We've Arrived!

We've arrived! After a long week of packing and saying goodbye's it's hard to believe that we are in the place where our new journey begins.  A huge thank you to all of you who helped us move our belongings out Friday.  As we drove up Saturday morning I (Mike) felt as though I was in the cockpit of a plane with all of the stuff surrounding me in my car.  Surreal to actually believe what had been prayed and talked about for so long was actually coming true.  By God's grace we were able to get ourselves completely moved into the upstairs bedroom of Kristin's Dad's house for the temporary, yet grateful provision from the Lord while we search for a more permanent home.

I began my internship at Emergence Church yesterday and Kristin is gearing up for substitute teaching, brainstorming ways to get her tutoring business going, and has been an incredible help mate to me and loving me so wonderfully through this process. I must admit that I did not think the transition up here would be as challenging as it has been internally, but God is so faithful.  I guess nothing can really prepare you for uprooting your life and moving to a new area and meeting new people and jumping into a new ministry.  I am beyond excited to worship Jesus this Sunday at Emergence as Ryan, the Lead Pastor, has been walking through their vision series to gear up the congregation for the future of church planting in the Northeast. He has also asked me to share our story from the stage next weekend October 2! What a privilege.  I began an Intensive Discipleship group that meets every other week with 12 other godly men to grow in our theology, love for Jesus and His mission, and as men of God, and Lord willing Kristin will begin another I.D. group with some of the women in the next couple of weeks.  

Monday I will be traveling with some of the men up to Troy, NY for an Acts29 conference for the day. There is much to think about with the future wide open and much uncertainty, but we are taking it one day at a time.  We are beyond blessed by God's faithful provisions for us in every way throughout this process.  Please pray that God would give us rich new friendships, courage, peace, and clear direction from Him as we begin to move forward and pray about where specifically in the Northeast He desires us to be used for the Kingdom.  A verse that has been a treasure for us is Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you or forsake you." We miss you all very much, but are excited for this new season of life.  Enjoy the riches of the gospel today!

Renting, Moving, & See you laters...

Thank you for your prayers! We are officially renting our home.  The information that was of concern with our applicant's application has been researched and explained and we are confident that this applicant, our new tenant, is God's best to abide in our home.  Our tenant has signed the lease and we will be signing Monday.  The blessing is that our tenant is signing a 24 month lease.  By the time the lease is over we will put our house on the market to sell in hopes that it will sell quickly at that time and then our hands will officially be clean of the responsibility.  But enough of the future, for now we are thanking God for His provision, especially since our tenant will move in right after we leave.  (:

In other news, the Lord has continued to provide for us financially, we are not yet at our monthly goal but are confident God will meet our need in His perfect time.  As for our start-up goal for the future church plant, God continues to far exceed our hopes.  We know God has us going North for such a time as this and we are humbled and grateful to see Him providing all we need to go North and be His missionaries there.  We also can't express enough how thankful we are for your prayers and support.  It means so much to us to be leaving VA/MBC to do God's mission with so many people we love sharing this mission with us! We often think about the future when God builds this church plant and we are able to have all of you come to visit to see how God has used your prayers and support to impact the lives of those in Northern NJ for Christ.  Even sitting here thinking about it I cannot stop smiling!

Our call to NJ is becoming reality quickly.  Tomorrow will be our last Sunday at the Rock.  It will be a bittersweet time for us.  It will be difficult to say goodbye to so many students whom we have watched come to saving faith and mature in their relationships with Jesus over the past 4 years.  It will be difficult to wrap our minds around not being with our Rock church family each week, as spending time with these students has been the highlight of our weeks.  However, we are joyful even in our sadness of knowing we will no longer be walking daily/weekly with these students at the Rock, because we know God is going to continue to grow the Rock Student Ministries at MBC Loudoun, and accomplish His plans and purposes.  We also could not be more thankful for Kyle & Morgan Cox.  They have greatly blessed our lives and we know God is and will continue to use their love for Christ and their love for students for His glory.  We look forward to praying for these students and leaders from a far and coming back to visit to hear of and see all God is doing.  In my devotions this week I read a verse from 2 Corinthians 10 that greatly encouraged my heart as I thought about leaving our church family/friends and specifically our students:

 2 Corinthians 10:15b-16 "Our hope is that as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in regions beyond you."

This is our prayer for our students and for all of you.  May God's call on our lives and your excitement for us also encourage you to embrace the mission you have in the season and place God has you right now.  And as your faith continues to grow and our faith continues to grow, may we reach regions beyond us with the gospel, the good news, of our Savior and King Jesus Christ.

We would love your prayers for the next week and month ahead over the following: 

• Pray for Mike as he preaches his last sermon at the Rock tomorrow - that God will encourage the hearts of these students and that God will comfort Mike as it will be hard knowing this is his last sermon to share with these students we love so dearly. 
• Pray that God will comfort us and our students as we all embrace the reality of this transition.  
• Pray for the Rock, Kyle & Morgan, Donnie, and all of our leaders as they continue to serve God in the Rock.  Pray for wisdom for them, the filling up of the Holy Spirit, and balance as they adjust to new changes in the ministry. 
• Pray that we will accomplish all we need to in this next week to prepare for our move this Friday. 
• Pray for safe travels to NJ Saturday.
• Pray for God to protect and strengthen our marriage through this transition & to use us to display his love and grace to Kristin's family and those we will meet at Emergence.
• Pray for God's provision of deep biblical community and close friends in NJ. 
• Pray for God's provision financially - that our monthly goal will be met, that our health insurance will be taken care of. 
• Pray for God's provision of a home to rent in NJ. We will be living with Kristin's family for a month or 2 as we transition and then we will be looking for a home to rent.  
• Pray for God to give us boldness as we share the gospel through our lives and words with all those God places in our path. 

Thank you for all of your prayers! We will continue to keep you updated on our transition and look forward to sharing with you all God does in us and through us at the start of this mission North!

Love you all!

New House Update

In our last update we shared that we had a couple interested in renting our home.  Their application never came through, however, we ended up with 2 offers to rent our home shortly after.  As of right now, there is one applicant we think would be best, however, found out this morning that there is a concern regarding some information received as our Realtor processed her application.  It is not a deal breaker yet, we are still doing some research, but things have become more unsettled than we had thought.  We were ready to choose this applicant, however, are now praying for God's wisdom and possibly another option in the next 9 days to rent/buy before we move.  If you could pray along with us for God's provision in this area we greatly appreciate it! We know that God indeed will provide, but we are praying specifically that this provision will come quickly as it would be a blessing to have our hands free of our home before we move and begin the transition process.  Thank you for all of your support and prayers for us! You are a blessing to have in this process as we follow God's call!

Psalm 111:7 "The works of His hands are faithful and just; all His precepts are trustworthy."

Psalm 112:7 "They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD."

Thanking God for you,

Mike & Kristin