Exciting Development!

Got some exciting stuff happening this week! Your prayers are very much appreciated.

If you cold just focus with me on one thing this week, that would be awesome. We have been looking for a new and permanent facility for Freedom Valley for a couple months now. I think we may have found one that is a good fit. There is a 7000 square foot facility at 60th St between Garnett and 129th that was a former church facility, so it's almost move-in ready. The rent is actually less than what we pay at the movie theater, although with utility costs we may pay slightly more than what the theater costs us. Anyway, I could go on all day about details. The bottom line is that I'm asking God to give us favor in making this deal. After a good amount of prayer and discussion, everyone on our lead team feels good about this place. I'm asking God to help us make this deal this week and be able to move in sometime mid to late summer. Even if everything goes great, we will need to raise some significant money to outfit this building to function well (chairs, storage cabinets, tables, refrigerator for kitchen, sound treatment for some walls, paint, etc). God owns it all, so join me in asking Him to allow us to manage a little more of it.

Thanks for your prayers!

Wing Night Tonight (not just the guys)

We're going to invade Buffalo Wild Wings (Tulsa Hills) tonight at 7pm to celebrate our friends Jake and Shawna Lewis. They are moving to New York City tomorrow and I want to show them how much I love and appreciate them tonight. Hope you can join me. Here are some of the details:

Time: 7pm
Location: Buffalo Wild Wings (Tulsa Hills)
Who's invited: You and your family (not just guys)

Come hungry. I'm buying for the Lewis', but you're on your own :) Hope to see you there.

Here's what I'm thinking this week . . .

Thanks for your continued prayers! This past week was a good one. I'm getting used to the new schedule with the second job. I'm pretty tired, but getting used to it. We also had a good weekend with a solid crew volunteering at McAuliffe Elem on Friday and Sunday at church with 99 people for Friends Day!

Some areas to pray about with me this week:

• Schedule - I'm still getting used to this new schedule. It's really helping me overall, but I'm very tired right now and I could use your prayers for energy and focus through this transition period.
• Tuesday Night Planning - I am meeting with a few people on Tuesday night to nail down our Sunday morning teaching plans for the summer. Can you pray with me that we will be guided by the Holy Spirit as we make those plans.
• Building Search - We are continuing our search for a new church location. There are a couple possibilities that we hope to take a look at this week. I want to be aggressive and patient at the same time. I'm believing that God will show us the right one and give us a ton of favor with the pricing and terms.
• New opportunities to serve - I'm asking God to give us the perfect opportunities to serve the people of Tulsa this Summer. There are a thousand things we could do. I'm looking for the ones we should do.

Thanks for your prayers!

great opportunities to serve people this weekend!

Just want to make sure you're aware of a couple great opportunities available through Freedom Valley this weekend:

Friday, May 20: Student Carnival @ McAuliffe Elementary (Garnett & 67th): Here's the info on that.

If you have kids or need a tshirt: Meet at the Fitch's/ Church Office at 5:30pm.

If you don't have kids and have a tshirt: You can go to the school at 5:45

We will be reporting to the PTA, so if you get there first, find a PTA member, they are expecting us. The carnival runs from 6-8pm. Although childcare will end, if anyone is available to stay around and help clean up, I know that would be a great service to the school as well, so please plan on that as well. Direct questions to Josh Ploch josh.ploch@gmail.com

Friday, May 22 Friends Day at church:

As we did last time, we created a Facebook event where you can rsvp and post what you are bringing. Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=191762327537072

I'll be serving at both and I hope to see you and some of your friends and family there!

this week in my life

This is my first full week of work at St. Francis Hospital. I started last Thursday, but this is the week I get a feel for what the schedule is really like. Some areas I am praying about and would love you to join me:

• Schedule - I am a little anxious to see how this new schedule works. Specifically, I'm asking God to help me still lead and serve our church well and not take from my family in the process.
• Friends Day Sunday - Sunday is friends Day at Freedom Valley. I'm believing that our congregation will respond to this day in a huge way and we'll see a new record attendance this Sunday.
• Finances - this past week was one of our church's strongest financial weeks ever. I'm believing that trend keeps on going!
• Location - we are currently searching for a new church location. The bottom line is that we pay way too much for what we are getting at the movie theater. We're looking in two arenas right now: (1) a permanent building that costs the same as what we're paying now for the theater - or - (2) another portable facility that is significantly less money in which case we could rent some permanent office and meeting space.

Thanks for all your prayers. I would love to pray for you too.

prayers this week

Some areas where prayers would be appreciated this week:

• Church momentum - our church is experiencing pretty good momentum. It feels like we have people moving away regularly, but our attendance is creeping upward. We had 92 people in church yesterday. This is great. I'm asking God for a bigger shot of momentum this Spring and even through the Summer.
• Church facilities - we are actively looking for a new meeting place for the church. The movie theater is great and we will stay in it as long as we need to, but we're believing we can get into something less expensive or something permanent - maybe both! Just praying for wisdom and huge favor as we look and negotiate leasing terms.
• Scheduling - I'm going in for some orientation at the hospital this week and begin working there full-time on Thursday. I am looking for the best schedule as I continue leading the church in a positive direction and stay very well connected to my family.
• Financial blessings - I'm have not stopped believing for our church income to reach the $3000/week level and for outside gifts of $10K, $25K and $50K to come in this year. Those would all be very large increases, but I believe God is into doing large increases!

Thanks for your prayers. How can I pray for you this week?

what I'm praying about this week

I want to thank all of you so much for your prayers and friendship. I've worked through some of the biggest transitions ever in the last few months and it has felt pretty smooth. I think that's because of your prayers!

Also, I wanted all of you to know that I took a job at St. Francis Hospital as a Nurse Tech in the Radiology department. I should be starting sometime next week.

Some areas to focus with me in prayer this week:

• church health – Although I'm thankful for the job at St. Francis, it pays much less than what we need to make and to work in the hospital is not my end goal. I am asking God to make it possible for me to return to full-time work with the church as soon as possible. That is going to mean our church gets more and more healthy and grows numerically and financially.

• family health – I'm about to take on a full-time job in addition to leading the church. I want to do everything I work on with great excellence, especially my time with my family. I am determined to love my family better than ever before as my schedule changes somewhat.

• wisdom in time management – to do the one above, I'll need to be better than ever at managing the time God has given me to use.

Thanks again for all your prayers. Please let me know if I can pray for you at all this week.