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Miller Family Church Planting Update

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:43:22 +0100

Hi [firstname],

It has been quite some time since I sent out a church planting update. In the past months, God has done great things in the midst of big challenges.

The biggest praise I can share is that this past summer we baptized 11 people. This baptism reflected 2 years of building relationships and sowing the seed of the Gospel. The fruit of our labor has been well worth it. If you like, you can see a video I made and posted on my blog.

http://www.morethancake.org/2009/08/beyond-the-grave-a-celebration-of-life.html

The Miller family has also gone through our share of health troubles and financial battles, but the story told by the lives of our church family make them all worth the struggle.

As we move forward, we face the same economic trials as many in our church... loss of income, loss of a home... the increase of debt... the list goes on. I have been working many jobs doing web design, substitute teaching and currently selling Logos Bible Software to pick up the shortfall from our support.

As a past supporter of our ministry calling, I am writing today to ask your prayerful consideration of a one-time gift that will help our family catch up on some debts and bridge the gap until I can secure more permanent income. If you are able, please send your support as the Lord leads to the following:

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360

Please mention, "Miller Family Love Gift" in the memo.

Thanks and God bless,
Joe

Happenings at Reunion Church

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:26:15 +0100

Praise God for several salvations and recommittments of faith to Christ.
Several of our church families have been hit with some financial difficulties and with some health problems. Please pray for everyone at Reunion.
Pray for our move into the new facility that all will go well. We also need prayer for our Children's ministry workers and for new volunteers.

Reunion Home Page
Orting MOPS

The Committed Leader Stands Firm Until The End
7 Conditions for Interfaith Dialogue
Does Size Matter?
Parable of the American Ki ngdom
Fall (a poem)

Hi [firstname]
It has been a long, and fun, summer, but now we are back in the swing of things for the fall.

Reunion has gone through a lot of changes in these past months and I wanted to take the time to share some of what has been happening.

After more than a year and a half of sowing seeds, we have begun to see a harvest of salvations. In the past few months, we have had about a half-dozen people pray to receive Christ. There is still a lot of ministry ahead to help these friends grow in faith, but I am so excited to see the fruit of our labor begin to ripen.

Our summer was a bit crazy for our Sunday Conversation. We could no longer meet in the school building due to construction. We moved into homes for the summer. It was a great time of bonding for our group. We were not able to contract with the school for the fall, so now we are meeting at a nice building, for low cost, in nearby Frontier Park in Graham. We are meeting here through December, and will explore our options with the school for January.

Suzanne is busy again with MOPS and they just had their first meeting. It continues to be a great outreach to non-Christian moms and we are praying for continued opportunities to share the Gospel.

Finally, I need to ask everyone of our friends and family for some help. The recent financial crisis has hit hard in our church family. Suzanne has started working part time at the YMCA and I am trying to get my certification to substitute teach in the schools. While we are working to restore some financial stability, I wanted to ask you [firstname] if you would consider making a 12 month commitment to help Suzanne and I continue our ministry. Gifts of $10, $25, or $50 / month would be a huge blessing at this time.

I have attached a form to this newsletter that you can print and send in to us.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support [firstname]

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Keeping in Touch with the Millers

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:52:10 +0100

Hi [firstname],

We send out our regular newsletters, but Suzanne and I would love to hear from you. If you want to keep in touch with Suzanne, then please feel free to join her on MySpace. Request her as a friend and you can see family photos and updates you may otherwise not get from our newsletters.

If you would like to stay connected with me, Joe, then you can request me as a friend on Facebook which is the tool I use to stay connected with friends and family.

God bless and keep in touch.
Joe

Happenings at Reunion Church

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:07:32 +0100

Pray that our summer plans, events, and meetings help us grow as a Family and enable us to experience the love of God in meaningful ways.
Several of our church families have been hit with some financial difficulties and with some health problems. Please pray for everyone at Reunion.
Pray that our Summer 3 on 3 tournament is a great success in connecting with our community and that we can find a way to bring in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Reunion Home Page
Orting MOPS

Doing Church in a Golden Thong
The Earth is Flat and the Globe is Warming
Homosexuality: Is it in the Jeans or in the Genes?
The Integrous Leader Is Worthy Of Being Followed
A Mother's Day Poem
Top Questions on Dating & Relationships - Part 2
Top Questions on Dating & Relationships - Part 1
The DNA of Church - Incarnation
The DNA of Church - Accountability
Thou Shalt Not!!!
The DNA of Church - Commitment
Momnesia
Social Justice and the Christian Church
Creation is Not Science
Doing Church Around Tables

Summer is officially here, even if it is still raining, and I am praying for some great things in the life of our Reunion Family!

We have some more good news from MOPS, and I will let you read about it from Suzanne.

At our very last MOPS session, we had 2 moms commit their lives to Christ and 2 moms re-commit their lives to Christ through Mops!! We are SO excited and thankful to see how God is using Mops in Orting. Thank you for your prayers. We are gearing up for the Fall with 18 people in place for leadership for next year. We still have quite a few unchurched moms in our group and new your prayers that they will come to know Jesus.

We also have a lot of exciting things happening this summer, but the most important is happening this Sunday. For the entire month of June the church will gather at our home in Hidden Lakes. We are going to have the Sunday service in our living room and Suzanne may even help lead some worship on the piano; if she can find the time to practice. We will be using our neighbor Geannie's home for the kids activities. We also have the playground and basketball courts for the kids after the service.

Since we are in a home setting, we would also like do some pot-luck / BBQ time after church for anyone who wants to stay. This will help everyone get a little more connected--especially our folks working with the kids (Yeah! Adult time and conversation!) If you are around [firstname], please feel free to join us!

Two other dates you may want to know, and pray about, are July 4th and August 22-24.

We are taking advantage of our access to the deVries farm and on Friday, August 22nd in the evening through Sunday, August 24th in the morning we are going to camp out and do our Sunday service at the farm. The weekend will include several events and activities for the whole family! This event is designed so that families/persons who don't want to camp overnight may go home and still have the option to return the next day to take part in the events offered.

We are also planning for our July 4th picnic during the day, and then folks can either go to a show for the evening or if everyone brings fireworks, or we may set-off some fireworks on the farm if allowed.

As always, you can keep track of stuff on our on-line calendar and we hope to hear from you soon.

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:32:24 +0100

Pray we find a new place to meet. We do not have the finances for much, but pray the Lord opens a door for a larger space to accommodate the people coming,
Pray that our Growth Groups would continue to draw in people and minister the life of Jesus Christ.
Praise God. Our MOPS groups has a home for this fall.
Praise God. The Miller Family was able to stay on the state insurance!
Pray that our Summer 3 on 3 tournament is a great success in connecting with our community and that we can find a way to bring in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Reunion Home Page
Orting MOPS

Doing Church Around Tables
The Integrous Leader Is Marked By Humility
The DNA of Church - Integrity
Sermons, Lies, and Videotapes
My 7 Year Old Evangelist
The DNA of Church - Faith
Paul's Letters Along the Way
I Am Not A Weak Mommy After All
Blind Foxes & Churchless Faith
China, Olympics, and Human Rights
Rethinking the terminology of "Spiritual Gifts."
Crossing the line...
We're Confused...

Praise God! There is no better way to start this update [firstname], then to say praise God!

We have had some great news over the past month and I wanted to share just a few things with you.

First, our MOPS group will have a place to meet this fall thanks to the generosity of the local Roman Catholic church. They have graciously donated the use of their building for the 70+ moms and kids in MOPS. We are so thankful and this is a huge relief for Suzanne as she plans for the fall. Just pray we can finish out the last 2 sessions with a place to meet; especially since the last session is where we make a direct present the Gospel to all the women who do not know Jesus.

We have also had some great weeks with our youth meetings on the farm. I will pass along to you this report I got from Dale who helps lead the teen study.

"WOW!!! That is all I can say. 16 kids this week sat for 1 � hours AGAIN, this time listening to Jerry Korum give a testimony that was AWESOME. That is two weeks back to back! So in the last 8 days these kids heard 3 hours of Truth from two wonderful speakers. You gotta love it!! J I wish you could all look on the kids faces as they sit their focused on every word that the speaker is saying, while they try to process the Truth they are hearing. It is a wonderful thing to sit and watch a real blessing. Isn�t God good to allow us to be a part of helping others see Truth!!! Have a great day and know that God is working in Kids lives here in the valley!!!!!"

I have been hard at work on the logo above, because this summer will feature an amazing opportunity to serve our community. I was asked by the Orting Chamber of Commerce to host a 3 on 3 basketball tournament during the Aug 18 Festival in the Park. This is going to be a blast and a great way for us to meet people. We are also planning to host an after-the-Festival speaker to come in and share the Gospel. We are praying for a big name sports figure to come and draw some crowds. If you are able to help in any way, let me know.

Finally, I wanted to say that this Sunday starts a brand new series on the book of Galatians. The theme for each week is "Broken Liberty.. Resounding Grace!"

Each week during the series we are going to dig into topics such as Social Justice, Global Warming, and Political Activism. We will put each of these into the context of the Gospel of Grace and discover together what it means to be a community that lives out the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Come join the conversation this Sunday 10:30 am at the Orting Middle School Library!. You may be surprised at what you discover!

God bless,

PS
Some folks have been asking why we meet at tables during our Sunday worship. I wrote a short article sharing some of our reasons for it. You can check it out on my blog www.MoreThanCake.org.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:04:34 +0100

Pray we find a new place to meet. We do not have the finances for much, but pray the Lord opens a door for a larger space to accommodate the people coming,
Pray that our Growth Groups would continue to draw in people and minister the life of Jesus Christ.
Pray for our MOPS groups that still is in search of a reliable place to meet.
Pray that Suzanne and Joe are able to stay on the State insurance, and if we are kicked off, pray that we can find the financial resources to buy insurance.

Reunion Home Page
Orting MOPS
Pastor Joe's Blog

Chronology of Acts and the Epistles � Part 2
Which Path Will You Take?
The DNA of Church - Part 1
Prayer is the playground for our dreams!
Awkward moments...
Bible Translation and Paradigm Standards
A Divine Identity - Part 5
A Divine Identity - Part 4
A Divine Identity - Part 3
Systems for a Viable Body
The Integrous Leader Knows The Way
Jehovah is not in the Bible!

Wow, this last Easter marked the One Year Anniversary for Reunion Church's launch of weekly services. I have to admit, for the first time in a long time, I was nervous. My biggest concern was not that something would go wrong; big or small, stuff can happen. My real concern was more about people. I was nervous that we would not be ready to welcome the new people and we would not demonstrate the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Reflecting back on Sunday, it was a huge success because my fears were not realized! We had several first time guests, and maybe even more importantly, we had about 12 people show up who were 2nd or 3rd time guests. Several people brought their families who are also looking for a church home.

We have maxed out the Library where we meet, and really need a bigger room for us to grow. That search has been extremely tough, but I know God will provide. In the meantime, we are meeting people at the point of their need and providing them with a place to enjoy God and grow together as a real Family.

Let me share with you some feedback from just one of the couples who worshiped with us for only for the second time.

What Did You Notice First?
    The friendliness of the people. How refreshing!! We chose to come to your Church on Easter because, as I told my husband, "I want to go somewhere the people are real and not hype".

What Did You Like Best?
    We like the table setup. My daughter goes to a church where she easily walks in and out and no one talks to her. With this type of setup all new people will be recognized and can't help but meet someone. Also the interchange between the people at the table is good for openess for Holy Spirit to speak into lives of people as you mentioned during the service.

What was your overall Impression?
    We came away feeling refreshed and pleased.

This is my definition of success. We are connecting people with God and they are seeing Reunion as a people with spiritual integrity.

Thank you to everyone who participates in the daily life of Reunion Church and also to everyone across the United States who prays for us. The ground is rough, the seed is hard to sow, but we are planting and reaping a harvest for His Kingdom!

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:54:58 +0100

Mattie's healing from his burns but now he must have surgery. Pray Heidi and Jason find strength and peace in Jesus Christ!
PWe are no longer in a position to purchase the Masonic Lodge, pray we find a good place to meet that is more conducive to growth.
Suzanne and I have been connecting with several new young couples that do not know Jesus. Pray they open up to the Gospel we are sharing with them at every opportunity.
Pray for our coming Easter service that we can draw in many of the people to whom we have been sharing Jesus.es.

Orting Reunion Home
MOPS

Joe's Blog "More Than Cake"

Jehovah is not in the Bible!
Reading the Bible for Life
Sublime Fatherhood
Pagan Conversations
A Divine Identity - Part 2
A Divine Identity - Part 1
Blind Foxes & Velvet Fences
When the Church Was A Family
Buying A Bible Translation
Truth And The Happy Lost
It Takes a Squirrel
Evangelizing the Happy-Lost
The Integrous Leader Builds God�s Kingdom Not A Personal Following
I Am Superman
When Love Conquers Compassion

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360
(253) 732-0954

God is doing some amazing things in the life of our people. The following email is from one woman who has been truly blessed through the Reunion Family.

My Bible along with the Word of God contains devotionals, one of which is called "The towel brigade". It is based on the passage found in John 13: 1-17.

In that passage Jesus, the Son of God, gets down on His knees to wash the dirty feet of His disciples�a job usually performed by the slave of the household.

Our Lord did not just wash the feet because they were dirty but because He wanted to lead by example. Jesus always led by example.. He wanted to show His disciples what serving others really meant. Jesus didn't just talk about it but took action.

A year ago I did not have a church to call my own, let alone consider them my family.

And look at me today, here I am cooking dishes and helping with bake sales for families in need alongside so many others and loving every minute of it! Not because it gives me a chance to brag about myself but because I can experience first hand how truly awesome our God is, how beautiful and rewarding it is to love people just the way they are and in whatever circumstance we may find them and through that to bring Glory to God.

To meet people where ever they are at in their life's journey and have the chance to find a need that I can help meet is so amazing to me because when I came to Reunion church I myself did not have a clear vision of where my journey with God might lead me but I remember like yesterday the night before my first visit to Reunion's Sunday Conversation I prayed that God may have a place for me there with a purpose no matter how small...

Look at us today, pulling together as a Church family supporting each other!

The Lord put it on my heart to share this with all of you and most of all to say thank you to all of you for being part of Reunion's Towel Brigade!

Blessings,

Marion

Seasons of blessing are often peppered with trails; and we are facing one now. Right after our last MOPS meeting, the owner of the building we used told us we were out. The reasons don't matter, because the end result is that our MOPS ministry of 70 moms and kids does not have a home. Here are just three comments that demonstrate what a blessing this ministry has been to so many ladies.

�When I moved to Orting, I didn�t know anyone and now I know lots of moms and I have fun things to do�
�I have been quite isolated and afraid of making new friends. This is a very comfortable place to start�
"I love being here and just want to say thank you guys for having this group in Orting!"

We would hate to see this outreach stopped, but our next meeting is less than a week away, and we are scrambling to find a place to accommodate our moms and kids. We have extremely limited resources and not many options in our city. Please pray that God provides a way for us to keep this ministry going. We are reaching a lot of unchurched and non-Christian moms and we would hate to lose these opportunities to minister Christ to folks who otherwise wont go to Church.

God Bless & Thanks for your prayers!

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:20:58 +0100

Mattie's healing from his burns. Also pray Heidi and Jason find strength and peace in Jesus Christ!
Pray we find wisdom, discernment as we pursue this opportunity to purchase the Masonic Lodge.
Suzanne and I have been connecting with several new young couples that do not know Jesus. Pray they open up to the Gospel we are sharing with them at every opportunity.
We have had a couple tough months of low support, so please pray God's provision for our finances.

Orting Reunion Home
MOPS

Joe's Blog "More Than Cake"

When Love Conquers Compassion
Life is Waiting
Blind Foxes & Shifting Sands
Chronology of Acts and the Epistles
Lessons From Pleasantville
Top 10 Blogs of 2007
You Can Understand God's Word
The Year of The Husband

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360
(253) 732-0954

She walks her son down the long hospital hallway. People scurry about and take no notice of the suffering mother and child. Mattie holds firmly to his mom; in part to keep his balance, but mostly he wants to feel her warm hands in his own. �I�m tired mom. Please, I want to sit down;� but she does not let her son stop. He has to keep walking. He must exercise his limbs or his body will not heal. Only two days earlier Mattie was burned when a pot of boiling water was knocked from the stove; severely injuring his arm and leg. Pain now fills Mattie�s three-year-old body, but his mother�s love must force her son to walk. It takes every ounce of strength to resist the urge to pick up her son, to hold him, to comfort him, and to let him sit in his little red wagon. If Mattie is to recover from his burns, love must conquer compassion. Holding back the tears, a mother�s love must force her son to experience suffering. Healing is on the other side of pain.

Where are you along life's path? Do you hurt? Does no one stop to notice your pain? In the darkest moments, you cry out to your god, �Where are you now! If you are real� if you are really loving� Where are you now when I need you the most!� Anger is a constant companion. Sorrow seems like the only escape from depression.

Only when your �god� becomes Father will you understand. Only when you experience a love that forces you to walk will you know rest. You must pass through the agony before the ultimate healing comes. Step after painful step; hold firm to the warm hand of the Father and know true love that conquers compassion.

The words above are from the most recent post on my blog, More Than Cake. I share this with you [firstname] because I am seeking your prayer and support for the Bekken family. We just got word last night that Mattie's arm is not healing well and the doctors may need to operate on his elbow. There are some very serious complications for this young boy, so please take time to pray for him.

If you would like to get more frequent prayer updates, then you can sign up on-line using our Reunion Prayer Center.

Being a church is also about caring for the physical needs of our spiritual Family. If you would like to give some financial help to the Bekken's then please send a check to Reunion Church, see the address on the left panel, with a note in your memo line that says, "Help Mattie." We will be sure to pass this support along. We are also doing a bake sale in two weeks at the local Wal-Mart. If you would like to be a part, you can get details on our website calendar.

Ultimately, this is why I am planting Reunion Church. The opportunity to fulfill the love of Jesus Christ, to bear the burdens of our fellow believer, and so be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need. Thank you for your support and for helping "be" church with us!

