Manna Family,
The time has come. After a nine year journey as a portable church, meeting over 8 years at Niceville High School (with a ten-month nomadic journey during Covid), we’re finally moving into our first permanent home. God’s steadfast love and faithfulness has paved the way, and your commitment to Jesus and our mission has provided the needed resources to make this move possible. Here’s what I see ahead for Manna Church West Florida as we “Take New Ground” with this new building.
The first reality that I see as we occupy this new building is obvious: BLESSINGS! Having our own home for the church to gather is a tremendous blessing. Being in NHS on Sundays has been a win, and leasing/renting various spaces around the community has provided for our needs along the way. Nevertheless, the blessing of a permanent location that we can utilize as we see fit is going to be a game changer! The brand new audio/visual equipment is going to be a blessing, our own Manna Kids spaces are going to be a blessing, and an entire property to utilize for Small Groups and Outreaches is going to be a blessing. Thank you Jesus!
There will be obvious blessings in this next season, but I’m also sensing that this new building will come with some healthy BURDENS. We are expecting to grow… likely faster than we ever have. The days of coming to service late, parking wherever you want, having an entire row to yourself, and only having to SERVE once a month – are over. If you’re reading this, October will begin a new level of sacrificial burdens upon you and family: Plan to arrive early, park far, sit up close, scoot in, and SERVE often. And yes, we’ll likely go to 3 services sooner than later.
The combination of abundant blessings and stretching burdens is going to lead to something truly special: BREAKTHROUGHS. As we step into this new season of opportunities, bringing more and more people into contact with the grace and truth of Jesus, we’re going to experience supernatural breakthroughs as a church unlike we’ve ever seen before. I’m believing we will be marked by more of God’s tangible Presence in our Worship Experiences, thus seeing more salvations, baptisms, healings, miracles, and relationship restorations. This will happen for all ages, and our SERVE Team members will have more ministry opportunities than ever. Get ready to be stretched, inspired, and experience full dependance on Jesus.
You are a favored, faithful church. God is with us. Let’s change the world.
If you are interested in serving on the building’s Go Team to help with the final touches, you can do so through the link below. We will be posting events through the rest of the year as opportunities arise.
We’re so excited to share that this Sunday will be our very first service in the brand-new Manna Church building at 506 Highway 85 N, Niceville, FL 32578! All through October, we’ll be working out the new flows and settling into our new home together as a church family.
Then on Sunday, October 26th, we’ll celebrate with a special Grand Opening Event Same service times, but with light refreshments, extra décor, and plenty of smiling faces. If you call Manna Church home, we’d love for you to join us throughout October as we make this house our own—and then invite your friends and neighbors to the big reveal on the 26th!
With a new location comes updated parking flows. Below, please find a key that outlines how traffic will flow in and out of the main lot, as well as where to park for overflow parking.
If you are a SERVE Team member, please park in the overflow parking in the back lot. The goal is to leave the front spots available for newer families and first-time guests.
As we start holding Worship Experiences in our new building, let’s focus our this month’s prayer on our three values:
Love God: Pray that Sunday mornings are filled with powerful times of worship, and that we truly encounter God’s Presence. From the youngest child to the oldest adults, may the Fresh Wind of the Holy Spirit blow upon our gatherings.
Love Each Other: This is a crucial month for our Fall Small Groups as they are starting to go deeper with their relationships and intentionality. Life change happens in Small Groups! Take some time this month to go to our website and pray over each group and each leader – it will make a huge difference!
Love the World: As always, we’ll be in the community this month sharing the love of Jesus -no strings attached. Nevertheless, there will also be a tremendous amount of guests who attend our church for the first time in October. Pray for scales to be removed from eyes, so people can see their need for Jesus, and respond to His matchless grace.
Team Manna: We say we do three things, but for many months now our incredible staff (paid and unpaid) have been doing four things! Not only have they kept our three values a priority on a weekly basis, they’ve been working non-stop to prepare our new building. Pray a blessing over these world-changing warriors: Nic and Denisha Watson, Alyssa and Pete Heitz, Kathy Inness, Jill Dell, Candace Smith, Katie Hendrock, Rebecca Dykes, Pastor Luis, and the list goes on… we have a very special team.
It’s going to be a month to remember – honored to be praying alongside you.
Pastor Chris
WE’RE MOVING TOO! STU is so excited to meet at our new building along with the rest of the church! We will occupy the auditorium during our large group time and then break up into small groups as we have been doing. STU Crew will still meet on Wednesdays from 6:30-8:00pm. God has already been doing some really incredible things in our group, and we are so expectant for what He will continue to do as we transition with the rest of the church!
Meet the Hatcher Family!
Josh, Racheal, Hallie (10), and James (8). They are an Air Force family assigned to Eglin AFB, where Josh works with the 33rd AMXS. Racheal is a social worker who serves the special tactics unit on Hurlburt Field. Josh and Racheal met in high school and have been married for 13 years. Josh’s first assignment was in their home state of North Carolina. From there, they have been stationed in Texas, Maryland, and now Florida. They jumped into First Step after their first service at Manna and recently completed Next Step. As a family, they’re excited to explore more SERVE opportunities and see where their gifts lead them within the church.
Meet the Jose Family!
Kristen and Alvin are new to the Niceville area and fairly new to Manna. They are Indian Americans that just got married last year and are in the area for work. They are looking forward to meeting and serving more in this wonderful community!
This month we get to celebrate with Heart of the Bride and their partners in Haiti. We love seeing generational change happen and this season we were able to see three boys, who started in poor families that struggled to find even one meal a day, graduate from trade school with degrees in electrical work. Now they can better not only their own family situation, but the whole community. Even more exciting, thanks to our partners, they were faithfully discipled through their years at the high school, and trade school. Now they have accepted Christ and are serving in their local church!
Not only do we get to celebrate the life transformation of these three amazing young men, we also get to celebrate the first female graduate of the school. The program in Haiti was originally opened as a boys school; over the years girls have begun to enroll. Kerlancia is one of six children in her family and she first enrolled in the fourth grade. With many years of hard work behind her, we are so excited to celebrate her achievement as a high school graduate and cheer her on as she aspires to become a lab technician.
