Doors continue to open as The Tide rolls into our front door through the new light rail service in Norfolk! Since the grand opening of The Tide, the news has reported an overwhelming response that has prompted discussions of extending the service to Virginia Beach's Town Center. As our church continues to prayerfully seek to intersect with the people of Hampton Roads, God is opening exciting doors of ministry and partnership with ministries along The Tide. I would like to share just a few ways that we are intersecting with these stops along the route of the light rail service:
Norfolk State University- A new partnership is developing with a campus ministry at NSU that will allow us to host student gatherings and invite students to participate in the 127 ministries of our church. The students of this great school ride the Tide for free in order to access shopping, food, etc. We are praying that they will consider going in the opposite direction to First Norfolk as they seek the Living Water of Jesus!
City Hall- The city hall stop is within blocks of our partners serving at Mosaic Church. We are praying that God will continue to connect us with strategic ways to serve with this church and reach the people who frequent downtown Norfolk, the artistic community, the homeless, and many others that Mosaic continues to reach.
YMCA- Another strategic partnership just contacted our church this morning with an opportunity to connect with families through regular athletic and spiritual activities at the YMCA. Much more information will be attached below, but this is a great way to connect people with First Norfolk through a Life Transformation Group or preaching point in the community. Many opportunities exist such as child care, sports, and bible study leadership. What an exciting opportunity to live the mission and connect the Tide with our church!
There are many other things in the works as our church is seeing these doors open for the gospel for such a time as this. The question that we always face is...what does God want me to do? Please contact our missions ministry if there is any way that we can answer your questions and/or put to rest any fears.
In Christ,
Craig
Additional information about the work at the YMCA:
Dear Friends of UDM’s Norfolk East Church Plant,
The Lord blessed us with an opportunity to invite you to help with our church plant in Norfolk East. YMCA leaders are graciously opening to us their Norfolk Blocker facility on Saturday evenings from 6:30-9:00 P.M. for our family outreach. We plan to provide classes to train children, teens, and adults in basketball, other sports, the arts, and especially in God’s Word. We will require participation from the parents or mentors of the program’s participants, so we may include more and make the most of this opportunity. As we did with our summer camps this year, UDM invites our related churches to bring leaders and young people to join in this outreach with us.
We ask our partnering churches for additional volunteers who can commit to serve on Saturday evenings for at least three months at a time. We need Bible teachers, sports coaches, music and praise dance leaders, and nursery workers. The Y has offered the use of their entire facility, so we may organize a variety of activities for the families. We plan to offer two Bible class for adults, including a foundational class for new Christians who are just starting Bible study.
The new light rail stops at the Y, which gives several churches, neighborhoods and NSU students a special transportation option. The Tide runs on Saturdays every 15 minutes until 9:30 P.M., and every 30 minutes after then.
Our orientation and training for this ministry are scheduled at the Blocker Y for the first three Saturday evenings in December—Dec. 3, 10, and 17. Our planned start-up date is January 7. Please pray about mobilizing with us and let me know if you and your family can come to the December orientations for training and fellowship.
I’ve been calling the outreach, Saturday Night Life.
Thanks,
Mike Fariss
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