Just sent this out to a bunch of friends and family… Got a little nervous there hitting send b/c this is our biggest step of faith since deciding to move to Charleston. Would you pray that God would meet this need, and then make it overflow? There are some specific ways we want to bless some folks with whatever God gives us beyond our monthly budget.

And maybe you could jump on board?

Play a Message from the Parris Family

Greetings from the Parris family! We’re sending this message to quite a few people…friends we see often, new friends, friends we haven’t seen in years, and precious family. It’s a little intimidating for us, to be honest. So thanks in advance for taking the time to read it thoroughly and prayerfully.

In June of this year, our little family of five loaded up a cargo trailer…three times…and moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina. After serving for eight years at West Ridge Church, God had called us to help start a brand new church community called River Church.

You could call it my dream job… Serving on the Lead Team as Worship Arts and Innovation Pastor, I would be connecting musicians, programmers, and artists in preparation for a full launch in January of 2010.

Now into our fifth month in Charleston, we are seeing things happen that we didn’t expect to see for many months. The River Church Core Team, while still in its early prelaunch phase, is already 50 adults strong! We meet weekly to connect with folks through neighborhood cookouts and to prepare and equip one another for practice and preview services that will begin in just two months. But more importantly, we are truly “doing life together” in the deepest sense. It has been all that we hoped for…and much much more.

At this stage in the game, there is no money in the church budget for salaries, health insurance, or 401k’s. Rather, God has led us to focus our funds on the non-personnel expenses required to affect Charleston.

So what to do for income for the Parrises? Well, the plan was to carefully balance River Church responsibilities with a part-time job or freelance work until we were “off the ground.” But with momentum building so quickly, my days are demanding full attention on the primary role I came here to fulfill. This is a great problem to have, except that it is putting a strain on our family that we really cannot sustain much longer.

We have prayerfully selected the list of folks who are receiving this letter, so we believe it is no accident that you’re receiving it. Would you ask God to show which role He wants you to play?

We boldly ask you to pray for us. As rewarding as this journey has already been, it has by no means been easy. We need you praying for good health, stable finances, and sensitivity to hear the Holy Spirit’s direction with each and every decision we make.

We also boldly ask you to give financially. Just a few weeks ago, we would have asked subtly. But as the evidence of what God is doing through River Church has begun to unfold, we see more than ever the urgency of the calling He has given us. Several of you are already supporting us, and we thank you from the deepest parts of our hearts. If you’re aren’t, however, would you consider giving a recurring or one time gift?

• To give right now, click here to go to our PayPal page.
• To let us know you’d like to give a future or recurring gift, please click here to go to our signup form.

If you have ANY questions about what we’re doing or about the specifics of how your donation will be processed or used, please email or call anytime…night or day. 843.868.1112/parrisfam@me.com Also, please help us spread the word to friends and family! Could your church or group jump on board? If you’d like to talk about the possibilities, or schedule a face to face to hear more about River Church, just say the word and we’ll make it happen.

Thank you so much for your time, but mostly for your friendship. If you would like to begin receiving occasional updates from us and how things are going, do nothing. But if you’d like to take your name off our list, simply click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of this message.

We love you dearly, and can’t wait to tell you some amazing stories of what God is doing here in Charleston through our family and River Church.

With deep gratitude and sincerity,

Stephen & Annette
McKenna
C
aia
Jackson