An ARC ministry team traveled to the Nashville, TN area to be with ARC Pastor Tom Hilpert and New Joy Fellowship on April 22-24. ARC Leadership Team member, Bob Mabry (Hope Community, Long Beach), and ARC Director, Mike Bradley, spent the weekend with Tom and his family, and the New Joy congregation. Bob, a gifted worship leader as well as pastor, spent time with the New Joy Fellowship worship team, sharing a teaching on leading worship; and then with the team led worship on Sunday morning. Bob and Mike met with leaders for New Joy on Saturday, and then Mike shared a message on Sunday morning entitled, “Don’t Abandon Your Obedience.” Bob and Mike were available for prayer ministry and visiting following the service. The purpose of visits such as this is to encourage and strengthen ARC leaders and their congregations.

Of this visit Pastor Tom Hilpert writes, “We are a small congregation, and we are also a congregation that is geographically isolated from most of the rest of the ARC. There are times we ourselves have felt like ‘forgotten ones.’ Having Mike Bradley and Bob Mabry take time to visit us -- as insignificant in numbers and location as we are -- provided a tremendous infusion of grace for our church. Mike is a ‘connector’ and that is precisely what our congregation was needing at this point in time - a sense of connection to other churches and leaders who share our values and our mission. Bob is an encourager, and that powerful gift was also very valuable to us, not to mention his tremendous gift of leading us in worship. They showed us that the ARC is serious about being a relational network. I anticipate that the blessings from this past weekend will continue for some time afterward.”

If you’d like an ARC ministry team to visit your church, please contact Mike Bradley at: safeplacemb@gmail.com. Pictured in the photo are Pastor Tom Hilpert (left) and Bob Mabry (right). This picture was taken on a hillside behind the 10-acre family farm Tom and Kari own. By the way, Tom and Kari are both some of the gifted, creative artists God is gracing the ARC with. Tom is the author of a novel – the murder-mystery, “Superior Justice.” I read it recently and highly recommend it for those of you who enjoy that genre. Kari is a singer-songwriter. If you would like to order her cd, you can go to her website at: www.karihilpert.com.