Major Mitchell Milestone
When was the last time you read a headline bursting with news of abundance? Well, let me offer you one. God has provided so joyfully for Mitchell House. Right now it’s a boarded up building with some fresh graffiti on the front. But we see a day, hopefully 18 months in the future, in which the front doors are opened and the neighbors have an opportunity to “Walk into Hope Restored.”
We passed a major milestone. Ready? Drumroll… We fairly quietly asked some extended family of Kitsap House to make the purchase together: the elders, a handful of other households adjacent to our young church in their love for Port Orchard or for Kitsap House, and our extended Presbyterian Church family. God also prompted some families to give by direct invitation of the Spirit. And now together, I get to announce that the extended family of Kitsap House has made it possible to purchase 1153 Mitchell Ave.
We needed to raise $689,000. As of our working deadline of May 15, God has provided abundantly. Our running total is $729,349.75. WAHOO!
And thank God that he keeps on prompting people to give beyond the purchase price because we have a ways to go before we can open that front door to the neighborhood!
Our extended family has gifted us this building.
Now it’s our work together (with the extended family, too!) to provide the prayer to see this through to completion, the sweat equity to bring it back to life, and finances for the reconstruction.
We’ll keep communicating next steps as we roll toward new milestones. For now, please join us:
In a prayer of celebration and thanksgiving. God has so obviously favored this labor of love. Thank God for our relationship with the seller, the pre-application process with the city and now the provision of the purchase price. We are floored and rejoicing. With our good Father in mind, please join me in saying, You, God. You are Repairer of the Broken Walls (Isaiah 58:12). May our neighbors see YOU, the beautiful work of restoration you do, and how much you love us in every step of this process.
In the work! Rod Tayet has teams already under the house (as you can see from the pics!). Let Rod know if you want to jump in in any way. We’ve already had siding and a commercial refrigerator donated, and this amazing team has already cleaned out under the house and laid a vapor barrier. Others are taking shifts keeping the lawn mowed.
In the next step - financing the construction. If this is your wheelhouse professionally or if you’ve been down this path before, reach out to me (Megan) or to John Burgess. We’re waist deep in this step!
If the Lord prompts you to give now specifically to this project, you don’t have to wait! Join us in giving to the “Joy Fund.”
We celebrated as a congregation this morning (Sunday), and we’ll have a feast when we actually close on the property. I’m so delighted to share this Good News with you. Our God is blessing us beyond our imagination. Let’s savor that for a bit.
With joy and gratitude,
Megan
