What's happening at Full Circle now?

Dear friends, family and prayer warriors:

Full Circle truly needs your prayers now in this time of transition. It is a time of two transitions for Full Circle, our location and our leadership. One is dealing with the question of where we'll be located, the second is dealing with my passing on the baton to those who have been truly doing God's work at Full Circle.

Our landlord has ordered that we be out of our current location by the end of August. We have not yet located a new home for Full Circle. Richard has had some discussion with Ruth, who owns The Mission. She is elderly and her health is bad. She will not be able to continue to run The Mission. Perhaps, if it is God's will, this old white church on North Street, will become our new location.

It is also possible, but only with God, that we'll be enabled to stay at God's House by our landlord having a change of heart. It is losing money for him, which he says is his motivation for selling the building out from under us. We know this is not the full picture.

We have put in over $20,000 worth of capital improvements and labor in fixing this old church (More than I could have imagined or hoped for). It was not usable when we moved in. We had to work on the place for two months before we could even consider opening. So it is a little hard to just leave.

Finding another location of at least 1,500 square feet for $400 or less a month that is in walking distance of Peace Park on State Street in Madison is not easy. We know it will have to be a God thing for us to have a new home for Full Circle. Either God will help us to locate a new space that fits in our current budget ($400/mo. or less) or He'll provide increased funding for the $3,000-$16,000 needed to rent a commercially zoned space (C2 or C4). Please pray with us for clarity in seeing God's plan and in doing all things in His timing. We need a place to continue pouring out God's love into the lives of the lost, the unwanted, the homeless, the unlovely that He has been bringing to us at God's House. So many lives have been changed and many are coming "full circle" and now reaching out with God's love to others.

The second transition comes because God is calling me to take a two year sabbatical from leading the work at Full Circle. I'll be stepping back to be obedient to God in taking the time and self discipline needed to take care of myself (so I can continue on in this race) and so that I can do the writing and visual arts (painting, drawing , sculpture) He has been calling me to do for nearly two years now. I have not been able to do these things while leading Full Circle.

God is calling the rest of the crew to carry on the work of loving the poor, the lost, the unwanted, the orphan and widow.....
They have done their jobs so well that He is giving them more responsibility. The reward for a job well done in the Kingdom is more work, harder work, stepping up to the next level.

I'm not quitting, I'm just fighting on a different battlefield until that "land" is taken. Please pray especially for my dear team mates who will be carrying on without me.

We also need practical help during this time. Help packing and moving, financial help for the costs of moving, new rent and deposits, extra gas in the van, much prayer support so the enemy is not able to discourage us from going forward.

We also need your financial help and prayers for completing the work in India. I've been so amazed as God has provided over $20,000 for the first Agape Family home (orphans and widows). We only need about $4,300 to finish it off and completely furnish it! Our recent India team: Alissa, Curtis, Jordan, Emily and Emma, have all returned safely and with many stories of God's work in them and through them during their time in India.

This photo is the most recent one I have of our first Agape Family home almost completed. Here you can only see half of the first floor entryway and the balcony for the second floor and the stairway in progress. I'm hoping for more photos soon. It doesn't look like much at this stage. As you can see, their construction methods are quite different from ours here in America.

The parapet around the church roof making the playground for the children is also completed. All of the major work on the house is done. It still needs some cement work on the roof and painting, plumbing and electrical fixtures etc.

Please pray that God will provide just the right Christian widow who would love to give her life serving the Lord as a mother for 5-7 of these tsunami orphans.


Pastor Sam is willing to keep 6 of the children himself if we can find sponsors for them. That is as many as he can possibly fit in his home. The children staying with him and his wife seemed happy and healthy, except for the one girl with a hole in her heart. She will need surgery.

Pastor RajaShekkar and Ratna would like to take in the brother and sister. They also would need financial help to care for the children. They have no children of their own, so I believe this would be a blessing both ways.

If you would like to sponsor one of our 15 orphans who lost all of their relatives in the tsunami please email or give me a call at 608-577-3264. Or perhaps God has given you a heart for the widows and you'd like to help sponsor a widow who will give her life caring for the children.

We are also moving forward with plans for helping to clean up the wells of India. Dave C. is going to receive training in producing the probiotic that will clean the wells so that we can produce it in India. We are all excited about the potential for the people of India receiving this blessing from the Lord in His name. We are also hopeful that this will become a means of supporting more orphans and widows. What a blessing that God has given us Dave C. who believes God is calling him to give his life to this work for at least the next few years.

It has been such a joy being a part of this work God is doing at Full Circle. It will be a time of transition for me as well. I am very much looking forward to time to paint and write. I am not looking forward to the self discipline needed for getting in shape and losing weight, but I am looking forward to having more energy that should come from these disciplines. I also need to be getting more restful sleep and have doctor's appointments that need to be made and kept. Please keep me in your prayers that I won't become isolated. The writing, the painting and seeking the Lord simply for Himself (not for ministry needs) are usually solitary works for me. Having others around in the process is distracting. I also am hopeful that somehow this will be a season of having more time for friends and family. I'm not sure if this is God's plan or just my desire.

You can continue to reach us at the office phone 608-251-0555 at least through the end of the month (maybe longer?). Please pray for Richard and Roger, John Howe, Curtis and Laura, Doug and Julie, and the others who will be taking on more work to give me the freedom to obey in stepping aside for this time. If you have any good leads on a place please help us out by doing a bit of follow up to see if they would be willing to house a ministry to the homeless in a way that would fit our budget before calling us.

Lots of love to you all,
Sherry