First, I am so proud of the way our church has mobilized into our city to help during this fire storm. The offers continue to pour in by the hour for shelter, food, and donations. You are the church at its finest.
We have offered our campus to several local agencies, but right now, there is a lot of available space at local schools, especially since it is summer break. They have better shower and bath facilities, which makes sense for families who may need shelter for several days. We are more than ready to take in fire refugees, though.
We decided to go forward with Desperation, which starts Wednesday and ends Friday night. Most of them were already en route, when the fires turned suddenly toward our city. Our campus is safe from the flames and we will limit outside activities since the air quality is so poor. I also believe it will be powerful to have thousands of students here to pray for rain, plus our local hotels and restaurants will be blessed at a time when a lot of tourists are cancelling their trips to our city.
We will be working closely with many New Lifers who lost their homes last night and I will make you aware of any opportunities to serve them or our city. I am thankful there has been no loss of life and very few injuries. Our prayers are important now, more than ever. God is faithful to us even when circumstances are not what we had planned or imagined. Seems like someone spoke on this very subject at New Life last Sunday. Now we get to live it and believe it together.
June 27, 2012 at 9:56 am
Thank you so much for the update.
James and I have been praying for those in Colorado in the path of the fire. I have lots of author friends who live in Colorado.
But James and I have been wondering about you and your church family since the fire has moved to Colorado Springs.
June 27, 2012 at 10:31 am
I am a part of the production team for Beth Moore’s Living Proof Live events. We are scheduled to be in the Springs this weekend and the whole city is definitely on our hearts.
We are reorienting everything to care for the women coming to the event and to mobilize everyone to pray. So as the students pray at Desperation, thousands of women (and a few brave men) will be praying from World Arena on the southern side of town.
We want to be sensitive to the needs and ICU-status of the Springs and to be a refuge and sanctuary for prayer and healing.
We love Colorado and want to minister the best we can during this dark hour. And we love New Life and are linking arms with you and all the students praying this weekend.
June 27, 2012 at 11:52 am
Amen to that! I can’t tell you enough how timely that message was on Sunday and something that God has brought to mind throughout these past 5 days, over and over again. God is SO good and we are so thankful to have you as our Pastor and teacher!