Update on the House :)

Good Morning!


We have an exciting update.  Last night we received our 1st offer from a couple who would like to rent our home for 24 months with the option to buy!  The application will be processed today and we should hear from our realtor later today about whether we should seriously consider the offer.  Also, we received another phone call from a realtor who would like to come by tonight with an interested client.  God is faithful and we couldn't be more excited about His provision in this area, especially before we leave for NJ! 


Please pray that God will give us wisdom in this process as to whether we should rent our home or continue to wait for a buyer.  Once we have more details I will write an update!


Thankful for all of you amazing prayer warriors!

Jehovah-Jireh - "The Lord will provide"

Hebrews 11:17-19 "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from the dead."  

The story of God testing Abraham's faith recored in Genesis 22:1 -19 is extremely powerful! It is a clear picture of the provision of our God, the power of God, and love of our God.  It also reveals our humanness compared to God's divine nature.  

I have always found it interesting that Isaac is repeatedly referred to as Abraham's "one and only son."  (Gen. 22:2, 12,16, Heb. 11:17).  It's interesting he is described this way b/c we know Abraham had another son, Ishmael.  Now Ishmael was not the Son who God had chosen to establish his covenant with, but still he was Abraham's son.  Hmmm... I am no theologian (and not in seminary like Mike).... so don't quote me on this one... but could it be that Isaac is referred to as his "one and only son" to describe not his literal familial standing but perhaps his standing in the heart of his father?  Issac was not Abraham's only son but he was the only son God chose as the fulfillment of his promise to Abraham, and a sign of God's provision & power to do the impossible. In that sense, he was the one and only son who captured his father's deepest affections in this way.  "It's through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."  He was, like all children are to their parents,  treasured and cherished.   

The Bible tells us that Abraham is a man of great faith.  Romans 4:3 tells us "Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Hebrews 11:8 tells us, "by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going."  And, Hebrews 11:17 "By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Issac as a sacrifice, his one and only son."   Abraham he believed God.  He believed God's promises.  He trusted God would keep His promises.  When God said to sacrifice Isaac he believed that God would even raise him from the grave just to keep his promise!  He recognized that God could do the impossible for his son was the proof of God's power!  

So now the question many of us may want to ask: so why would God test Abraham then?  

We already see that he believes the Lord will provide: 

Genesis 22:5 "He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.  We will worship and then we will come back to you."  

Genesis 22:8 "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering,my son."  

Let's see what Genesis 22:12 says, "Do not lay a hand on the boy, "he said.  "Do not do anything to him.  Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."  God was testing Abraham to see his genuine fear of him. His undivided love for him. His reverence for Him.  His obedience to Him.  I believe one of the reasons it is significant  that we notice that Isaac is called Abraham's "one & only son" is because it shows us the place he held in Abraham's heart.  Maybe at times Isaac even held 1st place in Abraham's heart. 

 Through these passages in scripture we see that God is making clear to Abraham that He, Jehovah-Jireh ("the one who provides") needed to be the one who received his deepest affections and attention.  

I can't help but begin to sing Chris Tomlin's "Made to worship" in my mind.  "You and I were made to worship..." This is true! God created us to worship him, and as I have experienced and many of us have experienced, if we are not worshiping God we are likely worshiping something else - for we were made to worship.  During this time for Mike and I we have learned many lessons and have been increasingly stretched in our faith and reliance on the Lord and although at times it can be hard it has been a beautiful time of seeing God's sanctifying us to be more like him and teaching us to place our joy in Him and not our circumstances.  Like Abraham, we are too are called to place, where we know God has led and will continue to lead, and we are excited to go and obey, even though we cannot yet see the end result of what the Lord is preparing.  Man, we feel blessed to be called and to be living out the concepts taught in these passages in a new way than we have in the past :)

In light of this we wanted to share a HUGE praise with all of you! As of today, we found out that God has provided 65-70% of our monthly goal for support raising and continues to far exceed our goal for start-up and seed money for the actual church plant!!!! We are blown away by God's provision and greatly humbled, not only by His provision, but by your constant prayers and partnership with us in this journey North.  We see Acts 2 coming to life in our fellowship and interactions with all of you and we feel blessed to be a part of it! We thank God constantly for you and we're overjoyed to share this news with you that it may encourage each of you as you too trust in our God who ALWAYS provides!

Continued Prayer Requests - 

*God's provision over the remainder of our support raising for our monthly goal & whatever He would like to provide for continued seed money to start the church plant

*For a buyer for our home before we leave on Sept. 18th 

* For continued reliance on the Lord and quality time with him

*Prayers for the transition ahead

*For those in NJ we will be meeting in the coming months, for our interactions with those in NJ to show the great love of Jesus/ For us to boldly proclaim the gospel 

Total Dependence

Psalm 22:9 "Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast."

