March 2007 Newsletter

~Desi and Rose Starr ~Ancient Paths Church~ March 2007
~Urban/Intercultural Missionaries Phil. 4:16b-17, 18b

Family News~ Happy Spring! Tomorrow we may have a record high…we’ll be in the 70’s, hooray! Our third child, Emma is turning 3 on the 19th. We’re having a pizza/castle party here for her on Sat. the 17th. Hopefully some neighbors that we’ve recently met will come. The bikes are out and we are spending a lot of time in the sunshine these days. Hope is doing spectacular in home school and we’ll be finished up with 1st grade mid May (we take the summer off for swimming, library and park days with Grandma). I can now say that Owen is totally potty trained- thank You God! Owen loves cars, sticks and riding his big wheel. Levi is a joy to be around. He is so sweet and mild and loves his family and being outdoors. I am still the financial secretary for APC. I love to blog and use it as a stress reliever. I am learning to enjoy the journey (with God’s help) and trust in His providence as He faithfully leads us.

Church News~ Looking back over the past few months has been amazing. God has really been blessing our little house church. Desi and I look forward to Sunday mornings. It’s been so amazing to really be excited about “church” and not feel burdened with so much “to do” every week. We start out with some worship usually, I (Rose) read a Bible story to the kids in the midst of all of the adults and get them talking about what God is doing in their lives, they stay or run off to play, we sing some more, have a time of prayer, looking into God’s Word, and lunch of course! It is a joy to see and hear how God is working in the lives of those we see regularly. We truly are family and are having fun together (like a family should). In the short time we’ve been meeting in houses, we’ve gone on a retreat, gone sledding, gone to movies, hiked in the mountains, did a photo scavenger hunt, gone to our high schooler’s basketball games, a high schooler’s poetry reading, had a baby shower, gone to Nuggets and Avalanche games, enjoyed picnics and are celebrating one of our gals graduating from college with a bowling party this Sunday. We’ve been growing and have had new people visiting almost every Sunday. Some days we almost don’t fit in Bruce’s house. Good thing it’s getting warmer and we can meet outdoors! Flora, a wonderful Scottish lady in her 80’s and her 50ish yr old son Gordon live 2 doors down from Bruce & Karen and are new to our fellowship. They are committed to God and excited to be a part of our “family”. We are praying together and they are praying about having a house church in their home. We are thinking about the possibility of them meeting at the same time and afterwards we could do lunch together. We’re Lord willing, going to get a church planted at Dale & Connie’s apartment, starting it as a bible study within a month or so and will be starting a young adults fellowship in hopes of starting a church among our 20 something contacts who don’t worship anywhere. Madeline just had to move last month (pray for her to find a new home) and wants to start something in her (future) home. The ladies have really enjoyed meeting regularly twice a month for fellowship and prayer on Sat mornings. We have been able to get to know each other better, share needs and see prayers answered.

Our Network~ Desi & Bruce are working on what a network of house churches would look like. They meet monthly with a church planting director to discuss and pray. We have 2 groups that are interested in joining our network. We have a desire to start at least one new house church a year and to have each of these start at least one new house church every year (If this happened, after 10 years we would have over 1000 house churches). As we network with other churches, our desire is that we could come together regularly to fellowship, pray and encourage one another. Multiplication is so simple when God’s people seek to follow Him, love Him and love those around them. Pray for all of us as we seek to develop new relationships and go deeper in the ones we have with non-believers. Desi has the opportunity to go to a House 2 House conference about 2 hours south at the end of the month and lead a breakout session. If it works out, the whole family may go.

This Summer~ A youth group from a large traditional church in Fort Collins will be doing an inner city mission trip with us this summer to reach out to our neighborhoods. Desi is also working on a 9 month (Sept.-June?) mission trip/internship program for young adults out of high school who want to minister to the urban poor and see how they could be used on God’s mission of making (and being) disciples with us. Lord willing, this will start in the fall of this year. If you know of anyone who might be interested have them contact us via our church website. More info will follow on our website.

Thank you for reading and praying~ None of our leadership take salaries from our church. We all raise our own support. This allows us to use tithes to help people in need that we personally know and have relationships with. Our family is still short of where we need to be financially and seeking God’s will for fundraising. Please pray for us to have God’s wisdom in regards to finances and if you feel led to give, see below. For more info on what we are doing as a church check out our church website. We also have some links to house church websites that may provide you with more info if you are curious about house church.

Love, Desi, Rose, Hope, Owen, Emmaline & Levi
Ancient Paths Church P.O. Box 477 Denver, CO 80201 www.denverchurch.net

If you feel led and would like to financially support us, please send checks to Calvary Chapel Murrieta denoting our name in the memo~ Mail to 24225 Monroe Ave. Murrieta, CA 92562. You may also send checks to our P.O. Box in Denver as well.
Thank you for your generosity!

“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more that we would ever dare to ask or hope. May He be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.” Eph.3:20-21