Thanks to Remington's!

Faced with a difficult decision to move International Day inside this year due to potential rain, the leadership team decided to move forward and avoid missing the chance to welcome international students by moving the event indoors to Remington's in Springfield, Mo. 

We cannot express enough gratitude to Geoff Steele and his crew for opening up the building on such short notice and displaying the heart and soul of Remington's in fostering an environment that promotes relational evangelism. "We don't have scripture stenciled on the wall, or tracts in the lobby.  We believe Jesus clearly modeled a servant existence, and if our mission is to be like Him, we MUST serve," said Geoff Steele, Venue Manager at Remington's. 

Geoff and his wife, Joy Bilyeu-Steele, together with their son Cameron (Assistant Venue Manager) and a large pool of what they call 'Essential Personnel' (volunteers) worked hard to prepare the building so that our International Day team could come in and make the building their own for this event. Not only does doing this have a huge impact on the local community, but for this specific event, a huge impact on people around the world. 

"We consider it a privilege, impacting students from across the globe, particularly as they first come to Springfield, was a tremendous privilege.  We also recognize all organizations and ministries are not created equal - some operate at higher levels of integrity than others.  The School to the Nations staff is well known to Cameron and I - and we knew it would work if given the chance." -Geoff Steele   

What an amazing group of people, dedicated to using the resources given to them, to make such a large impact on such a diverse group of organizations that utilize Remington's. Just a week before International Day they had hosted hundreds of local leaders in the Global Leadership Summit, a web conference hosted by Willow Creek out of Chicago. In less than a month they will host a huge consignment sale, Just Between Friends,  at which hundreds of local families shop and sell twice a year.

All this to say, at the heart of Remington's, is a desire to "provide a place for community organizations to  reach a greater level of effectiveness, profitability, and excellence," or in our case a DRY place to host hundreds of international students, and welcome them into our community.

Thank you Geoff, Joy, Cameron, and the rest of the crew for your incredible hearts to partner with us in welcoming and loving students from around the world, and in doing so, carrying out God's commission to "go into all the world..." (Matt. 28:19) 

Remington's is a ministry out of Ridgecrest Baptist Church. The church acquired the property in 2004.

For more information visit their website: www.remingtons.tv