God Bless

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:33:05 +0100

Pray we find wisdom, discernment as we pursue this opportunity to purchase the Masonic Lodge.
Suzanne and I have been connecting with several new young couples that do not know Jesus. Pray they open up to the Gospel we are sharing with them at every opportunity.
Pray for

Orting Reunion Home
MOPS

Joe's Blog "More Than Cake"

The Year of The Husband
Jesus the Sissy-Shepherd
A Wooded Glen
Metrospirituality And �Self� As The Object Of Pleasure
Thy "Will" Be Done
Bitter Rain
Suffering And The Meaning of Christmas

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360
(253) 732-0954

Happy New Year [firstname]

I think 2008 will be exciting for the people of Reunion. After prayerful consideration, I have set some goals for our church. Following is a summary of those goals for this year.

Healthy growth in a young church comes, in part, through small groups. At the start of this year, we have 2 stable Growth Groups and the goal is to have 4 by the end of the year. We have one women�s Bible Study and several men�s coffee groups. Our largest mid-week ministry is MOPS which reaches an average of 70 moms and kids; the majority of which are unchurched and/or unsaved. Our current meeting facility will most likely be lost to us in the coming months and at that time we will have no place for our MOPS moms to meet. Therefore, our goal is to find a place that will serve our need, more on that later. In total, we average around 110 people in our mid-week small groups. My goal for the end of 2008 is to average 150.

Missions is also important to us. One goal is to take our church on at least one missions project this summer. Currently our plans are for either Mexico or Alaska. Locally our mission to reach the lost involves door-to-door witnessing, flyers, door hangers, at least one summer block party, and planning a 3-on-3-basketball tournament in cooperation with the Orting Chamber of Commerce of which I am an active member. In cooperation with one of our partner churches, Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church, we will also help put on a summer concert and festival in Graham. Last year this event brought in over a thousand people and we hope to reach many more in our second year.

Our most ambitious goal for this year is to double the average attendance of our Sunday service. Our current Sunday average is 55 people. With the limitations we have in our existing facility, my expectation is that most of that growth will not occur until the Fall when we move into either the new Orting school facility currently under construction or obtain the Masonic Lodge. Based on the interest of our congregation, our current focus is the purchase of the Masonic Lodge. At our Annual Meeting, we did a pledge drive and based on the commitments of those who were present, we have raised an average of $1,500/month pledged for the next 3 years toward the purchase of the Lodge. We also have a one-time pledge of $11,000, which is contingent on the purchase of the building. This amount is above our current tithes and offerings. The purchase of the Lodge is also a priority over the school because it would be the only possible place in town where we could continue our MOPS outreach. No other place in our town can hold that many moms and kids and so if we do not get this place, it looks like we will have to close down this evangelistic ministry.

YoungLife is a part of our strategy for reaching the teens in Orting and this last year we put a leader in place. For 2008, our goal is to begin at least 2 youth Bible studies, which should include newly saved kids, and average 20 kids who are actively growing in their faith. This summer we will continue our basketball Outreach on the farm and I hope to double our numbers from last summer and reach 60 kids for each event.

In 2008, we plan to finalize a track for membership, clarify our goals for establishing permanent Elders, and define roles for more deacons. I also want to say thank you for your support and continued interest in the life of Reunion Church.

Finally, I know that many of our friends and family reading this have expressed in interest in helping us move forward with the purchase of the Masonic Lodge. Especially if it means we can contine our MOPS and youth ministries.

If you are wanting to help with either a one time gift, or with a 3 year pledge of support, send check made out to

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360

If you are making a long term pledge, please include a note with your check to let us know.

God Bless

PS
Take some time to read my blog. I have made some effort at poetry writing and I finally convinced Suzanne to share some of her writings. She does a great job, so check her out at www.MoreThanCake.org.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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The Miller Family Update - Our New Baby

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:04:59 +0100

Greetings Friends and Family!

2007 has been a year of blessings and faithfulness from our God. In April, Reunion Church launched weekly services and it has been a joyous adventure. God has brought some amazing people to help us accomplish our mission of reaching the un-churched in the Orting community. Joey was made to church plant and he is doing an incredible job. One thing I love about our church is that it is NOT the typical, conventional way of �doing church�. It is a breath of fresh air and we are having a blast. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.

Our next blessing happened on May 5th when my brother Shawn married his beautiful bride, Julie. It was a blessed day. Shawn wrote a song for her and sang it to her during the ceremony. Shawn and I did worship music at the end. I enjoyed seeing family members that I hadn�t seen in years. This trip to Southern California was our first family vacation in a couple of years and so we enjoyed many sights while we were there. My parents joined us in visiting Disneyland, Universal Studios, San Diego Zoo and Sea World. While in San Diego we stayed with my college roommate and her family. The entire trip was AMAZING! It was a wonderful time for our family. We made so many great memories.

Our next blessing was the birth of our third child, William Dane. He was born July 10th weighing 8 lbs. 1 ounce and 20 inches long. I had a wonderful and healthy pregnancy. The boys enjoyed the entire experience. I found so much joy in watching them talk to the baby, kiss my tummy and try to feel kicks. They have been awesome with him ever since he was born. We are so happy to have Will in our family and feel so blessed to have birthed a healthy and beautiful baby! It was so awesome to have my dear cousin Jamie and family in town from Nevada during his birth. They were also able to witness Zachary breaking his arm. With the Lord�s strength we survived that incredibly crazy time. Joey�s parents visited in August and his sister Jennifer and her boys came as well. His sister had never been to Washington before and so it was a nice time for the Miller side of our family to be together.

Blessings continued for me with the opportunity to do MOPS (Mothers of preschoolers) again. When praying about starting this ministry, I prayed for a group of strong leaders to help me. Well, God answered my prayer above and beyond. I am surrounded by amazing women who are passionate about reaching moms for Jesus Christ. Our group is much larger than we had planned. The majority of the moms are un-churched. This is so awesome and we all keep very busy. Some people think I am crazy for trying to juggle so much, but this truly brings me fulfillment and purpose. Another thing that brings me fulfillment is watching my youth girls grow up, mature and become Godly wives and mothers. I was honored to be in one of my girls wedding on October 28th. In fact our entire family was in the wedding except for baby William.

Zachary is enjoying first grade and his most recent love is football. (NFL and college) He played on a flag football league at the YMCA and LOVED it. Zachary is quite the church planting kid. He invites his school friends to our church and they come and bring their families! It is SO cool.
Nathan is 4 years old and enjoying being a big brother. He has such a sweet love toward William and is a great help to me. He enjoys preschool at Graham Emmanuel Baptist church and Awana cubbies. He also played soccer for the first time. He is quite the runner, we were proud of his first goal at the last game. Nathan is a joy!

As always, we are thankful for the blessing of our Heavenly Father who sent his son to save us and bring us His love, joy and hope!! Joey and I are so thankful to have you in our lives. How about taking a vacation to Seattle in 2008? We would love to see you!!

Love and blessings,
Joey, Suzanne, Zachary, Nathan and William

PS
You can see a lot more pictures on Suzanne's MySpace page which she updates regularly and you can also keep up wih Joey through his blog "More Than Cake"

Click here to read our newsletter archives.
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Happenings at Reunion Church

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:53:53 +0100

Pray we find wisdom, discernment as we pursue this opportunity to purchase this building.
Suzanne and I have been connecting with several new young couples that do not know Jesus. Pray they open up to the Gospel we are sharing with them at every opportunity.

Orting Reunion Home
MOPS

Joe's Blog "More Than Cake"

Celebrating the Birth of Jesus at "Christmas".
Sacrificing Babies To The Gods of Global Warming
Living In The AND
The Church In Crisis Part 7

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360
(253) 732-0954

Hi [firstname]

We are just a week away from celebrating our 2nd Christmas as a Church. Time has flown by so fast and God has given us so many blessings. We welcome all visitors and well-wishers this Sunday as we celebrate both the birth of Reunion Church and, far more importantly, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Our leadership and our congregation have continued to pray about trying to buy the Masonic Lodge in our downtown city center. With everyone feeling positively about the building, we have submitted our Letter of Intent and now await a response. If this is accepted, we will then need to secure our financing. Let me just say, this is a huge stretch for such a young Church Family, but we are not intimidated because we are confident that this is not too difficult for God.

I am excited to see what 2008 will bring for our community of Faith. Please continue to pray that we reach the lost and hurting with the unwavering Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas!

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:59:46 +0100

Joe's Blog "More Than Cake"

Thanks in the Midst of War
The Message is NOT a Bible Translation-Part 3
Bibliology - What value is the Bible?
According to the Gospel of Greed
The Church In Crisis: Part 6

Warmest winter greetings [firstname]

I am excited for the month of December! It was just one short year ago on Christmas Eve that we held our first public preview service. Wow! So much has happened and I can barely wrap my mind around all that the Lord has done for His Reunion Family.

Amidst all the normal events surrounding the Christmas season, I have some news to share.

We are praying about buying a building in Orting that will serve as our center of outreach. Just this past Monday, myself and about 7 other people met in downtown Orting to look at the Masonic lodge that has just come on the market. We were all very impressed with the condition of the building and its potential to serve our needs as a young and growing Family. This building gives us 4,300 sqft of prime real-estate in the heart of Orting. The outreach opportunities are enormous and the price is amazingly good at $469,000. So now we are left to pray, "is this what the Lord has for Reunion Church?"

At this point most church leaders I know would make decisions behind closed doors and then just tell everyone what "God" has decided. For many people, the conventional wisdom is that giving out this information to the entire Body, let alone on a public newsletter, is unwise. That is not me and that is not how I lead. I will not explore the purchase of this building behind closed doors and will accept nothing less than honest transparency. So here is where we, the people of Reunion church, stand.

As you know, it has never been my plan to buy a building. My long term goal is to build an Arts Center under Restoring the Arts (a separate non-profit organization) and then lease space to the church. That is still my ultimate goal, but I am also open to the idea that, because of our limited rental space here in Orting, buying a building now may be an interim step that gets us to that final goal. Based on the feedback of the group who came to view the building, the advice of some experienced leaders, and after consulting just today with an experienced lender who has a heart for the Kingdom, I am pursuing leads on how we could get into this building. For our church our age to get into this place would be a miracle! In the meantime, we, The Church, need to pray that God would guide us both as a Church and as individuals.

The location and benefits of this building are outstanding, but getting in and keeping it up would require some sacrificial giving of time and money. Tim and I have already discussed what sacrifices we would be willing to make in terms of our own income and/or working other jobs (more on that another time), but this decision would require everyone committed to the future of Reunion to participate in some meaningful way.

But here is the thing,

if we see the purchase of this building as a burden... then it is not from the Lord.
If we see this as something that will distract us from our mission to reach the lost... then it is not from the Lord.
If we, as a Body, can not have unity in buying this building... then it is not from the Lord.
If getting this building does not promote healthy church... then it is not from the Lord.

According to the real-estate agent there is at least one or two other serious buyers (one may be another church). So while there is some degree of urgency, if the Lord wants them to have it, then I will be happy for them. But, if God wants the Reunion Family to have this place, then we need to move forward without fear.

Some of you reading our newsletter are friends, supporters and family. I only ask you for your prayers on behalf of the Reunion Family. However, I also know that some of you have been looking for specific opportunities to participate financially in our mission. If as the year comes to a close, you are interested in making a contribution toward helping us create a stronger physical presence in the city of Orting, then please send your gift to us at the following:

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360.

Finally, I want to define my goal in this process. Success, for me, is not about this building. Success, is how we, as a Family, walk in unity, demonstrate Jesus' love, and chose to honor the Lord in our decision making process. Please pray over the coming days and write or call me with your thoughts and/or questions. If you have some insight or ideas that would help us move forward in the process, please contact me right away.

God Bless

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 19:52:30 +0100

Praise God. We have had someone come into our church who has the experience and giftings to lead our worship. More on this in our next newsletter!
Pray that the MOPS will flourish, we have a great new facility for now, but pray for a long-term solution.
We are back in the school for the fall, but we continue to have some difficulties with the facility. Please pray for a long term solution that will better accommodate our needs.
We have a growing vision to have a full or part time worship pastor on board. Pray that God will lead us to the right person for our worship needs and that we will get the necessary funding.
We continue to pray that Vicky can soon come on board either part-time or full-time. Pray we can find the resources to make this happen. Also pray for Vicky so she does not get burned out working full time hours plus long hours for the children of Reunion.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We still have some needs for our personal support and for the church. Please pray about making a further financial partnership with our young church plant.

The Reunion Home
MOPS

Joe's Recent Blogs

According to the Gospel of Greed

The Church In Crisis: Part 6

Top Reasons Pastors are Kicked Out of the Ministry...

Halloween And the End of Death

How Would Jesus Vote?
Fat Kids Are Saving America One Donut At A Time

When Ideology Trumps Truth

Christology - Who is Christ?

Happy Thanksgiving [firstname]

November is here and before we get sidetracked with all the Christmas stuff, let's stop and take time to thank God for all his blessings this year.

Here are the praises I want to celebrate this year.

1. After 2 years of prayer, planning, and pain we launched our church plant and began weekly services on Easter.

2. We have had a great turnout and survived our first summer... people came back to Reunion and are finding hope and peace in Jesus Christ!

3. MOPS is now going strong with almost 70 Moms and kids. Most of these folks do not attend Reunion and many Moms have yet to accept Jesus as their savior. What an amazing outreach success! I am so thankful to have such an amazing wife who can do so much and balance being a mom of 3 boys.

4. We have partnered with another church planter, Tim Smyth and his wife Laura, and now we are working together to accomplish the purpose of the Gospel.

5. Our family is so thankful for the birth of our third son, William Dane. He is a great blessing and another amazing son!

6. I give God great thanks for His amazing provision. We have a wonderful home, cars, food, and clothes! Our God is amazing.

7. Our vision for starting YoungLife in the schools has come to fruition and we are well under way in seeing a dynamic ministry come into being.

8. Every time we have had a need, God has provided. Some times right away, and sometimes we had to be patient for His timing--but God has never let us down!

9. I am thankful for you and your partnership in planting this church. I am so excited to share the blessings of God with you.

As you look back over the year, what thanks can you offer to our Lord Jesus Christ? And as you look forward to the coming year, how will you demonstrate your thanks? How will you serve your church family? How will you serve God? How will you serve your community?

If you are still looking for opportunities to express your thanks, then here are a few ways you can do it through Reunion Church.

First, continue to pray for us.

Second, we are looking at two potential missions projects this coming summer, one to Mexico and one to Alaska. If you would like to share your blessings with the world, then consider coming with us on one of these trips.

Third, if you live close to Orting and if you do not have a church home, I want to encourage you to come and join the Reunion.

Finally, as you look at your end of year giving, please consider sowing some seed into the ministries of Reunion Church. My prayer is that we will receive $100,000 beyond our current giving before the year comes to a close. Wow! Just writing that makes me wonder at how God will do it??? Please pray and ask the Lord if you are supposed to play a part in meeting this goal.

Thanks and God bless you this holiday season!

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:42:27 +0100

Prasie God. We have had someone come into our church who has the experience and giftings to lead our worship. More on this in our next newsletter!
Pray that the MOPS will flourish, we wil find better accomodations and women will come to know the Lord.
We are back in the school for the fall, but we continue to have some difficulties with the facility. Please pray for a long term solution that will better accommodate our needs.
We have a growing vision to have a full or part time worship pastor on board. Pray that God will lead us to the right person for our worship needs and that we will get the necessary funding.
We continue to pray that Vicky can soon come on board either part-time or full-time. Pray we can find the resources to make this happen. Also pray for Vicky so she does not get burned out working full time hours plus long hours for the children of Reunion.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We still have some needs for our personal support and for the church. Please pray we can make some strong partnerships for the future.

The Reunion Home
MOPS

Joe's Recent Blogs

...one another

Meet the Metrospiritual

The Church In Crisis: Part 5

Leading With Integrity

Thank Jesus for Kathy Griffin

The Message is NOT a Bible Translation-Part 2

Hi [firstname]

Many of you have been asking how our very first MOPS went and so I thought I would give an update.

It was absolutely wonderful. The session was so much fun. We played the Price is Right game and it was a total hit. Heidi Bekken was "Barb Barker" and she was so incredible. She got the gals involved and they were interacting and laughing. The discussion time at the tables went well and the overall session went great! We had 30 moms!!! We were only planning for around 20 and so when the moms kept coming and coming it was wonderful but it posed a problem for the Moppets. (the children's ministry) Miki Eastwood our Moppet Coordinator was nothing short of amazing. She and 7 other workers handled 29 children in ONE SMALL ROOM! (I must add that the Steering Team found other childcare for our children to free up more space for other children, therefore having about 8 less children.) We were so glad we did. This leads to my prayer request.

Although we are so thankful to the Orting Eagles for the use of their facility-it will not work for our needs. We need to find something else and FAST! Our next meeting is October 17th. Because of the amount of children and the limited space available at the Eagles Lodge-we need a facility that will be more accomodating for our children. We will lose moms if they don't feel comfortable with our childcare. On the positive side- we had several unchurched moms and many moms say as they were leaving that they liked it so much they wanted to invite their friends. We will have to turn away moms if we can't find a different facility.

I would greatly appreciate your prayers. We have seen God's awesome provision for this MOPS ministry and we have to keep trusting God. Thank you for your prayers!

Love and blessings,
Suzanne

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:58:13 +0100

We are back in the school for the fall, but we continue to have some difficulties with the facility. Please pray for a long term solution that will better accommodate our needs.
We have a growing vision to have a full or part time worship pastor on board. Pray that God will lead us to the right person for our worship needs and that we will get the necessary funding.
We continue to pray that Vicky can soon come on board either part-time or full-time. Pray we can find the resources to make this happen. Also pray for Vicky so she does not get burned out working full time hours plus long hours for the children of Reunion.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We still have some needs for our personal support and for the church. Please pray we can make some strong partnerships for the future.

The Reunion Home
MOPS

Joe's Recent Blogs

The Message is NOT a Bible Translation-Part 2
The Message is NOT a Bible Translation-Part 1
The Church In Crisis: Part 4
Did Eugene Peterson Finally Get The Message?
The Church In Crisis: Part 3

Hi [firstname]

September is here and os is the Puyallup Fair. What a wondrous time of greasy food and overpriced rides. And while that may sound like a complaint, I guess it isn�t much of one since I go every year and have fun! Fair season also means it is back to school and a bit more regularity for our weekends. As we get back into the swing of things at Reunion, I wanted to give you some important updates and prayer requests for our children�s ministries. For the best information, I will turn you over to Vicky, or children's director, and allow her to give you the news.

