Weekly Email May 19, 2022

Dear Gathering Place Family...

This weekend we will wrap our series entitled “Presence of God.” We have been examining finding the presence of God when He feels absent, or we feel alone. This series has been enlightening in many ways as I have heard from various people how they needed to be reminded they were not alone. Silence can feel like abandonment when we are in the middle of a trying situation, and yet we hold to the idea that if God is consistent and true, He is with each of us even when our lives are filled with tough things.

A few upcoming events you need to know about…

We will have a Mexico Informational Meeting on May 26th at 7 PM at my home. If you are interested in joining us as we travel for a week to work with the church in Compuertas Amistad please join us that night. This will be a smaller trip than we have had in years past due to several factors, but we would love to have your partnership on this great team building time. These trips serve a two-fold purpose…loving others and pressing us to grow in our relationship with God. We know that God has a plan for our team this year and even though it is smaller, we can still make an incredible impact into the life of those who live in Mexicali. This trip is opened to kids 14 and older as well as adults and families. Join us that night to discover more info. Interested in going to Mexico but are not sure about the finances of such a trip? We are having a garage sale on June 3rd & 4th at the Des Moines Campus to help us defray some of the costs of the trip. Contact Sarah Brattkus (206) 861-3980 to set up a donation time or to for information about helping with this event. We need your partnership and support so please consider donating items, helping with the sale and pricing, or assisting in other ways.

Our annual Dessert Auction to send kids to camp is fast approaching. We will have our dessert auction on June 5th immediately following our morning service. This event is not about the desserts, but about helping send the kids from our church to camp. We have had this event for at least 15 years – and long enjoyed the support of many of you in purchasing overpriced cakes and cookies. Many of our traditional bidders have moved away as they retired, and we need YOU to come out and participate in this great time together. So, whether you plan to buy anything or not, come out and bid so we can help with the costs to send our kids to camp.

Thanks for your continued financial support and partnership with Gathering Place. We cannot exist as a church without you and our passion to reach our community and the lost with the message of hope and salvation continues to be one of the key reasons we exist. For those not able to partner with us at this time, know that you still matter greatly and we celebrate every person that is a part of our church community.

Blessings ~

Jeff Espeseth
Lead Pastor, Gathering Place