Facelift

Saturday was a big day. There were 12 of us at the church framing, insulating and drywalling our sanctuary ceiling. Praise God for whoever invented the drywall lift. All we had to do was put the sheets on, crank it up, and slide them in place. It was a lot easier to screw them in than if we had had to hold the sheets up ourselves.

There were 5 men from the Eau Claire Wesleyan Church (including Pastor Dwayne Winterberg), Pastor Roger Miller from the Hillsboro Wesleyan Church, Rev. Dan Bickel (our D.S.), Al Dolan (a member of our church), DeLon and Brady Davis (president and VP of operations, even though Brady is only 13), Rod Tucker (a member of the Church of the Nazarene in Baraboo), and me (Josh) helping out.

Our newspaper sent a reporter out to take pictures and he wrote a great story in today's paper. Here's the link. http://www.wiscnews.com/bnr/news/274098

We've also been blessed by help from Pastor Doug Walborn of the Pardeeville Wesleyan Bible Church, Andy Tolwinski from Mid-State Electric in the Dells (a good friend of DeLon's), and Ross Curry, a local painter (also a good friend of DeLon's). If it weren't for their gifts of labor, we wouldn't be this far in the remodeling.

Here are some additional pics. The bubbles are from drywall dust on the lens. Oops.

Rod, Jim, Dwayne, Todd, Jim, Tim, Brady (in back), and DeLon after working Saturday.

Al, Brady and Doug, putting up insulation and trying not to breathe it all in.

Some Remodel & Winter Pics!

You're looking into our extended foyer where we can enjoy coffee, donuts & each other before & after service. Straight ahead at the back is Josh's new office, large enough to hold the copy machine and a desk for administrative work, as well as room to counsel people. To the left is the new nursery! It's not huge, but a good size for a small church. There will be a window that parents can see through to make sure their babies are fine. A sound booth is off to the front right of the foyer.

Josh and DeLon have done most of the grunt work. They've been incredible...Josh is learning construction as he goes. DeLon has been a great teacher, and very patient! Jamie has also learned all about insulating walls & ceilings, and of course cleaning up for Sundays!

These are the pews we are trying to sell. With the money, we will be able to purchase nice padded chairs that will make the upstairs much more functional for various types of ministry events. If you're interested, we do have better pictures available! :)

The new "back wall"---it is so cool!

The sanctuary walls were painted cinderblock with tall semi-windows nearly from floor to ceiling. We've studded, insulated, and drywalled, and already the building is so much warmer. The upper holes are for windows when we get the money to put them in.

This weekend we are hosting work days, and several men have come to help us insulate & drywall the ceiling! It is so nice to have help. Thanks to: DeLon, Brady, Doug, Al, Ross, Larry, Rod, Roger, Dwayne & the Eau Claire men, John, Laurie and Alesha. We are grateful!

This winter has been a real Wisconsin winter....and all of our friends are so surprised at how much snow we've had (and keep getting!). Last Sunday we got about 12 inches, on top of all the snow that hasn't melted. Apparently we are way past the record snowfall for this part--over 80", I believe. Another snowfall is coming Monday...yippee! Josh and I bought real boots and snowpants this winter, hoping we weren't wasting our money...and they have been the best purchase!

Prayer Requests, from our heart to yours!

A ton is happening right now in our lives and in the life of the church.

Early last week we were able to go to "The Getaway," our district's ministers and mates retreat up in Warrens, WI, an hour from us. What a blessing to be away for awhile. Dave Holdren was the speaker and challenged us in several areas of ministry and personal life. We left refreshed (the waterpark helped too!) and with several friendships renewed, as well. We are looking forward to hosting a youth mission team from Our Savior's Wesleyan in Mukwanago this summer. Stevan and Jessica Sheets are youth-pastoring there right now, and we enjoyed making preliminary plans for work/ministry opportunities. Please pray that their teens would catch the vision and jump on board with this trip. Also pray that while they are here, we all would make some vital connections within our community. We are hoping to go door to door and do some surveys, as well as host a large fun event for Baraboo...

As of January 1st, our church has a new name: Jubilee Wesleyan--A Community Church. With the new name comes the task of changing accounts, information, creating a logo, contacting the whole world with the change, etc...please pray that Josh and I would not be overwhelmed in the process and also that there would be time to do this (see why below).

As of January 7th, Josh and DeLon Davis (wonderful guys!) started remodeling the upper level of the church building. They have been working so hard each day and already the changes are making a good difference. They've constructed the stud walls for a nursery, sound room and office, as well as a foyer/entry hall in the back of the sanctuary. They're in the process of adding insulation and drywall to the cinder-block sanctuary walls, and will be insulating & drywalling the foyer. Ultimately, we hope to change the carpet, which is very stained in many places, enlarge the platform area, spruce up the restroom, add a new roof, lighting & windows, as well as replace our pews with chairs. All of these changes are vital if we are going to have a welcoming attractive place to bring in guests. BUT...we also have a tiny budget, need some major funding support and some volunteer labor (does anyone hear God telling you to come here?:). That is perhaps one of the biggest concerns of our lives right now...the changes are absolutely necessary--if we don't change, the church could still close. And if we do, the funding must come in to continue (and there's still not a guarantee that the church will flourish). We need $25,000 for this first phase of construction, not including the roof... so will you pray with us that the Lord will provide?

Administratively, we could use some help too...creating a workable church office and financial practices are necessary, but we also need guidance in how to correctly do that.

And our church needs unity. The numbers have been small. Growth has been backwards. Several of our new friends carry large burdens. And some in our congregation don't favor the building changes. Pray with us that we will lead change effectively and compassionately. The last thing we want to do is ruin a church...Josh and I are both seeing areas in our lives that need to mature spiritually...like love. That's a big action--to really agape each person with whom we interact.

Josh started preaching through the book of John in January. I'm sure this series will last all year. I wasn't sure what to expect marrying a pastor, wasn't sure if I could ever really grow and enjoy listening to someone other than my dad. But The Lord has blessed Josh and gifted him to minister the Word. The Lord has been among us in our services and has spoken. He has not left us...and I pray that we will stick with Him and follow in His footsteps.

This February is also our first Missions Emphasis Month. The church will have a faith promise commitment time (wow!), and we are hosting missionaries each weekend this month. We enjoyed having Ben Kidder, a church planter and friend from Minong, WI with us last weekend. This weekend my cousin, Jan Janofski will come down from the UP and focus on short-term and children's ministries...it will be great to have her and another cousin, Kevin. Then, next weekend Bill & Daphne Foster will travel up here with an IWU student and speak about career missions and their time in Australia. Josh will close with a focus on the Global Partners missionaries we support and our district's Nicaragua partnership. We enjoy hosting people in our home and it will be neat to see where God leads our church in the area of praying, giving & going.

Did you know: 40% of Wisconsin is completely unchurched? That was just one of the stats we heard from Ben on Sunday...that makes this restarting effort worth it...if we as a church can minister and bring the gospel to those who need it...this will be worth it.

Some other needs: We still need some people (families, individuals, students) to minister with us. We need worship leaders, organized administrative help, financial wisdom, outreach-oriented individuals, etc. If you or someone you know is interested in an internship, volunteer opportunity, or long-term move, please contact us. We need a laptop computer and projector...and we need to sell our pews.

Also, if you're ready to buy a magazine or renew a subscription, visit www.magfundraising.com/jubileewesleyan. All magazines are up to 85% off and our church's building fund receives 40% of the retail price.

Thanks so much for praying, for loving us and for supporting us.