-------------------------------

Hi Everyone--

Joe has asked me to send out an update to keep you all informed of the
many changes happening this fall for Reunion Children's Ministry.

1. Beginning in October, we will have three classes for kids:
-- Nursery for infants ages 6 weeks to approx 12 months (they will move up once they are steady walkers and the parents are ready). For those of you who are adding to the nursery, 6 weeks is just the minimum starting age... you may of course start them in the nursery later than that.
--Preschool for our toddlers and preschoolers (steady walkers to non-kindergartners).
--Elementary (K-5th or 6th grade).
Each class will have two lead teachers and four or five weekly helpers. The lead teachers switch off every other month (so that they still get to go to service every other month). The weekly helpers will help in an assigned classroom one weekend a month.

Many of the positions have been filled, but I am still looking for one Nursery Lead to switch off with Judith (starting in November), 2 elementary helpers (one week a month), and 2 floater helpers (one week a month in whatever class I have an opening... helps to cover "maternity leaves" :) and months with 5 weeks and things like that). The nursery
lead does not teach (just lots of lovin' on our William and his soon-to-arrive friends) and the helpers do not do any prep or teaching either.

2. Also starting in October, the kids will remain in the service for worship. This is for ALL ages. After worship, there will be a short break for parents to bring their kids to class. Parents needs to check their kids in at the classroom. I will have a flyer for parents at my check-in table for the next few weeks to remind them of this. We've
talked a lot this summer about worshipping, serving, and learning about God as a family. I think it is so important for children to see their parents worship and to have an opportunity to worship alongside their parents. As a kid, I loved going to worship, and I know that many of our kids enjoy it too.

A big thank you to those of you who have committed to helping in the classrooms! You are such a blessing to our kids and your love helps them to know Jesus' love. And I for one am blessed to have all of your help and to be able to attend the service more frequently. Please pray that the remaining positions would be filled soon. God has done an amazing work in filling the schedule so far over the last few weeks, and I am
trusting that He will continue to provide for ALL of our needs.

Let me know if you have any questions. And don't forget to reply back about the craft cutting party... it looks like it will be later next week.

God bless,
Vicky

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:25:43 +0100

Our Main Website
MOPS

Joe's Recent Blogs

God is at work!

The summer has come to an end, but God�s work is just beginning here at Reunion Church. I wanted to share with you a personal perspective from an email I received. Amber and her husband Tom have been coming now for several months. Following are just a few excerpts from Amber�s email that will give you a good idea of how God is at work.

"I just wanted to share with you how much I am feeling confirmation that Reunion is where God wants our family to be. For quite some time I have felt like there are certain things about "church" that I would have to just give up on, but the past couple of weeks have been giving me hope that the things that I think a church family should be just might be possible�

Amber goes on to elaborate several points of encouragement, but let me just share her thoughts on two areas of strength she has found at Reunion.

First, the strengthening and forming of strong families: Due to all of the ways that my former religion has been so strong in that area, I have felt like something was missing there. To be honest there are things about the way the family structure is laid out in the LDS church and the way that they help each other raise their children, the way they equip and prioritize family that I have felt almost a mourning for. At times I have wanted to go back because of a few things and this is one of them. (I would never go back, but if I am honest I can't say that the thought and desire has never walked through my head.)

This brings me to the next comment I wanted to make. I think that the table time [during our Sunday Conversation] is such an amazing thing for developing community, but it is also so much more. I love how it makes the sermon sink in more, opens up communication with people that I don't yet know (and not just hello, my name is...). I love to hear what other people think about those questions of a spiritual nature. It gives so much perspective and lets me see how something that I may have seen as a black and white answer is not always that way. The times that I have had the most spiritual growth in my life have been when I had another person to talk to and got another point of view...when my thoughts had to be questioned and examined."

Thanks Amber for letting me share some of your thoughts because they reflect much of what I am hearing from the folks who have made Reunion their family.

My excitement grows each week as I see more people growing stronger in Jesus Christ and so I wanted to thank you [firstname] for being a partner in God�s work.

MOPS is moving forward

Suzanne has traversed some bumpy roads, but finally God has blessed her with a great team of women and a place to meet (that is no small task here in Orting). We attempted to make a partnership with another church in town, but in the end they were not open to working together. As God would have it, the local Eagle�s Hall was not only willing to give us, rent free, their building, they truly seem excited to partner with us in our mission to support moms. Our goal is to connect moms who do not have a church family, so if you know of any moms in the area who are in need of a good MOPS program, please encourage them to sign up at www.OrtingMOPS.org.

YoungLife in our Schools

My dream from the start has been to bring YoungLife to Orting. This is where the mission field lies, and we are so pleased to send out Dusty and Miriam Ellison as our Youth Missionaries. If you would like to partner with us in reaching the teens of our community with the Gospel, then please read what my friend dale has to say.

"Hello everyone I am soooo excited to announce that YL is getting started in Orting!!! Dusty & Miriam Ellison are going to do �Full Time� YL in Orting (there support letter is attached). Having grown up and lived most of my life in Orting I am excited to see for the first time someone accepting God�s challenge to do full time YL. YL has had club in the past but never with a full time leader. Dusty & Miriam have already laid a bunch of the ground work by having kids out from the community for basketball and pickle ball on Tuesdays and bonfires, tag and air soft completion on Fridays all summer long! They were regularly getting between 20 � 30 kids each night and there were probably only about 2 -4 with any church background. We even had a dozen or so from the new hidden lake development.

Yesterday Dusty took 6 kids to Wild horse (in Central Oregon) for a week long camp that should have a Huge impact on these kids and prayerfully they will become the backbone for getting YL Club going in the fall.

I would ask that you pray as God leads for the Orting community and schools. I also ask if you are willing to support the Ellison�s as they step out in faith to be allowed by God to be used in the Orting community. They are taking a big step in their faith as they wait on the Lord and watch HIM supply their �Manna� on a daily basis. Thank you for your time, effort, support and prayers.-- Dale"

Monthly, Annual, or one time support gifts for Dusty can be sent directly to Reunion Church | PO Box 595 | Orting, WA 98360. Just make sure to put the word �YoungLife� in the memo!

The Fall

With some great summer successes behind us; like our Pig Roast and Youth Nights On the Farm, we are ready for the Fall. Please pray as I begin to work on a four week series entitled, �Don�t come TO my church; Become the church.� It should be fun!

God bless,

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Sat, 21 Jul 2007 20:53:17 +0100

Our biggest prayer is that the school situation will stabilize before the fall.

Our Main Website

Renion West campus

Joe's Newest Blogs

Faithful Leaders Know That Success Comes From The ...

The Night Before Baby

Faithful Leaders Follow God�s Vision Not Man�s Opi...

Pneumatology - Who is the Holy Spirit?

ACTION ALERT �Your Freedom Can NEVER be Lost!�

Living Outside Depression

Hi [firstname]!

After last week�s hugely popular service in the park, everyone kept saying, �let�s do it again.� Well, you got your wish!

I have some important news about services this Sunday morning July 22nd (Tomorrow). We are having problems with the school facility and we will not have a room to meet in. A quick glance at the weather, says that there is a high of 77 and only a 19% chance of rain, we decided to meet in the park again. The Gazebo is rented out, but there is plenty of space for us to sit and room for the kids play. I will be there early tomorrow to stake out a spot, so look for the signs in the park.

Suzanne and Joel are planning on leading worship, so we should enjoy some music in the morning as well.

We won�t have a cook out like last week since this is such short notice, but we will do our BBQ again on our regularly scheduled date of August 12.

Oh, and if you are not up for the morning adventure, then don�t forget we still have the evening service at 6 pm up in Graham. Check out our website calendar for location and directions. In either case, I look forward to seeing you in the tomorrow.

God bless,

PS
Please pass this along via email or by phone to anyone you think may not get this notice. Thanks!

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The Miller Family Update - Our New Baby

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 15:34:41 +0100

The Night Before Baby
�Twas the night before baby, and Suzanne was the same,
Not a contraction was coming, not even a pain;
Her bags were all packed and ready to go,
In hopes that our baby would very soon show;
Our boys, Zach and Nathan, can�t wait for the day,
When baby sister, or brother, will come out to play;
And mamma sat anxious, most ready to pop,
But no water was breaking, not even a drop.

When up from her nap, Suz arose with much chatter,�
The babies moved down, and pressing in on my bladder;�
So away in our car I drove like a flash,
Speeding down country roads with no time for a crash.
My TomTom called out each turn by its name,
�Turn left,� �go right,� �do not veer from this lane;�
Then, just up ahead, hope�s pure sign did draw near,
It was the hospital entrance, �We�ve made it my dear!�

With each passing hour, the contractions grew strong,
We were anxious and tired, �What was taking so long?�
Much courage we gained from our Doula on hand,
Our team of supporters made the time pass like sand;
Thanks Marina! Thanks Julie! Thanks Jamie! Our friends.
Mother Judith, Doc Nancy, Nurse Heather�Godsends!
Those endless birth pangs brought nary a frown,
Now at last we can see baby�s head start to crown.

As baby broke forth, his hand to his face,
We were struck by God�s mercy, His love, and His grace;
On the tenth of July two thousand and seven,
Another due date baby, our third gift sent from heaven;
Eight pounds and one ounce, our new son was born,
His soft pointy head, much black hair did adorn;
Twenty inches, and one half, not too short, not too long,
Young William Dane Miller our warrior so strong.

Zachary's Big Day--Again!

Now we have one other bit of news we wanted to share. Some of you may remember that 4 years ago when Nathan was born, Zachary broke his collar bone the day before Nathan was due. It would seem that Zachary decided to make a trend of this event. As Suzanne and I were recovering from a sleepless night of labor and birth, we got a call from Suzanne�s mom that Zachary broke his arm. The only convenient part of the whole thing was that I was only a short walk away from the emergency room. X-rays confirmed that he broke his right forearm. He was sedated and then they put his arm in a splint. Here are a few photos of our brave boy who smiled all the way through (with a few tears spanked in here and there).

Finally, you can see a lot more pictures of baby William, and pictures of Zachary, on our public photo page; www.themillershome.us.

God bless and thanks for your prayers,

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:43:48 +0100

First, let me say thanks to all of you who have so faithfully prayed for us over these past months. God has heard you and blessed us richly. Our regular prayer requests will be back in the next newsletter, but in this installment I wanted to show you my appreciation by asking for your prayer requests. Do you have a need? Do you have a praise? If you would like me, along with our prayer chain, to pray with you, then please visit our on-line Prayer Center and post your request.

Oh, and if you would like prayer requests sent to your email, you can sign up on-line to be a part of our prayer chain.

Our Main Website

Renion West campus

Joe's Newest Blogs

Living Outside Depression

Everyone Expects the Spanish Inquisition (reprise)...

Google not God

Conversations On The Crapper

Hi [firstname],

Summer is upon us and I can�t wait for the fun and sun. God has certainly created for us one of the most beautiful places in the world to live! As you plan out your summer, I want to encourage you to set aside time for God each week; both time alone and time with Christian community. I wanted to take a minute to let you know about several of the opportunities we are setting up for your benefit.

1. The Reunion Church Family is planning several summer picnics and fun days. Three special dates are Sunday July 15th, August 12th and Sept 2nd. We will host Sunday services at the Orting Park and have a BBQ after. Find a complete summer calendar with all the details at www.OrtingReunion.Org.

2. On most weeks, we are offering two Sunday services. One at our Orting location starting at 10:30 am and a second at our Graham location starting at 6:00 pm. So even if you are out enjoying the sun and cannot make it Sunday morning, please take advantage of our Sunday night opportunity to worship together our God and Savior! The Reunion West information is on our site www.ReunionWest.Org.

3. This summer there are a couple play dates for our Mothers of Preschoolers. This also marks the exciting start to a brand new MOPS ministry here in our community. Find more info at www.OrtingMOPS.Org.

4. On July 14th we are joining in with Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church (one of our key partners) to put on a concert with family activities. You can find out all the times and band information at www.GrahamJam.Org.

In addition to everything above, we have a lot of opportunities for you to serve others and help make our community aware of the Reunion Church Family. If you want to help, please let me know. Thanks for taking time to catch up with us and I look forward to seeing you soon.

God bless,

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:48:18 +0100

Pray for the continued success of our weekly worship at both the Sunday Conversation & our Reunion West campus.

Pray that our partnerships will stay strong and Satan will not drive a wedge in any of our existing relationships. Pray also for future partnerships so we can keep moving forward.

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Suzanne is starting a MOPS group in the fall. Praise God, we have a building and a strong leadership team for the fall.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her left hand.
Suzanne is due to have the baby in just a couple weeks. Pray for health and strength in these coming days.
Pray that we reach the people in our community and they come to our services and outreaches.
Pray that we find the right person to become our worship lead.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We have made progress in our base of financial support, but still have some ground to cover. We want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

Our Main Website

Renion West campus

Joe's Newest Blogs

Hi [firstname],

It has been a while since my last update, but here are some quick snapshots of what is happening at Reunion.

Sunday Conversation

The �Sunday Conversation� is our weekly worship experience starting at 10:30 am. Each week brings something new and God continues to bless and encourage us. A big part of our Sunday Conversation is our time of table discussions. We get to know one another and share what God is doing. My friend Dale had these words to share from last week.

�I would like to let Joe and the rest of you know that I really enjoyed the time we had to be vulnerable with each other at our tables. I really believe that is what is missing in �church� today!! I really believe people are looking for that in church (or sports, or bars, or anywhere they can find it) today. I am an external processor and I do much better (I am finding out there are a lot of us like that) if I can discuss what the message means to me and how I can apply it to my life. Great job!!!!!�

Summer Worship Alternative

Reunion West is our Sunday evening opportunity for worship in the Graham area. Tim Smyth leads the charge for this gathering. Summer can be a busy travel time, so if you miss out on Church on Sunday morning, don�t worry! We want to invite you to join our 1 hour of worship Sunday night Gathering starting at 6 pm each week. You can get directions at the Reunion West website.

Weekend Retreat

Just a few short weeks ago, we had an awesome weekend away with 40 of the Reunion Church Family. It was such a wonderful time to build relationships and explore the vision and purpose of why we exist as a church. If you missed out, then take a minute to view a few of the pictures on our website from this fun filled event. Maybe next time, you can join us too!

Summer MOPS

Suzanne�s work on the MOPS ministry is coming along great. She has an awesome team of dedicated women who are so excited to move forward and reach our community of moms. They have planned several summer MOPS days in the park (the first one is tomorrow morning). If you are a Mother of a preschooler, we invite you to join in for this fun time of relaxing play.

Get ready for a great summer and I hope to see you soon.

God bless,

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 15 May 2007 01:48:55 +0100

Pray for the continued success of our weekly Sunday Conversation.
Pray we have a strong launch for our Reunion West campus.
Pray that our partnerships will stay strong and Satan will not drive a wedge in any of our existing relationships. Pray also for future partnerships so we can keep moving forward.
Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Suzanne is starting a MOPS group in the fall. Praise God, we have a building and some strong potential leaders who have come to help.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her left hand.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. In the meantime, Joel has been a huge blessing for us to keep worship moving forward.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We still have a way to go before we are fully supported. But we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality

Our Main Website

Renion West campus

Joe's Newest Blogs

Hi [firstname],

After a fun filled trip to California, our first family trip in almost three years, we have returned to our home and church with renewed excitement for our ministry. I really started to miss our church family and friends, and am so glad to be home again.

We move forward each week and the Lord guides us through the ever-changing landscape of church planting. But no matter what circumstances arise, I am encouraged that people are finding a family in Reunion. Here is one email written to my wife Suzanne from a woman named Marion.

My kids and I enjoyed our Sunday service at reunion a lot and are looking forward to continue to attend church here!

After moving back to the states I prayed that God would show me a way to find a church I could call my family and where my kids would feel comfortable. Most recently I also asked Him to guide me which way to go with MOPS... talking about connecting the dots!!!

Our Lord truly knows us best and what we need, and His answer has led me to Reunion!

Whether it is Suzanne�s development of a brand new MOPS ministry or the re-establishment of YoungLife here in our schools, I am so excited to see how God is connecting all the dots to create a viable and strong Church here in Orting.

Our mission this summer is to continue to connect and draw in people who need Jesus and then make sure we work to disciple those people and grow them into strong followers of God. We are planning a variety of outreaches to youth and adults and we are praying for a strong harvest for God�s Kingdom.

Keep an eye on our website for more information as it rolls out!

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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The Miller Family Update

Thu, 03 May 2007 23:43:31 +0100

Pray for safe travel and for a stress free vacation.

Pray for our church, Reunion, as this is our first weekend away since we started planting in March 2006.

We are so thankful that Suzanne has had a healthy pregnancy. Please pray she continues to be strong and our baby is also healthy.

Hi [firstname],

It has been several years since our family has been able to take a vacation so when Suzanne�s brother Shawn got engaged, we decided to turn our California trip into a much needed time of togetherness as a family. We have a lot of fun things planned, but Suzanne and I just wanted to give you a little taste of the good time we are having together.

Yes, Suzanne is due in early July, but she has not let that keep her from enjoying the Disney magic.

And the boys are doing so great an they certainly enjoyed one of their favorite heroes, Buzz Lightyear.

We have a long week ahead of us, so please pray we get traveling mercies from our Father and can pay for the gas! Seriously though, thanks for your prayers and we will be in touch soon with baby news.

Blessings,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.
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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:13:02 +0100

Pray for the continued success of our weekly Sunday Conversation.
Pray we have a strong launch for our Reunion West campus.
Pray that our partnerships will stay strong and Satan will not drive a wedge in any of our existing relationships. Pray also for future partnerships so we can keep moving forward.
Praise God, all of our Easter flyers had a great impact and we got lots of people out based on those flyers.
Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Suzanne is starting a MOPS group in the fall. Praise God, we have a building and some strong potential leaders who have come to help.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her left hand.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. In the meantime, Joel has been a huge blessing for us to keep worship moving forward.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We still have a way to go before we are fully supported. But we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality

Our Main Website

Joe's Newest Blogs

Created for Insignificance

Theology - Who is God?

