On September 16th we resumed our Saturday Work Days after the summer break. Groups from four (4) different churches "signed up" to come and participate. Only two groups were able to come in the end - Ben Davis CC and Hazelwood CC.

Teens from Ben Davis listen to Eric Himelick of Victory Inner City Ministries before they work at Victory Village Shoppe. The group helped clean up in preparation for the flooring to be laid down and the shop to open.

Victory Village Shoppe will provide some jobs for folks in their church as well as sell good second hand home furnishings to "help make a house a home" Here Rob Dininger and some teens move some recent donated items.

Hazelwood's crew was split into two different work groups. The first one cleared out an old commercial building at the corner of 10th and Rural that Englewood CC hopes to get a nice business to move in to.

Joe Bowling from Englewood CC holds up a "find" as the group sorted through items from years ago.

Englewood was amazed at how quickly the group was able to completely empty the 2000 square foot building, making it ready for renovation.

The other part of the Hazelwood group continued work on gutting out a house on Oxford Street.

This house is what is called a "quad" and will be renovated and turned back into four apartments. But first the dirty work of removing old plaster, lathe and the rest must be done.

Most of you will remember the following picture that we put on the Web Site and in our newsletter a year and a half ago. This was taken at Navajo Christian Foundation out in Arizona where Bill & Julie Briley served for 2 years.

Bill was a tremendous answer to prayer. Bill called in April of 2005 and told us he had a heart to serve in the city and that he and Julie would be coming back to Indy for a while. "Do you have a need for someone like me?" he asked me. Wow, did we ever! It was such a blessing and a "God thing" that we ever met and that the Lord provided the means for Bill to work with Mission Indy for two summers.

Common Ground CC and Greenwood CC continued the support they had given to Bill & Julie while on the reservation, as he worked with Mission Indy, so we thank them so much!

Bill blessed us in so many areas. First of all, Bill loves people and he is passionate about the Body of Christ, so he fit right in with what Mission Indy is called to do. Then, he loves to teach, and so he helped us immensely with our Summer Staff and their training and mentoring. Beyond that, Bill was able to lead music on occasion and to edit video for use in promoting our programs to college students and churches. Now Common Ground CC has need of Bill full time, so as Bill answers that call, we thank Bill & Julie and wish them God's best. Your contributions, Bill, to our little piece of the Kingdom will be greatly missed!

The season for visiting colleges and universities to recruit Summer Staff has begun. On October 10^th, we were at Cincinnati Christian University and connected with some students who served with us in the past. We saw Joy Deer from 2003, Dustin Dummel from 2005 and both Josh Hilliard and Ann Durham from 2006. We also talked with a number of students who expressed interest in possibly working with Mission Indy in 2007. Then on October 11^th we were at Milligan College where Courtney Hosp (2006) greeted us and encouraged students to talk with us. It is always amazing when students walk by and say "Oh, Mission Indy, I was there with my youth group in..." Ron got to present the opportunities of Mission Indy in Curtis Booher's Introduction to Ministry Class. We also got to go over to Emmanuel and see Jana Dobesova who served with us in 2006 as well. Then on October 12^th and 13^th we were at Johnson Bible College. Staff members from 2006, Stephanie Norwood and Rosh Najmon greeted us and steered students our way. Professor Brent Brewer, who teaches Missions and Urban Ministry had us present in three classes, and for one, we took the entire class period. That is a great opportunity to get our message across to students so we were glad to take advantage of it! Ron also got to lead a devotion time for the guys who live on 3 South and 3 North in the dorm. Once again, it really serves us well, as students can hear about our ministry and connect it closely to a face.

Overall, it was a great road trip and Niccole now has several students to stay in contact with. We even interviewed one excited young lady who thinks Mission Indy 2007 might be a great fit for her. Please pray for us as we travel a lot this fall and speak to students. We know the Lord will honor your prayers and help us have wisdom in the decisions will we have to make.