Dear Praying Friends and Family,

Thank you, thank you, thank you - and all glory to our Great God - for your phone calls and emails exhorting and assuring us of your intercessions as Metro Baptist Church was birthed on this day, as it had always been in the vision of the Lord from all eternity past. We are privileged to give an eyewitness account of events that unfolded around us as the Lord Himself built His church in this “highly resistant” corner (PFY! assessment of the Barbas) of His creation, in answer to your labors in deeds and on your knees.

You prayed for:

1. Grace/Strength for PFY! Call Backs – all 1531 residents on the YES list called, with supernatural strength/joy and clarity of mind for each tailored conversation in spite of physical exhaustion (56 households said they WILL attend the Grand Opening; 169 said MAYBE; 84 said they would visit in the FUTURE. That totals to 309 households whose hearts the Lord has opened for us to follow up through home visits.)

2. Our personal health and spiritual wellbeing – the Lord both gave sleep and multiplied rest for His beloveds, strengthening us with His joy EVERY waking hour. (In reading through Exodus, we were greatly cheered by the thought that Moses too had to construct a completely portable place for God’s people to assemble – though MBC is puny in comparison!)

3. Good Weather – the Lord gave the picture-perfect weekend for which San Diego is famed (you must come see for yourself!)

4. Traveling safety for all helping teams – the Lord brought the helping teams from the various SoCal churches to us for a sweet time of serving together; what unity and multiplied joy – a taste of Heaven! (We only neglected to ask prayer for the HEALTH of the teams – Camp Ironwood crew had to stay home as they all came down with the flu!)

5. All preparations completed in God’s will – on Saturday with the chariots and able horsemen the Lord sent from Victory BC as well as a sweet missionary couple (to Rwanda) who contacted us to volunteer their help, we were able to finish all preparations for the Grand Opening and get a good night’s rest.

And today on behalf of MBC you prayed for God’s protection and the filling of His Spirit, and this is what the Lord did:

1. The facilities looked beautiful – God gave wisdom to all our helping friends for every detail; flowers before the pulpit was supplied by Dr. Bierman and our beloved GFA family; the piano was adorned by a flower arrangement from Dr. John Vaughn and our beloved FBFI friends; on our display table was a sweet bouquet that a dear lady from Victory BC received from her husband for Valentine’s Day and wanted to share it with God’s assembly.

2. 97 people assembled at Barnard Elementary for worship – 35 were our helping friends (including their children); 59(!!!) were local visitors, most of whom were invited via PFY!, then radio ad. Several WALKED to church.

3. When we sang the hymns, we sounded like a family that has long sung together. So much so, that Brother Dave (Barba) had us all sing a capella for a stanza. It was stirring as the visitors sang to the Lord with their faces lit up with joy.

4. The Lord had laid a burden on Tim’s heart to take up an offering for Operation Renewed Hope for the current work in Haiti while asked our guests not to give toward MBC, except if the Lord would have them to give. And they gave most cheerfully – to both.

5. Pastor Rob Troutman (of Victory Baptist Church, California City) read the Scriptures; Brother Dave sang a medley of “How Can It Be/This Love Is Mine”; Pastor Eric True (of Grace Bible Church, Menifee) prayed for the offering; Eileen sang the song the Lord gave that lists all His names and titles just before Tim preached “The Demonstration of God’s Love” from Romans 5:8 . As God’s Word was preached, everyone sat fully attentive and when Tim described the work of Christ on the Cross, a lady visitor audibly gasped. Though no one raised their hand or came forward during the invitation, our unsaved lady janitor voluntarily joined us for the whole service, and even filled out a visitor’s card. (In fact, 27 cards were submitted by our local guests – that is almost EVERY household that came!)

6. We were able to personally greet every local visitor as they left – many with tears in their eyes and a promise to return. Each guest received the gift bag (containing a bookmark from MBC and a CD from the Herbster Evangelistic Team) for their 1^st time visit, a Grand Opening souvenir mug with the MBC logo and “Hereby perceive we the love of God because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3: 16a) on it to remind them of the message preached, and each lady visitor received a long stemmed red rose for Valentine’s Day.

7. We met an elderly gentleman whom Heaven may reveal to be the one to whom the Lord harkened and called us to Point Loma of San Diego. He had been praying for YEARS for there to be a church like ours in his neighborhood and has been inviting all his neighbors ever since he received our call and mailings. One lady neighbor actually came, and with great joy she said they will now go tell everyone else that they MUST come!

8. From the moment of their arrival to the time of their departure, all the local visitors spoke/interacted with one another as if they were a family already… It was a miracle to watch!

9. The local visitors told us (in person or on their registration card): “your mailings were so excellent that I just had to come and see”; “I was praying for a church when you called”; “I heard your ad on the radio and just had to come” (she drove more than 30 minutes); “we drove in from Anaheim (1.5 hours away) because our grandpa lives here and he needs a good church”, “you are an answer to prayer”, “now this is the kind of church I remember from my childhood” (and this visitor was about our age!), “please plan to stay an hour” (from a man who found out that we would be following up with a home visit.)

We could go on and on… but your eyes must be getting tired from the reading. Thank you for your love, labors and faithful prayers on our behalf and on the behalf of the MBC family. How blessed we are to serve our Precious Lord with friends like you!

With our love, and thanksgiving to Him,

Tim Eileen

Tim and Eileen Sneeden
Metro Baptist Church in San Diego, California
A New Independent Bible-Centered Church in Point Loma

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 )