What is Good Systematic Theology?

I want to be the most un-cool, ill-advised, stone-...

What is Good Systematic Theology?

I want to be the most un-cool, ill-advised, stone-...

What is Good Systematic Theology?

I want to be the most un-cool, ill-advised, stone-...

Happy Easter [firstname]!

Yes, I realize Easter Sunday is passed, but I am so excited about what the Lord did for us this past week. I did not sleep well on the eve of our Easter launch. I was up every few hours and lay awake praying for God�s blessing on our service. I was up early, moved our trailer to the school and started setting up. I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about who, if anyone, would show up. Our team has worked so hard, and I prayed hard that their labor would result in a good harvest.

An Easter Review

Two days have passed since our service and, as I reflect on the events of that day, I am so happy that God answered all our prayers. We had 94 people in attendance and most everyone was from our community. We did get a few men from Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church who came to usher, and boy did we need their help! How exciting it was to see table after table fill up with people looking to find a good church (and we had lots of those)! We had one child pray to receive the Lord and that is a huge praise! Vicky has done a lot of work to put together an amazing children�s program and the results are obvious in all the kids that participate.

The service itself was a blast and really came together. There were some creative elements that enhanced the experience of Easter and I got lots of good comments from both visitors and our core team. My brother Dale wrote out his comments and I think they are a great summary of the morning.

�WOW is all I can say! I thought things went really well for the service. The sound was the best yet, Joe was really clear for me to hear. The breaking of bread was a nice unique way of doing it. The sermon from the very beginning had me in tears and was a message I stand behind 100%. It was very humbling and reassuring to me because the things Joe talked about are the same issues God has been dealing with me for the last couple of years. I pray God will continue to make my life about HIM and HIS community. The video was a great way to communicate your point and I think hit home with the audience. Man I am excited!!!!!! I pray that we were all challenged to look into our own life and see what God wants to change in our life so we can be more about community than about personal salvation or personal Holiness or child of God.�

God was good and I want thank all of our partners who have made this possible. Also, if you would like to hear my Easter message, you can listen on-line at our website.

Reunion West Church Plant

Now for some exciting news that has been in the works for some months. Part of my dream in planting Reunion is that we will be a church that plants more churches. My goal for Reunion was to plant our first church within 5 years of our Easter launch. Well, God has moved that timetable up a bit. In just 2 weeks, on April 22), we will be launching our first church plant in the Graham/Spanaway area. Tim Smyth is the church planter who will take on this launch. The services will be on Sunday nights and we hope to draw and serve a segment of the population who can not come on Sunday morning.

We are launching this church plant as a second campus of Reunion Church. This arrangement gives us a lot of opportunity for success. Keep checking our site for more details as they come available. If anyone wants to help us launch Reunion West, financially or by working directly with Tim, please let me know.

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:27:48 +0100

Pray that our partnerships will stay strong and Satan will not drive a wedge in any of our existing relationships. Pray also for future partnerships so we can keep moving forward.
Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her left hand.
Pray that we reach the people in our community and they come to our services and outreaches.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We still have a way to go before we are fully supported. But we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

Our Main Website

Newest Blogs

I want to be the most un-cool, ill-advised, stone-...

FRIENDSHIP: Approaching The God Who Is Love

I have already sent you!

�Survivor Church� ─ Do you know how to play the ga...

Hi [firstname]!

We are heading into week three of regular Sunday services and I am so excited for the future of Reunion Church. I wanted to send the following update about some of the ministires we are working to support. Dale deVries, one of our Elders, wrote this update and I it is defineatly worth passing along to you. God is doing some great things and making dreams come true. I am just happy to be along for the ride!

A Note From Dale

Hello! God has been doing some wonderful things in regards to getting the big house ready for Anna and the McGahey�s. They plan to move in this weekend. Anyone like to help move? We have a few items that the foster care agency said we could get taken care of within the first couple of weeks �after� we move in. we have put in new garage doors, the swimming pool is now only a memory, we replaced the carpet in the recreation room and one bedroom. We have done a bunch of painting. And we still have new flooring to put in the bathrooms (4) and the kitchen and dining room. Calvary Community Church has volunteered to send out people for two full days to help build ramps, change out some windows, change a tub over to wheel chair accessible shower, work on the yard, etc... What a tremendous blessing they will be. I am so thankful to God for all of your prayers and support in what I believe God is going to turn into a great place for kids with disabilities as well as able bodied kids.

Dusty and Miriam Ellison have moved out into the other rental house and Dusty is the Reunion Church Youth pastor/Young Life leader to Orting and we have plans for him to be involved on the farm with kids also. One quick side note Dusty broke his ankle and is now out of work and does not have medical insurance to cover his surgery. All this just happened in the last week. That will put him in a big financial bind for the medical and his rent and utilities (his wife is currently going to college full time).

Young Life is also ready to launch Capernaum [handicapped ministry] in the Puyallup / Sumner / Orting / Fife area, Lord willing they are looking for a full time leader and also a handicap van. There is a good possibility that they would use some of the facilities here in Orting on the farm. So as you can see it has been very busy as well as very exciting to see God bring all this to fruition right in front out eyes. It has been wonderful to see who God brings into our lives to help us as well as us helping others. This is a dream the Lord gave to me November 19th, 2004 and now to see �ALL� He has done in my life and circumstances to bring this about as well as so many others who have the same dream to work with kids with disabilities also is amazing. God has shown me this isn�t my deal! This is so much bigger than me. This is the Lords deal all the way. Please pray That God�s plan will continue to change people�s lives as well as build wonderful relationships in the community.

Closing

There is some other exciting news brewing and I hope to be able to make some announcements in the coming weeks. Be in prayer for the Lord to do some miracles!

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 14:48:07 +0100

Praise God, all of our Easter support came in so the flyers are in the works. Please pray this comes together on time!

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

March Blogs

Hi [firstname]!

Our final preview service was last Sunday and after several days of reflection, I am left with a strong sense of enthusiasm and excitement for what God has done in Reunion Church over our season of Preview services.

We are now doing weekly Sunday morning services at 10:30 am down in Orting. I am so excited to begin the weekly teaching of the Gospel. After Easter we will begin a study through the book of Luke (one Chapter a week). Please pray God helps His Gospel to go forward and reap a huge harvest for His Kingdom.

We have some great things in the works and over the next few months I will share with you some more details, but for now please keep praying that our plans are God�s plans and that we, the Elders and team leaders, continue to hear and follow Jesus.

You might like to see a couple of the cool new features on our website that are designed to help grow and build the church. First, we now offer a selection of invitation and prayer cards. I designed these cards to give everyone an opportunity to invite friends to our church and to give everyone an opportunity to demonstrate Christ�s love through prayer. Take a look. If you know someone who is looking for a solid Church family, then email them a personal invitation. Or, if you know someone who is hurting and is in need of prayer, send a note with one of our prayer cards and let them know there is hope in Christ.

The other cool new feature is our prayer center. The prayer center is designed to do just that, help people pray together. We have options to send private requests to our Elders, to a larger prayer chain, or to even post prayers on our site. You have to register to take advantage of the prayer center because I did want to keep some level of privacy even for the most public prayers, but I hope this extra step will not keep you from sharing your prayers with me and our church family.

That is all for now, so keep praying and keep serving Jesus in your life!

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:28:04 +0100

Praise God, all of our Easter support came in so the flyers are in the works. Please pray this comes together on time! Weekly services will be starting on March 18th. Please pray for our team and our community!

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

March Blogs

Hi [firstname]!

We have some awesome news. Starting at 10:30 am this Sunday, March 18th, we will be going to weekly services. The name of our service is called, �The Sunday Conversation� because we are working hard to find ways to for everyone�s voice to be heard during the service (Eph. 5:1-21 & 1 Cor 12). As our team discussed and prayed over this decision, we felt that providing this week to week consistency leading into Easter would give us a much stronger launch strategy and greater chance of reaching those who do not normally experience church. If you are close by, please come and encourage us with your presence (or volunteer to help if you are available). If you are too far to visit, then please give us your prayers, we still are having some problems with putting our worship team together.

Finally, there is one very practical way everyone can help. If you know someone in the Orting area who is not committed to a church family or does not know Jesus, please invite them using our brand new e-cards. I created this on-line tool with e-cards that allow you to send an invite to a friend. The site now had 3 general invitation cards and one prayer card you can send to someone who needs a healing touch from our Father. Check it out and please make use of it if you can. I sure would appreciate it!

God bless,

PS
I need to make you all aware of an important change in giving status. Our incorporation stuff is finalized and we have our own accounts set-up. If you have been sending support to the CBC, then please begin sending that directly to the Church at the following address:

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360

If you don�t like writing those checks, then you can visit our website for other giving opportunities including on-line donations.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 23:57:42 +0100

Weekly services will be starting on March 18th. Please pray for our team and our community!

Pray that our partnerships will stay strong and Satan will not drive a wedge in any of our existing relationships. Pray also for future partnerships so we can keep moving forward.

Praise God, we have been given $5,000 for our Easter mailers, but we still need $1,000. Please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.
A huge praise as Bethany Baptist Church has provided funding ($2,500) for our projector and tables!
Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her left hand.
Pray that we reach the people in our community and they come to our services and outreaches.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We still have a way to go before we are fully supported. But we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname]!

Time is flying by faster than I thought possible. As February comes to an end, our core team has decided to make some modifications to our launch strategy. Reunion�s final preview service will still be on March 18th, but then we will immediately begin weekly services that will lead us into Easter. This means a lot more work will have to get done in these coming weeks, but I am confident that this strategy will strengthen our Easter launch.

Needs:

1. We are doing a 40,000 piece mailer at the end of March (10,000 a week for 4 weeks). We have raised support from two of our Partners (Graham Emmanuel Church & Seattle Church Planting) to cover all but $1,000 of the cost. If you would like to make a special donation to help us do this important mailer, please visit our website for giving options.
2. Vicky McCauley, our Children�s Director, is doing a great job, but the early start of weekly services really puts some pressure on her. If you would like help her with preparations or by volunteering to help over the first 6 weeks of our services, please let me know ASAP!
3. We still do not have a person dedicated to leading our weekly worship. Please pray we get the fill-in support and that the Lord brings us someone very soon so we can begin to make more progress toward our long-term worship goals. Also pray that Joel Kady, our Worship Arts Intern, continues to have the drive and time to put our worship together.

Before I sign-off, let me leave you with a few big praises.

1. Our February preview service went very well. I was sick, but the Lord gave me enough strength to make it through the service. Our team did, as always, a great job and I am so proud of how well we have come together over these past months! We are more than ready to launch!
2. Suzanne has had 100% healing in her eye. There is no medical explanation except to simply say that God is a good God who has brought her healing! Praise God!
3. Dusty Ellison is making progress with YoungLife and soon he will be sending out support letters so he can begin his ministry here in Orting. I am every please that this is coming together.
4. Dale deVries is making huge progress in beginning a ministry to handicapped kids. He sent out a recent email and I wanted to share with you just one short paragraph about a couple who will begin doing the work of ministering to the kids. Dale wrote, � I have found a couple Greg & Pam McGahey who are very excited to watch Anna. They have adopted several kids with disabilities in the past and currently have a 19 year old boy with Cerebral Palsy who is bed ridden and on a ventilator. Greg works for Heritage Heating and Pam�s income of course is getting paid as a foster parent for the boy, Josh. Greg & Pam have two children (ages 18 & 13) and it is really amazing to watch the whole family take care of Josh (and now Anna too). What a God send for me, and to see a family so happy & dedicated to watch my daughter Anna. They are excited to move out to Orting also to see what God has in store for them out there.�

Thanks you again [firstname] for your support and prayers! You are a great blessing in our lives!
God bless,

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360

If you don�t like writing those checks, then you can visit our website for other giving opportunities including on-line donations.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:18:14 +0100

Easter will be here soon, and we are hoping to have a great start to our weekly services on Easter morning. Please pray for our team and our community!

Pray that our partnerships will stay strong and Satan will not drive a wedge in any of our existing relationships. Pray also for future partnerships so we can keep moving forward.

We have a big financial need so we can do a mailer before our Easter service. This will cost a few thousand dollars, so please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.

A huge praise as Bethany Baptist Church has provided funding for our projector and tables!

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her left hand.
Pray that we reach the people in our community and they come to our services and outreaches.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We still have a way to go before we are fully supported. But we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname]!

God is good! There are days and moments when I think the task before us is impossible. I look at all the things we don�t have and doubt that we will ever succeed in planting Reunion Church. I look at al the obstacles that Satan wants to throw in our path, and I wonder if we will fail. Yet God is good and He is faithful!

We continue to have some big financial needs, but God is finding a way to provide. Just two days ago I sent one of our partners a letter telling them we need to get tables so we can have our weekly worship. Less than 24 hours later, I got a note from Bethany Baptist Church that they had committed to a one time gift of $2,500 for the purchase of all the tables we need, plus the purchase of a projector. What a huge blessing from a key partnership, and what incredible provision from our Heavenly Father who knows our needs before we even voice them. God is good, faithful, and He is awesome!

Our third preview service is coming this Sunday, February 18th, and I am excited for the weekend to come. We have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure people know we are meeting, but I am confident our team will do a great job! Please come and support us if you are close and pray for us if you can not be with us.

I do have one other major prayer request. We have been blessed these last months with a young man, Joel Kadie, who has helped plan the music for our services. He is a very gifted and talented guy, but once we move to weekly services on Easter, he may not be able to keep up with the schedule. Not to mention, he might be moving in the fall to go to college, so we may lose him altogether come September. What we need is a dedicated music leader who can work with us week-in and week-out. For every church planter I talk to, this is one of the toughest roles to fill (especially when you don�t have money to pay a salary). Please pray for us and if you know anyone who might have the talent and heart, please pass along their name and contact information. God is good, faithful, awesome, and He is our provision! When things our tough, I will lean on Him!

God bless,

Reunion Church
PO Box 595
Orting, WA 98360

If you don�t like writing those checks, then you can visit our website for other giving opportunities including on-line donations.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church-Urgent Need!

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 00:25:59 +0100

Pray for the success of our Feb. 4th Super Bowl party.

We have a big financial need so we can do a mailer before our Easter service. This will cost a few thousand dollars, so please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.

We have need of a projector, 12 round tables, and some stage lighting. This are all big ticket items, so please pray for these needs.

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.

Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her left hand.
Pray that we reach the people in our community and they come to our services and outreaches.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
While we still have a way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname]!

WOW! God is so good! Our Super Bowl party went off better than we could have imagined. With less than 30 days to plan, we pulled off a major outreach event that drew in 120 people from our community. Just two days before the event, we did not have a way to broadcast the game, but through the kindness of one family, and the blessings of our Lord, it all came together! I want to share with you all a summary emailed to me by my friend James who helped us put on this event. His words provide a great perspective.

I have had some time to reflect and pray about what happened last night, but really what has happened since December 24th when Joe asked me if I'd help do a Super Bowl Outreach at Reunion. I am amazed at the commitment that you all have shown and the willingness to step it up for God in a big way. You have served with you time, your money, your hearts and have sacrificed to make this event happen. I am humbled by your dedication and by your willingness to "make it happen", in spite of money challenges, health challenges, time and schedule conflicts and the like. I have seen and been involved in much larger churches where their events didn't come off this smoothly and with much more lead time in planning the event. Big praise to you all!

I want to really recap what just happened so that we don't lose sight of the fact that we serve a huge, awesome and wonderful God. In the scope of "ministry", we just did what would be considered a large, full-scale, evangelistic outreach major event..... in just over 30 days! Who does that? How does that happen? How was that possible? We serve an amazing God that delights in the impossible, that loves to work in miraculous ways and reaches individuals right where they are at in life. I spoke with alot of the people who were there and asked about church, where they go, if they attend. I got some really mixed responses. Some go and are plugged in. Some have recently returned to church after being away and lost for some time. There were some that I assume by the way they responded that they don't really know God and aren't walking with Him. But He brought them in spite of where they are so that we could serve them. And you all did serve so well! You are all a blessing and have blessed me by allowing me to join you in serving Christ.

Based on their experience with us in this event, I know of several couples that are looking to come to future Reunion Church services and Bible studies. I encourage you all to check out our picture gallery on-line and more importantly, watch the amazing video-testimony from Tony Dungy at the bottom of the page. It will give you the best perspective on what this event was all about!

Finally, our 3rd preview service is coming in just two weeks and explores "The Rugged Path to Destiny." Please pray that God brings the people who need to hear this message of hope and promise. If you know someone who lives close to us that needs this message, forward them a copy of our newsletter and invite them to come.

God Bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church-Urgent Need!

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:02:38 +0100

Pray for the success of our Feb. 4th Super Bowl party.

We have a big financial need so we can do a mailer before our Easter service. This will cost a few thousand dollars, so please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.

We have need of a projector, 12 round tables, and some stage lighting. This are all big ticket items, so please pray for these needs.

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Urgent Need
[firstname], the Super Bowl is coming in just two short days. Obviously a big part of our Super Bowl outreach event is showing the Super Bowl on a big screen. We have run into a few glitches this past week and now we are in need of a new satellite solution. If you, or anyone you know has an RV with a satellite dish we need their help. The plan is to park a satellite equipped RV outside the Gym and run a cable line into our projection system to show the game� now we just need the RV w/satellite dish. So please, if you or anyone you know has a way of helping, please contact me ASAP on my cell phone 253-732-0954.

Oh, and if you are not in a position to help with this specific need, then please take a moment to pray for us--I know God is listening!

Website Updates
You might also like to know that we have a brand new look to our website. I have worked a lot of hours to put this together so we can effectively communicate with our community. So check it out, and if you have any feedback (positive or negative) please share it with me so that I can continue to improve our web outreach.

Thanks [firstname] and God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 10:15:34 +0100

Pray for the success of our Feb. 4th Super Bowl party.

We have a big financial need so we can do a mailer before our Easter service. This will cost a few thousand dollars, so please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.

We have need of a projector, 12 round tables, and some stage lighting. This are all big ticket items, so please pray for these needs.

