Our First Meeting

Please be in prayer for us as we head out this weekend for our first set of meetings. We are excited and a bit nervous. It seems like things are coming at us from every corner. We are still busy getting unpacked and settled and also preparing for the meetings. We are glad that God gives grace and strength!

Our first meeting is this evening. Rob will be preaching and the kids singing and doing some special musical numbers. We then have two services tomorrow. Pray for God's wisdom for us and for hearts to be touched by the power of the Word of God.

I will fill you in on the weekend when we return home. Thanks for your prayers. I trust you have a wonderful weekend and are challenged by the things of God at your church services. God is good!!

Serving Joyfully,
The Spurgeon's

Details

We are beginning to get things packed up here and ready to move into the new house God has provided for us. There is a lot to do - and we are thankful that the kids will be able to help out - they are such a blessing to us.


Today, details were made for a meeting we have coming up in September. We are excited to have our first meeting planned and we are looking forward to the time we will have with the people at Northport Baptist Church in Racine, WI.


We have had some practice times with the kids and are enjoying getting back into practicing together as a family. It has been awhile since we were able to have some time for the music.


We are looking forward to this upcoming year as we venture into the ministry to which God has called us. We covet your prayers!

Looking to Him,

~The Spurgeon's

A Plainer Path

We have searched and prayed that the Lord would direct us in finding a home. Much planning,

thought and prayers have gone into this decision.
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We found out that the owners have accepted our offer! We now start the process of a home inspection and loan approval.

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We are trusting that the Lord will work out all the details - and thankful that He has brought into a clearer focus the direction He has for us!

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We appreciate your prayers for us as we are busy with so many plans and details.

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Rejoicing in His Leading,

~The Spurgeon's

Still Searching

We found out last night that the house that we had put an offer on has been taken off the market. Our offer fell through; because it was taken off the market before our offer reached their desks. It was a bit of a blow - as we now have to start over again in our house hunting search. Yet, God knows and we are praying for His direction. It is always nice to know when God directly closes a door - and we are viewing this new development as such.



Thank You for your prayers as we continue our search for a new house.

Awaiting His Direction,

The Spurgeon's

Family Update

Just an update here on how things are going.

We spent the entire time last week in the Milwaukee area. The Lord allowed us to be able to spend our time there in an apartment that was more than adequate for our family and allowed us to be comfortable both in accommodations and in our pocketbook.

We spent the mornings helping out in VBS at Falls. It was a joy to be able to minister in our new church and also to get to know other church members during the week of ministry. Our younger children were able to participate in the VBS in the mornings while we worked. It was a blessing. Rachel was able to help out and work in the morning VBS also. It was especially wonderful for her to be able to lead two girls to the Lord. (That was a first for her and she was pretty excited about the opportunity the Lord gave her!)

Our afternoons were spent house hunting in the Milwaukee area. It was quite and adventure - (if we stayed in the right mindset that is!) We are thankful to report that we do believe that we have found the house that God has for us. We put on offer in on Friday afternoon and are expecting to hear back as to if the offer has been accepted. We are praying that it will go through without a problem.

Rachel was able to attend the teen Cola Clash in the evenings at Falls. It was a blessing for us as parents to listen as she told us how God is working in her life. She was challenged by the messages and also by other Christian teens who desire is to serve God with all their hearts.

We arrived back home here in Kaukauna late Sunday night. We are starting to get things packed here. We have a busy month ahead of us and we would covet your prayers for us during this time.

Rejoicing In His Goodness,

The Spurgeon's

An Accepted Offer

The Lord has answered our prayers!! We have an accepted offer on the house. We are scheduled to close the end of August.

We have a lot to do. We will be spending this week looking for housing. We are praying that God will clearly open the door for us and that we will unmistakeably know His will for our new home.



We are rejoicing in His workings in our lives and trusting His direction for the future.



Rejoicing in Answered Prayers,

The Spurgeon's

Membership Memo

We had a busy but wonderful weekend. We headed out for Falls Baptist Church around 8 AM Sunday morning. We made it in time for Sunday School, albeit we were just a few minutes late.

We enjoyed the morning worship service and Pastor Van Gelderen's message. It was just another confirmation that we are exactly where God wants us. At the close of the service, during the invitation, we joined the church.

The evening service was a blessing too. We enjoyed a July 4th presentation, detailing the accounts that led up to the writing of the Star Spangled Banner. Pastor Van Geldren preached a message detailing some of the attacks Satan in bringing on the home. Another special event was enjoying Lord's Supper service with our new church family. How special it was to fellowship with our new church family during this special service.

After the evening service we were able to fellowship some with other church members. We have A LOT of people to get to know - but we are chomping at the bit and ready to make new friends.

Rachel and Mom tried out for choir and will start practicing with them next week. VBS is coming up at Falls and we are already slotted to be helpers during that week. So, we have hit the ground with our feet running. We are just praising the Lord for His leading and guiding in our lives. We are still praying for the house to sell and for the Lord to direct us to the house He has for us in the Milwaukee area. We will keep you posted on the events there.

Rejoicing in Him,

The Spurgeon's

Cleaning and Calling

We continue to clean and call.

Clean the house and have it presentable for showings.

Call upon the Lord and ask Him to sell it.

We are very aware that no matter how clean - how much work we put into selling our house - ultimately it is the Lord Who will sell it for us.

