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Pastor Carr Update

BOC

Dear Friends, Family, and Partners,

 

It’s a joy to sit down and “count our blessings” this month - of course, the cornerstone of those blessings is our salvation in Christ Jesus, then followed by the Lord’s provision of such wonderful partners like yourselves, who make all we do here in the Mountains possible - THANK YOU!!  Leslie and I hope this letter finds you well.  Please never hesitate to let us know how we may be praying for you and your family - it would be an honor to come alongside of y’all in prayer!!

 

We enjoyed a wonderful Mother’s Day week this month.  We recognized all of our mothers in our church family on Mother’s Day Sunday during the morning worship service - we were blessed to give each mama a beautiful bracelet that was handmade by women who have been rescued from human trafficking through the Well House ministry (this is where our daughter JoJo is currently serving in ministry).  Each bracelet included the name of the rescued woman who made it so our ladies can specifically remember these ladies in prayer!!  If interested in knowing more about this wonderful ministry, please check out https://www.the-wellhouse.org/ or contact me and I can get you our daughter’s contact information.

 

Later that week, we had our Bruce Outreach Academy (homeschool umbrella and support ministry) end-of-year party at Creekside Park, complete with games, food, and fun!!  We had a great year this year and are blessed by partners like Severna Park Church (Severna Park, MD) and Gayton Church (Henrico, VA) who contribute to this ministry in such practical ways!!  I will be wrapping up all of the required reviews in June and then we will have the rest of the summer off!!

 

To top off Mother’s Day week, we were able to host a wedding and reception for a couple we are trying to minister to here in Westernport.  Adam and Liz were joined together in marriage that Saturday.  The relationship with Adam is a long and winding story - starting with our rec. league basketball for adults, earlier profession of faith and baptism, continuing drug addiction, gang membership, incarceration, and now in recovery and back to participating with us here at BOC.  We were honored to bless Adam and Lizz and minister to them - may we never forget why we are here and what we are called to do!!  Please keep praying for Adam and Lizz and their walk with the Lord.  Also, praise the Lord for some wonderful people in our church family who continue to capture the vision of our calling here at BOC!!  We are blessed to be serving here among such wonderful people.

 

We received great news this month, thanks to our partnership with Elmore Baptist Association (Wetumpka, AL) and Pat Ingram (Alabama WMU), our church will again be able to distribute 350+ Christmas backpacks to our area later this year!!  The partnership for 2021 is now official and we look forward to reaching our community with the Gospel through this ministry again this year!!  Praise God for such wonderful and generous partners!!  

 

We also had a couple of other blessings this month in regards to recognition / publicity outside of our local region.  First, we were included in a wonderful article about the Christmas backpacks ministry and the partnerships they produce in The Alabama Baptist newspaper publication.  What an honor!!  In addition, we were blessed to have a blog that I had posted like FIVE years ago be reprinted and then published in an online magazine that focuses on youth and children ministries - www.churchleaders.com - this site gets 1.2 million views a month, so to be included on their site was a real honor!!!



Speaking of getting our message outside of our region, Bruce Outreach Center now officially has its own APP - free and available for download for both iPhone and Android.  Just follow this link and you can download it to your phone - subsplash.com/bruceoutreachcenter/app - please also help us spread the word if you know of anyone who wants to follow along!!  I am so grateful that I have my dear wife Leslie to handle all of this stuff - she actually makes us LOOK like we know what we’re doing - LOL!!

 

I was also able to spend a week in Alabama this month - probably the last time for a little while.  But, what a great week, as I was able to make new friends (Gateway Community Church in Lauderdale, MS, Strong Tower Church in Montgomery, AL, and Covington Baptist Association in Andalusia, AL); I was also able to develop a couple of wonderful new partnerships and was able to preach and share in two churches for the first time (Glynwood Baptist in Prattville, AL and First Baptist Church in Wetumpka, AL).  Of course, I was also able to touch base with other ongoing friends and partners while traveling in our home away from the home state of Alabama!!  Praise the Lord!!  Thank you to everybody there for their warmth, hospitality, support, friendship, and ongoing partnership!!

 

We are looking forward to June as well - we will honor our graduates and celebrate our fathers!!  We will also welcome friends from Fearless Church in Dayton, OH as they continue to work on our cycle-breaking apartments ministry.  If you are looking for a place for your church to serve this summer, please do not hesitate to contact me and we can brainstorm and pray together!!  I am also looking forward to being home for most of the month - focusing on our ministries right here at home.  Please pray for me as I will be on the road for two days later this month in Ohio (Fearless Church) and Illinois (visiting some long-time friends of the ministry).

 

In regards to our roof situation, there is still no new information - still waiting on prices of lumber to fall and are keeping any donations given towards this project in our savings designated just for this project. We are grateful for brother Kenny, who is lending us his expertise on flat roofs to help us nurse this roof through another winter!!  If you have any questions or want to get more information about this project, please let me know.

 

I believe that’s it for this month - a full and productive one for the Kingdom!!  We pray that things are looking up for y’all as well as we all come out of this very difficult and strange time we have all experienced in our nation.  You have all been in our prayers - as individuals, families, businesses, and churches!!

 

Leslie and I really don’t know how we’d make it out here without each of you praying, giving, sending, and encouraging like y’all do!!  Please know how much we appreciate each of you - your sacrifice, your faithfulness, and your generosity.  Please let us know how we can encourage and pray for you!!  What a joy it is to be in partnership with each of y’all!!

 

Your Partners in the Harvest,




Steffan and Leslie Carr