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname],

With a few days of rest and reflection behind, I am pleased to say that our second preview service was a wonderful success. The key to our launch in Easter is momentum, and I think we got some this last Sunday. Once again, our team did an excellent job and we made great improvements over our first preview in areas of set-up, organization, and teamwork. I wanted to share with you just part of an email I got yesterday from my friend James. I think it summarizes the comments I got regarding our preview service.

I wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your message on Sunday. The emotions really began flowing in me before service when I heard Suzanne and the band rehearsing and they sang the song, "The Real Me". I am already an emotional person as it is. I wear them on my sleeve. Throughout the service, and Lee's and my testimonies, the tears were just right under the surface. But when Suzanne sang I just closed my eyes and spent time with God. And the tears began to roll.

I know that God is going to use Reunion to be an amazing place where people can experience His presence in a very real and meaningful way. I also know that He is working on me and on my heart. I still do not know where God needs to use me, but I am faithfully praying for wisdom and vision. I want to be a vehicle that God uses to move in the lives of people that they may see Him more clearly and know Him. I just wanted you to know that the message He placed on your heart and the words He spoke through you on Sunday were powerful and impacting. I pray for you, Suzanne, your family and Reunion Church many times daily. God is doing something amazing in Orting. It's going to be exciting to watch Him work!

I could not be more excited for our coming services! But before we get there, we have a huge Super Bowl Outreach and we need your prayers and support. Below is a list of needs. If you can help us with any of these needs, please let me know before Saturday.

a 200 ft. section of cable with connectors at each end to hook up the sat. dish with the receiver.
we will need extra garbage cans (rubbermaid type - Costco) and liners for all garbage. the school doesn't have enough. we will also use 2 of them to hold pop/water filled with ice.
Gas BBQ for grilling hot dogs/brats... Not sure yet if we want to do this or not, but it would add to the gameday atmosphere.
Game systems - GameCube, X-Box, PS2, etc. We need people to sign up to bring what they have and maybe 1 or 2 games, preferably rated E and maybe some rated T depending on the game. We also need them to bring a TV console to play in on, the smaller the better.
Board games for kids - Monopoly, Life, checkers, etc. for Vicky's room.
Volunteers to help man the inflatables, help set-up, tear down, and represent Jesus to the lost.

If you live close and would like to be a part of this awesome and fun day, check out our website for more details. Oh, and one last thing, at halftime we will have a DVD of Matt Hasselbeck and Shawn Alexander presenting the Gospel. Please pray this is effective in leading people to Jesus.

God bless and we hope to see you soon,

God Bless,

Joe

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:08:21 +0100

We have a big financial need so we can do a mailer before our Easter service. This will cost a few thousand dollars, so please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.

We have need of a projector, 12 round tables, and some stage lighting. This are all big ticket items, so please pray for these needs.

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname],

As I look to the future, I see a lot of needs and a lot of impossible dreams, but I also see that God has been blessing us beyond measure. Nothing expresses God�s provision more than the following testimony. Dale DeVries is one of our Core Team members and his heart and vision for Orting is amazing. Dale has recently moved back to the family farm on Orting thanks to the generosity of so many people.

A Testimony of God�s Goodness
WOW!!!! We made it to Orting!! Last night we spent the night in our �Fully� furnished house. It is amazing to say the least. I (we) are so appreciative to �ALL� who were involved. Ultimately we are giving thanks to our Lord & Savior for this wonderful gift through all of your hard labor. I pray you all were blessed by being able to be used by God to work in my families life, you all will never know the total impact this will have on our lives as God teaches me and the children to Trust & Obey. And of course the OZ has something to say about it in today�s devotional�

I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: �Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?� � Isaiah 6:8

When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the expression of God�s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them�

The call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says. But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to profoundly changed.

So thank you all for letting God use you to instill in me and my family a new truth about God in our lives. You guys are wonderful and God has blessed me with some great Friends!!!! Dave and Dan are so excited and have already adjusted the beds around to fit their situation better. Lacey is in hog heaven with �her own� room with a TV, and of course she already has everything neatly placed in her room. And of course we had to get out our emergency gear last nigh, face mask and all because with our new 42� LCD flat screen TV it looked like the nuclear bomb that went off on 24 last night was coming right through the screen into our living room J . Do come visit anytime. I would love all who helped to see the fruits of their labor physically and spiritually.

THANK YOU!!! From the DEVRIES GANG�Profoundly Changed for HIM!!!!!!

The Future
Tomorrow is our 2nd preview service and I am very excited for the message and testimonies that God has given us. On February 4th, we are doing a huge Super Bowl party for the community; the game on a 20� screen, inflatable for the kids, and stuff for the whole family. We have a huge amount of work that needs to get done and we need a lot more people to volunteer, but just like God provided for Dale, I know that as you continue to partner with us in prayer, our Father will continue to provide for all our needs in the coming days and weeks.

A Personal Note
So many people have been praying for Suzanne�s health. We are so happy to report, her eye has had almost 100% recovery! There is no explanation except that God has heard your prayers and restored her sight. Please keep praying that there is healing for her arm and that her pregnancy continues to go well.

God Bless,

Joe

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 20:03:28 +0100

We have a big financial need so we can do a mailer before our Easter service. This will cost a few thousand dollars, so please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.

Pray for Suzanne�s healing from both the numbness in her hand and from her double vision.

Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
While we still have a way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Happy New Year [firstname]!

It is hard to believe that 2007 is already here, it does not seem that long ago when people were freaking out over the coming Y2K �disasters� that never came. Yet, with all the wind and water these past weeks, it seems Y2K has finally caught up with us. The weather has been harsh, but we have so many good things happening with Reunion Church that I just don�t have time to write it all down.

The Blessings of God�s Provision

Since our first Preview Service on Dec. 24th, we have had some great advances. We have added another half dozen adults to our core team and several others have expressed interest in coming again to our next service. What a great blessing to have more hands lifting the heavy loads!

We have also had some great financial blessings. Just in the last weeks we have had people commit more than $1,500 toward our February Super Bowl outreach (more on that below). We have been given a van that will carry all of our sound equipment and a trailer that will help us move all of our furnishings for weekly set-up at the local High School. We were given a working latt� machine and there is some hopes that a portable cart may soon be donated to the cause (keep praying!). It is not just the financial value of these things that is a blessing, but each item is a tangible reminder that God has been so faithful to provide for Reunion Church.

Oh, one more bit of good news I don�t want to forget to pass along. We gained another church partner, First Baptist Church of Yelm, and this means another great partnership for the future!

Our Father is so faithful and we are encouraged each and every day with His loving provision of people and resources.

The Promise for Our Future
At times, I feel overwhelmed with all we are doing. There are days when I think we have taken on too much and can never get it all done. I look at the next 45 days in which we will put on two more Preview Services and one major outreach, and I think �this is impossible!� In truth, it is impossible (for me), but for God it is all possible. He has given us such an awesome and dedicated team and they have been faithful co-workers.

Our January 21st Preview Service is shaping up nicely. We have some great people committed to help with our drama, two AMAZING testimonies that will bring some people to tears, and a young man named Joel Kady who is taking on the huge task of putting together our music. Joel will be working with Suzanne for this service and she will be singing and leading our time of praise.

On February 21st, we are doing a HUGE Super Bowl party that will shake up this city! We have permission to send out 2,000 flyers to every student in Orting from grades K through 12. Several businesses have sponsored our kids play areas and we will have 6 inflatables, x-box games, and a big 20� by 20� screen for watching the game! At halftime, we have a special Gospel presentation from Matt Hasselbeck and Sean Alexander; this should make for an amazing time for every family member involved.

Opportunities to Serve
With Preview Services on January 21st and February 18th and a major outreach on February 4th, the workload is piling up. We are still in need of people to help our team pull this together. If you are available to help in any way, please let me know by replying to this email. If you have family or friends who need to hear the Gospel and would like to come and enjoy our Super Bowl Blast, then check out our website which includes a flyer you can email to friends and a video introduction from Matt Hasselbeck. I hope to see you there! And to those of you who live too far to come, we will miss you.

God Bless,
Joe

PS
We have been blessed with a donation of 4 A-frame signs, but we still need more. If you have any signs that you can donate, please let me know ASAP so we can get them ready for our January 21st Preview Service. Thanks.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:13:36 +0100

We have some urgent financial needs so that we can do a mailer before our next service. This will cost a few thousand dollars, so please pray that people respond to the leading of the Lord.

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.

Pray for Suzanne�s healing from both the numbness in her hand and from her double vision.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Questions on Support

If anyone is looking to make an end of year contribution that will make a huge difference for God�s Kingdom, please prayerfully consider the needs of our young church plant. You can send all donations to us in care of the following:
Columbia Baptist Conference
c/o Support for Orting Church Plant
925 N. 130th St.
Seattle, WA 98133

100% of this money goes to support the church plant, and we are very thankful to the CBC for providing all the administrative support.

If you really don�t like writing monthly checks, then you are welcome to use our on-line giving site (ReunionGiving.com) hosted through Puget Sound Church Planting. Thanks to their help, you can offer a dedicated gift to meet a specific need or set-up monthly contributions. Minus some Credit Card fees, 100% of this money also comes directly to support the church plant.

So chose whichever option works best for you, and we thank you for your faithful support! Don�t forget to stay in touch and keep praying with us. Thank you [firstname] for your partnership in planting Reunion Church!

Merry Christmas!

The New Year is coming fast. Our first preview service is behind us and, from all accounts, it was an immense success! Praise God!

Aside from a few glitches in our planning, we got great feedback from everyone at our service. Our childcare was very well received by the adults who felt all our workers were friendly, the classes were well organized, and Vicky was a great leader. My own kids said they had lots of fun and enjoyed all the activities.

We had some amazing greeters and friends working the parking lot. I had good reports that they all were very warm and helpful to people coming in. Set-up and tear-down were fast. Everyone pitched in and worked hard in the days preceding the service (Oh, and if you would like to volunteer for our next service on January 21st, please let me know).

The service itself was awesome. Each part of the team did a wonderful job. Our table leaders were solid, our drama, music, sound, and the sermon all went off without a hitch! (okay, maybe a couple little hitches and a hiccup) I am confident that God is very pleased with how well we did and the service our team put together! I want to say thank you to every one of you who helped make this possible! I could not be more proud of how we came together!

I have not had a chance to get all the stories, but from the early reports, we did a good job of reaching out to our community. We had 89 people in attendance (not including Suzann�s baby). In talking with some other church planters, that is a very good number for a first preview service! I know of one family that came because they got our door hangers which were hung the night before (thank you volunteers)!

We had several folks who came that had not been to church in dozens of years. They came as a result of family and friends who invited them to come to Reunion. Thank you to all who helped spread the word. We will follow-up with all our contact over these coming weeks, and we pray that many new people will be involved and connected to Reunion Church.

God Bless

PS
Our first service taught us some lessons and let us know more clearly what some of our needs are for the next one. I will send out another email soon to let you know how you might partner with us, but for now I have a request.

If anyone has worked in real-estate before, we are in need of some �A� frame signs to put on the sidewalk.

We plan to convert them to signs we can use to promote our coming services. If you have any sings that you can donate, please let me know ASAP. Thanks.

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The Miller Family Update

Fri, 22 Dec 2006 16:41:45 +0100

For a continued blessing on our boys, and a praise that they have done so well in transition.

Continue to pray for Suzanne's healing in her arm, leg and eye. Also pray she has a healthy pregnancy and healthy baby.
Pray for Joey as he begins work on his Doctoral dissertation and plans to finish in May 2008. He is already way behind.
A prayer of thanks for God's provision to move in and stay in our home.
Pray for us in our efforts to plant a church. This is a huge challenge and we need your prayers.

Merry Christmas [firstname],

Blessings to you this Christmas season! Last year we didn�t send a Christmas card or letter. We were in the process of selling our home and our life was CRAZY at the time. To give you a brief summary of 2005, it was difficult, long, humbling, emotional and financially challenging. It was a year of leaning and trusting in God. We are thankful to God for His faithfulness, mercy, provision, and ultimately God�s guidance in our lives. We learned and grew so much from our trial and for that we are thankful. We had a bittersweet ending to our 7-year ministry at Lighthouse Christian Center. We are thankful for the relationships and the fruit that came from our ministry. We saw many of our young people go into full time ministry as well as many lives that came to know the Lord.

2006 has been a wonderful year for us. God revealed His plan for our future in March 2006. We are planting a church in Orting, Wa., 15 miles from where we used to live. Joey will be the lead pastor. We have three churches that are financially supporting us as well as two church planting organizations. We are so excited to fulfill this call that God has placed on our lives. If you want to know more about our new church or if you want to read more about our journey, you can check out our website www.ortingreunion.org (you can also see a cool video with us and the boys). On the site you can subscribe to an e-newsletter. We would love for you to partner with us through prayer.

Now for our family�.

Zachary is 6 yrs old and enjoying Kindergarten, Awana Sparky�s, soccer, t-ball and his friends. He is still very much a social butterfly and is very well liked among his peers. His highlight for the year was winning the sheep riding competition at the Puyallup Fair. We were all amazed at how long he held on. What a fun memory.

Nathan is 3 yrs. old and keeps up extremely well with his big brother. He started Awana Cubbies this year and absolutely LOVES it. Nathan was brave enough to ride the sheep too, but fell off in a split second. I enjoy my time with him while Zachary is in school.

Joey has had a busy year. He finished the academic part to his Doctor of Ministry degree. He has now begun to work on his dissertation. Church planting has consumed the majority of his time. His vision and passion for reaching the community of Orting for Christ has been an inspiration for all of us on the core team. In addition to church planting, he worked a part time job these past 3 months. This has enabled him to meet a lot of people in our new community. Joey continues to be an incredible Daddy and loving husband. I have been so proud of him in all he has accomplished. We celebrated our 10th Anniversary this year. You can read about some of these experiences on Joey's blog called "More Than Cake".

Now for me, as I mentioned earlier, 2005 was a very hard year. I don�t think I have cried so much in my entire life. This past year I have been reveling in God�s grace and faithfulness in our lives. God has truly met me at my deepest need and given me the desires of my heart. A highlight for me this year was to be involved with three of my youth girl�s weddings this summer. (yes, it hit me that I am getting older, what is worse is that two of my girls have already had babies.) On a separate note, I have started a mom�s group in Orting that has kept me busy. We both have had so many ministry opportunities since living here in Orting and it is so obvious why we are here.

Another huge highlight for me this year was moving into a brand new home in September. It is so wonderful to have our own house again. Our home is such a representation of God�s faithfulness in our lives. My parents graciously let us live with them for almost 7 months. It ended up to be a very precious experience for our family.

So lastly, if you have hung in here this long with our letter, I have the most exciting news yet to share. I am pregnant!!! I am due in July 2007. We would appreciate your prayers. 2007 will be an exciting year; not only because of a new baby, and a new church but also because my brother is finally getting married! We are so happy that he has found a wonderful girl to spend the rest of his life with. Their plan is to wed May 2007 and so we will be traveling to California for all the festivities. They are in the photo with us in front of our house.

We pray your year will be blessed. We are so thankful to all of our family and friends, who have supported, prayed, encouraged, and believed in us these past two years. We wouldn�t have made it without you and our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Our prayer is if you are in the midst of a storm, that you will find peace and rest as you trust in God.

With love, Joey, Suzanne, Zachary, Nathan and baby!

� We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given.� Romans 5:3-5

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 19:59:49 +0100

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from both the numbness in her hand and from her double vision.
We have some big financial needs for our December 24 Preview service. Please pray God�s provision for furnishings, decorations, a facility, advertisements, signage, etc...

Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they minister to the ladies at the MomTime Ministry.
Please pray for some website help for Pastor Joe and also that we get some needed funding to support this development.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
While we still have a way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

EmergingLife Resources

Hi [firstname],

Wind and water have hit us hard this fall. Now we have come through several days of no power. In the midst of all the crazy weather God has been good to us. Our first public service is fast approaching. Christmas Eve morning we will celebrate the birth of our Savior and we are praying for a huge harvest of souls. We have had lots of unknowns, but this past week we have seen God bring amazing provision through our partner churches.

1. We secured a worship lead for our preview service.
2. Bethany Baptist is loaning us tables and a projector.
3. Jovita Baptist, our newest partner, is loaning us 150 chairs.
4. Graham Emmanuel Baptist is providing us with 2 wireless microphones we need for our drama.
5. Abbey Carpet of Puyallup is loaning us their box truck so we can pick up all our borrowed stuff and move it to Orting.
6. Finally, all of our church partners are helping to provide us with some volunteers help us go door-to-door and at our Sunday morning preview service.

On behalf of the school district, Marty Parkhursst has really come through for us. We have a great room for our adult meeting and we will have 4 huge classrooms for our children. Wow, what a huge blessing to have tables and chairs provided for our kids!

I spent a lot of hours this week doing graphics design, and using funding from our personal savings we will have 1000 door hangers and 2 awesome banners ready to help us promote our church!

Ah, but there are still some needs that must be met over the coming weeks.

1. Most all of the items above are borrowed and eventually we will need our own tables, chairs, projector, microphones and of course our own Music Leader.
2. We need a trailer that we can use to permanently store and move our stuff from week to week.
3. Our former church, Lighthouse Christian Center, was kind enough to donate their old latt� machine, but now we will need a portable cart that is plumbed for this kind of use.
4. We need the financial resources to pray for facility rental on a week to week basis.
5. Suzanne and I still are lacking some of our monthly support that we need to keep things going.

Please stay connected and if you are available, I invite you to join us to celebrate Jesus with us on Dec. 24th.

God bless

PS
I have put in a lot of hours over the past two weeks and we now have a brand new website. There is still lots of work ahead, but I am so excited for all the great features we can offer everyone who visits our website. I am especially excited about our interactive web calendar that allows every user to get customized notification of upcoming events. Please check out the site, register, and try out the features. I appreciate any and all feedback that will help make it better.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Thu, 23 Nov 2006 22:37:02 +0100

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

EmergingLife Resources

Reunion Cafe

Upcoming events

MAN'S Breakfast (2 days)
Saturday Night Reunion (2 days)
MomTime (5 days)
Saturday Night Reunion (9 days)
MomTime (12 days)

Happy Thanksgiving [firstname]!

