Brian (’09) and Sarah (’10 Swangim) Boots

by | May 13, 2019 | Graduates Around the World, News

It has been over 3 ½ years since we moved to Virginia to help Brian’s brother plant a church about 20 miles west of Richmond. When we moved to Virginia in September of 2015, we immediately jumped into some ministries at Gill Grove Baptist Church (the sending church), and also helped with all the preparations for the new church plant. Mt. Victory Baptist Church was started by Pastor Steve Boots in October 2016. God’s hand was seen in so many exciting ways throughout the start-up. For the past 2 ½ years, we have met in a meeting room in a hotel, but we knew this would not be our “landing spot.” Once we all got our feet under us, our church began praying that God would lead us to a more permanent location where we could have a building and maybe some acreage. We knew it would have to be all God as pricing in Henrico, Virginia is incredibly expensive and always on the rise!

The request for an update came at a most exciting time as we just had our last service in the hotel this past Sunday and are moving into an actual church building for services next week! As we met in the hotel, little did we know that about a mile down the road, God was preparing a little church building for us to start meeting in with 6+ acres! I wish there was time to tell you about every single miracle we have seen in the past several weeks…even down to taking care of little things we hadn’t even thought to pray for! From the amazing rent price (previous renters were paying $7,000/month; they dropped it to $3,000/month for us!), to the ability to treat the place as “our own,” to skilled laborers, to help from other churches, to thousands of dollars given toward the building, to a free Steinway grand piano, and so so much more! God is so good!

The church was built in the 1950’s and was not very up-to-date, so our church family has been working day and night to get it whipped into shape. (Thank you Fairhaven work parties for teaching us how to be involved in church construction and cleaning! We are putting it to good use! 😊 ) We will have our Grand Opening service on April 7th and are making a huge push for this day. We covet your prayers not only for the Grand Opening Sunday, but also that God would use this building as a tool to see souls brought to Him and lives changed!

Sincerely,

Brian & Sarah Boots