Tent Going Up - Ft. Worth City Reach

City Reach Report

Tuesday night was another great night of City Reach tent revival in the Ft. Worth area. The crowd was very good and the response to the preaching was tremendous. Each night we have folks coming from the community and it is thrilling to see God bless, save and deliver. The smiles on their faces puts all the hard work into perspective.

We also had a third service without any rain! Praise God.

I am typing this Tuesday night before I go to bed. I am actually going to bed tonight because two young men are watching the tent over night and giving me and Bro. Jimmie a break. That is awesome!

Tent Set Up

The tent set up went tremendously well for City Reach Ft. Worth on Saturday. A whole lot goes into this day and most of the time is starts weeks before. I am afraid that most of the load of getting permission to use the land and obtaining permitting to use the land fell on the capable shoulders of Pastor JJ Stevens. I hate he had to carry all the extra stress but he carried it well. Thank you, dear friend!

It is very nice to see it all come together and the tent finally go up on the site! I always breath a sigh of relief when the tent is in the air and everything is ready to go.

This site is nearly 2 acres and there is only one spot big enough for the tent that does not stand in water and is not too close to the main road. I intended to set up the full tent and set it back on the lot at an angle but we ended up setting the 70' configuration with the center poles on a ridge for good drainage.

Pastor JJ Stevens mowed most of the day on Friday.

Bro. Justin Smith put in several hours with the weed eater and backpack blower.

God bless these brothers for their hard work. It was definitely the season to be sneezing with all the grass flying around!

Kelly Jo, Bro. Jimmie and I figured how to set the tent and marked the stake line on Friday in addition to all the other things that must be completed the day before set up.

Unfortunately all the rain did not drown the fire ants and we have made a bunch of then very angry over the last few days. We used over 20 pounds of granules in two days for a space of about 100' x 100' at the most. We are well into our second 20 lb bag of granules. These are determined little devils but we will keep fighting.

Saturday morning started early with Bro. Jimmie pulling out of Victory Tabernacle and onto the tent site.

We had a great crew of men and women show up and the work commenced shortly after 8:00 AM. We have four cooperating churches involved with this meeting and all four Pastors were there to help with the set up. That is very encouraging for me and I told them so. I believe their participation bodes well for the whole meeting.

Bro. Nathan Wallace drove down from the House of Prayer in Gainesville, Texas to help put the tent up. He told me when we were there in February that he was coming to help and he kept his word. He was a super help. Thanks Bro. Nathan.

Jeffery and Rebecca Blankenship arranged to be in the area Saturday so they could help with the tent set up too. It was a blessing to us to have them.

Here is the great set up crew!

Those of you that follow along closely will probably notice the configuration inside the tent is different this week as well. Because there was really only one way to set up the tent, we had to do things a little differently.

When we have the 70' or 92' tent set up, we always have the pulpit area along one of the long sides. No one is more that 45' from the Bible Stand or altar in that configuration. That would not work at all here. So this week the pulpit is in the end and the church is set up long ways. It is different than usual but it is working just fine.

That brings you up to date on the tent set up. Thanks for reading and thank you for praying for City Reach.

Davy

The City Reach Weather Report

Service Monday night was outstanding. We had a great crowd from the four churches involved and a great crowd of visitors as well. God is reaching and God is touching folks like He is very likely to do every where that He is given a chance. We are praising God for His help and expecting each night to be better and better. 

We are also praising God for the good weather. Monday night we had no rain at all during the service (That makes two nights in a row) and a very fine misty sprinkle after church that lasted only a few minutes.

Monday morning when Kelly Jo was at the tent there was an angry looking storm system passing just north of the tent. Here are the screenshots from her phone.

The red in that storm was nasty. Some places just north of us reported several inches of rain in a very short time Monday morning and one brother told me there was some damaging hail too. At the tent there was just a very light shower that lasted only a few minutes.

We certainly do not know what the weather will bring us the rest of the week but we are asking God for no rain and we are praising God one night at a time.

I am at the tent tonight and Bro. Jimmie will come out and take his shift shortly. Kelly Jo sits under the tent some during the day and Pastor Stevens took a turn Monday as well. We have some others that have offered to help and we gladly accepted. They will take a turn later in the week. We sure appreciate all of the help.

Thank you all for reading.

Davy

#21 Weekend Woundup and Weview

Weekends that include City Reach are pretty much all City Reach all the time and this one was no exception. We were either at the tent site working or trying to rest up in order to go back to the tent all weekend. That is the job we signed up for!

Friday was another preparation day.

We did take a few minutes Friday evening to meet Pastor Richard Frank and Sis. Naomi for a wonderful meal and great fellowship. Our friendship with the Frank's goes way back into our Wichita days and we sure appreciate their hospitality.

Saturday was set up day. We have quite a few pictures from the set up that we plan to post tomorrow. Several of these men have put up multiple tents and that was a big help.

The set up on this lot was tricky but with these men I should not have worried at all. The stakes were in, the tent was up and tight and the chairs and lights we ready in no time at all.

I went back to the BoggsMobile about 6:30 or so on Saturday evening and Kelly Jo prepared me a light snack before I rested a few hours. This is grilled avocado, a little bacon and a little cheese. Very good!

Since we are not able to park the BoggsMobile on the tent site, we remained parked at Victory about 1.5 miles away. Pastor Stevens asked me to preach Sunday morning so I tried to prepare us all for City Reach. It was a good service but the preaching could have been much better.

After church we went right back into preparation mode so we did not get many pictures. Odie snapped two before all the folks were gone.

Several of the men helped us load the sound equipment into the church's trailer and we hauled it to the tent site. We had just enough time after that for a quick bite to eat on the run and a 15 minute power nap!

Bro. Jimmie pulled a very long day on Sunday so that we could go to church and tend to visitors cards and other things that had to be completed. He was on watch duty at the tent from 5:00 AM until after church Sunday night with the exception of two hours that Kelly Jo covered between sunrise and Sunday School.

May God bless Bro. Jimmie! I know he must be thinking he took this job too cheap!

Sunday evening was the first night of City Reach Ft. Worth. We had a wonderful crowd including several visitors. It was a good service and God helped while the Pastors were praying for those with special needs. One lady that was visiting testified that God had touched her physically and we are rejoicing with her.

Odie snapped a few pictures Sunday night.

That pretty much wraps up our first weekend of City Reach Ft. Worth. We are expecting an even greater move of God the next seven nights. Please keep praying for us. God is answering prayer. As I type this, I am sitting under the tent late Sunday night and it still has not rained at all. We are asking God for a dry week AND we are praising Him one dry day and night at a time! Hallelujah!

Thanks for reading.

Davy