Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Update....Finally


I know we have really been slacking on our blog so I am going to try, yet again, to commit to sticking with this and actually writing each week!

A few special moments in the lives of the Litter's in Florida....
July 15th, we moved! We literally moved next door to the condo on the end and have wonderful landlords that we are keeping in touch with. It's an updated place and still at a great price....God is continuing to amaze us with the ways He provides for us!

July 25th, the church moved! We have a new location for the church at a movie theater in the same area. We were previously located in a hotel and now have a great space in a renovated movie theater that has made a huge difference. We are also meeting in the mornings at 11am rather than at night now.

August 8-10th, some of our team went on a retreat. We took several of our volunteers to a lake house to spend a few days on leadership training and had an amazing time getting to know one another and allowing God to grow us all in new ways! He is continuing to add to our team.

We have had 8 people come to know Christ since we launched in March and have surpassed our beginning launch attendance numbers. We have had one baptism and more to come very soon. God is bringing new families and individuals into Discover Church and into our lives and we are thankful to be a part of so many lives!

September 7th, Thadd came to stay with us and has moved down here to be a part of Discover Church! We are excited to have him living with us until he can get a job and place of his own and even more excited to have him helping with the church plant! God is doing great things with the people here and we are so thankful to be a part of the journey!


That's enough for now I'm sure and I hope to be more consistent with our blog :) We are so thankful for everyone who supports us and prays for us and the church. We could not be doing this with you!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Exponential Conference 2010

We just got back from a great conference held in Orlando and we are excited about all that we've learned this week and the time we were able to have away! Tuesday through Thursday 5 of us went to the church planter's Exponential Conference. We were able to hear some great speakers, such as Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Sarah Hatfield, Efrem Smith, Ed Stetzer, and many many more. There were main sessions when we all came together and workshops for specific topics of interest. There's so much that goes in to church planting that we learned about! For those of you at FWC-Chillicothe, you may remember the Cox family from Swaziland. Benj and I ran into them at this conference and they have started their own church plant in PA as well! What a small world for us to run into them there!

Here are a few pictures from our time there....


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Discover Church.....


It's hard to believe that Benj and I have been here almost a year! We are having so much fun and learning so much about starting a new church. Some highlights that have happened just in the past 2 months are Launching the church March 7th and holding our very first Easter "sunset" service April 4th! We are seeing a steady turnout each Sunday and we are experiencing how difficult it can be to start a church in this area!

During our Easter service, 3 people accepted Jesus as their personal Savior! YAY GOD!!!!! We also have 2 of our team members that are getting BAPTIZED on May 1st, so we will be holding a Beach Baptism and cookout that weekend! We have so much to be praising God for and we could not be more excited for these 5 individuals that are committing their lives to Christ in new ways!!! Please pray with us as we know the spiritual battle will be difficult for them. Please pray that God will protect them and guide them closer to Him!

Somethings we are also praying about, are finding a new location and growing our church. At the end of the summer we are leaving the Hotel and we are currently looking at new locations such as warehouses, store fronts, schools, and even movie theaters. We would appreciate your prayers for Discover Church and our leadership team to have the wisdom while looking at different locations! Please pray that God provides abundantly in this area!

If there's anything that Benj and I can be praying for you about, please let us know by posting a comment below or emailing us at thelitters@gmail.com -We appreciate all of your love and support and are praying that God blesses and provides for you!

To check out everything we'll be doing with Discover Church visit www.DiscoverChurchPBC.com

Friday, March 26, 2010

Benj's New Job and more visitors....




I am so excited to write this blog because Benj is finishing is second full week of a new job at the post office! He has been searching and working hard to find a job and nothing was available it seemed. God has been blessing us through our neighbors who have hired him for some odd jobs with construction and plumbing but nothing consistent. Once again, God has simply handed us a huge blessing that we know was only from Him! A friend that I was working with at Starbucks asked if Benj still needed a job and he was able to start the next day. He has already made some solid connections with the people he works with (one including another church planter in the county) and we are both adjusting to the changes that the job brings. Even though we only have one car, it seems to be working out really well. God is truly in control of our lives and we are loving it!

