Dear <<First Name>>,

Thank you for praying for Phil and Polly and the new church God is gathering in South Jersey. Here are some prayer requests for the next couple of weeks. Please let us know if you have any thing for which we can join you in asking God's help and grace. Thank you for being our partners in prayer!

1. Spiritual health for Phil and Polly...that we would be praying and meeting with God on a daily basis
2. Kids in school: praise God that the kids have transitioned so well. Still, some of the children are struggling with the adjustment. Thank God that so far it seems like our older kids are making good friends.
3. Time management: ask God to give wisdom for managing our mornings, afternoons, and evenings well. We often feel overwhelmed by all that needs to be done.
4. Upcoming events: November 1 we will host an open house, our first official public event. Pray it will be a gathering of lots of different people interested in our family and in the new church. Pray that our neighbors and non-Christians will also have an interest in coming to our home.
5. Salvation: Please ask God to bring new friends that we are meeting to know the salvation of Christ, and give us courage in sharing the Gospel with them. Specifically, pray for Chris, Jamie, Joan, Marsha, and Kevin, all people we are building friendships with. (The people are real, we changed their names for privacy.)
6. Money: Ask God to allow us to complete the fund raising needed for the new church, to have the courage to ask for help from local churches, and for God to move people to give even without asking.
7. Study Event: Phil will start a study on the relationships of Jesus in November; we are asking God to bring at least five new people to this study.
8. Community Events: In November there will be a community mercy outreach for the new church and a meeting at a coffee shop to discuss a book or a topic of interest. Pray this will be well attended.
9. Vision and planning meetings: Pre-launch services will begin in November with members of the launch team as we gear up for an Easter 2010 first official worship service. Pray God will provide a worship leader.
10. Space: we are seeking space for a prelaunch worship service in November; may God lead us to the right place.

Funny things from the Lord:

• Upon the sudden appearance of a totally white screen, Phil discovered his hard drive had crashed--the first time this has ever happened on a laptop he has owned. It was backed up (good news), but not since February (bad news). He kept his cool (good news) and was able to get a bigger hard drive for free under warranty (even better news). He lost all his playlists in iTunes (bad news) but got to download again the songs he had purchased (good news).
• Phil asked Grace what she dreamed about last night, and she said, "that the furniture in the house was all sinking into the sand, but then angels came and rescued it all."