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

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!