One Year Old!

         God has blessed His church in Kewaunee in so many ways this past year. We've seen souls saved! Three young men were led to Christ at Troutfest, from which one family is currently involved in weekly discipleship; and two young children within our church family accepted salvation. God has brought four people to obedience in believer's baptism, resulting in two joyful meetings at the shore of Lake Michigan. What a testimony to the community through those services.

        Our past posts have hi-lighted the events of the year, and we are amazed and humbled to watch God use us to bring together His church in this area. One of the more notable events of the year was our move to a bigger building this September. We had been squeezing into the nursery and classrooms, as well as stepping on toes to walk around our auditorium for a number of weeks, before the membership voted to rent a larger building and move up the street. We are overwhelmed with the steady rise in attendance this summer, and now average fourty-five on a Sunday morning. Our new building meets our needs perfectly, with larger classrooms, a larger auditorium, ample parking, and expanded restroom facilities. We were also able to build storage closets and a much needed mother's room. We did not expect to grow out of our first building so soon, and the renovations seemed a bit like deja vu. However, Ray noted an exciting difference, in that last year the work was done by the people in our mother church at Bay City Baptist, this new building was prepared completely by the people of Lakeshore Baptist Church. Please come visit us sometime at 925 Marquette Dr., Kewaunee, WI, and meet our new church :)

        (Visit our church facebook page for weekly updates and photos)

Summer Excitement

       Before beginning this update, I want to note that Lakeshore Baptist Church has a facebook page which is updated weekly and includes full albums of pictures from these and other events.  Please take a look :)

       Each summer, the city of  Kewaunee hosts a large weekend event we call Troutfest.  The community and tourists enjoy music, food, a parade, fireworks etc.  This year our church was  privileged to add a "free" kids penny carnival to the excitement.  We handed out penny bags with coins, gospel literature, and an invitation to our upcoming VBS program.  What a great time we had as a church body preparing for and working the carnival, knowing we were also doing something that would help the entire community!  We've posted a complete album of pictures from this and all of our events on our church facebook page for those interested. 

       In addition to the Kiddie Carnival, the church worked together to host a Vacation Bible School in July.  We were happy to see all of our church children each of the four days, plus two other families from area churches.  A neighboring business allowed us to use their empty lot to hold our game times, and we had just enough room for Bible lessons, crafts, snacks, and assembly in our Ellis St. building.  We are pleased and encouraged to note that between these two events, we had 100% participation in workers from our church family!

       Later in the summer, and even more exciting, our church held our first baptism service.  A gentleman who had been recently saved before finding our church, and two children - including our own daughter Megan- stepped into the water of Lake Michigan and followed Christ in beliver's baptism.  God has truly blessed our family, our church, and our new city with His working this year.

July

       Summer is up and running here in Kewaunee!  We decided to get Joe and Megan involved in sports here, as a way to get to know people and become part of the community (and the kids love it :)  Megan is playing in the county soccer league with five and six year olds from the city of Kewaunee -- go Vipers!  We've been able to interact on a social level with other parents and her coaches, who are teachers in both the public and parochial schools here.  Megan was very excited to see one of her teammates at church recently, and we learned that the girl's family are born-again believers just up the road!  They attend a church in Green Bay, but have gotten involved in some of our ministries at Lakeshore, and we look forward to another family of Christian friends.  Joseph is back in baseball this season, playing for the Algoma Wolves little league.  This is a special opportunity, as Algoma is a neighboring city in which about half our church attenders are living. God has opened the door for Ray to get to know the coaches and kids by helping with practices and as base coach at the games.  Practices and games keep us busy, but our family can have fun together, and we can meet people and minister all at once.

        In mid-May we began both men's and women's Bible Studies at the church on Sunday nights.  Men and women alternate Sundays, so that we can involve everyone without needing to staff a nursery.  The men are reading the book, The Resolution for Men and have a core of four to six men attending regularly.   The women's study has been very well recieved.  We have twelve to fourteen ladies from the church coming to discuss and study Elizabeth George's book a Woman After God's Own Heart.   Both studies now have attenders from outside the church as well, including our own neighbor.

       Our Sunday morning services continue to grow, filling our pews almost to capacity the past few weeks.  Please pray for wisdom, as we look into short-term answers to our overflowing facility.  We continue to have fellowship potlucks about every six weeks, and were excited to finally have the whole church at our home for the fellowship in June.  It was nice to have a place large enough for the children to run and the adults to visit.  The afternoon brought just about everyone together, and gave us the opportunity to get to know each other in a more casual setting.  Because Ladies Bible Study met that afternoon, our neighbor and her husband joined us for lunch, and realized they have an outside connection with two families in the church.  We hope to be able to spend more time with them before they sell their home and move out of the city.  

