SPOTLIGHT ON MISSIONS: Michael & Laura Beth Strong • Minneapolis, Minn.

We welcome you to celebrate what God did in February with us:

• We were able to launch two new corporate prayer meetings. We now have three corporate prayer meetings per week and hope to see a renewed desire for corporate prayer in the lives of our people.

• Some congregants are beginning to memorize the weekly verses.

• We were given keys to the church building and access to the calendar to book space on Feb. 2.

• We voted as a church to begin hosting a monthly concert event to use the skills we employ for the extreme tour to reach our part of Minneapolis with the gospel.

• We have been using birthdays and major events to bond with the congregants and grow unity.

• We launched a weekly newsletter based on the counsel of a BMA church planter.

• Laura Beth launched a new women’s Bible study.

• We saw a few of our people push themselves to worship God through giving.

• Our people took part in their second workday and several events at the church, and we saw a hunger to help others increase.

• We created flyers and stickers to get the word out about the church.

Please pray for us in the following ways this month:

• We are asking God to open up doors to boldly proclaim the gospel and to begin new discovery Bible studies. Please ask God to lead us in this and open the doors to the hearts of people in our community.

• We need new partners to continue to minister the way we have been. Please pray that God will connect us with churches He wants to partner with us to continue and complete the work in this first church plant.

• Laura and our girls are all undergoing tests to see what is causing them to have the medical issues they have been experiencing. Laura is being tested to determine if her neuralgias and nerve issues are from MS, lupus and fibromyalgia. Felicity is being tested for rheumatalogical issues. Julianna is being tested for chest pain.

• Michael’s grandmother passed away in early February. He was able to watch her funeral’s livestream from Oak Park Baptist Church in Little Rock. He is thankful for your prayers and asks you to continue to pray for our family in Arkansas to be saved.

• We need people to help us serve the community. We need help with childcare ministry, worship, Bible studies and outreach. We are asking God to send people who are able to serve in these areas and to help us raise up volunteers internally.

• I am asking God to help me with connecting with current and future partners at the BMAA national meeting.

• God’s hand is needed on Michael’s studies as he prepares to take tests and graduate from the BMA Seminary with a master’s degree this May.

Pray with us for God to provide the following items:

• Sound system — We need to purchase some key items for our sound system —amps for our speakers, speaker stands, microphones, cables and monitor speakers. This is the primary tool we will be using for our outreach during the summer. I believe we could get by with $2,500 to start. Some of our events have been able to reach over 600 people. We can do this regularly with our own equipment.

• Children’s church teachers — We have women interested in coming to the church, but their program requires that childcare be in place during the service. We need teachers to assist Laura Beth each service and during Bible study groups.

• A-frame signs — We are looking to add two A-frame signs and raise the funds to print the signs that will inform the public of worship services, free food events, our music outreach, etc. We believe we could get the signs and prints we need for roughly $500.

• Funds for marketing materials — We would like to create flyers/handouts/door hangers to share with neighbors when we do our surveys and prayer walks. We can get 500 prints on letter size paper for around $160. We would like to print three different items each month for worship, women’s Bible study and our outreach events. This is a monthly need of roughly $500.

• Funds for blessing local servants — We would like to raise funds to provide meals for local teachers and public servants. If we could provide three groups monthly meals for 30-50 people per group, we would be able to fulfill our outreach plan in this area. Meals are currently around $15 each at many of our restaurants. This is $750 to feed 50 people. We need to do that up to three times a month. We are looking for partners who can adopt two or more of those servants for $30 a month.

• Transportation — Most of our people use public transportation, and we are running into issues with getting some of our people to church and Bible studies. We are also looking to serve a local women’s ministry that needs transportation to our services and studies for their women to attend. Please join us in asking God to raise up reliable transportation.

Thanks for your prayer and support.