"Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin." ' Zechariah 4:10

The Rogue Valley Church of Christ took off on May 1st for our first service together. We gathered with Richard and Michelle Lobo and also Sheila Wright, a former member of the San Diego church who moved up here in 1988 to take care of her aging parents. Her sister, Joyce Roberts who still lives in San Diego, helped hook us up this past month. She was excited to be a part of 'her church' again she said.

We droved down to San Diego for Spring vacation and visited with Steve and Sue Shoff. It was great to stay and fellowship with their family. I was also glad to spend some time with the San Diego leadership and share what God is doing in Southern Oregon.

We were also glad to have Scott and Stephen Green stop by and spend the night on their way back from a visit to San Francisco. We had a great evening together talking and laughing. We talked a lot about planting the small church.

Micah and Rachelle Sinclair and their son, Noah, also came up the beginning of May and worshipped with us. They are moving up here in early June. They came up early to scout the area and to find a house. We had a great time together planning and dreaming at church last Sunday. We talked about our dreams for building a great church here in the area.

Pam and I are so thrilled about the youth ministry that Richard is building here. The kids were so excited to have their own worship. Richard really gets the kids fired up about participating and bringing and using their Bibles. Our kids couldn't say enough about the first kids' worship.

One of the nice things about starting a small church is the closeness and informality of worship. We start with our normal worship at 10:00 and then break for the kids worship. While Richard leads the children, we make lunch together and get a chance to talk. After lunch the kids go out on the trampoline on the open lot next door and have a blast. The adults drink coffee and this last week we just had a great spiritual talk around the coffee table. It just felt natural to have some great discipling going on between us.

We have started taking up our contribution and depositing it into the church's account. We are thankful to Andrew and Erica Hernandez for sending a very generous donation to help get started. I hope to invite some guest speakers to visit us this summer and also to be able to rent a larger venue once we start baptizing and growing.

Please keep us in your prayers! Please spread the word about what God is doing here in Southern Oregon!

Rob and Pam Skinner

1219 Old Willow Lane

Ashland, OR, 97520

RobSkinner@windermere.com

541-301-5783