UPDATE 33 - 11 WEEKS: Planning to Pray
Hey all!
As I map out the remaining weeks before we move into the new building, the first thing on my mind has been prayer. “Apart from me, you can do nothing,” Jesus said in John 15. Without his Spirit, our plans will bear no lasting fruit. Let’s ask him for big things as we move to this new building.
To that end, I wanted to let you know about a few ways we are going to be praying in the month ahead:
We will be having a prayer walk at 2531 E Lehigh Ave after our 4pm Sunday service on July 26. Bring your kids! Our staff will be planning and communicating details on this while I’m out of town (e.g., will there be food?). But plan to come, walk, and pray.
Starting on Wednesday, August 5, we will be launching a season of forty days of fasting and prayer in preparation for moving into the new building. These forty days will take us right up to our first Sunday in the space on September 13. My hope is that we can have at least one person in our congregation fasting for each of those forty days. If you want to sign up to fast, you can do so here.
We will have another prayer walk at 2531 E Lehigh Ave after our 4pm Sunday service on August 23.
If you’re available on Tuesday mornings, our staff also meets to pray at the future building on Tuesday mornings from 10-11am. (We won’t be there on July 7, but should be there the following Tuesdays).
What can you pray for? Here are a few things.
Pray that 26 new people are involved in the life of our church before the end of 2026. By “involved,” I mean that they have walked through our doors at least three times.
Pray that our general contractor would complete the work according to our new timeline, and we wouldn’t have to have any further delays. Also pray for the safety of the workers there. The two guys who are on site the most coordinating with the subcontractors are named Dan and Seth. Pray God’s blessing on them (they’re great). Clint (Beau’s twin brother) is overseeing our network and sound system; you could pray for him by name too.
Pray for Justin Matulewicz as he coordinates bringing the salvaged maple floor from the building to be installed in the coming weeks. This effort will save Liberti tens of thousands of dollars, but it will be a good bit of work for Justin. (If you want to help him with this, email him at justin.matulewicz@gmail.com. And tell him thank you for all he has done).
Pray for our staff team as we iron out plans and communicate with our volunteers on how operations will work in this new space. It will be a lot to plan and communicate. Can you pray that our hearts would be encouraged in the work, and that God would give us joy and unity as a team?
Pray that God would bless and encourage you as we prepare to move to this new space. Are you anxious or discouraged as the realities of this move are setting in? Bring that to God. Let his Spirit comfort and encourage you.
Carol Davis (carolclair219@gmail.com) could also share prayer requests if you are looking for other ways to pray.
Thank you for praying! I will be out of town on vacation for a good bit of July, but I have drafted another blog post to come next week. If you have any more prayer bandwidth, pray I get some refreshment in the Lord during my time away!
-Stephen Wood