June - August 2016
June is the month when we finish up our school year at our Rhema Bible College Level 1 Campuses, with our Level 2 Campuses finishing up by mid-July. We ended this year with some great teaching on Leadership, Church Planting. Effective Ministry, Project Management and Prayer. We also hosted several guests. First we had the joy of welcoming our daughter and son-in-law here to London. We laughed a lot, viewed some of the famous sights of London, ate far too much (they’re foodies) and were honored to have them teach our Level 2 London students on Youth Ministry. We also welcomed a couple who will be joining our team. They feel called to specifically help us with our church plant. It was a good, good, but busy month.

July was marked by three Graduation and Certificate Ceremonies taking place on three consecutive Saturdays in three different locations. We had a total of 20 Graduates (Level 2), 23 Certificate of Completion recipients (Level 1), from 16 different nations!
We also moved our office, rented, filled and organized a new storage place, and moved our wonderful team member so she is now in our neighborhood!

August was a month for traveling as we headed to the USA to have some time to be with family and minister. We ministered at our home church, Beyond Church, in Alma, AR and at Faith Family Life Center (Pastors Mark and Laurie Lillo) in Monticello, MN. One week after returning to the United Kingdom we left for Latvia to do a Saturday seminar on Marriage and Family and minister on Sunday at a church that is pastored by Aivars Miezitis, one of our RBC Level 1 students. He travels all the way from Lativa to London every weekend our campus is in session. He definitely has the spirit of faith and we were honored to be invited to come and minister there.

We finished August by wrapping up all the administrative details pertaining to the end of the RBC school year, and beginning to process our September intake of students.

And so it begins...
After a great prayer retreat in June, we came back to London with some clear direction. Consequently, we had our very first pre-church meeting on Sunday the 17th of July. A small group of individuals who feel called to be a part of our church plant gathered for food, fellowship, a brief informational meeting and a time of prayer. At the end of prayer, this was shared and it came into our hearts as a Word from God: “And so it begins…”

We are continuing to have these types of meetings to build community and to lay a prayer foundation. We thank you for your continued prayer for us as we take these beginning steps. Having the right people to help carry the load of our present responsibilities is a real key and a focus of our prayers and faith. We know God is faithful. We believe that we are in the right place at the right time, we have the right words and the right people are being gathered by God. We trust Him to help us make the right decisions and we are committed to follow His leading. By the way the name of our church will be Rhema Family Church!