Dear Friends,
Leslie and I hope that this letter finds all of our partners well and blessed!! It’s been an active month here in our Mountains and we are grateful for your prayers and support!!
We must admit that much of our energy, focus, and resources have been spent on our roof situation. We have started with Monday nights (in place of Fight Night) and Wednesday nights (in place of our midweek worship service) working together as a church family - the men are on the roof and the ladies are under the roof (doing service ministry and preparing meals for the men who are on the roof). Let me share with you an opportunity for partnership and a pressing prayer request in regards to the new roof we are trying to build over our auditorium and gymnasium.
OPPORTUNITY - We are grateful for a special blessing as we work on this roof, as we now have a stairwell (with handrails) that leads right up to the roof - no more need for climbing multiple ladders to get to the actual roof. So, it’s much more accessible for those who know how to swing hammers, use saws, and can work a drill. The opportunity is this - we would love to have teams come and join our men on the roof and help us put this roof on - you would be working on a flat roof so the work is very doable. We can offer AC rooms for air mattresses, a kitchen for cooking, hot showers, etc. all without cost. If you need help with cooking, we can lend a hand as a church family. If you are interested in bringing a team of 2 to 60 for anywhere from a weekend to a week or two, or if you have any questions, please contact me at pastorsteffan@gmail.com or call me at 301-697-4828.
PRAYER REQUEST - Please keep us in prayer as we have found that the increase in lumber costs as well as the increase in the number of trusses necessary due to engineer requirements, has taken our estimated truss cost from $36,000 to $118,000!! Needless to say, we have been floored, but we are not knocked out!! Please pray for the Lord’s provisions as we proceed in this very necessary project for the future of our church ministry.
Even with the challenges of the roof, we are still busy navigating Covid and staying open for worship each and every week!! We also continue to serve our community through both our Bruce Learning Center Preschool Ministry and our Bruce Outreach Academy Homeschool Ministry, allowing us to minister to 80 children in our community!! Our clothing ministry also continues to expand and we may be expanding into doing some more food ministry again as these outreach ministries grow!! Please pray for wisdom in our approach to these ministries, as well as a Harvest to come from these efforts!!
I (Steffan) was blessed to spend about 9 days on the road, taking our daughter back to Odenville for her ministry at the Well House and then spending the week connecting with various churches and friends in Alabama!! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and partners. I was blessed to have the unique opportunity of preaching in three consecutive worship services one Sunday morning - thank you to Brother Shane Russell and the wonderful folks at Shoal Creek Baptist Church in Deatsville for allowing me such a high honor and unique opportunity!!
In addition to personally speaking with many wonderful men and women of God throughout the trip, I was also blessed to share at the Autauga Baptist Association (Thank You, Mel Johnson), Pleasant Ridge Church (Thank You, Jimmy Allen), Tallapoosa Association (Thank You, James Smith), and Center Baptist Church (Thank You, Faron Golden)!! I am also grateful for the wonderful hospitality, as always, that is demonstrated to us by our long-time friends, Mike and Pat Ingram (Millbrook Church). Leslie and I are so honored and blessed by our friends and partners in Alabama!!
Prayer Requests -
1 - Please pray for our outreach ministry for Easter as we have a “He Is Risen” community party. If you are reading this by snail mail, then you are probably reading it after the ministry has taken place. Please pray for us to make connections and experience a Harvest from the proclaiming of Jesus at this event!!
2 - Please pray for us as we travel to Pennsylvania and points east in Maryland later in April and look to touch base with some of our partners, preach at a partnering church, spend some time with friends, and have a planning meeting with our partners who make our basketball camp happen every year (as we try to recover from canceling it last year due to Covid).
I believe that’s about it for this month. Please never hesitate to contact us via FB Messenger, e-mail (pastorsteffan@gmail.com), or telephone / text (301-697-4828). We know that it is impossible to do what we do without YOU and your faithful support here in our mountains at BOC!! Thank you for your partnership and friendship, and never hesitate to let us know how we can pray for you and encourage you - individually and in ministry!! May God richly bless each of you!!
Your Partners in the Harvest,
Steffan and Leslie Carr
P.S. As a reminder to all of our friends and partners, remember that you can follow us on our public FB wall at www.facebook.com/bruceoutreachcenter and you can request us to add you to our private FB wall for our partners at www.facebook.com/groups/hopeinthemountains (just make sure you message us that you are one of our partners or part of one of our partnering churches). You can also check us out at www.bruceoutreachcenter.com and we hope by our next newsletter to have an APP you can download at Google Play or iTunes!!