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New Life Church Weekly Update

October 18, 2024

This Sunday: October 20, 2024


3:00 pm Worship at Deep Creek Community Church

1500 Cooper St.

Punta Gorda, FL 33950


Message: "The Rumors of My Death..."

Scripture: Deuteronomy 31:14, 27, 32:1-4

Pastor Mike Loomis


Parents: Sunday School / Nursery will be available at DC3 during worship.


The 3pm service will be live-streamed on our Facebook page HERE.

A Message from Pastor Mike:

New this Week:

  • Campus Update
  • Major Aslan Update
  • Samaritan's Purse Assistance
  • Cancellations: Halloween, Thanksgiving Dinner
  • Surviving the Holidays, November 16 

Campus Update

Craig Holcomb, Leadership Council Member


Since the double whammy of Helene and Milton, like most people we have been busy cleaning up the mess! Here is what Hurricane Milton brought us:

 

  • A higher storm surge than Helene. We had water and “muck” in all of our buildings except the Life Center. The “muck” came from the bottom sediment of the river and bay.


  • We lost 6 ground air conditioning units that will need to be replaced. We currently have air in the Sanctuary and the Life Center.


  • 6 of our buildings, including the Sanctuary, had water surge. 5 of the buildings had 2 to 4 inches of the muck along with an estimated 4 feet of water. The Sanctuary had only 2 inches of water.


  • The parking lot and all grass areas had a good 4 inches of the “muck”. The muck has been the biggest problem to deal with.

 

  • About 90% of the contents of the Bargain Boutique, Administration Office, 2 garages, Lenox Hall downstairs; the Nursery Rooms, Rooms 9 and 13, and the Music Room had to be hauled out and trashed.


  • In all the rooms and buildings, except for the Sanctuary, 3 to 4 feet of drywall had to be cut out.


  • Boyette Miller has been our main contractor for both Helene and Milton.


  • We are using the same process that we were using after Helene.


  • Cleaned out the water and muck; hosed the areas down; sanitized the areas; and prepared them for drywalling, electricity, and rebuilding.


  • To date, the buildings have been cleaned and sanitized except for Lenox Hall, which is still in the process of cleaning. 


  • Because of the muck throughout the parking lot, it is still not safe to hold any meetings or have worship in our buildings. We again ask everyone to stay away from the campus during this process.

 

We have to take this one week at a time in determining just when the buildings and grounds will be available. For now, they are not available up thru October 26th.  

 

The Leadership Council is responsible for this project. The daily project is being supervised by Bob Miller, Craig Holcomb, Pastor Mike, and Charlie Moores. The Leadership Council members are Fred Buckingham, Eddie Webb, Peter Bell, Charlie Moores, Pastor Mike, Lindsay Harrington, Peter Gillen, and Craig Holcomb.

 

Please be patient with us and the process, and we will attempt to update everyone as the project goes forward.

 

Pray for our church and for all those in our area who have suffered greatly from these 2 storms.

If you were unable to join us in person or online last Sunday, you can watch the service by following the link below:

Watch the October 13, 2024 DC3 Service HERE

Major Aslan Update

(from Sean, Aslan’s father)


(You may remember that a little over a month ago, Aslan apparently pulled out his trach.)

 

“Usually this is a moment of panic followed by jumping into high gear to make sure we get it back in immediately. BUT we could not find the stoma (hole) in his throat which means he took it out the night before. We were at a loss. The hole usually heals within 3-4 hours and after that, it means redoing the Tracheostomy surgery. We were mentally/emotionally preparing ourselves to take him down to Hollywood for them to redo his Trach surgery, which is another traumatizing week in the hospital for him.

 

While he can breathe on his own just fine while he is awake, the concern is that at night he struggles to breathe because of his small airways. This causes severe sleep apnea and loss of oxygen. If he is sick, this is even more concerning. His ENT happened to be at our Children’s Hospital, 15 mins from home. We took him in and they said he needed an “emergency” sleep study, but they did not seem concerned with immediately putting the Trach back in. (His next study was scheduled for December 4).

 

Miraculously they were able to schedule his Sleep Study that same night.

 

That was 34 days ago!

 

We have been anxiously awaiting the sleep study results which we got 2 weeks ago and the interpretation of said results. He’s fine during the day. It’s the nights that cause us anxiety. We put him down, check his breathing, listen, and watch him. He snores (which is why we named him Aslan Michael after his grandfather), then he’ll snort or turn over on his side and repeat the process every so often. We didn’t know if he was uncomfortable or getting enough oxygen. But he seemed like he was breathing pretty consistently.

 

Yesterday we got the ENT’s interpretation of the sleep study results.

 

We got the best news we could hope for!!!

