Thank you for your prayers and partnership. The Lord is answering and I wanted to give Him glory and ask for your continued intercession! Last month we asked you to pray for me as I felt led to host a Kensington share and prayer group for women in leadership. I prayerfully took the step to invite ladies the Lord laid on my heart. I was overwhelmed with the emotional response from the women. I heard from each one how they have been asking the Lord for this exact opportunity! I am full of joy that I didn’t let the voice that said I was inadequate, unqualified and exhausted discourage me to the point of not stepping out in obedience.

Jim was trying to remember a young woman who is here serving by herself in ministry. He really felt she should be a part of this group. All he could give me was “young woman” in “some ministry”. That was a challenge! You can imagine my surprise when a mutual friend of this young woman came to the Saturday Outreach and said, “This is Kim, she serves here by herself and I felt led to bring her here today!” I texted Jim and he confirmed that yes that was the young woman! I invited her and she had tears in her eyes and said “I’d love to come, you have no idea how much I need that!”

WOW! Please pray as we gather and lift up our hearts that The Lord fills each one of these beautiful women with exactly what they need. We meet every Monday afternoon. Jim has a “small group” of his own that show up Sunday afternoon. Three or so college students come from Cairn University (where Abby is dual enrolling this year) to come minister on the avenue. Jim supplies them with the ministry resources they may need, a word of encouragement and sends them on their way! When they return he “debriefs” with them on how it went. It has been a blessing to watch these young men come and be filled as they pray for others. It is also not easy so keep them in your prayers as they are taking on new and challenging ministry.

This week we are hosting Mission Year for a dinner to share our “story” and feed 7 hungry college students! One of the team members came last year on a college break trip and decided she wanted to serve in Kensington for a year. She reached out to Jim to ask us to share with her team because our story was powerful. I must humbly admit it is! When we start sharing how many times we have seen and experienced the faithfulness of the Lord it sounds unbelievable to even us!! Pray for this honored opportunity!

Finally, we praise God our supporters feel led to put a new floor down in the ministry center!! We have had estimates drawn up and are waiting to pass the figures along when we receive them. Please pray we make the best choice for flooring materials, that the company we are working with does a great job and that we will have the volunteers to help prep and put everything back where it goes! It will require a lot of lifting and moving but well worth it in the end!

Thank you for your prayers!! We value your partnership and are so thankful!!

“…Where are we to buy bread, so that these people (5,000!!) may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” John 6:5-6
Jesus questions Philip to alert him to an impossible situation that in and of himself would have absolutely no solution! I am taught by this testing to see the present situations in our ministry in the same light. We have needs that must be met and with human reasoning alone to come up with an answer seems impossible! Just to name a few…the complete restoration of the ministry center to the tune of 250,000 or so dollars, a growing heroin epidemic that seems like it’s taking over the city and leading young adults off as slaves to their addiction, and the daily running of operations here that require spiritual, physical, and financial resources to sustain.

What Jesus reminds me of daily is that his ways are higher than mine and he is without limitations. I cannot reason my way to the miraculous supernatural answers he will and has provided. He can simply multiply fish and loaves, why didn’t I think of that? He misses the boat while his disciples crossed over to the other side and walks on water to get there. You can do that? Never in a million years would I have come up with that! The storehouses of heaven are full of God’s unique unfathomable answers to our prayers waiting to be released by asking.

I share that with you to build up your faith to intercede over Cast Your Cares in belief God can do anything! I confess my doubt even while living in yesterdays answered prayers! Jesus provided the resources for Abby and I to go to Rwanda and what a faith building trip it was. The forgiveness I witnessed in the aftermath of 800,000 people killed by neighbors and friends in the 1994 genocide was supernatural, and again something I would not have thought possible. They are united as Rwandans and no longer delineate by tribes. “Everything is possible for one who believes” Mark 9:23

Would you please intercede for the resources needed to finish the building so Jim can continue to run the food cupboard, welcome guests to eat on Saturdays even in inclement weather, support the pancake breakfasts on Mondays, and the expansion of ministry opportunities we envision with a finished building? Pray for Jim as he disciples Vinny and Tyson. Please also pray for me as I host a share and prayer group for women in leadership in Kensington at our home Monday nights. I am honored to host these warriors in the kingdom that have come from all over the country to live here and bring Gods kingdom come His will be done on Kensington as it is in heaven!

