08/20/2019
It has been a long time since we have communicated with those whom God used to send us out here to Utah. I suppose it is much like what happens for farmers all around this world in that one day in Spring you placed a seed into the ground and you hope it is going to do something, but there are no guarantees.
Well, it is August 2019 and we have been here for 8 years and one month. God has done some wonderful things and I do not think that He is done with us yet. Let me start with church and then hit family items.
When we came out here, my primary role was to help us move from one campus in West Jordan, to three campuses throughout the west and south of Salt Lake Valley. God graciously allowed us to accomplish that goal. However, we found out an assumption we made was incorrect. We had assumed that because of the LDS ward system here in Utah that people would not be friendly toward driving to church. We actually found out that Sundays are the best days to drive in Utah for that very reason.
God directed us through some challenges to move from three campuses to three services at one campus. This has made things tight, but our church has continued to grow. This growth has pressed us to build out our current facility.
So, it appears that our new building will be completed in December/January and our current building will be retrofitted in the February/March time frame. It has been a great process and will offer us much more room for growth and ministry. We purchased the lot beside us for parking and are converting our current building from 8800 square feet to nearly 30,000 square feet. This will enable our growing youth ministry, children's ministry, and counseling ministry to have the space they need to continue to grow.
God has blessed us with an excellent general contractor to help us with this build. He has helped us to value engineer the building and has saved us a considerable amount of money compared to building a new one in a different location or retrofitting a different building. The town has even named the street after the church (Lifeline Lane).
Over the past 8 years we have added several staff, discipleship groups, a podcast and radio shows, a preschool, counseling center and have continued our efforts to our friends and neighbors hear and experience the Gospel. It has been an awesome thing to see God working. I am thankful that God has worked in your hearts to be a part of His work here in Utah.
For the past four years I have been the Pastor of Worship and Media. I oversee the services, worship ministry, media on the radio and web, help out with our counseling ministry as well as normal pastoral shepherding duties. Actually, we have an app for our church on Google Play and the Apple Store which you can download to get all of our media. Just type Lifeline Community in the search. It even has a slick "Bible In A Year" reading plan.
On the family front, there have been many adjustments and transitions over the past 8 years. All of our kids now drive and have purchased their own vehicles. It looks like I operate a used car dealership out of our home. They have efforted to be hard workers in whatever they aim to do and we are thankful.
Daniel is about 75% of his way through his training to be a commercial pilot. Please pray that scheduling will open up for him to take his next 4 FAA tests so that he can get instructing other cadets and earning more hours.
Nathan is in line to be a manager at In-N-Out Burger. Actually all three of our boys work there. It is a fantastic company that rewards hard work and has been a positive work experience. As he moves up in the company he will have opportunities for education as well.
Austin is a senior in High School and is taking some college classes online. He is praying and figuring out what his next step is. He serves faithfully with me in the worship ministry.
Rachel is working full time from home on our business. It still amazes us how many people we have been able to meet and serve outside of our church by helping people with their health. We are so thankful for this opportunity and thank God for all that He is doing in that.
Unfortunately, our most obedient child, Adidas is no longer with us. His health was failing back in May and we knew it was time for him. Thanks for all of your support. We are so thankful that God gave us his companionship for so many years.
Thank you for your prayers and support over the years. Right now those seeds have grown into something you couldn't even imagine. I don't mean our facility, but the community that has grown and reproduced over these years. In fact, we have had two people come to Christ just in the past few weeks.
May God bless all of you as you seek and obey His voice!
Brad, Rachel, Daniel, Nathaniel, and Austin
P.S. Some may wonder if there are any needs as we grow. There are some needs. If God has led you to inquire, please just send me an email and we can arrange a time to talk. [email protected]
