Dear Friends and Family!
As you may know, every summer Neil travels to England with Scott Cunningham to participate in Creation Fest (www.creationfest.org.uk): a free Christian music/teaching festival held in the southwestern coastal area of Cornwall. This year marks Creation Fest’s 10th anniversary! Neil will be playing drums with Scott each day of the festival and possibly Evan Wickham as well as participating in road shows and a worship conference in the days leading up to Creation Fest. Although the trip is taxing physically, every year we rejoice at the stories we hear of people being set free from sin through the love of Jesus and witness the unity of the churches that participate in this multi-denominational event.
As exciting as this is, another amazing opportunity has come about for the band immediately following the festival … in Israel! A ministry called The Joshua Fund has organized a retreat called Walk on Water specifically for youth ages 15-22. This description from one of its organizers: “We’re humbled that the Lord has allowed us this unique and significant opportunity to impact and influence the next generation of Jewish and Arab Israeli believers through this time of pure ministry—three days of encouraging them with solid and sound expository Bible teaching and worship.”
After much prayer, it has been decided that the families of each of the band members will be traveling over as well. The band will be away from home for nearly a month … far too long for the kiddos to be separated from their daddies! Luke and I went last year, and although we didn’t see much of Neil during the festival, it was such a blessing for us to be there. We were able to help with some of the kids tent prep work, clean up after the festival was over, and just be a part of daily activities. Neil was far more relaxed as well just knowing we were in the same time zone! Our church, Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, has generously agreed to provide for our lodging in England, but we need to raise support for our airfare and other expenses.
My reason for writing is to ask you to prayerfully consider helping us financially. We were praying last night, laughingly saying that we don’t even have five loaves and two fish for the Lord to multiply for this endeavor:) We know He will provide, though, however He chooses! I was telling Luke this morning how God created the world from nothing, so this is not too hard for Him.
Please pray for us and the other band members and their families as well as for Creation Fest and the retreat. The links in blue give information about the events, our worship leader, and our church family. I will be adding pictures and more information to our blog in the days to come. There is also a YouTube video re: the retreat. It’s in Hebrew but you’ll get the gist:) Feel free to email with any questions. Much love to you all through Christ and thank you!
Support information: Make check payable to Calvary Chapel and mail it to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, attention Lindsay Gatlin (3800 S. Fairview, Santa Ana, CA 92704). Include a note specifying our names and Creation Fest 2012. Please do not put any note on the memo portion of the check itself. All donations are tax deductible.
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