Below is an update from Karl Roth on the first large group meeting for the Flipside Church. It was an exciting fun-filled night of food, fellowship and worship. The next large group meeting is planned for December and if you get an opportunity to attend I would urge you to. More details on this next meeting will be coming.......Valerie
Last night we had our first "large group" meeting with everyone involved in small groups and those who may be interested in checking out the church plant. The intent was to get together for a BBQ, some worship, and teaching on God's purpose and the church plant. We were praying for 50 people (but expecting more). The total attendance was 52 adults and 19 kids! 71 total! God overwhelmed us again! I am so grateful to God and awed every time I see Him pour out His blessings. We had a great group help with the set up, food, chairs, bringing supplies, etc. People were here serving in ministry from 2pm till 8:30pm! We've got a great group of people! We converted our detached 1,200 square foot garage into the place where we did worship and teaching and our attached garage into the room for the children's program that Shel led. It was cool. We always said we wanted to use our house for ministry. I guess God took us literally!
During the cooking part it started to rain, we had many more people than we counted on, and the smoke from our little BBQ blew into the house and set off the smoke detector. It was wonderful to watch the devil try to thwart God's blessings and to experience how God won out! At least the video projection unit that my friend Bill Fulbright gave to the church plant worked beautifully. Thanks Bill.
There was one decision to get "info on Jesus and what a relationship with Him is like" from a guy who had never been to church before- ever! There were other commitments to join one of our small groups, and some who have committed to come to the church who are not involved in a church. One gal was here who describes herself as "not a religious person" and couple other people who "have been searching for something like this that is real". Pretty soon we are going to have some baptisms in our spa in the back yard! The response was very good. I won't share all the comments with you but suffice it to say God spoke with individuals last night. Thank you so much for your prayers. You touched heaven on behalf of those who don't know Jesus yet and as a result many of them felt Jesus last night. The whole thing was much larger than even I had imagined! I am excited when I think about the future of what God is going to do through this church.