Reading this verse I can't help but think/realize that we were MADE to trust in God.  We did not come into the world with the ability to protect our own lives, to provide food for ourselves, etc.  Yet the Lord knew what we needed and provided it.  He provided nourishment, protection, the love of parents.  God has been providing all we need from the beginning of our lives.  I find significance in knowing that God as Creator could have just created us one-by-one without having to be born, being adults perhaps without starting life with such dependence in every way. However, this is the way he chose to create us - in need of someone else to provide all we need.  And indeed HE is the sole provider - the one who provided parents, milk from our mothers, health in the womb.  When I stop to think about this I am encouraged.  God knows we need our home to sell.  He knows we need finances to be able to live in NJ to begin a church there.  He knows I need a job for student teaching and to help us financially as we start off.  He knows we need friends and fellowship.  He knows. He knows. He knows.  

I know many of you are also in seasons of life in which you need to trust the Lord for his provision as well.  Maybe you are in need of comfort, love, fellowship, a miracle in your marriage/family, financial provision, wellness, healing, etc.  Whatever it is let us all take comfort in the reality that we have a God who knows our needs and desires us to trust in Him. 

The Bible tells us Psalm 62:8 "Trust in God at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge."  

Refuge is defined as "protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship, a place providing protection or shelter, a source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble." (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/refuge) 

How amazing that God is our refuge! 

Recently, at a Rock staff meeting Dale Sutherland shared verses he found when doing a word study on the word "blessed." He shared that the word "blessed" can be used interchangeably with the word "happy."  

Read this truth from scripture:

Jeremiah 17:7 "But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him."

Now read it this way: "But [happy] is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him."

We are emotional people, we DO desire to be happy. Scripture says those who trust in the Lord and put their confidence in him will be happy.  And from our experiences I am sure we can all say this is true.  I know for me I am at peace and feel most happy when I am not trusting in myself but God and the promises and wisdom of scripture.  

Praises:

* Mike had a safe trip home from Louisville - thank you for your prayers!

* I made it to NJ safely  with peace in my heart from many prayers for me as anxiety had overwhelmed me at the start of my drive - thank you again prayer warriors!

* People have still been coming to view our home 

Prayer Requests:

*A buyer for our home this month

*Pray for me as I make face-to-face visits to schools I would like to teach at today  - pray for interviews and an English teaching position 

*Pray for Mike & the Rock students & volunteers as they are in the DR sharing the gospel and serving the poor

*Pray for continued provision - strength, endurance, joy, patience, financial, etc. 

Thank you prayer warriors! Thanking God for all of you!

Prayer Requests

This season of preparation has been teaching us lessons in having great faith and trust in the Lord for all we need - wisdom, strength, peace, joy, rest, hope, a buyer for our home, a job for me, financial provision.  I was recently talking to a close friend who asked me about our preparations for moving to NJ.  She asked about our home selling and my job situation, and preceded to say, "What happens if you don't sell your house or a get a job?" This is a realistic, honest question, and one for which I had a simple response - great faith and high expectations that God will provide for all of our needs.  God has always provided for Mike and I, why doubt him now?

During seasons of transition and change we have 2 choices:

1) Trust in ourselves, or
2) Trust in our all-powerful God

Scripture speaks of the outcome of both options.  Proverbs 11:28 says "Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf." Proverbs 28:26 says "Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe."  When we sow self-reliance we reap instability and act foolishly.  However, scripture says that those who trust in God instead of trusting in "the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods" (in other words - those who put their trust in people and things other than God) are "blessed" (Psalm 40:4). Scripture also says that the LORD never forsakes those who trust in him - Psalm 9:10.  One of the definitions of forsake I found defined "forsake" as "to leave someone who needs or counts on you" (www.freedictionary.com/forsake).  God promises not to leave or abandon us when we are counting on him.

Therefore, although we do not have a buyer for our home yet, and though I still have no teaching job waiting for me in NJ, and even though there is still much uncertainty ahead in the details of where we will live, and the exact town in which we will plant, and how quickly God will grow his church - it is better for us to trust in the Lord who will never forsake us and promises us blessing, than to trust in ourselves and fall.

As we continue on in ministry at MBC and as we prepare for our move in about 4/5 weeks for me and 8 weeks for Mike, we ask that you pray for the following:

* Continued trust in the Lord and reliance on Him, not ourselves
* Safety for Mike as he travels home from seminary this Friday and safety for both of us as we will be traveling in the next couple of weeks - me, to NJ for a wedding and job searching/ Mike in the DR
* A buyer for our home by August - the price was lowered today
* A teaching position for me that will allow me to complete my student teaching requirement this spring so that I can graduate with my Master's degree in the spring, and that will allow me to have time to use my spiritual gifts alongside Mike in ministry
* Protection from evil and spiritual warfare
* Increasing love for Christ and those who do not yet know Christ here and in Northern NJ

Thank you prayer warriors! We are always thanking God for you!

Galatians 3:9 "So those who rely on faith are blessed..."

