in their conversation and participation.   Ray and I knocked on the door of the Lutheran pastor's family, speaking a few minutes with his wife.  She was very friendly and took our information, saying they'd send any Baptists they met our way ;)  Do pray for relationships between us and the established churches in town -- for wisdom, boldness, and a good testimony. 

      Our planned renovations were completed by the end of Thursday, aside from the carpet installation scheduled for Friday morning.  Brent Luther spent the afternoon on his stomach between ceilings so that we could have lights and fans in the classrooms, for which I and the children are grateful.  Again, we are thankful for so many of you who have come and are praying.  We are confident that our Father is faithful in blessing your hearts as you serve, not for us, but for HIS work.

Missions Week - Monday & Tuesday

      Helpers have been coming and going all day, and the church building is busy!  Please forgive me if I miss some --many-- names. While some went on visitation, others stayed to work on renovations.  We now have windows in the nursery / s.s. room, as well as plaster on the ceilings, and the first coat of paint.  (It'll take at least two to cover that red ;)   A large patch of carpet was removed and trimmed, so that the installers can come Friday morning with the new carpet.   You'll see Abby Effert has been scrubbing away at the awning -- an especially dirty job -- and the bathroom is painted.  Thank you again to Shane Sheehan, the Efferts, and Davis',  who came out and worked all day. 

     Thank you to those who came out for door-to-door visitation.  I started to list family names, but it got too long, praise the Lord!  We've spoken to many residents, and left door hangers wherever no one answered.  The volleyball team came Tuesday and covered a large area in Algoma as well.  We've seen some people are more willing to listen when a young person is smiling at them, so please don't leave the family at home.  Megan was so excited about her "date night" with Daddy to invite people to church ;)

 

Bay City Missions Week

      We are so so thankful to everyone at Bay City for their time and energy this week!  As of Wednesday afternoon, we have visited about half of the city of Kewaunee with the gospel of John and church information, and have left door hangers on one-third of the homes in Algoma!  I could put exclamation points on just about every sentence, but I will refrain.     !!     So many projects are being finished up, and the building is ever nearer to being ready for services.  I plan to update the blog frequently this week, so all those helping and praying can see the progress.  We've taken some pictures, but we're sorry we could not get photos of everyone who has helped -- including those who have offered to babysit for Tiffany.  Thank you as well for your prayers.  We know God is preparing hearts as we find people open to talking with us and asking for another visit. 

     These are a few pictures of the new paint work done the past two weekends by our good friend Adam Surber.  He was able to come out before the work week to do a majority of the painting, including the trim, storage room, main room, and hallway.  What an improvement!

A Double-Header Day

      Sunday kept us close to home with services in two different churches going two different directions.  Our new neighbor in Sturgeon Bay, Pastor Brandon Van Wyk invited Ray to present the work and preach at Peninsula Baptist Church for the morning service.  Their attendance in Door County ever changes in the summer months, and we were excited to find a packed auditorium!  Megan and Joe even gave up their two seats, as the people kept coming in for church.  We are happy to have new friends nearby in the Van Wyk family, and look forward to spending more time with them and their children.   Ray and I were glad as well to spend some time over lunch visiting with our LONG time teacher, Char Rice.  For those who may know her, please pray for some serious health needs.  Though you know nothing seems to slow her down, as she continues to minister to families in her farm home in Sister Bay.

      We headed home for a short afternoon rest, and then skipped down to Kaukauna where Ray presented and preached in the evening service.  Pastor Mark Cline and his wife Diana  are good friends, and we've been to Calvary Baptist so frequently in the past year, it feels a little like home.   God led us to a contact in a young man who was visiting and lives in Kewaunee County!  Pray that we can connect with him again perhaps this week.  

      Though the churches have been different this summer, and we drive in all different directions, there is a familiarity to each one.  Our God is everywhere the same!  It amazes me every week, that in Christ so many people we've never met before, can so quickly feel like family.

Tomah Travels

      We've had a very blessed and busy week, beginning with last Thursday night.   Last week we welcomed our first couple from the area to Bible study!   They are a sweet Christian couple, who have been looking for a Bible study to attend, and sound like they may continue coming out.  We're praying to see them again tonight. 

      Ray has been preparing for our big week of canvassing and renovation work with Bay City beginning the 15th.  We've received our door hangers, John Romans, and hymn books!  Adam Surber did a second weekend of beautiful work painting in the building (pictures to come in the next update.)  As well, we have had some positive activity regarding the sale of our house.

      Saturday the family packed up again, heading three hours west to present the Kewaunee ministry to Tomah Baptist Church.  The church's slogan is "The friendly church that cares for you," and we certainly felt welcomed by their people.  After spending the night in the home of a wonderful couple, Andy presented in the morning service and preached in the afternoon.  Our kids were happily surprised to find out we would be there for the church picinic!  Megan and Daddy were finalists in the egg toss, Joe got to play kickball, and Makayla made a new friend on the swings. 

     As a mom, I am so thankful to my God  that the kids are adjusting to the unfamiliar surroundings so well.  Joe is the one I was most nervous about when we started missing services at Bay City to travel.  This week sitting in one of the rooms in Tomah, he asked me, "Mom, do you know what's so hard about coming to all these new churches?"  My mind quickly prepared to address his building fears.  Then he surprised me.  "We make all these new friends, and then we don't get to see them again for like, two years."  What have I been worried about?  God is giving them grace to stretch their little personalities, and our family is really enjoying this time together.