Until The Nets Are Full: It's Moving Time!

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

It's been a very exciting month in East Tennessee. We have been working diligently to finish our new Storehouse location. We hosted a fantastic mission team of 25 people from Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC two weeks ago week. First Baptist housed them and Calvary Chapel fed them lunches. Last week, volunteers from First Baptist Church helped us finish most of the remaining construction work. Also, volunteers boxed and loaded all of our current inventory at the Storehouse and helped us relocate all of our shelving. Our Black Road location officially closed Thursday, July 31, and it was a bittersweet day as our ministry wrapped up seven years of faithfully serving the Lord and the community in that location. On Tuesday of this week, I finished putting the shelving back together in the new location, and volunteers have been busy unpacking the last couple of days. We hope to have our final inspection on Monday of next week. We will tentatively have a soft open on Tuesday, August 11, and then follow up with a grand reopening celebration shortly thereafter.

Thank you for your prayers in this process. The Lord has been incredibly gracious with his blessings throughout. There's been an incredible outpouring of support, both locally and from as far away as Texas. So far, we've had over sixty volunteers serve in all sorts of capacities, and together they've logged well thousand volunteer hours in the last 6 weeks alone.

As we come down to the finish, please pray that the Lord would continue to bless the process, and that there would be a warm welcome from the downtown community as we move in to serve the Lord alongside of them.

Though all of the blogs have been about construction, that's wrapping up very rapidly. In just a little over two weeks, we will launch our first Seminary Extension class here in Greeneville, and we are super excited about it. Please be praying that men and women will sign up to participate, and that there will be a strong showing in our first class locally!

Jarod digging up blocked sewer lines.

I'm not a professional plumber, but I think the new sewer clean-outs turned out great!

Oh yes, we love Chic-fil-A and couldn't miss free chicken.

My super-goofy sidekick still loves riding in the big truck to pick things up with daddy.

Little ones from Mount Moriah Baptist Church cleaning the cove base.

Carrie and Andrew from Mount Moriah taking off the green base tiles.

Pastor Michael from Mount Moriah taking a turn digging up sewer lines.

Carrie and Ginnie Beth cutting cutting flooring pieces.

All the boys gathered around the new sewer clean out, testing to see if it works by watching for poop! Boys...

The garage door is framed into a new entrance and window.

The office is getting a serious facelift...new paint, lighting, and flooring.

Shout out to the shop guys at the Greeneville Water Commission who jetted out our blocked sewer lines!

Girls putting the hardware back on the freshly painted cabinet doors.

Gregory and Woody filling in the hole!

Boys assembling the new ceiling fan.

The office is coming together!

Cleaned up and ready for concrete.

Paul is quite talented. He can finish concrete and drink water at the same time.

Hosea got to look inside the concrete truck!

And Lily too!

Chad and Woody finishing up an interior door.

Pegboard wall to hang clothing displays.

Pastor Michael finishing concrete. The man is a jack of all trades!

"He will have compassion on the poor and needy,
And the lives of the needy he will save."

The new front door!

George from First Baptist helping me install the drop-ceiling in the waiting area.

FBC youth painting doors...so many doors.. six in the waiting area alone.

Mike Carter and Jordan Idell hanging siding on the inside after David put up the insulation.

Leigh Ann Blalock laid the floors in the office almost single-handedly

We are farther along than these pictures, I just haven't had a chance to move the latest pictures from the camera to the computer, and I wanted to get you an update.

The next update will have some before and after pics so you can see the transformation.

Things you can be praying for...

1. Pray for the Lord's favor with the building inspector as we go through our final inspection next week.

2. Pray for our ministry's transition not just into a new location, but into a new community with new neighbors and new clients.

3. Pray for our fall seminary extension class starting in a couple of weeks, that the Lord would raise up students who desire to move beyond the basics in their faith.