September/October 2009

Well, for some reason, the last update I wrote, did not save - sorry to all those who are trying to stay up to date with things here in Atlanta. I will try and give you a quick overview of the past 4 months!

Rhiana is doing really well. She is now enjoying 'High School' full time. She is now at 6 months post-op and has a month full of appointments and tests. She will have another MRI at the end of this month, which will determine how things have turned out with her spine surgery. She is having some pain in her left shoulderblade at the moment and is still very limited in the activities she can do (still nothing other than walking and a bit of bike riding). She is finding creative ways of picking things up (her feet are now her second set of hands!) and she is still unable to carry anything heavy. She has been diagnosed with 'Restrictive Lung Disease' since her surgery. This is due to one of her lungs being compressed by the spine - the curve was around 80 degrees and was pushing on the lung, compressing it. They had hoped that once the curve was corrected, the lung would re-inflate - however this is not the case ..... yet! Please continue to pray for Rhiana - it's still quite a battle for her and yet she remains her very cheerful and optimistic self! Love her!

Jordan is doing very well in Middle School and still loving Math! (something I cannot understand for the life of me!) He is doing really well in his new soccer team - so far they have won all their matches this season. He has continued to enjoy playing both accoustic and electric guitar and has now joined the worship band and plays twice a month - plays and jumps around the stage!!

Trev is still working full-time at REVIVE and loving every minute of it! The store is still growing (actually, it's bursting at the seams!) We have now employed over 20 part-time staff, from both the church and the community. Four of our staff have recently become Christians and two of them have now been baptised!!!!! SO EXCITING! We have recently had two other Newfrontiers churches send people to get training in starting a consignment store in their area and we really look forward to seeing those start and flourish. It really has been such a God-inspired idea in helping Church Planting!

RESTORE (the new initiative with the poor in our community) has already been affecting those around us. We are currently do a 'food run' every Friday, taking hot food and drinks to the homeless in Acworth and Woodstock. Through doing this, we have met a number of great guys (and gals), one of whom is now attending church and on the current ALPHA course!!! He has also just signed up to help on the 'set up' team on Sunday morning and has joined the team on the weekly 'food runs' to serve others in the same situation as himself! We are also serving a single lady who lives near to REVIVE who is very unwell with a brain tumor. She is struggling financially and having to live in a room at a long-stay motel. She cannot get out easily, can't drive and has almost become homeless twice since we got to know her. She has started attending Jubilee and we have someone from the church meeting with her weekly, to take her out shopping/for coffee etc. Please pray especially for a couple we are involved with helping. We got to know them around Christmas last year, after they had been living in their car. They are now coming to church and have both felt that they want to commit their lives to God and make some major changes in their lives. This has not been easy for them - in fact, it has been a HUGE battle. Please pray that God will give them both the strength they need, in getting help and trusting Him to provide for them in that. At times it has felt too much for them and yet they are still pressing forward. Please also pray for wisdom in how we should help them. We are very involved in their lives right now and are really relying on God's leading and sustaining in this very difficult situation.

Well, the sun is out and the floods have pretty much subsided around us - it was a really bad couple of weeks for a lot of neighborhoods around us. For those that hadn't heard, we had major flooding here a couple of week's ago. Many have lost their homes, and belongings. Temporary shelters where put up in various counties, and hundreds of people were evacuated and will now be trying to get their lives back on track as the shelters close. Please pray that we, as a church, will be able to bless many of these families, through REVIVE and RESTORE and that our resources stretch far enough to do so!

Thank you all for your on-going prayers and love and support. We really look forward to being back at Christmas for a couple of weeks and seeing some of you then!

God bless!