So - we keep asking - that is while we are vacuuming. LOL

Thanks for checking in. We will keep you posted and let you know when it sells. Hopefully sooner than later.

Rejoicing in Him,

The Spurgeon's

A Chapter Closed

June 29, 2008 marks the last day of our ministry at Calvary Baptist Church in Kaukauna, WI. This weekend has been a time of reflection as we reviewed in our minds the last six years we have been here.

We arrived at the church to find a lovely bouquet of flowers sent to us by the Olson's and the Ollila's from Northland Baptist Bible College. It meant a lot to us to know that they were thinking about us that day.

Sunday morning was the transition service. Rob preached his last Sunday Morning message and then we had the new pastor come to the front with the deacons. A prayer was prayed for our family and the new ministry to which God has called us. Then hands were laid on the new pastor and a prayer of dedication was made on his behalf. It was a touching moment.

We enjoyed the fellowship with church family during the evening service and finished off our day by joining hands around the auditorium and praying for one anther - (a tradition that takes place each month after the Lord's Supper service). It was a fitting way to end the ministry here.

We are now praying for God to bring someone to buy our home and still searching for our new home. It is a time of testing of our faith - for there are so many things that are yet unknown.

Yet, we rest in the fact that there are so many things that are absolutes:

*God will take care of us and provide for our needs.

*Times of testing and trials makes our faith in God grow.

*God's will is always best

As we prepared to leave for home Sunday night God gave us a most beautiful sunset to enjoy. It just seems fitting that I should share with you a photo of the artwork God laid before us on this most unique day.

Your prayers on our behalf are greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for checking in.

Rejoicing in His Goodness,

~The Spurgeon's

A God of the Impossible

We have listed our house and been busy hosting open houses to interested perspective buyers. God has blessed us with a wonderful realtor who has been working with us in getting our home sold. We thank God for her!

It seems that this is not a really good time to be selling a house. The neighbors have told us - church members have mentioned it - and we have discussed it late at night in bed! To add to the market being low - there is MAJOR construction going on right in front of our house - construction that has tore up part of our yard and makes walking to our front door - and active step (or steps) of faith!

With that all said, God seems to love to work at times when things seem impossible! So - despite viewing it from a human stand point - we are excited to see God show Himself strong! We are so thankful that we serve a God that is all powerful and desires to provide and care for His children.

Please continue to pray with us that God, in His time, will bring in the buyer He has for our home.

Serving Him with Gladness,

The Spurgeon's

Open Doors

Life has been hectic here with getting one ministry finished up and starting another one. As with all changes, there are mixed emotions. Excited about the future - sad about leaving 'life as we know it.'

God has been good to us and we wanted to update you all on the progress of things here.

We were so thankful to find a church home; as we posted in our last post. We had planned to start keeping updates coming in regular intervals; but life did a major change for us the day after we announced that Falls Baptist Church would be our home base for ministry and for our family membership.

The next day, got a call that a baby was available for adoption if we were still interested. (We had filled out paper work and had been waiting for 18 months). Of course we were still interested!! We met with the social workers that Friday and began placement of our new little one the next Monday. So, our family has grown by one. There have been some adjustments; but overall it has been an extremely smooth transition adding another child to the family. The state of Wisconsin requires us to have her in home for a full 6 months before the final adoption can be done - so we are waiting for November when her last name will be a Spurgeon!!

That same weekend, our church called a new pastor to come and pastor Calvary Baptist Church. Pastor Mark Cline will be coming to Calvary on the last Sunday in June. We are planning a transition service for that morning and that Sunday evening will be our last Sunday here at Calvary.

So, that brings you pretty much up to date on life here and the ministry plans that are happening. We can honestly say, that there is never a dull moment here. We are excited about the future God has for us.

We will keep everyone posted,

~The Spurgeon's

Found a church home!

In preparing for our new ministry, there have been a lot of decisions that we have had to make. Some big, some small. Some easy, some difficult. One of the major decisions we had to make was concerning the home base for our ministry. When I say home base, I am not meaning specifically a geographical location -- but more important -- a spiritual location. In other words, we needed to find a church that we could line up with doctrinally, philosophically, and practically -- out of which we would launch our ministry of family focused evangelism.

We knew that this was a major decision that needed to be made, and we realized that it probably wouldn't be an easy one. And we were right on both counts! Early on in the process, we knew that it would be important to both find a church where our family could worship, and where the pastor was in favor of our type of ministry. We ended up finding three churches that were able to seriously consider -- which made the decision even more interesting!

After much prayer and consideration, the Lord has directed us to base our ministry out of Falls Baptist Church in Menomonee Falls, WI. We appreciate the emphasis on prayer, revival, holiness, and the family that is evident in the church. We look forward to calling FBC our church home, and having Pastor Wayne Van Gelderen as our pastor.

Just Getting Started...

Imagine a snowball rolling down a hill -- picking up snow as it goes! Yes, the illustration is applicable, since we live in Wisconsin and are experiencing what I have termed -- "The winter that doesn't end"!

Our life right now is like that proverbial snowball. We are in the process of scheduling meetings, sending out letters, practicing music, preparing sermons, packing up stuff...etc., etc., etc. Our church is fully in the process of locating the next pastor to lead the church as we head out on the road in evangelism.

We are excited as the snowball picks up speed and snow!

Check back soon -- we will keep everyone up to date as things happen here!