It has been just over a year now since we left Southern California and moved to Verdi, NV. We moved into our rental on April 13, 2020.
I officially took over the leadership responsibilities of Calvary Chapel Truckee on April 1, 2020. God has done so much and has shown Himself strong every step of the way.
Taking over the church during the pandemic was something new and not being able to meet people in the church for the first 4-5 months was a challenge. We were forced to record and post all our teachings because we were unable to meet.
The Lord, however, opened a door for us to start meeting in the park. It was wonderful. Tina and I were able to start meeting and fellowshipping with people in the church with some social distancing. We quickly fell in love with the body. Calvary Chapel Truckee had been through some hard times prior to us coming up and the splitting up of the body due to the pandemic wasn’t helping. Meeting in the park was a breath of fresh air and the church began to grow.
In October, because the weather began getting cold, the park closed their facilities and we made the decision to start meeting indoors. We met in person, not in protest of the government mandates that didn’t allow churches to meet, not as a political statement, but we met out of obedience and the need to provide church for people. God brought people to fellowship with us who were longing to gather corporately and worship our Savior. Soon our little space was filled.
We have been able to have a variety of missionaries come and share. We’ve had a Christmas tea for the ladies and a Valentine’s dinner for couples. We have a weekly prayer meeting and 4-5 Bible studies during the week. It’s been a great season of encouragement and growth.
Our church has been meeting upstairs at the Rock, in Truckee. Then we found out that meeting upstairs was a code violation, so we started to look for another place to meet. Truckee is a very expensive town to live in. Because of the pandemic, many people in the San Fransisco area who were working from home began to flee the city and move to Truckee. If you’re working from home, why not live in a much less congested area that is much more beautiful? As a result, there has been a real estate boom. Space is at a premium.
Our hopes were that we would be able to find another meeting space before our landlord gave us notice to vacate. Well, on March 1st, I received an email with a 30 day notice. At the time we had not been able to locate another building to meet in. They were either too expensive or didn’t have enough parking or large enough restroom facilities for us to meet as a church. We asked ourselves, What are we going to do? and the answer was, We are going to pray and trust the Lord.
Long story short, the Lord arranged a “chance meeting,” AKA a divine appointment, with one of the largest commercial property owners in Truckee. In casual conversation, we told him we were looking for a place to meet and he said he had a space for us. He showed us a larger space than the space we had at the Rock, for just a little bit more a month. We signed a lease and will take procession of the space on May 15th. There is some construction that still needs to be done before we can occupy the space, but it looks like May 15th we can start moving in.
In the meantime, we’re back meeting in the park. Please pray for good weather and God’s continued blessing.
I am happy to report that our work in the 10/40 window has continued. We were able to continue teaching at one of our colleges through much of the lockdown. We just started another semester at that college and are working to get the others going soon, Lord willing.
I was thinking this morning how the enemy is using this pandemic to halt the spread of evangelism. Praise the Lord that our God is greater than any pandemic or schemes of the enemy.
I was invited to go to Bahrain and see the work the Lord is doing there. I’ve also been invited to go to Cambodia. My heart is burning to be part of works abroad while being a base at home. My prayer is that Calvary Chapel Truckee would be stirred for missions in an even greater way and that the Lord would allow me to take people and pastors abroad and give them a vision for world missions.
On a personal note, Tina and I were able to go to Washington in March for Noah’s 3rd birthday. Our family, Tina and I, Ashley, Elijah, Noah and Flo, along with Bryan and Austin are healthy. The Lord has been so very good to us. Noah and Flo are growing like weeds and they are such a source of joy in our hearts. We thank the Lord daily for our family.
That’s it for now, we thank you for your continued prayers and would love to have you visit if you’re in the area.
God bless,
Gary and Tina