"The Garden"

How big is your faith?
Is it BIG enough to partner with God to build an ARK?
Do you believe that God's economy has no recession?
What about ... the Greater the need for God to show up the Greater the Miracle?

These are all words meant to encourage me as I stick my neck out in faith to share... a hope, and a vision.

Many of you know that I have had on my heart for a looooong time the desire to open a cafe as a means to reach the community.  It seems that that time has come to step out in boldness.  As most steps of faith it seems a bit crazy and almost premature.  But in this land where pessimism and doubt are around every corner...a miracle has occurred. People who I am in relationship with have come forward with encouragement, optimism, and desire to help in this venture of HOPE.

STRANGE....POSITIVELY ...STRANGE...

Why "The Garden"?
The name of the church in Nowy Targ is "Tree of Life". We have felt from the very beginning that we needed to be a place where the fruit of God's character grows...like fruit on a tree. As each individual bears the good fruit of the Kingdom it will product a sweet fragrance that will attract others.  A big part of that fruitfulness is service...meeting the needs of others.  Although the actual number of individuals in the church is small, we have been serving children, families, women and youth more and more. We need a place...a GARDEN for our TREE to be planted. Not a place to have church meetings but a place for the CHURCH TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY.

So, here it goes...

I'm asking you to join with us in prayer for the acquisition of a building in Nowy Targ for the purpose of reaching the community with HOPE.

In this unfriendly and sometimes hostile environment toward evangelicals it is difficult to win the right to be heard…or even exist. The small group of young, faithful, believers that I serve have eagerly joined me with a BIG vision to reach our community with hope. We have a desire to create a center of HOPE where the church will serve the community. There are 4 aspects to this center

1.       Café: Starbuck’s style. To provide legal work & a workplace that respects its workers & the workers work as onto the Lord

2.       After school program for latchkey kids: Most Polish families both parents work long hours & the kids are left on their own as fewer & fewer parents can leave their kids with grandparents. These programs will include:

a.       Study Skills & tutoring help

b.      Sports, crafts & games

c.       Self discovery for the purpose of deciding what to study at university

d.      Community service projects

3.       Workshops & seminars to serve the needs of the community:

a.       Parenting support

b.      Teacher training

c.       Youth programs

d.      Etc.

4.       A place for the church to meet that is public but safe from being evicted.

We have found a building that we are believing for. It is vacant & in a great location for what we would want to do. There is a “strip” park down one side of the building: 2 playgrounds for small children, a basketball court & a skate park.  There are 11 blocks of apartments that are on either side of the building & a technical high school across the street. The estimated cost of the basement, plus 2 floor building, and grounds is $250,000 plus remodel .

If you have any questions, suggestions and even more importantly words of encouragement from the Lord I would love to hear it.