Today, Anissa calls me while I am at work to tell me that her car is not starting. This is the new car (Chevy Equinox) that we recently purchased and the vehicle that is easier for her and her belly to get in and out of. This is the car that she drives around town in most of the time. So, I was a little upset about that. I also had the thought of what if she goes into labor and the car does not work or something like that. So, after work I went to give it a jump. It was 91 degrees out, but the humidity felt like 100 degrees. I never know that these new cars had the batteries hidden under tons of plastic. After about 35-45 minutes, it finally worked. Since this is the car that my pregnant wife will be driving, I replaced the battery. At this time, it was 8pm (3hrs after we got off work) and no cooler outside. Needless to say, my wife has a car that is now working!
I wanted to write this blog to let you all know the great things that God is doing with our church, Impact. Since being in Texas, we have always said that we are here for the community of Port Arthur. Therefore, we have been letting various community groups use our church for free. We are also about to start letting some local soccer teams use our field for practice and games. It’s more about reaching the community rather than taking their money. Recently, I received several phone calls from the Superintendant of Port Arthur ISD. I originally wanted to meet with him way back in November, but time his schedule was full; therefore, I could not remember what I wanted to meet with him for. I agreed to the meeting and invited Pastor Noble and I were invited. We went into the meeting just to offer our services to the community and more important, the school district. When Dr. Brown heard that, he got a big “Grinch Who Stole Christmas” grin on his face. After calling some of his colleagues into the office, we all agreed that Impact would be used for the new Port Arthur Reading Academy. Due to the fact of the low reading levels and test scores, they were looking for a location with enough classroom space and kitchen to host the academy for the fall. Each class will have approximately 10 kids per 1 teacher. I think the thing that made Dr. Brown happy was the fact that we said that we would not charge them a dime!!!
Talk about OUTREACH! Now this is what I mean about helping the community and taking our schools back from the devil! We are a brand new church and God has given us favor for such a time as this! He could have used any church, but He chose us! Thank you all for your prayers.
Lastly, we will have our first free carwash at Impact this Saturday as an outreach effort. Each car that gets washed will receive a free bottle of Impact labeled water. While some of us are washing cars, others will be cleaning the inside of the church. I pray that we wash at least 75-100 cars in two hours.
I just wanted to give you all this quick update and thank you for your continued prayers.
Jermale
PS the picture of me is one a friend took for an upcoming GVSU article.
