Dearest Praying Friends,

I am so grateful to bring you this update for Neighborhood Ministries, for we receive your intercession on the our behalf as one of the greatest comforts and resources of this ministry ... "seek after that which is good for one another and for all men...PRAY without ceasing... faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. Brethren pray for us!" (from 1 Thess. 5)

Hopefully, you also receive the N.M. mailings (that come in the snail mail) and so you are caught up on the powerful ministry that the Lord blessed us with this past summer.

Kids Club and camps kept us very busy for the entire summer, with just a breather for a bit in August. September was filled with the energy of getting school year components up again (Kids Life K-6 grades, Wild Life 7-8 grades and Alabare' for High-schoolers). Partners in Learning tutors are back to school with their kids. And many in our ministry are in individual processes of leadership development. (Some key leaders are currently struggling. I hope you will pray for them.)

I say all of that to give you a sense of the energy and focus needed to kick our property fundraising into the next gear. I know you remember that the Lord allowed us to close escrow on almost 8 acres at 19th Ave. and Van Buren for our future ministry home. We now own this property. Continue to celebrate the goodness of the Lord with us!!

The next step is to rehab the property in REASONABLE AND GOD DESIGNED PHASES. Multiple things are happening simultaneously for which we covet your standing alongside us in Prayer.

• Preparation for the city "pre-app" meetings, giving us permissions to begin site preparation

• City meetings themselves, that there would be minimal set-backs

• A contractor is praying about his involvement in this project, asking the Lord if he is the one to give it spiritual and practical leadership

• The need for a realistic time-line that allows for the beginning of rehabbing the property and the buildings (God has given us the gift/resources of architects, structural engineers and hopeful volunteer work teams) These all need a time line to activate their involvement

• ON-going fund-raising for the resources needed for the rehab process --we continue to call this a $2.1 million dollar capital campaign

• We are praying for the addition of a development staff person who could complete the capital campaign with us

• The current goal is to have the property in a condition that would allow us to have Kids Club there by this coming summer

• Our offices move to the property, Jan. 2000

Most of you know that we lost Donna, our administrator at the end of August. Continue to pray with us for her replacement. The job is full-time and its description will be up on our web-site very soon.

We have much for which to be thankful. You are a great support, and we thank the Lord for you. God bless you for strengthening us.

Loving you,
Kit