Tommy Nelson Center Next Phase

Dear friends,

We hope you are doing fine and the Lord has been with you since our last update! First of all let me just thank you all for your wonderful responses to our last update on the Tommy Nelson Center at the SERVE Compound. We praise God for your reassuring emails and for your excitement about what the Lord is doing here through our lives and ministry! 

Many of you have prayed, given and promised to give and we PRAISE GOD for your partnership in this adventurous journey of building the TNC! To read more about TNC please click here!

We are happy to inform you that the first phase of the Tommy Nelson centre project [foundation] is finished and we are ready to begin the second phase, God willing, towards the end of this month (May 2012). 

In our last update we shared with you some pictures of the beginning of the foundation and in this update we would like to share some of the end of the first phase of this very awesome project!

After the building of the partitions for the ground floor were done , it was time to pour the slab. But before the slab could be poured we had to fill the spaces with large boulders. 

The boulders are then packed really tight before the concrete for the slab is poured . 

Here are some pastors looking on during their training at SERVE at what will be there future centre for Biblical training!

After all the boulders are put in and packed up nicely it is time to cover it with sheets of  large polythene  papers to keep the moisture from coming from the ground through in to the floor and making it damp.

Once the polythene paper is in place iron wire mesh is then laid on the ground before  the concrete slab is poured. Concrete is strong under compression, but relatively weak under tension. The reverse is true for steel. therefore when the two are combined, one makes up for the deficiency of the other.

Once the polythene and Wire Mesh are in place it is now time to put it the electric conduit pipes for putting electrical wire through.

And finally it is time to organize the workers to make sure that the work starts, is done and finished in one single day. The reason for this is that dry concrete does not adhere well with fresh wet concrete, therefore pouring it in multiple days causes cracks and therefore leaks. (Too much information, I know, but this is exciting!)

Then comes the time to haul in wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of concrete for 8 hours straight  (In America the concrete pouring truck would have done the work in less than 2 hours). 

And after all is said and done,Voilà! the foundation is done! That brings the first Phase to a close. 

Thank you for reading and for praying and for giving towards this amazing project! The second phase involves building the walls on the ground floor costing approximately $15,000 in material and labor costs! We are glad to announce that since the last email we have received a total of $5,000 and we praise God for His provision and thank you very much for your very generous donation! 

PRAY that the Lord will provide the remaining $10,000 soon so that the project does not stall. If the Lord is touching or speaking to you to give to TNC please write a check to DENTON BIBLE CHURCH and put this number on the MEMO line 9690-51. (If mailing, please mail the check to Denton Bible Church ATT: Missions Office, 2300 E. University Dr. Denton, TX 76209).

God bless you as you pray and give towards this noble course!