The Call

     As I visited the Northeast with my wife for the past few years, my heart grew increasingly burdened for our family and friends living in the Northeast.  Many friends we attended college with from the Northeast struggled to find true gospel-centered churches and fellowship with other devoted followers of Christ after graduation.  In January of 2010, I started to become restless as I thought about the need for gospel-centered missional churches in the Northeast.  This was the time Kristin and I began to pray about our future and God's desire for us whether it be remaining in Northern Virginia or going to the Northeast.
     Fast forward to June 2010. I was preaching at our annual Beach Week Summer Camp for our High School ministry.  The theme of the camp was "Upside Down" and we had been teaching students about the radical cost of following Jesus and how living for Christ is contrary to the message of the world but more satisfying than anything else.  One evening, I was preaching out of Luke 9:57-62 about how there is no such thing as a "but first" mentality when we say we are committed to following Jesus.  In Luke 9, there is a man who tells Jesus he desires to follow him, but then says "but first let me bury my father." In the context of the passage what this man meant by saying "but first let me bury my father" is essentially, "Lord I want to follow you but first let me wait a year to collect my father's inheritance, at which point he will be buried, and then I will come follow you."  Jesus doesn't desire us to say I will follow you as long as I have... Jesus was communicating that he is worthy of us following him immediately, right now!  As I encouraged and challenged the students to follow Jesus now, knowing He is worthy, I felt an overwhelming sense of conviction.  I am always preaching to myself as I share God's word with others, however, that night I found it hard to even finish my sermon.  It was in those moments, that my mind was filled with thoughts from the Lord, for one of the few times in my life I clearly heard the Lord say to me, "Mike you are not doing what you are teaching all these students to do. You are saying "but first." But first, let me finish seminary, but first let Kristin finish graduate school, but first let us earn more equity on our home, etc., etc., etc." Somehow I was able to finish my message.  Dazed and convicted I went to find my wife.  When I found her I told her we needed to talk and she turned to me and said, "I know, we have to go." What?! Goosebumps filled my arms as my wife began to share with me that as I spoke she also felt the Lord saying we needed to follow him wherever he would leave and stop saying, "but first."
     The day after we returned from camp I knew we had to do something, call someone, look up churches in the NE online.  I asked my wife who reminded me that our friend Justin Pearson had a buddy from college who had planted a church in New Brunswick, NJ (near Rutgers University). I looked up his church, Jacob's Well, online, found his contact information, and told my wife I was going to email him.  This is the point at which Kristin looked at me and said, "If you're serious about this you should call him." What a godly wife I have.  So, I called.  I left a scatter-brain voicemail about how my wife and I felt the Lord possibly calling us to the Northeast and how I would like to talk with him if he had time.  My wife and I went for a run and when we returned I had a voicemail from him expressing great excitement in hearing our possible call to the North. The next morning at 5am, Kristin and I were in our car headed up to NJ to meet with Reid in his living room.
     After meeting with Reid, we knew two things. One, I knew my desire was not to parachute plant a church.  Two, we knew we needed to continue to pursue the Lord's call to the Northeast.  At this point we began to pray specific prayers:

1. God make clear to us the place you want us to go
2. God confirm your call for us to go
3. Lead us to a church that has a heart to see gospel-centered churches in the Northeast
4. Lead us to a church we could be connected to that would provide training and resources for us to plant a church

     Reid has mentioned in our time together that there was one other church with Pastors who had a heart to plant churches in the NE he had been connecting with monthly, called Emergence.  A few weeks after our meeting with Reid, Kristin met her friend Sheryl for breakfast.  As we talked to Sheryl she shared with us about an incredible church she was a part of.  When I asked her the name she said it was called "Emergence." Lightbulb. Kristin and I began to share with Sheryl our story thus far and how we felt God was calling us to the NE.  She invited us to church that Sunday.  When Sunday morning came I woke up early and told Kristin I was going to drive 45 min. north of where her dad lives to visit Emergence.  I went to the church and after the service met Ryan, the lead Pastor.  I shared with him the burden on my heart for people in the Northeast and he turned and said to me, "I have been praying since January for God to bring us young men who have a heart for church-planting in the NE area." He said he didn't know if that it meant I was the guy, but we should continue the conversation.
     As we continued to talk it became clear that Emergence was the church God was calling us to partner with to plant a church in NE New Jersey.

     So here we are preparing to follow God's call to take the gospel North, and we couldn't be more honored and excited to have been called for such a time as this to do God's work.

Taking the Gospel North

Taking the Gospel North, is a blog we created to stay connected to all of you!  Thank you for your friendship, your prayers, and your support as we prepare to move to Northern New Jersey in a few short months to follow God's call on our lives to plant a gospel-centered church and live missionally in the Northeast for the glory of God! We look forward to sharing prayer requests, updates on our family, stories about what God is teaching us as we seek Him through this experience, and stories about all the amazing things we expect Him to do in the lives of those we meet in Northeast New Jersey.  Our hope is to update this blog on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to share our hearts with you.


As we prepare to walk in obedience and follow God's call North, we encourage you also to prayerfully consider Jesus' calling on your life as a follower of Christ.


Let these words in Luke 10:2 & Acts 20:24 encourage and challenge you.


Luke 10:2 "He told them, "The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."


Acts 20:24 "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace.


"Attempt great things for God, expect great things from God" - William Carey


With love,


Mike & Kristin