Hope you had a great one.  We had one of our best in years.

The highlights:

– Took family ice skating and skiing in the surprisingly nice mountains of North Carolina.  (Where else but Charlotte can you drive 2 hours to go skiing or 2 hours to go to the beach?  OK, California.  But we don’t have to worry about earthquakes, wild fires, smog, or traffic.  So there!)

–  Had a wonderful Christmas with Marla and the boys back home.  Good times, abounding in thankfulness for our Savior.

–  Marla’s parents dropped by for a very nice visit.

–  We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends here in Charlotte.  Many of you came to our International Christmas Party.  What a blast that was!  The dream of a loving multi-ethnic group of passionate followers of Christ is becoming a reality.

–  But perhaps the highlight of the Christmas season was seeing 5 precious people make decisions for Christ at the Christmas Service of our dear friends at the Vietnamese Christian Assembly of God.  Pastor Timothy, Pastor Stephan, and the church are doing a wonderful job sharing the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  It was a real honor to be invited to be a part of it.  I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than to share the message of Christ’s birth: it truly is “good news of great joy for all the people” (Luke 2:10)

What a beautiful time we shared on Saturday at our International Christmas Party!

By our counts, there were about 75 people from 13 nations celebrating with us!

It was just a foretaste of what heaven will be like, where we will worship our Savior with people from every nation, tribe, and people.  (However, I expect heaven will feel less crowded than our bursting-at-the-seams house.  On the other hand, the international cuisine we shared might rival what we’ll partake of in heaven!)

Here’s a link to some pictures on our Renaissance Church facebook page.  Have you joined yet?

We had a great time this weekend distributing turkeys and groceries to under-resourced families in the Charlotte area.  We were able to serve 11 families (over 60 people).  Many told us that they were desperate, wondering where the money was going to come from to pay for a family celebration this Thanksgiving.   We are so glad that we were able to help meet their physical needs in the name of our Savior.  We also had the opportunity to minister the love, life, and hope of Jesus Christ to every family.  Many received prayer.  Several Bibles were given away.

I want to offer sincere thanks to all of you who made this Renaissance outreach possible.   Thanks to our volunteers.  Thank you again to those of you who gave.  And thanks to Nova*s Bakery for donating fresh bread.

I’m thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving.  Having the privilege of witnessing so many smiles this weekend is one of them.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Renaissance Church was hopping today.  Bouncing all over the place.  Going bananas.

Yes, I’m talking about our day at Monkey Joe’s.

The children we sponsored all had a great time.  Thanks to those of you who made it possible through your generosity of time and resources (including the folks at Monkey Joe’s).

Just another day of expressing our faith through love!

For lots more pictures (on Facebook), Click here

The fun and excitement of our first Mega Sports Camp is over.  What a week!  God’s love touched 45 children and their parents.  Several made decisions to follow Jesus Christ.  And everyone had a lot of fun!

We received so much great feedback from the children and parents.  This was just the beginning of what God wants to do in our neighborhoods in south Charlotte.

Thanks again to our wonderful friends at the Vietnamese Christian Assembly of God who helped us so much.  And to our wonderful volunteers – Katie, Rod, Cindy, Chuck, and Gloria.  This camp simply would not have happened without all of you.

Notice the double rainbow in the picture above?  It seems almost every day of camp, the skies threatened rain.  People would call every evening asking, “Are we having camp?  It looks like it’s going to rain.”  We were determine to have camp, even if it poured.  But it never did.  A couple of nights it sprinkled briefly, but each time we prayed that God would hold back the rain – at least over Archdale park.  And every night camp went off without a hitch.  The double rainbow seems like a visual confirmation of God’s blessing on our efforts.  After all, Jesus told us, “Whoever welcomes a little child in my name, welcomes me.”

Click the link below to see all the photos from camp on our Renaissance Church facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=91017415714&view=user#/photo_search.php?oid=91017415714&view=all

Last night was a great start to the MEGA Sports Camp. Basketball, soccer, and cheerleading were big hits with the kids.

4 more big nights!

Renaissance Church has been sending out teams into neighborhoods, hanging fliers door-by-door.  We’re inviting children to our Mega Sports Camp outreach next week.  It’s a sports-themed VBS which we are offering free of charge.