Last week as Benj was starting his job, we had some visitors from Liberty University too! We loved having friends stay with us and they were such an encouragement! We can't wait for more visitors and thank you everyone who have been praying for our jobs and God's providing!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Mark and Denise's Visit to Sunny FL!

Walking around City Place after a great lunch at City Pizza!


Such a pretty day...a little cold on the water though!


Loved having them here with us!


We celebrated Mark's birthday while they were visiting!


A day at the beach!!!


Thursday, February 25, 2010

Benj's Parents are visiting!!!!

This month, we gathered together as a launch team for the very last time! It seems like this year went by so quickly and I can't believe how much we've learned during this time. Not only have we learned to depend so much on God's provision and leading, we have also grown even closer together in our marriage! We are so thankful to be where God wants us!

This week, we are excited to have Benj's parents, Mark and Denise, with us for a whole week! We are so glad to be able to spend some time with them and just be able to rest with a few days off work!

We will also be sending out our March Newsletter and Prayer Calendar. If you don't already receive those, you can request it by emailing us at thelitters@gmail.com

Once again, to hear the podcasts from each of the Gatherings at Discover Church you can visit www.discoverchurchpbc.com

~Steph

Thursday, February 11, 2010

We have had a pretty quiet few weeks here and I need to get better at posting more blogs and pictures!

In the past few weeks: I have been getting a ton of hours at work, which I am so thankful for, and Benj has been working for one of our neighbors and getting paid as well! He has been searching for a job but nothing is working and in the midst of that frustration, God has provided abundantly, allowing him to work many hours doing odd jobs, construction and even plumbing with our generous neighbor! God is so faithful and we are seeing Him provide for us daily!

With Church: We had two great Gatherings in January and we are having 2 more in February (this week and on the 28th). After this we are going to WEEKLY services March 7th! It's strange to think that in less than a month we will officially be launching Discover Church! We have learned so much in the process and will continue to be learning as we continue to grow!

Some God moments: We have had the awesome opportunity to have spent a lot of time with our neighbors lately! They are so generous to us and I know this is where God wanted us because the conversations and time with them have been nothing short of God's working.

We hope to have many more God-stories to share with you soon! He is definitely providing so much and showing up in new ways!
~Steph


Benj and I with our kitten Brutus

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A New Year.....

Benj and I have entered into a new year excited to be married, trusting God much more than we ever have, and ready for new challenges. Church planting is something we are continuing to learn more about and we are seeing how powerfully God works through His church. We potentially have our first family of 4 joining the church and I am so excited to watch God work in neat ways.

Discover Church held it's 4th service (called, The Gathering) on January 10th and it was a great success. We had 42 adults and 7 kids!!! It began a new schedule and a new series. We are beginning to hold 2 Gatherings a month during Jan. and Feb. as well as officially launching the church March 7th!!! We also started our first 4 week series, "Love Stories." Each of the podcasts will be on the church's website if you would like to experience what we are learning! This past week's topic was God's unconditional love (Luke 15).

On another exciting note...Discover Kidz had 7 kids and 5 volunteers including myself. We had a great time learning about the Parable of the Loving Father (Luke 15) and we are starting to make great connections with kids that are returning! I have a great team and I can't believe what talented and passionate leaders they are! We are truly blessed with an awesome team of people at Discover Church!

Thanks to everyone who prayed for this Gathering and continue to pray for us and Discover Church!
~Steph


Here are just a few photos of the past Gathering...







Friday, January 8, 2010

Christmas in OHIO....

Just wanted to get a few pictures up here of our wonderful Christmas Break! We miss our family and friends in Ohio and we are so thankful to have spent time with them!

Christmas Eve


Baby Cade's Dedication


Litter Family Christmas at the Bell Tower


We celebrated Steph's Grandma's 90th Birthday this Christmas