Tuesday, October 23, 2012

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.