Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Church Renovations & Neighborhood Transformations!


Greetings! We are so excited to have the opportunity to share with you all that God is doing in Richmond, CA.

Extreme Makeover, Gym Edition! {Before & After}

As we began to pray about intentional ways that the church could connect with the community, the leadership at Living Hope felt led to seek the Lord for ways to renovate our gym area. Specifically, we needed to improve the gym floor for safety for the children, to have the ability to play basketball, and to host outreach events.

Living Hope's Gym Floors {before}

After much prayer and through the sacrificial giving efforts of the church and anonymous donors, we were able to make the change! We have been so blessed to already see the impact of the change in our neighborhood. 

Living Hope's Gym Floor {After}

Extreme Makeover, Backyard Edition!

Our desire is for our home to be a place where people feel loved and have the opportunity to connect with Jesus and one another. We began to see how creating a space in our backyard would be a great step toward continuing to make this happen. Though we knew we didn’t have the finances to make this happen, we continued to ask the Lord to provide for this if He thought that this would be a wise decision for us. As a result of an unexpected financial blessing after a speaking engagement, we were able to invest in this dream. 

After about four weeks of hard work and the project management of Reggie Gillespie, we were able to achieve our goal. We are so thankful for the opportunity to invest in our neighborhood and this church-owned property in this way. 

D.I.Y. Backyard Progress Report {Top left: before; bottom right: after!}
Soon after its completion, we were able to host 16 teens and leaders for a time of reflection and s’mores! Please continue to pray that we can use this new space as a bridge to build community with our neighbors and teenagers in our area.

Youth bonfire... just one of the many gatherings already happening in the new backyard

Sight For Sore Eyes!

One of our biggest desires is to meet felt needs in our community. The lack of eye care in our area is one of those needs. We have encountered so many individuals in our neighborhood that desire to read and study the Bible but simply can’t see well. Also, we know that issues with our eyes can sometimes be indicators of greater health issues that we need to be aware of. 

As a result of a partnership with Christian Layman Church in Oakland, Living Hope was blessed with the opportunity to host a free eye screening for Richmond and the surrounding areas on July 16-19th. There were 466 individuals that were able to have their eyes screened and, if needed, they received FREE GLASSES. 

At the eye screening, prayer was offered for every individual who desired intercession.

This outreach was a huge success in meeting a tangible need in our community and providing our church the opportunity to connect with many individuals in our surrounding neighborhoods. In the two weeks following the event, we’ve seen an increased amount of interest in the church, and more importantly, the Jesus that would compel us to do a work like this!

Children of Richmond being served.


Monique getting her eyes examined 


Below is a slideshow of the event. You may not recognize it with all the sheet dividers, but the main screenings took place in our newly renovated gym. Look closely and you'll see that the blessing of new floors was put to use immediately. To God be all glory. 



Welcome To The Neighborhood!

The Lord is certainly doing a work in Richmond. We are fortunate to be a part of it and it is always exciting when He continues to confirm this work. The Lord has led 3 families to live in and serve the city of Richmond while attending Living Hope Neighborhood Church. A few weeks ago, Reggie and Kim Gillespie {who we introduced in July}, along with little Enoch, made the move across the country from Spring Hill, TN in faith believing that the Lord has called them west. Just this week, Brian and Ebony Lovely, with their children Canaan and Gabrielle made the same cross country move! 

The Lovely's
Lastly, Jeff and Soha Leach, with children Mya and Naomi, moved from San Ramon, CA to be a part of the Richmond community. 
The Leach Family
Last month's newsletter addressed a need for more leaders to help with the harvest and look what God has done already! We are all excited to see what the Lord is going to do in our community as a result of the faith steps of these wonderful friends and followers of Christ! 

Your Support Matters!

We are extremely grateful for the love and support that you provide for us as we continue to move forward in obedience in Richmond. Your prayer and encouragement has sustained us through times of trial and difficult circumstances. Your financial support has provided an opportunity for us to live and do the work of the ministry in Richmond. If you’d like to learn more about how you can support us through prayer or finances, please contact us (or click here)

Sincerely,

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Welcome to Our New Blog!

Hi Everyone!

We’ve been living in California for almost a year now and there’s so much exciting news! In an effort to keep everyone in the loop with all that's happening in our family and ministry, we decided to start a blog together. We will be posting our monthly updates here. 



(Here's our "We're so excited you visited our new website that we're about to break out in song and dance" picture.)
First things first, thank you for your continued support through prayer and provision.  The Lord is at work in our midst and we are seeing beautiful stories unfold. The following are just a few…

First up, The Church Gym Renovation:

Well, it's no secret that our church building is a bit of a dinosaur. Thank God the Holy Spirit is at work regardless of the condition of our architecture. However, we are constantly running into to the challenges that come with an old facility. One of those challenges was our church gym. The floors were falling apart and lifting up in many areas. It was a total lawsuit waiting to happen. In spite of the obstacles at hand, we have been dreaming BIG about opening the gym regularly for youth outreach events. 

Of course our biggest obstacle has been the financial need. So we prayed. And God answered!! 100% of the amount needed to renovate the gym came in, and we got started right away! Volunteers gathered to tear up the old floors, and paint the walls to give the gym a little D.I.Y. love. The new floors have arrived and we hope to have them installed sometime this week.


More on that to come. But in the meantime, here's a quick glimpse of the progress (with commentary by Pastor Dave):


(If you cannot see the video above, click here)

Secondly, Discipleship Groups:

Our church’s vision and mission is to Make Disciples of Jesus Christ. In an effort to be about what we talk about, we recently launched a new small group model with Francis Chan and David Platt's  Multiply Movement. (Visit www.multiplymovement.com for more information.) This new curriculum has been so wonderful. Our small groups consist of 6-8 people each. We meet in homes and gather around the table to discuss what it means to follow Jesus, grow in our understanding of the word, and spread the Gospel to all nations (starting in our own backyard).

(Francis Chan in a session video for Multiply Movement)
True to its name, the Multiply Movement has already been spreading around our church and more people desire to join small groups. At this time, we don’t have enough leaders to facilitate all the people who want to join. Now that’s a GREAT problem to have! We're discussing the possibility of having some of the current leaders facilitate multiple small groups while we train up new leaders to take over in the future. But it’s all good! People are hungry for growth and change in their lives and in our city. It’s beautiful.

Third, A New Job for Monique:

Another exciting tidbit of information is that I just got a new job with Abolition International! I will be working as a public advocate and church partnership coordinator for the organization. It’s part time, which is perfect for me in this season, and it’s something I’m passionate about.


Abolition International works to end human trafficking and stop the exploitation of women and children around the world. Not only do we raise awareness, we have partnered with international safe houses to help in the healing process. We have an accreditation program, which helps  these homes to keep the highest standards of quality for former victims, restoring hope and rebuilding dreams. You can learn more about this organization by visiting www.abolitioninternational.org. Also, follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/abolitionintl

Lastly, God is Calling Out More Missionaries!

We are so excited to announce that our good friends Reggie and Kim Gillespie, along with their precious-little-model-of-a-baby, Enoch, have been called to join us in ministry here. It has been incredible to watch them walk in faith, believing God for every provision as they obey Him. God has equipped them with amazing gifts that will be vital to our work at Living Hope Neighborhood church. Woohoo!!   



Whew! That was a lot of updates! And trust us when we say there are more to come! Feel free to subscribe to this family/ministry blog if you wish.


P.S. To view our July prayer requests and praise reports, please visit the right hand column of our blog. Thanks for joining us in prayer!  


Until next time, 


The Zackery's