Ringjallja Center
Great news! On May 31, by God's grace, we made our final payment to purchase our ministry center, Ringjallja! Thank you again to each of you who gave as well as those who have been praying for the funds to come in! Nine months ago when we (as a team) decided to buy the building, we had no idea how we were going to raise the $280,000 needed. People from all over the United States gave - churches and individual people like you! Piece-by-piece, the Lord put together the amounts we needed when we needed them. Our faith has grown over these months and we are excited about what God will do in and through the ministries of Ringjallja. My team leader put together a great thank you video that you can see by clicking here.
But we aren't done yet! Now that we own the building, we anticipate starting renovations in the near future. We are beginning to look at specific plans and talk with Kosovars about what changes to make to anticipate future growth. Several of the believers in our local church are skilled workers and have offered to donate their time and expertise to the building renovations, which will help keep our costs down. We originally estimated needing another $140,000 in renovation expenses and I'm sure that number will be refined in the coming weeks as we talk through renovation plans. Although it's stretching to think about continuing to raise funds, we are confident that the Lord will provide for our needs, as He already has!
Would you pray about towards the renovations of Ringjallja? It's a great project for church offerings as well! Read on below for more information about our Center. You can click here to give online, or mail a check marked for the Ringjallja Building Fund to:
CAMA Services
P.O. Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935
The launch pad of our ministry in Gjilan is the Ringjallja (which means "Resurrection") Center. During the weekdays, it is open all day as a coffee shop, copy center, and internet cafe. In the afternoons and evenings, there are English classes which people from all over Gjilan attend because of the good reputation of our Center and teachers. Wednesday mornings, Thursday nights, and Sunday nights the church meets at the Center for Bible Study, worship, and prayer. People are coming and going throughout the day - you never know who you will meet there!
Since the Center opened back in 2004, we have been renting the building and it has been a good space for the ministry. It is very centrally located and is very near a number of schools (primary through college). In 2007 the Kosovo team began pursuing properties on which to build a new building. Buildings are expensive here and there is not a lot of property for sale, so there were a number of dead ends. In July of 2009 the landlord of the current building we are in told us he wanted to sell the building and was offering us the option to buy it before selling it to someone else. He really likes us and the Center and has given us a great price. He had offers of 20,000-30,000 euros over what he was offering us!
After much prayer and conversation with the team and C&MA leaders, we committed to purchase the property! Now that God brought in the funds we needed to purchase the building, we are in the process of talking about renovation plans so that we have room for growth. The local believers have committed to do a lot of the work involved in renovating and updating the building (needs a new roof, the 3rd floor needs to be finished out, etc.). Would you consider how you could partner with the work going on here? We need to raise about $140,000 and are trusting that God will provide through His people. You can give through the CAMA website by clicking here and then clicking the button that says "Donate Now" in the lower right corner (donations are tax deductible).