Record Crowds at Lakeview Church!

I usually write my Snapshot newsletters based on a recent trip or experience. Earlier this month, I received an update from Phil Wiebe, a USMB church planter at Lakeview Church in Tooele County, Utah, which I want to share with you. After this update I received word that 203 people attended on Sunday, August 18! I am excited about what God is doing at Lakeview Church; I hope you are encouraged, too.

Don

Lakeview Church had our initial launch on Easter Sunday with 93 in attendance. We have grown throughout the summer and on Sunday, July 28, we had a record summer crowd of 164 people and there was no more room in the building! That is a good problem to have. We held our first baptism weekend August 4 with five adults getting baptized. Jesus is up to amazing things here in Utah!

Earlier in the summer, a team from Bethany Church in Fresno, California, came out to help launch our youth ministry and youth summer program. Since then the youth group has grown to over 30 students (6th-12th grade) thanks to both a great launch and our wonderful summer interns Mackenzie Hoffman, Caleb Rempel and James Friesen.

Community Bible Church from Olathe, Kansas, sent a team to help launch the men’s ministry and encourage those getting the women’s ministry up and running. They also facilitated an outreach picnic at the park where many good connections were made. We handed out our very first Lakeview Church t-shirts, made and sent to us in a rush by Mountain View Community Church in Fresno, California. It is amazing to see how many people are excited to walk around in Lakeview apparel! Before the Community Bible Church team left, they built a wonderful stage in our worship center. We were so blessed by the relational connection and support offered by each of these teams. It’s incredible to see the MB family come together to help us in various ways.

We’ve not had a drop in numbers as we had anticipated during the summer months. In fact, our service has grown to over 160 people per Sunday, so we made the decision to move to two services beginning August 11. Three months since our launch and the church has been packed with Christians who don’t have a church, Christians who have been burned by the church, former Mormons and even currently practicing Mormons!

This growth has caused us to take a leap of faith in hiring David Brown to be our worship/youth pastor. David has been our piano player since October and is a graduate of Colorado Christian University. He will start this new position August 16 and will continue the growth in youth ministry started by our interns.

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support. We continue to push forward as we watch Jesus take step after step in taking ground for His name’s sake!

Please continue to pray for us. Although we have seen much victory, it has come with a cost. There are many people who have aligned with Jesus and joined Lakeview’s mission who have had major attacks on their lives: marriage problems, job problems, financial issues, health issues and vehicle issues. The list goes on and on. A friend of mine said, “When you are on the battlefield, expect the enemy to shoot at you,” and we sure feel that reality. Please pray for protection and that the Lord just keeps bringing people to Lakeview Church!