KC Church Plant News, April Update

[ariell...@gmail.com]

I proved once and for all that I am an optimist-at-heart by picking KU
to win back-to-back NCAA titles this year. It didn't happen (wait
until next year), but we still had milestones to celebrate last month.
In rapid-fire form, here's what happened.

Ruth Schmidt, one of our team members, beat out 300 other applicants
for a paid internship at a prestigious downtown company. To paraphrase
her reaction, "This was a miracle that God pulled off!" Now she'll
have the opportunity to work in the area we are serving.

We had our big work day at the Arts Incubator, one of the anchor
galleries/studio spaces in the Crossroads District downtown. Assisted
by volunteers from Cornerstone Community Church, our team got to know
some artist-tenants who worked with us. We're developing a solid
connection with the Incubator, and the director there has invited us
to use their event space for meetings.

The Leedy-Voulous Gallery is another influential gallery in the
Crossroads District, and we saw the beginnings of a partnership form
there, as several of our team members jumped in to help out with some
last-minute preparations for First Friday.

In addition, we're taking steps to forge a connection with the West
Side Community Action Center by downtown, and discovering new
opportunities to get involved. Our goal is to begin serving now,
living transparently, and giving people a chance to see our heart for
the city, even before we start public services this fall.

I preached at DeSoto Community Church, eagerly accepting at invitation
from friend and fellow church planter Matt Maestas to tackle a very
simple, easy, and straightforward sermon topic: the entire life of
Jacob (ha ha). Our team drove out to DeSoto, and I enjoyed the chance
to preach in front of a very friendly crowd. As we look ahead to
services in the fall, opportunities to work on my preaching game are
always welcome.

On the tech front, Crossroads Church now has a web presence,
CrossroadsChurchKC.com. You'll also find a growing photo gallery on
Flickr and several members of our team on Twitter—both are integrated
in the site. If you have no clue what I just said, don't worry about
it. Just wear your Luddite badge with pride.

Finally, there have been developments with the building on the West
Side, the place we have been praying about as a home and ministry
staging area. At the risk of confusion, here's what has happened since
our last update:
We'd learned that lenders are requiring 25% down on all multi-unit
buildings, of which this is one. End of story? Seemed like it, until a
lender told us we could route our loan through the Federal Housing
Administration, qualifying for a very low down payment. No way,
seriously?! Then, as we developed and signed a contract, we learned
that FHA loans have a cap amount. Uh oh. Long story short, if the
building appraises over the loan cap, we will need to come up with the
difference in cash. As I write this, we are waiting to hear back from
the appraisal company…so around here, we are eating a lot of Easter
candy and pretending to be calm.

Please pray that God will get us inside the right place at the right
time for the right price. We're trusting him to provide a great home.
All the more so because…

Our family is about to get bigger! I'll wrap this up by announcing
that BOY # 3 is on the way, due in August. And it's about time, since
Aidan and Asher are getting tired of fighting only each other, Lindsay
needed a third protective son in her posse, and I am now just one
player away from completing my family basketball team. We're pumped!

Thanks for reading our updates, praying for us and our team, and
loving Jesus. As always, don't hesitate to get in touch with prayer
requests or ideas or just to catch up.

Peace,

AJ (Ariel) & Lindsay

http://CrossroadsChurchKC.com
816-810-2244
ariell...@gmail.com