Friday, November 10, 2006

Phoenix Part 2 and Chicago

Dear Prayer Team,

Well, I honestly don’t know where to start. We’ve had an amazing few weeks since the last prayer bulletin.

We flew back to Phoenix on October 20th to sing at a memorial service at Sun City Christian Church on the 21st and to sing during four services and a Sunday evening concert at Calvary Community Chapel.

Calvary Community Chapel is a church that has a wonderful story. They started in a very small building that didn’t even have a sign, they had to place one on the sidewalk. The pastor was faithful to the small gathering there for many years, but the city told them that they were going to have to stop putting their sign up. He was getting very discouraged and prayed that God would show him if it was time to move on to other things. That very next Sunday six new families began attending services, and from that time forward the church has continued to grow.

They are now meeting in what was the oldest mall in Phoenix. It has been beautifully remodeled and the ministry there has been very fruitful! Praise God for His faithfulness! There were many there who were of immense help to us, chiefly their worship pastor who has an incredible servant’s heart. We didn’t know this until late in the trip that our concert would be broadcast over the web so we were not able to get a bulletin out to those on the prayer team, but our families were alerted to the fact and were able to share the experience with us. The response from the congregation was incredible and we left Phoenix feeling God’s blessing!


RESCUE's evening concert at Calvary Community Chapel in Phoenix, Arizona

On October 29th we went to a church closer to home, New Hope Community in Clackamas, Oregon. We shared our music at their two morning services and were able to spend some time worshiping with the congregation and getting to know some of the music ministers there. RESCUE has enjoyed a wonderful relationship with New Hope through the years and we are very humbled to be able to join with them from time to time.


Morning Services at New Hope Community Church in Clackamas,Oregon

Last Friday, October the 3rd, RESCUE flew to Chicago! We were joined not only by Will Holmer, our sound tech, but also our newest team member Mike Zumstein! Mike, who is one of Steve’s closest friends, is an incredible guy who is able to do many things. We hired him mainly to do road managing for Rescue, but he is also a good photographer and media guy, and a great driver, which will help us in those areas too. Oh, and he’s also a third degree black belt. So, if things get a little unruly at the CD table, we know who to call (just kidding)!

We had a great time in Chicago. We had plenty of time to relax and have some rehearsal time. On Saturday evening we had a very energetic concert at a youth rally where we had an amazing response from the kids! Pastor Jeff Deming and the staff of this Illinois area SDA event treated us very well and made sure that we had everything we could need or want. We hope that Jesus' amazing love was communicated through the music and message that we brought that night and that lives were changed.


Rescue enjoyed singing at a 1st annual youth event for the Illinois Conference Of Seventh-day Adventist Church

On Sunday we sang during the Sunday services at the historic Moody Church! Mike was snapping pictures of that amazing building like you wouldn’t believe! It was a wonderful service and is a highlight of my time in RESCUE thus far. Afterwards, as an amazing cap on a wonderful weekend, we were treated to authentic Chicago pizza!!!!


RESCUE sings in the historic Moody Church in Chicago

We are so thankful for all that God is doing and for the amazing people that He has brought into our lives through this ministry.