On this great day, I am thankful that after more than 2 years of prayer, the future of Reunion Church is here! Our Core Team has spent many many hours planning and preparing for the coming Christmas Preview service and December outreach. There is still a lot of work to be done and a lot of unknowns, but I am excited to see how well our team has come together and taken the initiative to fulfill God�s plan.

We anticipate a need for 30 volunteer workers at our December 24th preview service. We need helpers for childcare, greeting, table leaders, drama, worship, set-up, tear-down, and follow-up. If you would like to help make our first preview service a success, please contact me as soon as possible.

Finally, we have some other news for which we can give thanks this holiday season. We recently found out Suzanne is pregnant. The baby is due on July 10th. We are all praying God will bless us with a healthy baby girl. Both Zachary and Nathan have said they really want a little sister, and they pray for her all the time. Please pray Suzanne has a good pregnancy and that she will have healing on all her other health issues.

That is all for now. Have a blessed day and I look forward to seeing you as the Lord allows!

God bless,

PS
Hey guys, don�t forget that this Saturday morning is our monthly MAN�s breakfast. I hope to see you there!

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 16:08:20 +0100

Pray for Paula as she begins to prepare and teach her women�s study in Orting.

Pray for our Core Team Training with Karl Roth in early November.
Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.
Pray that as Joe continues work at Safeway, the Lord will open the doors to evangelize the lost and connect with the community.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from both the numbness in her hand and from her double vision.
Keep praying as we continue to talk with several churches about partnership with our plant. We need both individuals and churches to respond with some commitments to stand with us.
Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they minister to the ladies at the MomTime Ministry.
Pray that we find someone to help with our web development.
Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
While we still have a way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

EmergingLife Resources

Reunion Cafe

Recent Blogs

Our Name: �Reunion Church�

The choicest saints are born to troubles

Four Kinds of Knowledge

The Gift of Unity; The Gift of the Spirit

I Shall Not Diminish

Impossible Opportunities Coming Your Way-Part 3

Church Planting is Hard!

Upcoming events

Saturday Night Reunion (3 hours)
Saturday Night Reunion( 7 days)
Guy's Night Out (10 days)
Core Team Training w/Karl Roth (12 days)
Core Team Training w/Karl Roth (13 days)

Upcoming events

Saturday Night Reunion (3 hours)
Saturday Night Reunion( 7 days)
Guy's Night Out (10 days)
Core Team Training w/Karl Roth (12 days)
Core Team Training w/Karl Roth (13 days)

Hi, [firstname],

What else can I say, but; God is good! Before I get to the Reunion Church news, I wanted to give you a praise report on Suzanne�s health. As you know, she needs to have 2 MRIs done, to try and help the doctors find out what is going on with her left eye. We made application for a hardship grant from the medical center, and the great news is that they have agreed to cover 100% of our cost! They are going to pay more than $2,700 so Suzanne can get these important tests! Wow, God is good! Thank you [firstname]! Thank you so much for your prayers.

Reunion Church is moving forward and I am confident with each new day that the hand of the Lord is on us, holding us tight, and preparing us for a great work.

We continue to meet every Saturday night in our home, and I am excited to see that our Core Team is starting to bond. Suzanne�s MomTime is doing so well. She is really connecting with a lot of single moms and the mix of married and single moms is proving to be a very healthy environment for growing healthy mothers.

Something New!

I am also please to announce the start of several new ministry opportunities. Starting on Tuesday November 7th, we are going to have a Guys Night Out here at our home. We plan on playing some poker, basketball, or doing whatever weather permits. We will continue to meet on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday nights of each month.

And probably the best news of all is that Paula Pitzler will be starting an outreach Bible study here in Orting. If you don�t know Paula, she is an amazing teacher of God�s Word and an all around wonderful woman of God. She is also the Regional Field Director for Stonecroft Ministries which helps women learn the Bible and build solid relationships. I am proud to call her my friend and partner in ministry. But to get this thing off the ground, Paula needs your help and input. She is going to meet sometime during the week in the daytime here at the local Starbucks. If you are interested in helping pick the date and time, then give her a call or email her �(253) 223-4995, paulapitz@comcast.net). And don�t forget, this study is meant to reach out, so if you have friends who don�t know Jesus, this is the best place you can take them to discover God. Ladies, I want to encourage you not to miss this opportunity to study with Paula, you will not regret the investment of time.

You can get all the dates, times, and details of our upcoming events at our website www.OrtingReunion.Org. See you soon!

God bless

One quick update on our November Core Team training. I just got off the phone with Karl. We are going to do training for 2 hours on Wednesday night, and 2 � hours on both Thursday and Friday. Please check out our calendar for exact time and details.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 14:34:16 +0100

Several of our leadership have been under attack from the Evil One. Please pray God would work to protect our leadership.

Our home closed without a problem. Praise God. Now pray we continue to get the funding we need to keep things going.
Pray that as Joe continues work at Safeway, the Lord will open the doors to evangelize the lost and connect with the community.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her hand and some other problems she is starting to experience. Things are getting worse, and we need a big medical breakthrough and our insurance to cover some costs.
Keep praying as we continue to talk with several churches about partnership with our plant. We need both individuals and churches to respond with some commitments to stand with us.
Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they develop the MomTime Ministry and meet for the first time this week.
Pastor Joe wants to do some creative stuff with our website, but he needs someone with design skills willing to tithe their time and talent to make his vision come together. Please pray we find that person soon. And pray we get some needed funding to support this development.
Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
Pray for wisdom as we transition into the fall and make decisions about outreach events and weekly meetings.
While we still have a way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname],

God is the God of doors; some doors He opens and some doors he shuts, but no Man can counter what God has ordained�Revelation 3:7-9. God has opened a door for us to spread the Gospel by planting Reunion church, and that open door is a promise from our brother Jesus that nothing can stop us from succeeding. As I sat in worshipped the Lord this weekend, I felt the Lord telling me, �There are some impossible opportunities coming your way!� I am confident that this is God�s message for us this fall and I am excited to see what God will do when we step through the open door and plant this church. You can read a bit more about this message today, and all this week, on my blog.

Saturday Oct 7 was an amazing beginning to the fall ministry here in our Orting home. Close to 30 adults and 15 kids gathered together to eat ice cream and fellowship together. The best part is that almost half of our numbers were from first time guests who are just now getting connected with Reunion Church.

And as the sun gets ready to rise on a new week, I am excited to see what God has planned for us. I really hope everyone can come out this next Saturday. We are going to have a celebration dinner followed by a time of worship, teaching, and some planning for the fall. Please bring a dish to share and come with an expectant heart.

In just one more day, Suzanne and Renae will have their first MomTime Tuesday night meeting. Already Suzanne has connected with some wonderful moms who are excited to come. Some of them do not yet know the Lord, so pray for a special blessing as they meet and talk about Jesus.

There is still more fun coming for our men. In just two weeks, Tuesday October 17, we are going to have our first MAN Night. We will meet at our home here in Orting and most likely we will play some poker, eat some food, and talk about MAN things. Keep an eye on our calendar for more details.

This week I am praying for a big breakthrough in two fronts; our worship and a Sunday meeting place. Keep these two items in your prayers and I am confident you will be blessed to see God meet our need in a significant way.

God bless

PS
Make sure to get the directions to our Home @ 205 Hawk Ave., Orting, WA 98360 from our website.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 19:22:20 +0100

Our home closed without a problem. Praise God. Now pray we continue to get the funding we need to keep things going.
Pray that as Joe continues work at Safeway, the Lord will open the doors to evangelize the lost and connect with the community.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her hand and some other problems she is starting to experience.
Thank God for the answer to prayer we found in Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church; our newest church planting partner! We also need to keep praying for more partnerships; both individuals and churches.
Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they develop the MomTime Ministry.
Pastor Joe wants to do some creative stuff with our website, but he needs someone with design skills willing to tithe their time and talent to make his vision come together. Please pray we find that person soon. And pray we get some needed funding to support this development.
Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead. We have some guys taking an interest, but we really need to solidify God�s will for us.
Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We are still in process with several churches who we want as planting partners. Pray we find favor with their leadership.
Pray for wisdom as we plan the transition into the fall and make decisions about outreach events and weekly meetings.
While we still have a way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname],

If you missed our Sunday night prayer, then you missed an amazing time with the Lord! We had some awesome worship led by Drew Konzelman. The prayer was sweet. We spent time thanking our Father for so many blessings and lifting up some of the needs for our future. Best of all, we spent some time just thanking God for His goodness and love. Now that we have dedicated our home and ministry to the Lord, we are ready to move on with our fall schedule of events.

In just 4 days we are going to have our first official gathering at our home in Orting. I can not tell you how excited we are to have this opportunity. The shift to weekly meetings (with childcare) and to one consistent location is a great benefit as we work to gather our core and develop a plan for launching Sunday services. This coming Saturday will be a night of outreach and ingathering. If you have not been out to a meeting in a while, or if you have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for things to get started, now is your time to come on out and join the Reunion. Our meeting will run from 6 to 8 pm and at the end we will have some ice cream. We will provide the ice cream, and all we ask is that you bring a topping to share.

I am also excited to announce that we have a special trainer coming up from California to help our Core plan for the coming months. His name is Karl and after one short year, his church plant is running around 400 weekly attenders. He has done a great job, and is coming to us at no cost (except a love offering) to help us plan and prepare for a successful plant. I will be sharing more details on the time and dates for this special training in the coming weeks. Keep visiting our website for details.

October will also feature the launh of our first MomTime meetings and for our Man�s Night Out. Lots of details are still in the works, but I can tell you this, I am more than ready to see what God is going to do in helping us grow and reach the community with the Gospel.

So get ready for the weekend, and bring some friends to explore what it means to be a part of the Father�s Reunion!

Questions on Support
Some of you have been asking about the best way to send financial support and/or send in your tithes. If you want to send your support/tithe with a check, then please do so using the following address:

Columbia Baptist Conference
c/o Support for Orting Church Plant
925 N. 130th St.
Seattle, WA 98133

100% of this money goes to support the church plant, and we are very thankful to the CBC for providing all the administrative support.

If you really don�t like writing monthly checks, then you are welcome to use our on-line giving site (www.ReunionGiving.com) hosted through Puget Sound Church Planting. Thanks to their help, you can offer a dedicated gift to meet a specific need or set-up monthly contributions. Minus some Credit Card fees, 100% of this money also comes directly to support the church plant.

God bless

PS
Here are the directions to our Home @ 205 Hawk Ave., Orting, WA 98360 (the address is not in MapQuest or Google yet)

Coming From the South Hill Mall / Puyallup
� Turn LEFT onto 37TH AVE SE. (37TH AVE SE becomes 112TH ST E / 39TH AVE SE.)
� Turn RIGHT onto SHAW RD E.
� Turn LEFT onto 122ND ST E.
� 122ND ST E becomes MILITARY RD E.
� Turn RIGHT onto WA-162. Continue to follow WA-162.
� Turn RIGHT onto CALISTOGA ST E.
� Follow over the bridge. You will see signs for Hidden Lakes development.
� Turn LEFT into Hidden Lakes onto CARDINAL ST.
� Make first RIGHT onto EAGLE AVE.
� Make first LEFT onto MOCKINGBIRD ST.
� Our Home is # 205, across from the playground, right at the intersection of MOCKINGBIRD ST & HAWK AVE.
� Park near the basketball court come in the front.

Coming From Graham
� If you are coming South on Meridian, then make a LEFT on either 200th ST E or 224th ST E. (whichever one is closer to you)
� If you are coming North on Meridian, then make a RIGHT on either 200th ST E or 224th ST E.
� From either street turn LEFT onto ORTING KAPOWSIN HWY E. ORTING KAPOWSIN HWY E becomes CALISTOGA ST W.
� (You will pass the Old Soldiers Home at a 90� bend in the road. You will also see signs for the Hidden Lakes development along the way)
� Turn RIGHT into Hidden Lakes onto ROBIN ST.
� Turn LEFT onto BLUEJAY AVE.
� Turn LEFT onto HAWK AVE.
� Our Home is # 205, across from the playground, and right at the intersection of MOCKINGBIRD ST & HAWK AVE.
Park near the basketball court come in the front.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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The Miller Family Update

Sat, 23 Sep 2006 12:04:56 +0100

For a continued blessing on our boys. And for Zachary as he starts Kindergarten.
Continue to pray that Suzanne�s arm and leg would be healed and that she will regain full strength and full use of her hand.
Pray for Joey as he begins work on his Doctoral dissertation and plans to finish in May 2008. And as he continues to work at Safeway.
A prayer of thanks and praise for such a great living experience with Suzanne's parents.

A prayer of thanks for God's provision to move in and stay in our home.

Pray for us in our efforts to plant a church. This is a huge challenge and we need your prayers.

Hi [firstname],

So much has been happening in our family these past months. We had a lot of fun this summer being together and we even had the chance to go up to Mt. Rainier for a little family hike.

In a huge answer to prayer, we are now living in our own home again. After seven good, but cramped, months of living with Suzanne�s parents we were able to close on a house in Orting which is about 14 miles southeast of where we used to live in Puyallup. Our new mailing address is below along with a picture. We have an extra room and so we welcome visitors from far and wide to come and spend some time with us.

205 Hawk Ave., Orting, WA 98360

The boys are doing great. August was a busy month because Zachary turned 6 in and Nathan turned 3�wow they are getting so big. They decided that they wanted to share a room in our new home, and they are doing very well�they are amazing brothers! Just this past week we went to the Puyallup Fair and the boys entered a sheep riding contest. Nathan had a tough time and only stayed on for a couple seconds�

Yes that is my poor little boy falling off the sheep. He was very sad until he got a special t-shirt from the owner of the rodeo.

Zachary did an amazing job and he actually won the contest for the day. He rode for 6.4 seconds and got a score of 72. His prize was a very nice belt buckle that says he is the �Mutton Bustin� Champion�.

Now he gets to go back on Sunday for a final championship round where he will compete against all the first place winners from the past two weeks. The winner earns a $500 savings bond and a cool belt buckle. If you live close and want to come cheer for Zachary, be at the Puyallup Fair grounds Sunday Sept. 24 @ 6:30 pm near the Green Gate. Zachary would love to see you there!

The church plant continues to go well. I started working 20 hours a week at the local Safeway. You can read more on my blog. The Safeway job gives us some income, medical insurance, and most importantly an opportunity for me to meet lots of people. Suzanne is excited to start a new mom�s group called MomTime. I am sure she will do an amazing job and attract lots of ladies who need support and need to know the Lord. You can keep up with all the changes on our Reunion Church Website.

That�s all for now and we hope to hear from you soon.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.
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Happenings at Reunion Church

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:57:42 +0100

Our home closed without a problem. Praise God. Now pray we continue to get the funding we need to keep things going.
Pray that as Joe begins work at Safeway, the Lord will open the doors to evangelize the lost and connect with the community.
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her hand.
Thank God for the answer to prayer we found in Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church; our newest church planting partner!
Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they develop the MomTime Ministry.
Pastor Joe wants to do some creative stuff with our website, but he needs someone with design skills willing to tithe their time and talent to make his vision come together. Please pray we find that person soon. And pray we get some needed funding to support this development.
Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead.

Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.
We are still in process with several churches who we want as planting partners. Pray we find favor with their leadership.

Pray for wisdom as we plan the transition into the fall and make decisions about outreach events and weekly meetings.
While we still have a way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname],

Praise the Lord, we are living in Orting! One week ago today, we were able to close on our home and move into Orting. This was a huge step forward in planting because this allows us to really get to know the people in our community. Our neighborhood only has five occupied homes, so we are very focused on building relationships. One of our neighbors has already expressed interest in coming to Reunion Church, so this is very exciting news for us!

In this update, I wanted to give you a glimpse of our upcoming schedule which is full of some exciting events to help us grow and build our core team. In just one day from now (Saturday Sept. 23rd), we are having our next Saturday Night Reunion at the home of Lee and Renae Kinney. They live just up the hill from us in Graham and you can find their address with directions at the end of this newsletter. I have already made one new connection from my job at Safeway and we should have a brand new visitor with us! Remember to bring a dish to share for dinner and our start time is 6:00 pm. Suzanne and I look forward to seeing you soon. (You can read a bit more on my Safeway job experience on my blog)

I have some cool news for the guys. As you have come to expect, in just 8 days, we will have our end of the month MAN�S Breakfast @ 7 am. Whether you are a committed member of Reunion, or one of the men committed to a partner church who is praying for us, I invite all the men reading this to come and join us for a time of MAN-talk and eating! Now, in addition to our breakfast, starting in October we are going to start a bi-monthly activity night. We will meet for some basketball, poker, fishing, or whatever else we want to do. If you want to be a part in picking the night and times, then give me a call or email me. I will have more details in our next newsletter.

Ah, but don�t worry ladies, we also have some exciting news for you too! As you may know, Suzanne successfully started a MOPS group at our last church that, in just three short years, grew from a small core to over 80 ladies and 120 kids. This group was very in reaching out to the unchurched. Now Suzanne has felt God�s leading to start a new mom�s group that will draw in not just Mothers of Pre-schoolers, but all moms with kids ages 0 through grade school. You can find out more information about this ministry, dates, times, and vision at our website.

Finally, on Sunday October 1st we are going to dedicate our home to the Lord in prayer. We moved here with the idea that our home would be a base for our church plant and we want our first official event to be a night of prayer for God�s blessing and provision. We are kicking things off at 6:00 pm and I want to invite everyone who is able to come and pray with us. Please RSVP if you can make it and keep an eye out for the details (including directions) that will be posted on our calendar.

Ooops, I almost forgot. Our next newsletter will come from a new address and domain name. If you are running a spam filter, please give permission for mail to come to you from news@elnews.net. This will ensure that you do not miss any important updates on Reunion Church.

Take care and see you soon!

God bless,

PS
Here are the directions to the Kinney�s Home @ 10505 248th St. Ct. E. Graham, WA 98338

From Puyallup:
South on Meridian
Left on 224th Street E
Right on 108th Ave E
    (108th Ave E turns into 240th St E)
    (240th St E turns into 110th Ave E)
Right on 250th St Ct E
Follow 250th to the gate
     Press the button that has a key on it, then dial 075.
     We will then be able to open the gate for you.
Left on 248th St Ct E
We are the on the right, just passed the mailboxes.

