Some of you have been asking about the church plant Page and I are doing in mid-city. We wanted to give you some pictures of what a church plant looks like at the very beginning stages. Page and I, and a few other prayer warriors, have been praying for over a year and a half (before Page left for Iraq) about planting a church in the mid-city section of New Orleans. This area was populated with over 40,000 people before Katrina, but is now down to 27,000 people of a number of different nationalities. The top three races are white, black, and hispanic. This area has few evangelical churches and no evangelical multi-ethnic and multi-racial churches. As I have mentioned before, the Lord has placed this area of town on our hearts and has led us to have a heart of seeing worship here on this earth as it will be in heaven (every nation, tribe, and tongue worshiping together as one body).
When I began looking for a home, we strategically looked in the mid-city area. I cannot go into all the details here, but God worked a number of miracles when He brought us to the home we are living in now. We see this house as ministry tool of the Lord that truly blesses us as well. I literally wake up every morning and thank the Lord for my home. We love our home and the area we live in very much.
We have now met as Mosaic church 3 times. Each time we have come together for a meal, worship, and communion. God has blessed us with a very talented black man to lead us in worship. He and his Haitian wife have already been blessing to both Page and I during this process. They have a very sweet spirit and a desire to see lives changed in this area. We are in the process of working out another gifted black man to be on our leadership team. He and his wife are also very precious and have hearts for our community. Our services so far have included people who are Haitian, Nigerian, Cajun, Black, White, Chinese, and of Mixed Race. I mention all the races to let you know what God is doing across racial lines.
We know that because racism is a problem that is all the way down in the roots of this city and a stronghold satan would like to keep this city bound with, this type of work is only going to be done through the power of the Almighty God. We are praying even now that we would be able to stand firm against the attacks that satan will begin to launch. We are posting all this information on our blog so that you will begin to pray for this work that ONLY GOD CAN DO. We cannot do this alone and we need your prayers. Thank you so much in advance for bringing our family before our Father in prayer. Thank you for praying for our friends and neighbors that they would be drawn to what God is doing. Thank you for praying that this precious core group that God is building would be strong and courageous.
Page took pictures from 3 different angles to get everyone in the pictures. I (Ashley) am in the kitchen cleaning up a little before our service began. For those of you who are wondering, our house is a double shotgun house. The living room is up front. The hallway you see leads to the dining room and kitchen. The white doors you see off the living room and hallway are the bedrooms.
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