We also ask for prayer covering over our safety, health, marriage, family and growth towards maturity in Christ. We pray for and appreciate each one of you! Your gifts and prayers sustain us and make all we do possible. “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory!” Eph 3:20

The good news is The Battle Against Hunger bike ride and fundraiser did incredibly well. We raised over 14,000 dollars to supply the food cupboard. We are rejoicing at this abundant provision! Having another rider, Stephanie Newton, join our team gave us the opportunity to share Cast Your Cares with many new people. She was able to raise over 1,000 dollars! We are extremely thankful for all of your gifts and support.

We appreciate your prayers and phone calls regarding last month’s letter conveying our roofing issues. Jim has been diligently gathering estimates for the roof, mold removal, new insulation, HVAC work, and the cost of putting everything back together. He also received a phone call regarding having the supplies for a “rubber roof” donated. A rubber roof is the highest quality roofing material, but much more labor intensive. The cost will increase from his ten to twelve thousand dollar estimates even though the supplies are donated. It would require ripping off the 100 year old layered roof to install the new one. Please keep praying Jim will feel peace moving forward in this decision. He has had many occasions to share with all the men coming to give estimates our journey from Florida to Philly. One man said “That is just supernatural.” and Jim agreed. Pray hearts will be changed, touched and moved with compassion.

We are also facing an inspection on the ministry center building next door this month. We have a permit for construction that needs to be renewed so these periodic inspections are necessary. I am studying the book of Zechariah now and I am taken with the idea of just how important and difficult the rebuilding of God’s temple was. I am comforted that He knows the difficulty of gathering His people together for the common purpose of providing a place of worship and fellowship in a land surrounded by evil. I wouldn’t call our building a “temple” but it will diffidently be a house of the Lord. When people enter they will know it was built, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts” Zech 4:6. Our prayer is all who enter sense His love through the volunteers, be fed spiritually, physically; know how important they are to the heart of Jesus, and that Christ’s church loves one another.
We have big dreams! We are excited to see just how the Spirit will repair our house and finish the building. We surrender our will and have no might or power to do all of this ourselves. We ask for continued prayers of protection for our family. Please cover our health and safety, both spiritually and physically. We believe if this is to be done by His Spirit we must keep in prayer to heed His instruction and direction. Thank you for your care in all of these needs and for covering us. We recognize our need to be covered in prayer and would appreciate an increase in these days of decision. We will keep you informed as we move forward.

The apostle Paul reminds us that we do not war against flesh and blood but against principalities and spiritual forces of evil in this world. However, I am becoming more and more convinced that we DO war against brick and mortar! It seems living in a building that is over 100 years old is like fighting a never ending battle. Our home’s latest attack is in the form of a leaky roof. The living room pours forth a waterfall, the bathroom downstairs and most bedrooms have water stains and the attic has consequently commenced to growing mold!

While waiting for the resolution as to how we will fix this huge problem, the Lord has pressed upon my heart to hold to our gift of faith. We have begun the process of getting roofing estimates. It seems the estimate is around 10,000 dollars. We believe we must get a new roof then begin to repair the damage from the water. The mold issue faces challenges all on its own. We would like to get an expert in to determine if it is safe to continue living here while we fix the problems.

Would you please pray for us in our time of determining what can and needs to be done? We love our home. Its location is right in the heart of what the Lord has called us here to do. The avenue is where those in need wander. Many stop by here for food, fellowship and prayer. It is not a “beautiful” place to live but it has remained our blessing ground. Living in the atmosphere of Kensington where there is a lot of warring against the evil forces of this world is challenging enough. We would love to not question if our home is making our family sick. We exist here day to day because of your financial gifts but even more so because of your prayers.

Please pray for us to stand firm in our gift of faith that our Father will help us. We completely depend on His provision. Many of you faithfully give to us each month so we can continue to do what we truly feel blessed and called to do here. A significant part of our ministry is just being here. We have opportunities each time we come and go to reach out and love our neighbors. I never thought how much I would come to choose my home and be so thankful to live here.

We believe the circumstances we face that are impossible for us to fix are an opportunity for God to write another chapter of our story. Our story is filled with his miraculous provision. Once Jim was proclaiming that his heavenly Father owned the cattle on a thousand hills and the next week a dairy farmer from church gave him a check for 1,000 dollars and said he sold a cow and wanted to give Jim an offering! We do not want to slip into unbelief, fear and worry. We recognize something has to be done. We are asking you to pray with us for the answer.

We appreciate you so very much!
Thank You,
Jenifer Snider
August 2013