Update

Hey everyone,

Well this is our first blog. Thought this might be a great way to let everyone know the progress of our lives. Let us start by saying, it's fantastic. God continues to amaze us. It seems it's when we finally come to the end of ourselves, our abilities, our failures, that He really steps in. It's like He's just saying, "Are you done yet?"

This past year has been a whirl wind. So it was in February of 2008 that we felt the call to step out in faith and help plant our church, Foundations Church (www.fctulsa.tv) in Tulsa, OK with our close friends Justin & Casey Graves. It's been a dream of both of our families for the past 8 years. Now this dream was becoming reality. What a ride it's been! In May, we resigned from a great church in Texas, Foundation of Life, packed our things, and moved on total faith. Not knowing if the finances would be there, not knowing where we'd live, and not knowing what we'd do for a job; we trusted in God. Let me tell you, he's proven so faithful. We kick ourselves today that we doubted so much. We had so many questions like, "Can we do this?", "Are we ready?", "How will we make a living?", "Will people actually come...?" This is what we faced.

History, we launched on September 7, 2008 with so many family, friends, and neighbors joining us. The response has been amazing. This weekend, we had our best service yet, with over 190 people in attendance and 6 responses to receiving salvation. In just 9 months, we've had over 130 people make a commitment to follow Christ. That's awesome! What we're seeing is people who have grown tired of what the church has become and the church machine. They've either never been a part of church or have been hurt by other ministries. We have testimonies almost on a weekly basis. For instance, Glen came for a second time this weekend. He caught me in the hallway after service with this response: "Shannon, I'm 39 and I've not been to church in over 25 years. I was just done with it. A friend invited me, so I thought, sure I'll get her off my back. Shannon, I love this place. I'm lost, I'm alone, but I gave my heart to God today." I'm sitting here writing this now in the middle of a restaurant just cryin like a little girl. Kinda embarassing, O well! But this is the kind of people we're reaching. The church continues to grow. We need to add new staff. Fixin' to start taking those next steps of faith. What's cool is...we're never done. Not gonna be satisfied with 200, or 500, or 5000. They're are so many who are lost.

Personal life: Our family is so blessed. God continues to take care of our every need. Cassandra and I love it here! We've found home in Jenks, OK. Pretty good feeling. Gavin is getting so big. He's 2 now and definitely the ladies man (at least, we think so). He is my very best friend. Love spending time with my family. We're very busy in life, but always trying to spend time with each other. It's a must! Cassandra grows more beautiful everyday. She's such an awesome wife and mom. She's raising us well! It's been pretty cool how God seems to be just opening so many doors for the both of us more than ever. On top of ministry, Cassandra's very busy with her graphic design business. I've had more invites than ever to travel, leading worship at several conferences and youth camps this year. It's so awesome! Our band, Upon Elwood, released our first demo cd this year. We're writing songs every week now. So many new ventures ahead.

It's really cool that God uses nobodys. He uses sinners that simply choose to follow Him. There's a new song by Hillsong United called "Arms Open Wide". We've made it our heart's cry as individuals and as a church. When you just let God use you, I mean really use you, he makes it so awesome. I'm finding that out everyday.

If you've received an invite to this blog, it's because you've been something special in someway to us. If you have been supporting us financially over the past year, we very humbly thank you! If you would like to start contributing to our ministry and Foundations Church, please contact us. We love you all and pray God's continual blessings on you.

Shannon & Cassandra Dalrymple