Summer in the City

Dear Family in Christ,

We are blessed this summer to have 3 sets of co-laborers! Any and all service offered is such a blessing as it expands our capabilities to impact both the church body and the communities around us here in Edmonton.

Returning Labourers
At the end of June a family that had visited us last July returned for a week of blessed reunion, fellowship, prayer, ministry and good plain fun. We were so thankful for the heart of this couple who so willingly invested their time and resources to coming to support us and the church here. The Lord permitted us to team up and minister to people in ways we could not have done just with the two of us. Christ was preached, His Word was received, people were encouraged, challenged, and one made a commitment to follow Jesus and receive His salvation! This was an incredible gift to have this family return and we all felt the boost spiritually, mentally and even physically, despite long days and late nights.

Team 1
At the end of this month we will have two teams visiting us. The first group is coming up for a weekend of outreach from our own backyard at Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel in Calgary. Several brothers are offering themselves to go out on the streets and do one-on-one evangelism with Dejan. They also plan to stay the night and join us for Sunday service, which is always an encouragement to the body.

Team 2
The second team is coming from our home church in Pocatello. They will be in the city for about 6 days, with a multi-faceted outreach. The first weekend of August in Alberta every year is a 3-day weekend with a special festival called Heritage Fest. It is the largest festival hosted by the city, when all of the countries represented in the city showcase their culture; over 80 nations converging on one of the largest parks. This festival is typically attended by more than 300,000 people over the three days, and it is an excellent opportunity to "go into all the world" without travelling around the globe! The team will be there for evangelism throughout the bulk of the festival.  Additionally, we will be having a baptism and the team will participate in the Sunday service. We are always blessed by the group that comes up from Idaho, and we are greatly anticipating what the Lord is going to do this summer.

Prayer Requests
Please keep us and the church in prayer. Many are coming and going with the warm weather. Many are absent due to work and travel. There are hurting hearts and needs, just like in any church, and our desire is that our part of the body of Christ here in Edmonton will have each member doing its share, ministering to and building each other up, just as Jesus desires. We are not able to meet everyone's needs, though we very much love each person in this group of believers.

Please, of course, pray for the teams who will be joining us, July 23-24th and July 28th-August 2nd; for their safety in travel, for God to use them, speak through them, grant them boldness and times of sweet fellowship with Him.

Lord willing, we will be able to post some updates and photos of the summer in the coming weeks. Until then, we are so blessed and encouraged by all of the prayers offered on our behalf for these things. We couldn't be here without God's call and His vision, but He is using you to supply in so many practical ways, especially in prayer.

In the love of Jesus,
Dejan and Julie