Dear PFY! Saints!

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus and Great God who is able give to ALLgrace that we may abound to ALL good works!

Long time no email update! So many of you have prayed and/or emailed, and we have been blessed beyond measure these weeks. We know you are eager to know what happened at the "Meet the Pastor" service yesterday, and we are eager to tell and to beg for your continued intercession through this incredible time.

So much has happened - how do we tell it all? Perhaps the best way is to summarize by chronological log so you'll know how God has answered your many prayers for us and we can press on to greater works from the Lord!

Most of January was filled with designing/mailing the volley of literatures to the 1500+ souls, fielding phone calls from contacts, Eileen getting sick during her parents' visit, and designing/planning signage, equipment, nursery supplies for the church... starting a church involves so many details! Then in between it all, as the radio commercials donated by a dear brother in a supporting church aired and inquiries began coming in by phone & email, the pace quickened even more for the SD Home Team:

1/28 - Barbas drove their RV back from Arizona
1/29 - first meeting of MBC board of directors
1/30 - Claudia flew back to SC to tend to her gravely ailing mother, Mrs. Holmes
1/31 - from the beloved Faith Community Bible Church of El Cajon the Lord provided a pianist (Dave Cantor) to play in Claudia's absence, Brother Tobiah volunteered to help us call back 100 names, and several ladies volunteered to help in the nursery
2/4 - ordered items all arrived, filling our home with boxes
2/5 - Faith BC of Folsom drove down to help us and began mass production of visitor's packets & gifts and tested/assembled church equipment, from computer troubleshooting to commercial paper cutter to sermon recorder to coffee maker to nursery gates, etc. (Upon their arrival we were running on fumes - though supernatural grace-endued fumes - but then the Lord sent us blessed chariots, with very able horsemen, from FBC Folsom!) Lodging was graciously provided by Pastor Sherwood of Jericho Road Baptist Church of La Mesa.
2/6 - on this rainy and dreary day FBC Folsom finished visitor's items, passed out 1000 door-hangers (after the Lord answered our prayer at lunchtime and gave a window of sunshine in mid-afternoon), assembled Sunday bulletins, began PFY! Call Backs, and fed us dinner! Brother Dave discovered a leak in the roof of their RV and with the Lord help managed to locate and caulk the hole in the rain and in the dark.
2/7 - "Meet the Pastor" Sunday filled with miracles and answered prayers:

1. the forecast was another dreary rainy day, but the Lord gave us beautiful sunshine.
2. we arrived at our meeting place to find a very apologetic janitor (a kind but unsaved lady); the school's centralized security system was locked down and would not allow her Sunday access - multiple attemps to reach those with authorization have failed. We all had great peace and rejoiced at the opportunity to be a blessing to this lady. We prayed for someone to call back. Minutes later, the call came - the county office finally reached the 4th person they tried, a former supervisor of the lady janitor from 3 summers ago who has known her for 15 years and vouched for her trustworthiness, and the county central office over-rode the system. Our lady janitor told us, "Prayer worked."
3. despite this 30 minute delay, everything set up in time with the coffee brewed, nursery set up, sound/video in place, music practiced.
4. after faithfully serving by her church planting husband's side for so many years Mrs. Holmes went home to be with the Lord on His Day, just minutes before MBC service began.
5. we had expected 2-3 visitors who had told us they were coming to this special service that was not advertised but they did not show up; we and our FBC Folsom friends were joined by one of their sister/brother-in-law, and Jim & Becky Senn. Dave (Barba) led the singing, Pastor Ron Perry (FBC Folsom) opened in prayer, Eileen sang the special "The Stranger of Galilee", and Tim preached on "the Light of the World - Jesus." As there were no strangers present (we were all "first time visitors"!), Dave called for a time of testimony which was a great blessing to all - we had a sweet time worshipping the Lord together and praying for Claudia & family.
6. after the service there was ample time to tear down, clean up, pack up, take pictures, and say goodbye to our dear friends from Folsom. It was the most peaceful and blessed first service of MBC we could have had!

Having now begun the PFY! Call Backs, we are learning that it is even more physically gruelling than the initial contact calls - now we are having actual conversations with precious souls and watching the YES list dwindle at a rate that would alarm us if we did not rest in the goodness of our Lord. We will need tomake the bulk of these calls without the Barbas - Brother Dave is flying out in the morning to join Claudia for Mrs. Holmes' funeral on Thursday, and they will return together late Friday night.

So how many people do we expect for the Valentine Grand Opening? ...We don't know! But we know it will be great! We are just looking to the Lord to continue to enable us to do His will as He answers all our prayers!

We will try to send out another report when we are done with all the PFY! Call Backs... sometime later this week - how we covet your prayers for strength and grace!

Funniest Call Back Quote (from a Catholic lady who asked to be removed from our list): "I will pray to St. Jude for you - the patron saint of hopeless causes." (Oh, if she only knew Him who is our Hope of Glory!!!)

So thankful for your love and prayers, and so happy to keep makin' phone calls for the King!!!

Tim & Eileen

Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15:5 )