On Saturday, May 14th we made our first efforts to minister to the Inglewood Garden Homes rental community in Robertsdale, Alabama. As we have stated, it is our goal to start small groups in as many communities in Baldwin County that we can. In the past couple of months, God has really started opening doors in our area to do just that. We have had this rental community in our radar for about 2 months now, and in these past 2 months we have been working with the manager of this community to establish a presence within this community. Every step of the way God has went before us and prepared the way.
The inglewood rental community is home to approximately 400 people. Of these 400 people, over 30 families (with about 100 children) showed up for the fun day. We set up an inflatable water slide, an inflatable obstacle course, and an inflatable bounce town. We also served smores and hot dogs. Each child had to check in at our table, where we had the parents fill out a waiver and a survey. Throughout the day we were able to establish many relationships with the parents and grandparents within this community. Through our surveys 17 different families asked for bible study, 18 asked for an after-school program, 15 asked for a mother’s day out, and 8 asked for adult training classes in financial management, relationships, recovery, etc. There are enough people to start a church right there at Inglewood!
Not only did God bless us by opening so many doors within the Inglewood community, but He also blessed us by providing so many volunteers to help with this event. We want to extend a special thank you to Fountain of Faith Baptish Church out of Creola, Alabama (a BMAA church in neighboring Mobile County), who brought 12 people to help. We would also like to thank the members of the small group in Daphne/Spanish Fort and the small group in Gulf Shores that were able to make it. In all, we had over 25 volunteers to help make this event happen!
We will be returning to Inglewood two times this month and we will hopefully have a bible study going by the end of the summer. All the praise goes to God for opening these doors! In addition to Inglewood, it appears that we are about to make headway into an Apartment Complex in Spanish Fort as well as one in Gulf Shores. We will be hosting a similar event in Spanish Fort at the end of this month, and prayerfully one in Gulf Shores by the end of July. I will keep you updated by this website and our FB page as these events take place. As always, thank you very much for all of your prayer and support.
Also, please feel free to visit our FB page for pictures. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pier-59-Project/125625327460635
John Koonce