Our First Thanksgiving....

Happy Thanksgiving From Florida!

It was our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple and it was such a great day! We started with breakfast at Cracker Barrel with our friends Jon and Lindsey and then came home to fix Benj's favorite...Sweet Potato Casserole! We then headed over to the Smith's home (Brittni's parents) for their family Thanksgiving dinner. They have really become our family away from home and have been so generous to Benj and I! We had a Great dinner and then they took us to a movie, "The Blind Side," and then back to the house for dessert. For the evening we just went back home, didn't eat too much because we were still so stuffed and watched another movie!

We are so thankful for a Big God that has provided so much for us!


It was a little weird not having to bundle up on Thanksgiving!


Everyone loved hearing Benj play his pipes and even the neighbors across the lake were clapping!

Our 2nd Gathering for Discover Church.....

November 15th was our first ever 2nd Gathering! Though we didn't have as many friends and family there, we had a great turn out of guests and even had kidz in the Discover Kidz worship! I had some great conversations with parents and hope to see them back at our next Gathering. We had a total head count of 46 adults and 4 kids and there were only about 4-5 people helping that were not directly a part of our Launch team!

We had a great time setting up for this month's Gathering for Discover Church and we have improved on the time that it takes to set up everything and tear everything down too. Because we don't have a church building, we are renting some ball rooms at the Hilton Garden Inn in Palm Beach Gardens. We will most likely be renting a facility for a few years, if not more than that and will be "mobile" in that process. Here are a few pictures of what we will set up each time. We are also hoping to go to bi-weekly services in January and February as we work toward getting to weekly services!

We will be having our 3rd monthly Gathering December 6th! Please be praying as we plan and prepare and share with the people we come in contact with. It is our priority and passion to help people find life in Jesus Christ and we know that God's hand is on this area. He is already restoring families and bringing them closer to Him!

Upcoming Events:
Novemeber 29th....Discover Church Cookout at Carlin Park 2-6pm
December 6th......Discover Church Gathering

Discover Church Cookout...

We had a great weekend last week and I just want to share briefly what we did and post some pictures too!

On Sunday, Nov. 8th, Discover Church held cookout at the park in Jupiter. We rented out a pavilion and the volleyball court next to it and we all had a really good time! The weather was perfect and we had a great turn out. Discover Church provided all the paper products, drinks, and meat and several people brought side dishes and desserts! Our neighbors came to hang out which was exciting to see them there as well as friends and families of our other Launch Team members. We were stuffed from all the great food, played a few games of volleyball, and connected really well with our neighbors and friends and family that came to the cookout! Here are just a few pictures....enjoy!

Discover Church's first Gathering...

Sorry I have taken so long to write about the church's first Gathering, but here it is...

Our Sunday last week began on a great note. We gathered together with our Launch team to worship together and pray for the day ahead of us. The launch team consists of people who consider Discover Church home and who are committed to giving and serving to help get it off the ground and see it grow. We had a great time of just setting our hearts in the right place that morning and felt the presence of God before the hectic day began.

After meeting together we went our separate ways until meeting at our condo to start packing everything into the trailer at 1:00. The past few weeks all of the shopping and all of the equipment was shipped to our condo and needless to say, I'm am thankful to be able to see our floors again...It was packed! We packed the trailer in no more than a half hour, ate lunch, and headed to the hotel to unload at 2:00. This seemed to be the easiest part of the day because the pace quickly picked up and the set up began!

The set up went really well for our first time! I was so excited about the kids area and thought the Gathering looked great! Benj and the worship band sounded amazing and he had a great group of very talented musicians to help out! Over all we learned so much and where we saw things missing or not how we wanted it, God showed up in a mighty way. Screens, subs, projectors, mics, and much more ended up not being on time so we had to rent screens, go with out subs, and run to stores for other things. God provided abundantly and our first Gathering was a success!

That night we had 79 people total (including volunteers)!!! About 20 of those people filled out guest cards, meaning that they were not well-wishers or volunteers from other churches. It was a great turn out and we received so much encouragement from those well-wishers, supporters, and volunteers from other churches...we could not have done it without their prayers and encouragement and yours too! We knew so many people from home and from other places were praying and we are SO THANKFUL. God was so present that night.

On a different note, Discover Kidz looked great and we were prepared for kids, but we just didn't have any. At first I thought I might have been disappointed but I quickly heard God reassure me and I know if He wanted kids there, He would have had kids there! Instead I was able to have great volunteers ready to go when needed and I was able to experience our very first Gathering. This was a blessing from God and I am so thankful I was able to be there and watch it happen!

Tear down was a little confusing at times, but everyone really sacrificed their time and worked so hard! We are learning quickly what works and what doesn't and I cannot explain how amazing it is to see other churches coming together to help get this church started. The Church is a body, not a competition across denominational lines...we were so blessed by how sacrificial these churches were! (Thank You First Baptist-West Palm, First Baptist-Lake Worth, and Life Church.Tv! You guys are Awesome!!!)

Even in the short amount of time we have been down here in Florida, we are already seeing life change, marriages being restored, and friendships renewed! I hope to be writing some of those stories on here very soon to share with you what God is doing and hope that you are encouraged by this and what's to come!

Here are a few pictures and the whole album is on my Facebook page!

Please continue to pray as we prepare for our very first Second Gathering :)