It wasn't that long ago that the Core Group met in November 2009 for the first time for worship and planning meetings. We decided to worship weekly in group members homes, which harkened back to the biblical days described in the book of Acts, "the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common."
For six weeks we worshiped together, prayed together, broke bread together, and found that the Holy Spirit was leading us, like a hot wind on our backs, to be doers of the word and not merely hearers of the word.
The Holy Spirit led us to find a worship space for our first public worship to be held on Christmas Eve 2009. So, we rented the conference room at the new Hilton Homewood Suites in Tradition and held our first public worship service on Christmas Eve.
We have invited friends, neighbors, coworkers, acquaintances, and yes, some total strangers who God put in our path, people who need the saving grace of Jesus Christ to continue worshiping with us each and every Sunday.
As the second half of 2010 ensued, Vice President of Mission Investment Fund, Harvey Olsen, flew down from Chicago to make our Land Proposal on behalf of Living Waters. He joined Pastor Jerry Wahl, Director of Mission Development and deployed staff in the Florida Bahamas Synod. The joint leadership team from Living Waters and Immanuel rounded out the rest of the team.
We officially closed on the purchase of a 3.5 acre parcel located West of I-95 on the corner of "Community Blvd" and "Rowley Way" in Tradition as December 2010 came to a close.
Without wasting any time, our congregation promptly formed the Living Waters Land Ministry TEAM to begin discussions and dialogue relative to the overall development of our idealized church & school campus as it related the needs of our community--not just now, but our long-range vision.
Within the first quarter of 2011, the Land Ministry TEAM was not only successful in identifying the essential components of our desired physical footprint, but also in delineating the proverbial "next steps" necessary to navigate the Master Site Plan approval process with the City of Port St. Lucie.
We celebrated Easter 2011 by hosting an outdoor tent service as our first official service on our new land and unveiled the color conceptual renderings of both our site plan and building elevations. Our first Building is projected to be a Chapel and Gazebo by the lake.
God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. Please continue to pray for the first church in Tradition. We have been forced to give up the land to our Sponsor Church due to financial constraints an of June 3, 2012. We are hoping for a Full-Time Pastor Developer to be sent to us soon so that Immanuel Church can re-start the Mission on the land in Tradition. In the meantime the Core Group is looking for a storefront rental near Tradition to start up our PILOT Program for Youth this summer..
