Grace Notes

On Friday a semi pulled up to our office and we unloaded 5,000 songbooks!

After piles of drafts, it felt wonderful to hold a finished copy.

The songbook process began when Sarah Roberts came last year, helped with the CD recording, and then spent 2+ weeks full time writing arrangments and entering them into the Finale Software. When Sarah Roberts initially e-mailed asking if there was anything she could do to help Bright Lights for a few weeks in the summer, Sarah (Mally) mentioned that we had just scheduled to record a CD and would love to have a songbook to go along with it. The Lord had already given Sarah Roberts this idea independently (though she didn’t know about the recording) and she was excited to come and help. We were thrilled.

After Sarah left, numerous other friends and BL leaders spent time editing, arranging, and entering in new songs. We saw God’s hand of provision in many special ways through many special friends…but of those, Nickie definitely put in the most time of all as she designed and laid out the entire songbook in InDesign. (Not a simple project!)

As we neared the finish line, Sarah and I realized we needed a little more organized system as we went through each song numerous times editing and catching mistakes, so this is the little chart we developed and used for a couple days during the editing process….

Hey, whatever works, right?!

Editing and more editing…late into the night… Deadlines are VERY helpful when it comes to getting things done. (We wanted the songbooks done by our Bright Lights conferences this summer.)

Even Stephen joined the team…

Finally! Finished product! It’s exciting to see the Lord give a desire and then complete it. Our desire and prayer is that this songbook would be a useful tool for Bright Lights groups around the country and that it would direct the attention of multitudes to Jesus Christ.

For more information or to order a songbook, click here.

“It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness every night” Psalm 92:1-2

There’s lots of work to do with preparation for the four upcoming Bright Lights conferences. We were grateful for all the help from Lindsay (from NE) and Abby (from MN) who came to visit for the weekend to help. Thanks again Abby and Lindsay!

We are also very excited to announce that Rachel and Bekah May are joining us as staff here at the Bright Lights office!! The Mays live in the area and have been involved in Bright Lights for the past 12 years, so they have been able to jump right in and take on all kinds of responsibilities here at the office. We can’t say enough about how happy and relieved we are to have their help. (Plus, their energetic personalities are a lot of fun to have around. )

Praise the Lord who is able to provide so perfectly!!! (I’m sure you’ll be seeing more pictures of them on here in the coming year…)

Bekah and Nickie

Rachel entering registrations for the upcoming conferences.

Sarah

Lindsay putting sleeves in the front of CDs. I don’t know what Abby is doing. Lol.

Stephen

Abby making phone calls

And we can’t forget to include a picture of Dad back there typing away at e-mails. We are all very fond of our heroic leader who is just about always ready to either share a new spiritual lesson or a new great idea.

And we didn’t work the entire time Abby and Lindsay were visiting…instead we sat out in the backyard with the mosquitos. Yes, it was my idea. (Bekah came into the office this morning and announced, “Grace! I have 25 bugbites!” )

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As we were gearing up to open our store, it has been encouraging to see God answer prayer and provide. Here are two of those ways:

Kelly, a good friend from Minnesota, volunteered at the Bright Lights office for several weeks in October and November. She spent hours entering our expanding bookstore inventory into our computer sales software. We didn’t realize what a huge job this was going to be. Kelly “happened” to be here exactly at the time we needed it done.

How are we going to find furniture for the bookstore?? we wondered. I dreamed of a comfy beige leather couch, but after looking at a few price tags, I knew we’d never buy one. But actually, I did know how we would get furniture. Just the same way we got everything else–on our knees. So we took this need to the Lord.
A couple weeks ago when friends at church asked me how the bookstore was coming along, I mentioned the current need for furniture.
“I need to talk to your dad about that,” a friend, Carlos, replied.
The next day we picked up this beautiful couch from Carlos’ storage unit. Free. And it’s beige and leather… just what I had hoped for. And it matches perfectly with the color of the walls. Carlos also gave us two chairs and some end tables. Wow! Another encouraging reminder that it’s always worth it to wait for the Lord’s provision!

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

Decorating a commercial building was a new experience for me — but at least it brings a little life to our, well, less-than-desirable exterior. It was fun being on the roof. I love heights. (Not that our building is very high… ).

Unlocking the front door.

We opened the bookstore in the front of the Bright Lights office. It’s still “sinking in” that we are now running a commercial store!

Starting our first day with prayer

First costumer receiving a free book

“Can you believe we are actually opening a store tomorrow?” Stephen asked me last night.
“Not Really”

Thanks to the Lord’s provision, we were able to open this store on black Friday “in the black”. There are DOZENS of stories I’d love to share with you (and probably will eventually!) of how the Lord provided for us to purchase this building debt-free and how He has provided for the interior furnishings at every turn. And, of course, we are grateful to over 115 friends from our area who helped with the remodeling/moving, etc.

See here for pictures of what the building looked like before.

We still have many things to complete and add (permanent outside sign, more shelving and inventory, furniture, etc.) but we’re grateful we’ve finally reached an “opening point”. And we know that He who has been faithful thus far will complete His will in His time!

We’re excited about the Bright Lights Leader’s Training beginning next week! This afternoon Abby and Nickie worked on sort of an unusual project….preparing the backdrops for the video.

We are still alive and doing well here at the Bright Lights office. Sarah Smith and Abby Kramer joined us a few weeks ago.

Sarah and Abby

Nickie, Abby, Sarah

There are always so many different things going on around here, it’s hard to give an accurate report!
Some of you may be wondering what we do here at the Bright Lights office, so I’ll give you a vague outline. Every morning, Sarah and my dad and I have been working on writing projects. During that time, the “interns”, Sarah K and Abby, have been doing various studies that Sarah has outlined for them.
After lunch, we focus more on office details. This includes e-mails and correspondence, planning and scheduling, and processing and shipping orders. These things take a lot of time, so we are very grateful for the help from our interns (and Nickie, of course ).
The bookstore we are setting up in the front area of the Bright Lights office has also been an exciting and challenging adventure. Lots of progress has been made, but there is a lot more to do. There are so many decisions to make and items to purchase–and this is all so new to us–so we are sort of operating by going from one answered prayer to the next. We are hoping to open in about a month.
Other recent projects have included working the Bright Lights CD and songbook, several encouraging times of witnessing together, and a Desktop Publishing class taught by Stephen.

This morning we had an open house at the new Bright Lights office / ministry buildling for those who have volunteered over the past year. We showed pictures and told many stories of how the Lord has provided…

(more…)

We couldn’t believe how fast everything was moved today — thanks to so many energetic friends who came to help!! We were suprised when we finished around 11:30am!

Lunch

Here is the little desk Stephen was using when he rented a drawer to Sarah. (You may remember the story if you’ve read our book.) Today it went to a new home.