 

2 years ago they put the Trach in because his first sleep study showed him having 67 disruptive apneic episodes per hour where he was not getting enough oxygen. This is off the charts. In January his sleep study results showed he was only having !!!15!!! disruptive apneic episodes per hour which were still obstructing his ability to breath and get enough oxygen. He was still considered to have severe sleep apnea.

 

His September study results were amazing! He had an average of only 2.8 apneic episodes per hour through the night (which is basically nothing). His oxygen levels never went below 92%! He had 16 episodes all night of “shallow breathing” (hypopnea) but these are not concerning and his oxygen levels stayed up.

 

He will never need his Trach ever again!!!!

 

This is absolutely life changing for him and for us. For those who want additional information on Aslan’s overall progress. He is eating between 1,000-1,400 calories per day. Each time we feed him it still feels like a major victory. He eats puréed food by mouth and by G-Tube. He will probably have the feeding port in his stomach for a couple more years(?). He does not eat solid foods, except eggs. Every day we put soft foods in front of him to get him to eat. He has major food aversions. He’s getting feeding therapy at his special-needs daycare as well.

 

It’s a long road. HE IS TALKING! We felt he was severely behind but even last week he started saying several words very clearly that he had previously struggled with. We believe he can catch up!! He is even sequencing words together like, “I want eggs”. He says ‘hallelujah, Bubba, Momma, Dada, Sissy, take it, oops, naked, stinky,’ etc. very clearly!

 

He’s getting a lot of attention in the special-needs daycare, where he has been now for several months. He gets therapy every day. Speech therapy, Feeding therapy, Occupational therapy, Physical therapy, Play therapy, Developmental therapy, and therapy for the deaf (b/c of his mild hearing loss). There is still much to do for him, surgeries down the road for his throat scarring, a jaw distraction (to extend the jaw) when he’s older for cosmetic and quality of life reasons, and possibly cosmetic plastic surgery. We shall see.

 

We covet your prayers for his continued development, physical growth, speech, eyes, hearing, jaw, etc!

 

By the way, if you haven’t heard…. We’re expecting our fourth child!”

 

(From Mike and Debbie—you cannot know how much your prayers and concern have meant to us and to our family! We are so grateful for you, New Life! You are God’s grace to us over and over again. Thank you so much!)

Event Updates


Due to Hurricane Milton both the Halloween Food Truck Festival and Thanksgiving Dinner have been canceled. Pastor Mike's retirement party has been postponed, and will be rescheduled.

Samaritan's Purse Assistance, Call 833-747-1234 | FEMA Disaster Aid, Call 800-621-3362


Local FEMA Disaster Recovery Center:

South County Regional Park

670 Cooper Street, Punta Gorda

OPEN: Thursday - Sunday, 9 am - 7 pm

Help is available for cleaning up damage from Hurricane Helene.


Crisis Cleanup connects you with volunteers from local relief organizations, community groups and faith communities who may be able to assist with cleanup after a storm such as mucking out, trees, tarp, debris. Call 844-965-1386 to ask for help. All services are free, but service is not guaranteed due to the overwhelming need. This hotline cannot assist with social services such as food, clothing, shelter, or insurance. Volunteers work free of charge and provide the tools and equipment necessary to complete the work.

Surviving the Holidays, November 16


Have you or someone you know experienced the death of a loved one? No matter how long it's been, grief can make the holidays a painful time, but there is hope. Our GriefShare program is once again offering an encouraging seminar to help those dealing with grief survive the holidays and discover new reasons to enjoy them again. We want to encourage you to sign up for this 2 hour seminar today, and join us Saturday, November 16 in the Life Center from 10am until Noon. Seating is limited, so reservations are required. For reservations or information, please call or text Melodie Austin at 941-661-0842 or you may email her at melharryaustin@yahoo.com.


Reservations must be made before Monday, November 11th.

Dates to Remember - Mark your Calendars!

Surviving the Holidays, November 16

Meal Train for Don & Rosie Young


October dates are now available! Click HERE to sign up.

Hospital Visitation, Prayer Available


We want to know when you are having surgery or are in the hospital! We are available to pray with you before surgery and visit you in the hospital, rehab, etc.


Contact us through email: prayerteam@newlifeforall.church or call/text Pastor Bob, Minister of Pastoral Care (941) 585-9576.

Church Name Tags


When you come to the church campus, please wear your New Life Church name tag. If you do not have a church name tag, you can order one HERE.

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Office Hours: Monday - Thursday, 9 am - 4 pm

TEMPORARY NUMBER: (941) 310-1524

(941) 639-3842www.newlifeforall.church

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All past issues of The Bridge are available on our website HERE.

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