Sunday during worship Alisha was led to go and pray for a young boy in the toddlers who wears hearing aids in both ears. She had all of the toddlers gather around him and pray. Afterward they went and got his mom out of service to come and remove the hearing aids. When the hearing aids were removed Alisha whispered, “Can you hear me?” and the boy replied, “Yes!” Mom was blown away and so was I. Yea God!
Pastor Randy
Last night around 9:30 Lisa got a call from her son stating that her daughter had had a seizure and collapsed. They called 911 and she was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Lisa stated how great LIFE GROUP had been with the message being about spiritual warfare and the question was asked in the lesson, “When you are squeezed, what comes out; fear or faith?” Lisa told her LIFE Group to journal how they were squeezed and how they responded this month. Well last night she was squeezed and she called me with words of faith and asked for agreement.
We prayed declaring the truth not the facts, applying the blood and releasing peace into the situation. Later at 12:57am Lisa sent me a text stating, “Deanna is being discharged all tests negative… PRAISE GOD OUR DADDY!!!”
Pastor Randy
This past Saturday, change and hope were on display in Wylie, TX. “Change” because over four hundred volunteers from eleven different churches of various denominations came together to give to their common community, and “hope” because we all saw many lives touched by the power of selfless love.
Convoy of Hope is a first-responder relief organization run by the Assemblies of God – CoH was first on the ground after Hurricane Katrina – throughout our nation, CoH works with local churches to host what are basically carnivals of giving.
What made this particular event truly remarkable was that there was no way it ever should have happened in the first place – these events have costs, and the costs for the grounds, tents, fencing, food, entertainment, amenities, and all the other things that go into an event like this one hosting thousands of guests can run well over $20,000. The vision for hosting the event began with my pastor, and our church is very small. The costs were well beyond our own means, and beyond that of the churches who joined with us.
But we pressed on with the planning, knowing that this event needed to happen, and knowing that we serve a big God – as we moved closer and closer to the big day, donation after donation began pouring in from individuals and businesses.
Free medical screening. Haircuts. 15,000 hot dogs and buns. Thousands of bottles of water. The city donated a $700/day trash bin. Lighting. Tents. Bounce houses. Nearly everything we needed – free. All told, the event that should have cost tens of thousands came together for only a few.
And what an event it was!
Our church’s worship team kicked off the event at a volunteers rally held on the site the night before – hundreds of people coming together to worship God under a beautiful, starry Texas night. The following morning dawned clear and cool, and the weather was absolutely perfect for the carnival.
Volunteers bagged free groceries unloaded off CoH’s semi. Hot dogs were grilled, music groups from four churches played all day, and kids had a blast playing on the massive bounce houses. And everywhere you looked, there were smiles on faces, and connections being made – face to face, heart to heart.
Over 2400 people came to the event – all of them went home with free groceries, some with new haircuts, some with information about their health, and over 1900 of them were able to sit down with our volunteers who talked and prayed with them personally over their lives and their circumstances.
Without that personal connection, without a real expression of concern, caring and yes, love, change and hope are just words. When people come together to simply show the love of God, Change and Hope can become real in the hearts of those who experience it.
Tomorrow is a big day for the Summit.
We are hosting – along with about 10 other churches – an event called Convoy of Hope. It is a community fair that will offer free hot dogs and drinks, a play zone for the kids, medical screenings, haircuts, groceries, and, most importantly, a chance for us to connect with people in the community and show them that there is someone who cares about them.
Our Convoy of Hope outreach is:
Saturday, October 25, 2008
10 AM to 2 PM
Wylie City Lot – next to Burnett Jr. High
To learn more about the Convoy of Hope organization, visit their website.
Exciting things are afoot at the Summit!
We are completely moved out of our old location in the strip-mall at Park and Los Rios. There are maps in the windows in case anyone is trying to find us, but hopefully everyone was already aware that change was coming.
We have had our first Sunday morning service at our new location on Security Court in Wylie. It wasn’t exactly in the building since we don’t have our Certificate of Occupancy yet, but fortunately the weather was not-too-hot with just a hint of a breeze so the parking lot wasn’t too bad.
We are expecting to have permission to occupy the building before the weekend, so this Sunday’s service should be in an air-conditioned sanctuary with a fantastic new sound system. We’ll try to get the word out ahead of time if something happens and we’re going to be outside again, but that’s not expected.
Once we do have our Certificate of Occupancy, we expect to be very busy setting up the offices, sorting through boxes of stuff moved from the old location, and doing general ‘housekeeping’ as we settle in to our new digs. Anyone who has extra time during the day is welcome to check in and see if any help is needed. Call the church at 972-578-9999 to let us know when you’re available to help out or for any other reason.
God is moving! A few months ago a request came in from a church member to pray for her friend, “M”. Here is an update on how things are going now.
Last year M had surgery to remove blood clots in her lungs. God brought her through that very dangerous surgery with flying colors. But earlier this year she was having trouble breathing and went back in and had another battery of tests.
She found out in June she had Non-Hodgkins Large B-Cell Lymphoma and it was already in Stage 3 (4 being the worst).
She was so scared. We talked for a long time and she accepted Christ. Now I’m praying that someone is there to support her decision (her family are non-believers).
So she started chemo on 6/19 and has had it every 3 weeks since (treatments last for 4-5 days each). I think she only has 1-2 treatments left to do. She got a serious infection but that, too, is going away.
Praise our Lord – He is so good!
The note below is from M’s daughter.Based on the lung scan, my mom is responding to treatment very well. The blood clot which was leaning on her trachea is GONE. There is still some engorged areas on the lymph nodes near the lung, but they are REDUCING. They think she has an infection – possibly in one of her Lovenox injection sites. They did an aspiration of the big lumpy spot, but it was only blood (good sign).
But – they admitted her anyway b/c they want to start her on an IV antibiotic to try and clear any infection before they start the next round of chemo.
Please continue to pray for M and her family in this situation – blood clots and cancer have no place in her body anymore!
At the Summit we’re always trying to find the most efficient way to get important information to members, visitors and others who might be interested.
To that end, we’re starting a blog. This is where we’ll post miracle reports, information about special events, and maybe a few opinion pieces about what’s going on ‘out there’ in the world.
Check back often – you’re likely to find something new next time you visit!