Del Sol Northeast prayer update

Here's the latest update on the Northeast campus:

- The principal and some of the office staff at Dr. Nixon ES are back on duty today, so I called this morning to see if I could setup an appointment to meet with the principal this week, but he can’t meet with me until next Tuesday afternoon. That’s kind of a bummer because that’s during my vacation time, but I’ll have to meet with him during that time because this is something that can’t wait; I need to know ASAP if we’ll be able to meet at Dr. Nixon or if I need to find another place for us to meet. I believe God’s in control and is working things out, but I just need to know what the next step is here so I can coordinate some things for the launch.

- So right now, even though the principal’s back in the office, I’m still in the waiting room (so to speak) when it comes to having a meeting location nailed down. Right now I’m going ahead in faith that we will be able to meet there and in my mind, that’s what I’m thinking about.

- I’ve spent some time this week, and am meeting with my staff tonight, to work out the specifics of what we’ll do to promote and advertise the NE campus in the next couple of months. We’re talking through mail-outs, flyers, radio spots, online advertising on Facebook and MySpace, and doing lots of outreach events to let people know about Del Sol Northeast by serving them. I’m especially excited about one of the events we’re planning to do – offering free gift wrapping at the Walmart in the Northeast on a Saturday in December. I haven’t worked that out with the store manager yet but if we can do that, I think it’ll be a great way to show God’s love in a practical way, and to promote the NE campus.

- In the midst of all this, I’ve been dealing with some health issues that have been bothering me. I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately, I’ve been having some sour stomachs, and the biggest issue is that I’ve been having tremendous pain in both knees the past week and a half. I’ve been in physical therapy and after a month of it, this morning the therapist told me things had not been going well and that I need to see my doctor again. When I last saw my doctor, he said the next step is to do MRI’s and after that, we’re looking at the possibility of surgery (which is also something the therapist mentioned might have to be the next step).

- Of course, all that’s a big distraction and discouragement and it makes working and thinking difficult - but it’s also driven me to be in a place of total surrender and totally begging God for help and strength and courage. I’ve constantly been having the attitude that if this NE campus is going to happen, He’s gonna have to be the one who makes it happen and He’s gonna be the one to get the glory for it, because there’s no way it could be me making it happen.

- As I mentioned above, my vacation time is almost here; I’ll be on vacation from this Friday, July 24^th to Monday, August 3^rd. I’ll be in town the first few days, but I’ll be going out to Dallas with a couple of teenage guys from the church during the latter part of my time off. We’ll leave El Paso on Thursday the 30^th and come back on Monday the 3^rd.

Here's how you can pray this week:

1. I’ve been asking for several weeks, but I’ll ask again: please pray specifically for favor, understanding, and openness with the principal at Dr. Nixon. It seems that the assistant principal, office manager, and office staff are all excited to have us meet there, so I pray and hope and trust God that their excitement, combined with all our prayer, will do a work in the principal so that he’ll allow us to meet there. Please keep praying about this issue.

2. Please pray for my health – for my sleep cycle, for my digestive health, and for my knees. I really don’t want to even entertain the thought of surgery, and I don’t even want to begin to think about what could be causing the sleep/digestive issues. Honestly, I feel like my body is fighting against me. Please pray for me about all this.

3. Ask God to raise up all the volunteers that we need to be a fully functioning campus, and to guide me as I approach other Kingdom-minded churches and businesses to raise the rest of the money we need to cover all of our expenses to launch this campus well.


Thanks for your prayers - I truly believe they make a big difference.