Sunday Highlight: January 1, 2023

Get ready to pray hard today, so we can pray all the way to the Pacific coast of the United States. We want to pray for two of our missionaries we’re supporting through our Cooperative Program giving. They are Patrick and Jennifer Grant, who have planted a new church in Portland, Oregon.

You may remember news stories presenting a Portland torn apart by racial and political strife in recent years. Want to know why? It’s because more than 85 percent of Portland’s 2.3 million people are lost and do not know Jesus as their Savior. Is Portland a great place to send missionaries or what? Well, Patrick and Jennifer with their six kids moved to Portland to plant Woodstock Community Church in the southeastern part of the city. That move was not a quick decision. The couple made short-term mission trips to Haiti and Asia. That was when God began calling them.

The growing church meets in a community center in the Brentwood-Darlington area. It’s a pleasant area of mostly small homes and shops, with many people out walking or biking.  Church services are casual dress but formal in paying close attention to Scripture. The church reaches out to families through soccer camps for kids, block parties and distributing backpacks of school supplies. They also offer to do the laundry for people. That has resulted a few raised eyebrows — and lots of talk about Jesus. Let’s pray for Patrick and Jennifer and that new church.