       July 14th begins Kewaunee's big annual event Troutfest.   Our church is working together to provide a free children's penny carnival at Troutfest, inlcuding games; inflatables; a dunk tank; snowcones; and popcorn.  Our purposes include serving the community and inviting children to our own Vacation Bible School July 16th -19th.  We are very excited about the level of involvement from our congregation for both of these events.  Please pray that we'll be prepared, and that God will work through us to reach more of the area for Him.     

Spring Update

          It's been a while since we've posted, and so much has happened in the past few months.  Two huge milestones in our life and ministry stand out.  We are excited to report that in March we closed on a house in Kewaunee, and have moved into the community!  God has provided us with a great location in town, and a house that perfectly meets our needs and exceeds our expectations.  The basement came partially finished, speeding up the work for Ray to build his office at home soon.  Our living areas and kitchen have an open layout, allowing us to accomodate many guests at one time for fellowship.  Church families from both Bay City and Lakeshore encouraged and blessed us by coming out to help us get settled.  We are already being well cared for by new friends we've come to care about. 

          On April 1st  Lakeshore Baptist Church celebrated it's charter service, and over the month, fifteen of our attenders were led of God to sign the charter.  Pastor Dave Bender from our sending church Bay City Baptist came out to participate in our charter service, as well as a few church families from Green Bay.  For the month prior to the Chartering Service, Ray taught membership Sunday School classes, detailing the doctrines of the faith to which the church will hold.  We were glad to see Sunday School attendance higher over that month, as people took serious interest in the committment they are making.   We held our first business meeting at the end of April, electing some church officers, and beginning to officially govern ourselves as a united church body.  

          The church has enjoyed various ministries and fellowship this spring in the form of Ladies' Crafters Nights, an Easter Breakfast, a viewing of the movie Courageous, and the renewing of vows for one of our member couples. Our congregation is a sneaky sort, we've discovered, as they turned what we thought was a church potluck into a suprise birthday party for Pastor.  Evidently, we were both kept in the dark for almost a month while they planned.  It was a sweet surprise.   We continue to see new faces, and enjoy getting to know our regulars better every week. 

          The near future sees us holding men's and women's Bible studies on alternating Sunday nights.  Please pray that God works in hearts to attend, share, and grow in this ministry.    The church will also work together to plan and provide a community children's carnival this summer, kicking off our first VBS program.  Pray for the workers and space needed for any expansion in our children's ministries.   We are excited about the place we are as a church, and are setting goals as we move forward.  Though we do not know exactly what the future holds, we know WHO holds our future, and that Lakeshore Baptist Church is HIS church.  He will be faithful. 

January

      We've had an exciting and encouraging start to the new year at Lakeshore.  All of our regular attenders came out the first week for our Vision Sunday, and most have continued faithfully every Sunday.  People have begun to enjoy looking forward to seeing each other from week to week, and they stay to talk and fellowship well after services have ended.  This past week we celebrated a birthday at our Fellowship Meal and enjoyed a full room with hardly space to walk around.  What a wonderful problem to have!   

      We've also had a few more firsts this month.  Our first missionary speaker Larry Pieri joined us for a mid-week service, and his daugher Faith spoke to our children's group. As well, our Lakeshore Ladies met for our first Crafter's Night Out, enjoying a devotion and demonstration from Cherie Curtis.  What is most exciting is to see the commitment and involvement in the church from our local attenders.  We are truly becoming a body of believers.

Happy Holidays

     The holidays always seem to fly by.  We were so busy enjoying ours, that I neglected our December posting -- my apologies.  Our family celebrated the season this year with three children's programs, two school parties, AWANA parties, and multiple family get-togethers.  Then we wrapped it all up with a wonderful Christmas morning service with our new family at Lakeshore Baptist. 

     We are so thankful this year for all of God's blessing, and can't believe all that has happened since last Christmas!  Our own family is healthy and growing up too quickly.  Joseph is seven, Megan is five, Makayla is three, and Titus just turned one.  Ray's parents are a supportive and active part of the church in Kewaunee, and Tiffany's parents have taken us into their home since our house sold in October.  The kids love living with Grandma and Grandpa and the arrangement has been a blessing.  Nonetheless . . . we continue to pray for God to provide a house  in Kewaunee, as we wait for our offer to be accepted. 

     It is such a unique opportunity right now, to be a part of two church families.  Our new congregation at Lakeshore has been growing in numbers, but also in becoming a close family of believers.  As well, we have been able to participate in many activities and services at Bay City while we live in town.  We praise the LORD for His salvation and provision this year and every year!