We will not be stopped!
Things are in full swing here at Wright’s Chapel now that school is back in session. The building is alive with activity and the voices and the joyful noises of children echo throughout as preschool, after-school and youth has started back up. The Wednesday night Women’s Bible study started up last night, as has Thursday night Youth Bible study and dinner. There is a new 11:00 young adult Sunday school class meeting and we are excited about our new group of Building Better Moms that will start at the end of the month. We are looking forward to starting a new “Children’s Choir” this fall. The lumberjacks are starting to think about deliveries of all the wood they have split over the summer, while our motel and Micah ministry teams continue to serve the most vulnerable of our communities.
There is so much that goes on “behind the scenes” at Wright’s Chapel. There is ministry that is taking place on a daily basis in the name of Jesus that is only seen by a few, but countless lives are being changed and being touched by daily acts of kindness. I think of the young woman who was given a “homecoming dress” by our Cindy’s Closet ministry so that she could attend the dance at Caroline High School in a couple of weeks. Without that gift, she wouldn’t have gone. I think of how you opened the doors of the church for a family in our community on a Saturday afternoon so they could gather after a funeral and celebrate the life of their loved one in our fellowship hall. It is those simple acts of kindness that carry with them the love of Christ.
Our Administrative Council is also a group of folks from our church who often does their work for Christ behind the scenes. Connie White is the chair of our council and helps to lead us in decisions that we pray are God’s direction for our church. We try to meet each month in order to do the “business” of the church. Yet it is the way we do our business and the decision that are made that help set the tone of the kind of church we want to be.
Recently the Administrative Council approved that we do a “Capital Campaign” with the goal of raising money in order to purchase Lot #14 which is a lot that is right beside our church and right behind the Timbers Restaurant. This past Spring we made you all aware that by 2022 VDOT is planning on putting a 4 lane road in front of Wright’s Chapel and a medium strip in the middle of the new road. That medium strip would prohibit anyone coming to the church from Lake Caroline or Lake Land Or or Ladysmith Village from turning left into the church. Likewise no one would be able to turn left when leaving the current church parking lot. Despite our best efforts and our comments at the Public Hearing there is no indication that any of VDOT’s plans have changed. Thus the Administrative Council thought it best that we be proactive and try and purchase the lot beside the church that would allow easy access to and exit from Wright’s Chapel. We would be able to enter and leave Wright’s Chapel more easily by accessing Center Dr (Giussippis).
The $150,000 two year capital campaign will begin on November 4 and we will receive “Estimates of Giving” through November 25. We hope to raise the money needed to purchase the lot as well as enough to purchase a new van for Children, Youth and Adult Ministries. We had not planned on having to do this campaign until we were made aware of VDOT’s plans that will have a huge impact on each of our abilities and the communities ability to access Wright’s Chapel.
There is so much good that is happening in the name of Christ here at Wright’s Chapel. There are so many lives that are being touched and shaped as people seek to live as disciples of Jesus. So much goes on behind the scenes in this place that we cannot let any barrier that may be throw in our way to stop us. We will not be stopped from being the disciples of Jesus and we will not be stopped from being the church he has called us to be! Peace Charles
