Wow! That is the closest word I can find to convey what I am experiencing and feeling right now. As you know, Randy & I are a part of a new church in Mansfield, TX. We have been a part of THE COMMUNITY AT LAKE RIDGE since it launched last summer. In that time we have had various roles and been involved in several different areas of service. The most recent (well, current) is our role in helping to lead the children's area/ministry - KidRidge. If you are interested in how we came into this role, email me sometime. It is way to long to include here! Lol! :) Anyways, we have been helping lead this area since around last October. That was when the most kids we had on one Sunday was maybe 25. Now we have 60+! How does that happen you ask? How is it that in roughly 10 month we have more than doubled? No, we haven't had any new babies born in our church (yet! We are expecting 3 by the end of the year!). We have grown because our church is growing. New families seem to be coming in every week.
Randy & I were getting ready for today yesterday and I was going through some of the old sign in sheets. On a Sunday in November we only had 13 kids! This past Sunday we had 61 and today had 55. Seeing us grow and increase in size that much has been a blessing and very humbling to know God is allowing us to be a part of it. People in the Lake Ridge corridor really seem to be seeking out a church family where they can live in community with other believers and grow in their faith. It is awesome to be a part of what God is doing in this area of the Metroplex. So when you think of Dallas, just say a prayer for our church family. Pray that we would be able to reach those families who are looking for a place to call home. Pray that Randy & I would have the wisdom to lead KidRidge to be what it needs to be for the kids. Pray for the people who TCAL will reach over this next year. Randy & I joke that this time next year we will have 120+ kids. Actually it may not be far from the truth, the way we are going now. I know God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called, so I know that He will see us through whatever lies ahead for our church and us. I am so thankful to be a part of it.
Psalm 22:27 - All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him,... Oh, and we had an end of summer Luau party for our kids today. Silly me forgot to take my camera! Wish I had so you could see all the fun they had. Oh, well. Here are some pictures from back at Christmas time. Yes, we were much smaller then!
