When God just begins to "show up" in great ways, it's time to celebrate!God declared for ICF Padova that this is "The Year of the Disciple". The goal is to raise up true and active disciples of Jesus Christ. God's not looking for slackers, but rather faithful workers who have a burning desire to be exactly what they were created to be - born-again, Spirit-filled, ministry-minded disciples.
Working in conjunction with Pastor Tom and Candi Manning of Vienna Christian Center, and all their great staff, we were able to put together a discipleship training plan called "School of Leaders". As part of the school, everyone participates in a 3-day Encounter Retreat. The Retreat is a great starting point for all new participants in the school, as well as new members and converts. Lives are dramatically changed from the inside out as people are healed, strengthened, and encouraged. The last day of the retreat finishes with a great celebration of God's work in our lives. We just had a great second retreat earlier this month. A total of 45 of our people have now attended the retreats, with many more to go for the one coming up in December.
As our people attend the School of Leaders (SOL) they learn the basics of the faith, as well as God's desire for them to be actively involved in ministry. The school is a total of 30 weeks of intense training. It is now our requirement to finish this course before being released into any leadership of ministry in the church. A good base for sure! Currently there are 40 people enrolled and actively studying in the SOL.
We want to give you another bit of great news. Most of you know we have been trying to raise the funds to finish off paying our down-payment loan for our building here. We owed about $48,000. Well, God did another miracle! Many of you responded and helped to bring that payment down. Then, unexpectedly, God did it big time by moving on the heart of someone in a big way. Bottom line is that - the bottom line is now ZERO! The debt has been eliminated! We are free to begin to find more space for our children's ministries! Hallelujah! Thank you, to all of you who contributed to our building in these past eight years! We hope God gives you a really big mansion in the sky!
Patti, along with four great interns and many volunteer workers from our church, is running a five week long Vacation Bible School this summer. There are 54 kids enrolled! We're just walking all over kids everywhere! But it's great hearing them learning about Jesus and learning English. The majority do not even go to our church. So we hope this will have a great impact on the parents as well!
Thank you all, once again, for your precious love and help to the ministry here. We could not do this without you. Please keep praying for us for wisdom and even greater vision. Pray, also, that we will get another building, at least to rent, right next to us. The buildings are empty, but their prices are super-high. We are hoping they will come down.
God bless you and may He fill your hearts with great love for the lost.
Steve & Patti