From Orting:
South on Washington Ave
Right on Calistoga St W
    (Calistoga St W turns into Calistoga Ave)
    (Calistoga Ave turns into Orting-Kapowsin Highway)
Right on 224th St E
Left on 108th Ave E
    (108th Ave E turns into 240th St E)
    (240th St E turns into 110th Ave E)
Right on 250th St Ct E
Follow 250th to the gate
     Press the button that has a key on it, then dial 075.
     We will then be able to open the gate for you.
Left on 248th St Ct E
We are the on the right, just passed the mailboxes.

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:55:57 +0100

Pray that as Joe begins work at Safeway, the Lord will open the doors to evangelize the lost and connect with the community.
Praise God! We are moving into a home on September 7! Please pray the transition goes well and that all our needs are met by the Lord!
Pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her hand.
Thank God for the answer to prayer we found in Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church; our newest church planting partner!
Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they develop the MomTime Ministry.
Pastor Joe wants to do some creative stuff with our website, but he needs someone with design skills willing to tithe their time and talent to make his vision come together. Please pray we find that person soon. And pray we get some needed funding to support this development.
Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname],

Wow! What a week this has been. So much is going on in the life of Reunion Church and in our family! My blog this week is a great reminder of what we are all about; reaching the lost and building the Kingdom. I am so excited that God does not have to drag us into his mission and I am even more excited to partner with you in planting Reunion.

In a huge answer to prayer, we are moving into a new home on September 7th. This is so very exciting because we know this will allow us to expand our presence in Orting and grow our Reunion Family. Also, Suzanne has quit her job at the smoothie shop and will be focusing on staying with the boys and her MomTime Ministry. Her willingness to work there these past 9 months has been a great blessing to our family and really helped me get things together for the church plant. We could not have made this much progress if Suzanne had not been willing to take on this job, so I am very thankful to be married to such a wonderful servant of the Lord! Now we are looking forward to her next challenge in starting an effective ministry to moms.

I, on the other hand, will be starting a new job at Safeway in Orting. At first I was hired to work as a Courtesy Clerk, but now I have already been promoted to the job of Helper Clerk. At this rate, I will be running the place within a month! Seriously, this is such an exciting venture because I know God will use this job not only to get our family some much-needed medical insurance, but also to help us make strong connections to the people our new community.

Meantime, in just 4 days, we are having our first Saturday Night Reunion. We will start things off with a Mexican themed dinner, so bring something tasty to share. We also hope to add a little worship music into the night with one of the guys who have been considering connecting with our church plant. I am excited to see this come together!

Please make note of one important calendar change, we are now meeting at the home of Joe and Judith Lopez on South Hill. Their address is:

8422 148th St. E.
Puyallup, WA 98375

I look forward to seeing you there where we can explore God together!

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:07:51 +0100

Please pray for Suzanne�s healing from the numbness in her hand.
Thank God for the answer to prayer we found in Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church; our newest church planting partner!
Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they develop the MomTime Ministry.
Pastor Joe wants to do some creative stuff with our website, but he needs someone with design skills willing to tithe their time and talent to make his vision come together. Please pray we find that person soon. And pray we get some needed funding to support this development.
Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead.

Living in Orting is key to planting in that city. We are looking to close on a house by September 6th. Please pray the closing goes well and that we have our full support by that time so we can make house payments.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Hi [firstname],

We have had some exciting weeks this summer, and now as we move into the fall we are looking forward to a season where we can really get focused on growing our core and preparing for our launch of public services. To help our preparation, we are making some changes starting in September.

Our Friday Night Gatherings are moving to Saturday night (Sept. 9 and 23). In October, we will begin to meet weekly every Saturday night at our home in Orting (we hope to close on a house on September 6th). As we move forward through September, we are going to start adding some music to our meetings and other key elements that will help us draw near to the Lord and to each other. I am very excited for these additions to our calendar and am looking forward to more regular times of Reunion! Please be sure and check out our on-line calendar for the most up-to-date information, dates, times and places where we will meet.

Don�t forget MEN, this Saturday (in just 2 days) is our next MAN�S Breakfast @ 7 am. Whether you are a committed member of Reunion, or one of the men committed to a partner church who is praying for us, I invite all the men reading this to come and join us for a time of MAN-talk and eating!

Finally, I wanted to let you all know some cool news. Graham Emmanuel Baptist Church has just committed to partner with us in planting Reunion Church. They have made a commitment to monthly financial support and they are also looking for ways they can support us with people-power! Some families may decide to come and join us on a permanent basis, others may just decide to help out by serving on an as-needed basis, and others are committed to pray for us through this newsletter. But no matter how they chose to participate, I am so thankful for our faithful brothers and sisters at GEBC who are serving Jesus and serving Reunion Church!

Finally, I had two meetings yesterday with churches who are also interested in our vision to plant and over the next month they will be making decisions about how they will partner with us. On a personal level, I am so encouraged to know there are so many churches out there who are seeking to grow God�s Kingdom and not just to grow their own congregation! Some have a lot to give and others have little, but each one is committed to serving God with their gifts! It is so amazing to see this kind of selfless support and concern for another Body of believers. It really takes a special church and a humble pastor to plant other churches. Churches like the ones partnering with us may not get in the news, but these churches and their leadership demonstrate so much of God�s heart and I am blessed beyond belief to know them.

God bless,

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 00:41:04 +0100

Pray for Suzanne and Renae as they develop the MomTime Ministry.
Pastor Joe wants to do some creative stuff with our website, but he needs someone with design skills willing to tithe their time and talent to make his vision come together. Please pray we find that person soon. And pray we get some needed funding to support this development.
Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.
Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead.

Living in Orting is key to planting in that city so keep praying that we can get into a home by the end of August or early September.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

So many exciting things are happening in the life of Reunion Church. The fall is coming quickly, and the calendar is already starting to fill up with some new and exciting activities. But before I tell you about any of our coming events, I have something to announce that is an incredible answer to prayer.

New Staff
One of our summer goals was to get someone in place who would take on our ministry to Jr. and Sr. High youth. God has chosen to give us a young man named Dusty Ellison. Now I know what you are thinking, �is that the same Dusty Ellison who played guitar and sang for the �Fruit Jar Pickers'?�

No, our Dusty is much cooler! Dusty has a long history with Bethany Baptist Church and a great reputation as a youth leader. Both he and his wife Miriam have played a key role in Bethany�s youth ministry and now both have sensed a call to join in with our Orting church plant. Dusty shares my heart to create a strong on-campus ministry with the teens of Orting and integrate those same teens into the life of the church. Miriam sees herself taking on a strong support role and keeping active alongside Dusty in building relationships with the teens. You will be hearing a lot more about both Dusty and Miriam in the weeks to come, but for now I wanted to let you all how thankful I am for your prayers which have been instrumental in bringing this great couple into the Reunion Church Family.

New Ministry to Moms
Suzanne has been working together with Renae Kinney, one of our Core Team members, to create a ministry to moms that will begin October 10th. The ladies will meet every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month. Suzanne and Renae are very excited about the outreach potential of this ministry. In the next few weeks, we will be sending out a lot more information about this up-and-coming ministry. In the meantime, if you are interested in helping out in any way, please contact Suzanne.

Reunion Video
This coming Friday, August 18th, is our next Friday Night Gathering. I am so excited for this night! Not just because it is our only chance to get together in August, but because we are shooting a video (thanks to Bethany for funding this project!). We will be working with a high quality production company to put together two unique videos. The first version of the video will be sent to potential churches and groups who may want to partner with us in planting. They will learn all about Reunion, the people, our vision, and why partnering with us is a real positive for them and for us.

The second version of our video will be packaged on a special CD that we can use when inviting people to come to Reunion Church. This has the potential to be a very powerful church planting tool, so it is very important that you come out for the Friday Night Gathering.

During the night we plan on filming both individual and couples interviews. And no, you don�t have to say anything if you don�t want, but we do need some of you to answer the key questions: �Why are you committed to Reunion Church?� and �What is your hope for the future?� Please think about how you might answer these two questions, and if the Lord leads, come prepared to do a very quick and informal interview for the camera. And even if you are a little afraid to talk on film, we can use all the warm and smiling faces we can get so this is a great time to come and bring some friends.

Please RSVP so we know who is coming. We are meeting at the home of Steve and Doreen Logan. They live in the Buttes just outside downtown Orting. Their address is 19316 205th St E.

Finally, we plan on doing some filming on Saturday the 19th at the Orting Festival in the Park. We will have more details this week on our web calendar, so check it out and plan on coming down for some fun, community outreach, and fellowship on this great day!

God Bless and I hope to see you very soon!

Click here to read our newsletter archives.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:10:30 +0100

Pray that we can secure a place to meet for our Preview Services which start in December.

Pray that we find the right man to become our worship lead.

Pray we find the right couple to lead our youth ministries.

Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective and that we find the right person to head up our outreach ministries.

We are still in process with several churches who we want as planting partners. Pray we find favor with their leadership.

Living in Orting is key to planting in that city so keep praying that we can get into a home by the end of August.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Fear and Faith
One of the challenges Suzanne and I face each day in planting Reunion church is the fear of the unknown. Without a doubt we have faced numerous obstacles over the past 6 months, but the one I faced in early July was the scariest so far. I woke up early on a Tuesday morning and got ready for a shower only to discover three small lumps under my arm. The soreness of these small lumps was soon outweighed by the thoughts of cancer that leapt to my mind. If this is cancer, what will happen to my family? Will I never get to see my boys grow up and become men? What will Suzanne do if I die? How will we pay for all the medical expenses without any insurance? For the first two days of this ordeal I must admit I let fear take hold of my heart and I was really scared of the unknown road that lay ahead.

As I began to spend more time in prayer my spirit found peace, my mind began to focus on the goodness of God and my faith grew. Suzanne and I had already been through so much and God was not going to abandon us now! Even if these lumps turned out to be cancer, I was soon convinced that God was going to use this to help us plant Reunion Church and that He would not let my family down. The early days of July were filled with much prayer, and about two weeks after my initial discovery the lumps just went away. So maybe they were nothing except my body showing signs of age, but I am convinced that God healed me. Not just physically, but God also healed me from the fear that threatened to derail my trust in Him.

Even today we are still facing a lot of challenges and the enemy has certainly drawn some large battle lines. Some of the folks on our core team are being attacked on their jobs, some are having battles with their health and others are getting just plain distracted by the cares of this world. In Matthew 13, Jesus warned His disciples about this very thing. If you and I are going to bear fruit for God�s Kingdom, then we had better make sure that Satan does not snatch the Word from our hearts, that our roots grow deep and that we pluck out the weeds of worry that seek to choke us out. Satan is definitely working overtime to stop us from accomplishing our vision to plant a vibrant church in Orting, but he will fail and God will use our faith to reach hundreds, if not thousands, of people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Coming This Week
I know summer is busy and the weather is awesome, but I encourage all of you to keep focused on the plant. This Friday, July 28, is our next dinner and conversation at the Orting city park, Saturday is our MAN�S Breakfast, and Sunday I am preaching at a church in Graham. All of these events represent important opportunities to connect and build the kind of relationships that will serve as the foundation for Reunion Church. So visit our on-line calendar, keep these dates and times in your prayers, and let�s keep growing the bond of unity so that Satan will have no opportunity to divide our growing family.

Columbia Baptist Conference
c/o Support for Orting Church Plant
925 N. 130th St.
Seattle, WA 98133

100% of this money goes to support the church plant, and we are very thankful to the CBC for providing all the administrative support.

If you really don�t like writing monthly checks, then you are welcome to use our on-line giving site hosted through Puget Sound Church Planting. Thanks to their help, you can offer a dedicated gift to meet a specific need or set-up monthly contributions. Minus some Credit Card fees, 100% of this money also comes directly to support the church plant.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 18:20:58 +0100

We have some great opportunities on the horizon, but we are still searching for a place where we can have regular gatherings.

We have a growing vision to have a full time worship pastor on board by the end of September. Pray that God will lead us to the right person and that we will get the necessary funding.

Pray we find the right couple to lead our youth ministries.

Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are still in process with several churches who we want as planting partners. Pray we find favor with their leadership.

While we still have a long way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

Our Washington summer is in full swing and Reunion Church is moving forward with our mission to gather a strong core team. I am excited to announce to everyone that we have filled one of our key leadership roles. Vicky McCauley is our new �Director of Children & Their Families�. Her purpose is to provide vision, direction, connection, and oversight to the children up to 6th grade and their families. This is a volunteer position for now, and Vicky is going to be awesome at helping us create a powerful ministry that will touch the lives of many children and parents. Here is a picture of Vicky with my wife Suzanne.

We have known Vicky for almost 8 years and she has been a special part of our family for a long time. Suzanne and I trust her, know she has a great heart for children, and is very well gifted to handle this big job. She has already started to meet with some experienced Children�s workers and is getting geared up for the coming months of preparation, team building, and planning. Email me if you would like to read her full job description. Please email Vicky directly if you would like to send her a note of encouragement or volunteer to help her out. I know she would love the support of good friends!

This Friday night, July 14, is another one of our Potluck gatherings. We are meeting at 6:30 in the Orting Park! That is also the location for our next gathering on July 28. We really want to get out and enjoy the summer, so please bring some food to share and join in our fellowship as we dream about tomorrow and make a difference for today.

One final note: I am preaching in Graham on July 30th and in Federal Way on August 6th. I sure would love for you to come and show your support for the Reunion Church plant. It is also a great opportunity for you to invite a friend to hear me preach. I look forward to seeing you there!

God bless,

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The Miller Family Update

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 09:52:06 +0100

For a continued blessing on our boys.
Pray that Suzanne�s arm and leg would be healed and that she will regain full strength and full use of her hand.
Pray for Joey as he begins work on his Doctoral dissertation and plans to finish in May 2008.
A continued good experience living with Suzanne�s parents.

Provision to close the purchase of a house we have found in Orting.

Pray for us in our efforts to plant a church. This is a huge challenge and we need your prayers.

Hi [firstname],
It has been a few months since our last update and now the 4th of July is upon us. We sold our home in March and since that time we have been living with Suzanne�s parents here in Puyallup. The time has gone by very fast. Space is tight, but the boys are doing great and we really do get along very well.

Our family is deep in the middle of a major life transition. We are moving forward with planting a church in the city of Orting, WA. We just made another key partnership with a group called Seattle Church Planting and they have helped us put together a website that will help people find ways to help support our ministry. Check it out at www.ReunionGiving.Com.

I am still working on development of my not-for-profit ministry called Restoring the Arts. One of our current projects is the development of an annual 40 day service project called Arts for Africa. Our team will plan to take groups of people to an adopted village in Africa where we can help orphans, take medicine to victims of AIDS, and bring some happiness through the celebration of the arts.

On a personal note, Zachary is now five and gave me one of the best Father�s Day memories that I will treasure for the rest of my life. He is in his first year of soccer and I have been helping out at all his practices. He is quite the competitor and has really wanted to score a goal. God was good because on the very day I got back home from California he scored a goal in a game. But the special Dad-moment came when he ran past all his friends, ran past his coach, and ran right to me on the sidelines. He jumped in my lap and said, �Dad, I did it! I scored my first goal!� That was one of the greatest moments of my life and, thanks to my friend Katie, I even have the candid photos to prove it!

Nathan was also at the game and he is growing so big. He will be three in August and we plan to start him in pre-school. He loves to do anything with Zachary. One of their favorite things is to play a video game called Buzz Lightyear. They really work well as a team and it is nice to see them bond as brothers. They are both awesome boys and a great blessing to Suzanne and I.

That�s all for this update. Have a great 4th of July and I pray God would bless you and your family.

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Wed, 28 Jun 2006 23:21:08 +0100

We have some great opportunities, but we are still searching for a place where we can have regular gatherings.

We have a growing vision to have a full time worship pastor on board by the end of September. Pray that God will lead us to the right person and that we will get the necessary funding.

Pray we find the right couple to lead our youth ministries.

Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are still in process with several churches who we want as planting partners. Pray we find favor with their leadership.

While we still have a long way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

ReunionGiving.Com

Pastor Joe's Blog

Our Main Website

During my prayer time this week the Lord has really impressed upon my heart the message that He is about to do something amazing. I have this growing sense that God is about to cause a breakthrough for the church. We are going to see some great people join our core, strong leaders will be raised up, financial goals will be met, and God will provide us with a stable place to meet. Let me just say that it is no coincidence that these items I just listed are the very items we have been praying about for the past several months. I have no idea how God will do it, but still I am convinced that we are on the verge of seeing God answer our prayers in a significant way. I can not wait to see what He will do over these next few weeks! Keep trusting in Him and I know that when you see the power of God fulfilled in Reunion, your life will be blessed beyond measure.

Partnerships For Success
Partnerships are the key to our success as a new church plant and Suzanne and I are excited to announce that after some personal interviews and assessment of my qualifications we have made a new relationship with Seattle Church Planting. SCP is committed to helping us find the resources and relationships we need to be successful in planting Reunion Church. One of the most visible services they are providing to us is a special website that will allow potential partners, both individuals and churches, to make on-line contributions based on a list of our financial needs. Check it out at www.ReunionGiving.Com and pass along this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested in helping us out.

Coming This Week
In just a few days we will be enjoying dinner and some great fellowship at our bi-monthly Friday Night Gathering. We are meeting this week in Orting at the home of Dave and Jennifer Mahlum. Please bring some food to share and a lawn chair because we plan to spend some time outside enjoying this awesome weather. Remember to bring your family and anyone else you would like to invite. You can get the address and directions from the website. Please call or email me if you are coming or not. It will really help us plan better for the night.

This week is also the second week of our Sunday morning Bible study at Bethany Baptist Church. Please plan on coming as this is one of our key events for gathering and growing our core team. I hope to see you there!

Finally, if you are looking for something to do on the 4th of July, we want to invite you to have a BBQ and watch some fireworks at the South Hill Amphitheatre. Please contact me if you want to join in the fun!

Have an awesome week and find a way to bless someone in your life with God�s love!

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 01:08:05 +0100

We have some great opportunities, but we are still searching for a place where we can have regular gatherings.

We have a growing vision to have a full time worship pastor on board by the end of September. Pray that God will lead us to the right person and that we will get the necessary funding.

Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Suzanne and I give thanks to God for giving us a place to stay, but pray that we can get into a home by the end of August. Living in Orting is key to planting in that city.

While we still have a long way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

Reunion Home Page

Pastor Joe's Blog

On-line Giving (coming soon...)

Hi [firstname],

I just returned from a two week trip to California where I finished my last year of residency for my Doctor of Ministry. Now I am back safe and sound in Washington and I am so excited to be home with my family and to continue the work of church planting. During my class on church growth, I was reminded of just how important Reunion Church is to God. Take a look at the covenant-promise the Father made with Abraham:

Genesis 12:1-3 (HCSB) The Lord said to Abram: � Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father�s house to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.�

We, the people of Reunion Church, are on a mission to make the name of God great in the city of Orting. We are called to be a blessing and take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a city where His love must be made real in the lives of many who do not know Him as Lord and Savior.

Wow! That is a big goal, and it makes me glad to know that I am not alone in planting this church!

In the coming weeks, you will have several opportunities to grow Reunion Church by inviting friends and family to participate in our Sunday morning Bible Study at Bethany, our MAN�S Breakfast, or our Friday Night Gathering.

The newest opportunity to grow our Family is the Sunday Morning study hosted by Bethany Baptist Church. Starting June 25th @ 9:30 am we will be meeting to explore the Foundations in Evangelism. Each of us will learn to share our testimony and share our faith in Jesus. You will come away from our time with a confidence and passion to talk about Jesus with friends and family and God will use you to do an amazing work in the life of someone who needs God�s love.

I want to encourage each of you to begin praying for one key friend or family member who you want to invite to one of our upcoming events. And as the day draws near, invite them to come and explore what it means to be a part of Reunion Church.

Finally, our next Friday Night Gathering on June 30th will be hosted at the home of Dave and Jenn Mahlum in Orting. You can get more info and directions from our online calendar.

God bless,

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Tue, 30 May 2006 18:43:30 +0100

We have some great opportunities, but we are still searching for a place where we can have regular gatherings.

We have a growing vision to have a full time worship pastor on board by the end of September. Pray that God will lead us to the right person and that we will get the necessary funding.

Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Suzanne and I give thanks to God for giving us a place to stay, but pray that we can get into a home by the end of August. Living in Orting is key to planting in that city.

While we still have a long way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

Hi [firstname],

Here we are, the last day of May and June is shaping up to be a wonderful month for us. As I type this newsletter, I am looking outside at a bright and sunny day. I am excited for the sunny days to come and the opportunities we will have this summer to grow as a Family and reach the city of Orting with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. First let me give you an update on some of the events we have had in May.

In May we had our first Friday Night Gathering down at the park in Orting. It was so much fun to gather with some of you and share some of my dreams for the future of Reunion Church. In June, we have two more Friday Night Gatherings (June 2nd and 30th). The gathering this coming Friday night is at the home of Lee and Renae Kinney. They live just up the hill from Orting in Graham. I am so excited to meet in their home and spend some more time exploring Jesus together! Just like before, we will start the night with a meal. So if you plan on coming, can you please email or call me so I know how many to plan for. Also, the Kinneys have a playroom downstairs for the kids. We don�t have a babysitter, but the children can play together downstairs while we meet.

Our first ever �MAN�s Breakfast� was a big success. The food was great and the company was even better. I am so excited for our next breakfast on June 4th. I don�t know what Carl (the owner of the Around the Corner Cafe) will make for us, but I hope it tastes as good as the biscuits and gravy we had last time!

Finally, let me say that these last couple months have been very busy for Suzanne and me. We have been meeting lots of people, connecting with several churches that are looking to partner with us, and we have done a bunch of traveling to help meet our support needs. Thank you to everyone who has helped out financially. You are a valued partner in the work God is doing and will do through us in the months and years to come. I pray God returns blessing to you and your family!

God bless,

PS
Don�t forget to invite some friends to join us for the upcoming events!

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Happenings at Reunion Church

Thu, 18 May 2006 22:12:05 +0100

We have some great opportunities, but we are still searching for a place where we can have regular gatherings.

Our passion is to reach the lost of Orting, pray that we can be effective in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

While we still have a long way to go before we are fully supported, we want to thank God for all the people and groups who have committed resources to make Reunion Church a reality.

Hi [firstname],

Suzanne and I continue to move forward with our vision for Reunion Church. Some days are hard and some days are easy, but every day we are seeing God's hand at work in our lives!

One of the most challenging parts of planting a church is learning to roll with the punches. Every day offers a new challenge and sometimes our faith is growing with each new dawn. Flexibility is a key component of everything we do.

One change this week is that our Friday Night Gathering scheduled for May 19th is cancelled. If you had planned on coming, I apologize for the late notice, but we appreciate you being flexible with us. Our next Gatherings are scheduled on June 2nd and June 30th. Keep an eye on our web calendar for more details, including the locations, along with other events.

One exciting event coming up soon is the May 27th "Man's Breakfast". If ou want to join me and some other men for a good breakfast and conversation, please let me know so I can save you a seat!

God bless and keep in touch!

Pastor Joe

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Our First Friday Night!

Thu, 04 May 2006 18:06:26 +0100

We are excited for this coming Friday night as it is our first gathering of some of the folks connected with Reunion Church. In an effort to take advantage of the great weather, we have moved our dinner and talk time to the park in downtown Orting. We will be meeting under the Gazebo. Use the map below to guide you and look for the group of people having the most fun--that will be us!

You can find more info on this and other upcoming events here at our website.

See you there!

Pastor Joe

PS
Remember the dinner is a Mexican theme, so if you bring a dish to share, make it Mexican!

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The Blessings of Spring

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 16:48:50 +0100

A continued good experience living with Suzanne�s parents.
Provision to close the purchase of a house we have found in Orting.
For the funding we need to come in quickly (Thanks to everyone who has made a commitment to our support).
Praise for some key people who have joined our team, and prayer for some quality youth workers and musicians.
For our boys so that they do well in this time of transition (Praise God, they have been doing great with no compaints so far!).

Hi [firstname],
Easter has come and gone, and as we enter into this season of Life, we are excited to see how new life is being brought into our plans.

You may not have received our last update because we had a problem with the navigation menu in our newsletter getting through our firewall, so in case you missed it�we are planting a church in Orting, WA. You can read the full update on-line in our archives.

Since the last update, we have been making a lot of progress in reaching a lot of new people and developing our team to support this work. The month of May will see the start of our first small group and our first Saturday morning �Man�s Breakfast�. You can now get updates on upcoming events and times on our brand new church website.

On a personal note, we are living with Suzanne�s parents and hoping to get into a house sometime in August. We are really trusting God for His provision, and excited to see how He will bring all this together.

If you did not get last months letter, then you may want to use the sign-up form at the bottom of the archived letter and sign-up for the other newsletter updates we offer; one for the Church and one for Restoring the Arts. These are both great ministries we are excited to spearhead.

Keep in touch and God bless,
Joe

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A Promise Fulfilled!

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:00:09 +0100

To have a good move.
o have a good experience living with Suzanne�s parents.
To find the right house.
For the funding we need to come in quickly.
For the right team of people to come around us as we plan for the new church.
For our boys so that they do well in this time of transition.

Dear [firstname],

Suzanne and I are excited to share some amazing news with you. After many long months of planning and prayer, we can now officially announce to you that we are planting a church in Orting Washington which is just 15 miles from our home! For a few years now, many of you have been aware that Suzanne and I have felt called to build a new church from the ground up. And now we stand amazed at how God put this whole thing together.

Back in October of 2005, God unexpectedly connected us with a solid church in Puyallup called Bethany Baptist Church, which is led by Pastor George Bedlion. In a short time, we recognized our shared vision for church planting. Since October, we have been through several interviews with local leaders in the Columbia Baptist Conference (CBC), key pastors in our area, and most recently some experienced church planters assessed our qualifications to plant. So far, everyone has shown a lot of excitement toward us. Our district supervisor, Corbit Magby, was very pleased to hear we were approved by the assessment center and had this to say:

" Congrats, George. [Joe and Suzanne were a] Good choice. This is a great day for the South Sound LEAD team, and especially for those folks at Bethany��

With the backing of Bethany Baptist Church, and a strong approval to plant from the assessment center, we will be moving forward as key partners in this church planting movement. Our mother-church has a vision to plant 3 new churches in the next 9 years. Suzanne and I will begin our plant this year and along with our network of churches, we hope to plant a second church within the next 5 years.

Needless to say, we have a big vision and a long road ahead, but Suzanne and I are excited about what God has called us to do.

Some of the other exciting news is that our house has finally sold. After almost 8 years in our home, we will move out on March 24th. We hope to move down to Orting as soon as we can, but in the meantime we will be living with Suzanne�s parents here in Puyallup. The living space will be tight, but we are thankful they are open to letting us stay with them as we make this transition.

We are still active with the ministry of Restoring the Arts. We are sponsoring another concert on March 18th. If you are in the area, you are welcome to join us for the evening! Check out our website.

Finally, you will notice that the navigation menu at the top of this email has a lot of fun links that will allow you to stay connected with us. You can also use the form at the bottom of this newsletter to sign-up for the newsletters that will be coming out for both our new church, called Reunion and for Restoring The Arts.

God bless and keep in touch!
Joe

If you would like to get on our list for updates on our church plant AND/OR our work with Restoring The Arts, then please use the subscription tool below to sign up.

Please feel free to pass this along to anyone who you think is interested in staying connected with our family or with any of our ministries.

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The Miller's 2005 Christmas Letter

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 23:06:44 +0100

Merry Christmas [name]!! Joey thought it would be nice if I wrote a Christmas letter and shared with you some of the stories from 2005. Our year has been a roller-coaster ride. Personally, I have shed many tears, wondering when the ride would come to an end, but through it all, GOD HAS BEEN SO GOOD!! Our faith and trust in the Lord has been tested, but thankfully it has risen to a new level. This trial has grown and stretched us more than we could have imagined, and for that we are thankful.

I can�t tell you how happy I am that God has confirmed to us that we will continue our ministry here in the Puyallup area. In June, when Joey�s job at Lighthouse ended, I had to be open to go wherever God called my husband�even if it meant leaving my parents and friends. The thought of that alone was EXTREMELY difficult for me. We came very close to moving to Florida, but in the end, we were convinced God wanted us to remain here in Washington. We are thrilled with what God is doing and can�t wait until we can finally share with you all the details of God�s call on our lives. (more on that below).

Highlights for me this year are; witnessing the amazing recovery of my father after heart surgery, developing stronger relationships with my boys and my husband, finding a great new church during our time of transition and foremost relying on God in a deeper way both spiritually and emotionally.

Z achary and Nathan are doing wonderful. I have been home-schooling Zachary, and believe it or not, I am really enjoying it. He is so smart and I know the day will come when he will outsmart me. Zachary�s highlight this year was becoming an Awana Sparky and his 5-year birthday party!

Nathan is just the cutest thing ever and his sweet personality has been such a joy to be around. I forgot how cute it was when toddlers start talking. His new words always put a smile to my face. I would have to say that Nathan�s highlight this year is going to toddler gym at the �Y�, playing superheros with big brother and spending time with Grandma and Granddad.

Now for my sweet husband Joey. He is doing quite well considering the struggles we have had. It was bittersweet for him to see his 7-year ministry come to an end at Lighthouse but He is excited for what lies ahead. I have been so proud of him these past several months; it is difficult to turn down jobs when you don�t have any income. My respect for him has grown tremendously.

His most recent endeavor has been to create a Coffee House for the Arts that will serve as an outreach into the community of Orting. It will be a place that embraces the arts through theatre, live music, workshops and concerts. His desire is to reach families through activities as well as events for people of all ages. This new ministry is called �Restoring the Arts� the website is www.RestoringTheArts.Com . The site is currently being developed and so there will be more details to come. It is very exciting and God is opening other doors as well. God made a way for him to financially enroll in his final year of Doctoral studies� Praise to God�and we are hoping to have more exciting ministry news to share with you come February 2006.

These past 6 months have been tough, but I can honestly say that it was because of the prayers, and emotional support of our friends and family that have helped us through it. We are so thankful for each one of you! We are so amazed by your love and generosity, which have given us many tears of joy in this stressful time. Most of you reading this letter have known us for many years and others for just a couple of months, and still we have felt your prayers and love. We pray that you will have a blessed Christmas and wonderful 2006!

Blessings to you [firstname], and to your family,

Joe, Suzanne, Zachary and Nathan Miller

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Clear Direction for our Future

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 00:12:23 +0100


�Hi [firstname], The days since our last update have been filled with many ups and downs, yet through it all, God has been faithful!�� Following is a short update along with some very important prayer requests that we would appreciate you taking time to add into your daily time of prayer with the Lord. First, the good news is that after a lot of prayer and counsel, Suzanne and I have become convinced that God has truly called us to remain in the Puyallup area as our home for family and ministry.� This decision was not an easy one to make.� This decision to stay led me to pull out of the pastor search in Florida where I had developed some very close friendships with a group of people that I truly had come to love and admire for their passion to serve Jesus.� This decision also means that we remain here in Puyallup with no real income until we can establish our ministry.� This time of stretching of our faith is most assuredly preparing us for the future God has planned. What will we be doing here in town?� I cannot give you all the details today, but one part of a larger vision is to build a community Caf�.� The idea is that during the day it will serve as a place of gathering for people to talk and enjoy a latte or a smoothie (all popular items here in the Northwest).� In the evenings, it will serve as a community center for the Arts: theatre, music, painting, poetry, etc� We will create outreaches that are geared toward young adults, youth and, most dear to my heart, families.� My dream is that this place will be a great support to families that are in desperate need of a way to connect with their kids and with other families.� Ultimately, this facility will be a place where Christians can connect with the lost and build solid relationships of trust through which the Gospel will be shared and the Kingdom expanded.�� This community Caf� will be a not-for-profit corporation so that our total focus will remain on serving the people of our community.� Of course this will not only take a lot of work, but a lot of money as well.� If you are interested in hearing more or would like to help Suzanne and I get things going, please drop us an email or call.� We would enjoy sharing more of this dream! While we are excited to have a clear and certain direction from the Lord, we also have a lot of needs.� Listed below are several of our prayer requests.� We would greatly appreciate your prayers. 1. The sale of our house fell through.� We have re-listed the house with our agent (Scot Oliver), but this delay has created a burden in our finances because we were not anticipating we would have to pay our mortgage for Nov. and Dec.� Please pray for a speedy sale of the home or sufficient income so we can stay in our house. 2.�Our commitment to stay in this area has meant that until we can get things going with ministry, both Suzanne and I will need to find some kind of work.� We have made various applications, so please pray we find something very soon. 3.�I am beginning to gather a team and make a plan to start the community Caf�. Please pray the team comes together with a passion for this vision and that the finances come in. 4.�December 15th is my deadline for registration in my Doctoral program.� This would be my third and final year, but with our financial situation, I am afraid it may be necessary to drop out of the program.� I would hate to lose two years of study, so please pray we are able to find a way for me to stay in the program. 5.�We want you to share in the praise that the family has stayed healthy.� However, we need to find a way to get the boys under some kind of insurance coverage.� We are exploring several options, so pray that this works out. Suzanne and I want to thank all of you who have sent us cards or notes of encouragement.� These expressions of love, along with other gifts you have shared, have been a huge blessing to us.� Truly in the dark days of winter, our lives are brightened by your friendship and love. God bless, Joey

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A Time of Transition

Sun, 16 Oct 2005 23:59:35 +0100


Hi [firstname], I am sitting in a hotel down in Florida getting ready to head home to Suzanne and the boys after a long weekend of interviews with a local church. The time has been good, but I am very excited to get home to my family. This interview marks one of several options that are still open to me as I seek to find the place where I can effectively serve the Lord. Since our last update, there have been some interesting twists and turns. We were a bit discouraged when Nathan got sick the day after our insurance ran out. The rather expensive doctor visit was worth it though to make sure his illness was nothing too serious. Nathan is much better now and his terrible chest cold has faded back to beautiful smiles and restful nights. Zachary continues to do well and Suzanne started some home school studies with him until we can get to a place and start him in regular school. He is so excited to do his work! Suzanne and I went through a lot of emotions this past week as we decided it was necessary to put our home up for sale. The positive thing is that the house sold on the first showing on the first day and we got all that we had hoped for in the first offer. What a great blessing from God that takes a lot of pressure off me. It was a much needed reminder that God is really watching overr us. While we enter into what we hope and pray will be the final stages of our search, we have decided to attend a local church so that our kids will have some stability. The church is called Bethany Baptist and we are very excited by the worship, the good Bible preaching, and the many relationships we have made. It is a nice place for us to be right now in life. Thanks [firstname] for being a part of our life and taking the time to keep connected. God bless, Joey

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Welcome Family and Friends!

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 22:10:08 +0100


Greetings [firstname], Suzanne and I want to welcome you to our email newsletter!� Through this little tool, we hope to keep in touch and let you know what is happening with our family.� As you may be aware, since the end of June we have been in a time of transition from our seven years of heartfelt ministry at Lighthouse Christian Center.� Over the past month and a half, we have enjoyed the time together as a family and I personally feel so blessed to have made a deeper bond with my wife and boys.� Yet, we are excited to dive back into ministry and discover how God will fulfill His purpose for our lives. Over the past months, I have interviewed with many churches and we have learned a lot about what our real needs and desires are for a place of ministry.� Through this process I have been forced to turn down several positions at churches that did not fit what we feel is our ideal place of calling.� Turning down jobs at good churches has been tough, but we are hopeful that as we strive to walk in obedience, God will open the right doors and His plan will be made clear when the time is right. As of today,�September 20, 2005, we are in serious discussions with three churches, two of which are in Washington and one which is in the state of Florida where my parents are living through part of the year.� We would certainly covet your prayers right now as we are working with each of these churches to discern if God will bring us together.� There are days when the tyranny of finances and the pressure of transitions weigh heavy on our spirits, and there are days when the hope of God�s Spirit lifts us far above the concerns of this world.� Yet through it all [firstname], we covert greatly your prayers and your loving concern.� Although time and distance may keep us apart, we are so thankful to have you all in our lives. We will keep in touch and let you know any news that comes our way and we certainly welcome updates from you. God bless, Joey & Suzanne

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