Sunday Aug 3rd was the launch of a brand new church here in Corona de Tucson! Pray for us as we get this new church growing and keep it rockin' along.  

November 9, 2008 

Things are going great!  We're starting our fourth month of meeting each week as a new church.  It is so exciting to see new faces each week and to see people start to plug in and find a place to worship and to serve.  Speaking of worship, we just wrapped up our series "Raising G-Rated Kids in an X-Rated World".  It was filled with good, practical help for parents, grandparents and anyone who has kids in their lives.  Our next series will be about Christmas and will begin right after Thanksgiving.

In late September / early October Briggette, the kids and I had a great opportunity to go back to NC and share with our sending church, Biltmore Baptist, about how things are going out here.  I cannot tell you how revitalizing it was to be at that missions conference and to feel the passion that the Biltmore people have for reaching the world for Jesus.  I also got to speak at a church in Knoxville and it looks like they will be coming out here for a mission trip in June 2009.  One other big highlight of the trip was of course seeing family.  My Pop is almost 90 and although he's in good health we cherish the opportunities to spend time with him.  He recently moved up to Knoxville, TN so it made it very easy to make time to see him while we were back east.  Pop has been a HUGE supporter of the Foundry and we are tremendously grateful.  I'm also thankful for the example he set for me both as a believer and as someone who cares deeply about missions.

It was so good to see friends and family and reconnect with people that we had not seen in over a year.  I have to be honest though, it didn't take long for us to start missing AZ and the amazing friends we've made out here.  I was so glad to be back home in Tucson when we finally got back!

October 25 was "Make a Difference Day" and our church adopted Corona Foothills Middle School (the school where we worship) as the place where we wanted to make a difference.  We painted and laid paving stones from 7 AM to noon and some people even worked to 3pm.  The really cool thing was seeing people from the community come out and be a part of this.  We're working hard to make connections in our area and this was a great success!  

Although we continue to remain a small congregation or about 30 people I am encouraged by the individual stories of how God is changing lives.  I know God brought us here to bring the good news of Jesus to an area that needs it and I am more encouraged than ever that we are following His will and doing what He needs!

Well, that's all for now!

Love God and Love People!

Pastor Ash