{Email us if you want volunteer to help out.  If you want to register your child, there are fliers and sign-up forms here.}

We think the best way to build a church is by reaching out to people, helping them as much as we can, building relationships, and helping them take steps towards God.  We want to let entire neighborhoods know that Renaissance Church cares – and that we want to help in every way we can.  We do it for Jesus, we do it in the name of Jesus, and we do it in the power of Jesus.  Our prayer is that He will transform entire neighborhoods.

Jesus said, whoever welcomes a little child in His name, welcomes Him.

That thought makes the whole thing more than worthwhile.

I took Bryan and Steven fishing for the first time last weekend. It was my first time since childhood, as well.

Before this camp I was feeling very distant from the Lord, but the
first day i felt this feeling that i cannot describe. I felt something
like circulating inside of me, and all the hairs on my body stood up.
I felt the Lord’s presence, and it was good. I repented and I felt
like a whole new person. The Lord put me back on the right track,
because before the camp, I was walking the wrong way. I feel revived
and ready to serve Him once again. I thank Pastor Kurt for preaching
to us, and Pastor Marla for leading us in worship, it was great and I
learned much.
-Bao

God did alot to me at camp. he raised my spirit so high that tears
shed down my face. He made me realized that if i follow his ways ill
be a better man in this life.
-Anonymous

Overcoming camp, Pastor Kurt and Pastor Stephan had help me build my
relationship with God stronger. i was able to reborn by Pastor Kurt,
and other pastor. i 4 got their name. (that means he decided to follow
Jesus and experienced spiritual rebirth.)
-Tai

I learned that your sins can be forgiven by God. Once you cry tears
for the Lord you should not take it for granted but you need to bring
yourself towards him. He is powerful and has been watching you from
the day you were born and that you need to be devoted to him. I just
wanted thank God everyday from the time I was born till now that I’m
grateful. Once you give yourself to him its like setting your spirit
free and it feels very good. I thank Pastor Kurt for his preaching and
blessings. I also thank you for the lovely time a camp and all the
worshipping and fun we had.
-Diana

I just want to thank Pastor Kurt and Pastor Marla for coming out to
preach and help us learn more about God. You guys made a difference to
those people that hasn’t experienced God well. The teen youth is very
appreciative and hopeful that you guys will visit us someday. :] God
Bless.
-Betty

Before camp, God never played an important front seat role in my life.
I was often prone to ‘do this’ or ‘do that’ because I knew I was a
Christian and that’s what Christians do. But camp has taught me that
there’s more to being Christian than just going through the same
procedure of praying, going to church and worshipping God. I learned
that being more intimate with God is what He wants and that in doing
so, I can deepen my love for Him in a way I never though possible
until now. During camp, God has taught me not to be afraid of what
might be ahead because I know that He will always be right there with
me. I’ve also learned to never be afraid to ask for God’s forgiveness
or help because that’s what he wants us to do. God has allowed me to
meet a group of incredibly amazing people that have helped me connect
and worship Him in a way I’ve never done before. And I’m extremely
thankful for this. Thank you so much Pastor Kurt and Pastor Marla for
coming and helping us become more intimate and learn more about God.
If it wasn’t for you two, I would still be the that girl who has never
experienced the true love of God and what he has in store for us.
- Bobbie

After the camp, i feel a revival in my relationship with God. I feel like i grew closer with him again…
-Pat

I had a great time hanging with the folks from the Vietnamese
Christian Assembly last week. While we’ve been planting Renaissance
Church, we’ve become friends with Pastor Timothy, Pastor Stephan, and
many of the great people at this church. I think the reason why we’ve
struck such a fast friendship is that they are so Kingdom-minded.

They asked me to be the speaker at their youth camp, and it was a
pleasure. God really moved, and the young people were great. I spoke
on intimacy with God. On the last day, several made first-time
commitments to Christ, and there were many more serious re-
dedications. Almost everyone was very touched by the Holy Spirit, and
many youths were weeping in the presence of the Lord.

And of course, we had a lot of fun, too. We even ate well! Who knew
you could make good Vietnamese food at a camp site?

Check out the blog above, “Awesome Testimonies from Camp” to read what the Vietnamese youth were saying about the camp.