Update

I can't believe it's 2013. We are so excited to see the Lord birth this new local church for His glory this year! We are hard at work looking for a location to gather in. Please continue to pray with us toward this end. It is very difficult in Northern New Jersey compared to most other places in the United States due to legislation against religious organizations gathering in the public school system. We are eager and have some godly men and women helping us in this part of the process. I took a few weeks to write up the doctrine and theology of our church which made this entire process that much more real. I remember thinking as I was writing, "this is really happening, we are really going to birth a local church in the northeast, these core doctrines and beliefs are real things that will steer the future of this church by the grace of God." Wow. Pray with us.  We will be having prayer and interest gatherings with those who feel called to this work over the next few months. Our hope is to begin gathering in the spring to get used to the space, unify us as the body, work out kinks and details, and then move to every week full throttle beginning in the Fall. So excited!

I just returned from another encouraging week at Seminary. I really enjoy my week intensive classes on campus. Praying God gives me the ability to finish my Masters in the next 2 years. Kristin is doing great. She is finding the energy to continue teaching at HCA as well as serving and supporting me and carrying our child. We praise God for the health of the pregnancy thus far. We cannot wait to welcome this precious child into our lives in May. 

As I was reading the book of Romans I was humbled by chapter 3 once again as Paul gives us a doctrine of salvation. What hit me was verse 26 that says "so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Only because of Christ, can God preserve His holiness and saves us. Awesome.

Pray with us

Continually humbled and thankful that God is steadily bringing together a strong, unified, God-centered group of men and women to see His glory displayed and known in the Paramus surrounding area who believe God has called them to this work.  We praise God for that.  The past few weeks have been filled with phone calls, conversations, and visits to possible gathering locations. Will you please pray with us and for us that God would lead us clearly, strongly, and boldly to the place He desires to see His church proclaim, herald, and live out the gospel?

"To him be glory forever. Amen." Romans 11:36

Guess what?

We have an exciting announcement! 

Baby Reed will be here May 2013! 

We are so thankful for this gift from the Lord. Thank you for all of your prayers and continued prayers through the next several months as we are now preparing for two births in the new year, the church plant and a baby. Kristin is 15 weeks and has now gotten over the mountain of first trimester challenges. We are over the moon. Baby Reed looks healthy and we will be finding out if God is blessing us with a boy or a girl in January. We will keep you posted with updates and prayer requests. Thank you for sharing in the joy of everything that has made this journey north such an exciting adventure. To God be the glory!

Exciting Times

We have been aggressively looking at commercial real estate and public schools in the Paramus area for potential places to gather as His church. The joy is knowing that our sovereign King already has the space picked out, we just need to find it. A spiritual treasure hunt you might say. Please pray for direction and wisdom as we search for the right place to gather, that God would open a door clearly and powerfully.

He has continued to blow our minds with His kindness. It feels as though every week I could share a story of the awesome work of our great God in this journey. Just this past week I was humbled by the ways He is bringing people together from around the northeast, all with a unity of mind to see a strong evangelical church in Paramus NJ. One quick story to illustrate. I was connected recently to a man by the supernatural work of God who has had a vision to see a strong gospel centered church in Paramus NJ specifically. He and his wife have been praying for 5 years to see this happen. However, I didn't realize the connections this man had to other major organizations and church networks in the northeast. The other day I was copied on an email that he had written to the head of the North American Missions Board (NAMB) in the northeast. In his email he wrote:

"The young man I recently had lunch with that I spoke with you about by telephone is Mike Reed. Mike is very interested in planting a church in the Paramus area, which - as you and I have discussed is where I feel God is leading my wife and I to work with a plant...there is much interest among several evangelical churches outside of the Paramus area in a Paramus church plant, and we may well be able to work together for the glory of God.  Please reach out to Mike and determine whether he has interest in discussing how we can work together in ministry. I am willing to meet with you and Mike and anyone else to see where this can go."

Incredible. I still can't fathom the work of our God! He is so kind, gracious, and utterly trustworthy. Looking back at days of uncertainty, times of pain in the reality of obedience, and moments of doubt in the decision we made to move north for the sake of the gospel, the Lord give me a humbling reminder of who has called me in the first place. A mighty King. The everlasting One. To see God, gripping people from organizations and places of fruitful work for the Kingdom, and connecting them with our vision and dream is flooring. Exciting times.

"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27

God and Sandy

It has been quite the past 2 weeks. By God's grace Kristin and I weathered the storm and aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It's been a bit crazy here to say the least, but God has been so good to us and has provided ministry opportunities. We just finished loading up a truck at Emergence to take warm clothes and food down to shore points where Sandy hit hard. While it is very hard to see so many people without homes and in the cold during these weeks, it has been a joy to see the hands and feet of Jesus on display.

The other night I came downstairs and Kristin encouraged me to read Job chapters 38-42. It deeply encouraged me.  Take some time and read through them when you have time. Those chapters are always good food for my soul when I see disasters like this. Through reading there were 5 things the Lord reminded me of in times like this that I would love to encourage you with as well.

1. This disaster caused by Hurricane Sandy is not unusual.  Suffering, tragedy and natural disasters are not unusual.  They have been happening ever since sin entered the world.  We cannot be naive to suffering or act like it doesn't happen because it will happen in this world which is fallen and corrupted by sin. Jesus said himself in John 16:33 "in this world you will have tribulation, but I have overcome the world."

2. This disaster caused by Hurricane Sandy does not mean God is out of total control of all things.  The bible is clear that God is in full control of everything in the universe from the smallest bird to the largest storm.  Matthew 8:27 "even the winds and the seas obey him." Matthew 10:29 "are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father." Proverbs 16:33 "The lot is cast into the lap but its every decision is from the Lord." Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he wills." Lamentations 3:37 "Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?"

3. This disaster caused by Hurricane Sandy does not mean God is evil, unjust or unloving.  Psalm 103:8 "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love." Psalm 25:8 "Good and upright is the Lord." 1 John 4:8 "God is love." When Abraham was pleading with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, he also said "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is right? (Genesis 18:25)." Moses said in Deuteronomy 32:4 "His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he." And when God does things that seem evil to us, the Bible teaches us to speak to man like this, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20)." God is not evil, even when he allows that evil to come to pass.  There are good, holy and just purposes in all he does. For those who love Him he "works all things together for good" Romans 8:28.

4. Tragedies, hardships, trials and natural disasters will be a part of this life because of sin brought into the world through our first parents Adam and Eve.

5. During a time where there are many questions and seemingly not a whole lot of answers, God does have one answer that should ring loud and clear. God's deepest answer to suffering and disaster in this world is the suffering and death of his Son Jesus Christ who entered into our fallen world of sin and misery and death taking on all the sin and all of the tragedy upon himself. He offers us the cure for it all - forgiveness of sin, eternal joy and freedom from suffering and disaster in the age to come.  God's loudest answer to trials and tragedies and earthquakes and hurricanes that exist in this fallen world is JESUS CHRIST.

Please pray for the many people who were affected by Hurricane Sandy, for churches in the northeast and for us as we talk to neighbors, family and friends, that they would see Jesus. A real, living savior who identifies and shares with us in our suffering, and offers true hope in the midst of disaster.

Are You Kidding?

Next week we will begin gathering with couples and families who have been led by the Spirit to join in the work He's calling us to do in Paramus. What an exciting time this is! We will begin meeting every other Thursday at our home to begin the process of seeing God build His local church.  It is a surreal feeling to be at this point in the journey where we have finished our year residency at Emergence and are now looking ahead at planting in the next 6 months to a year!

Two incredible stories I must share at how God in his perfect providence organizes and plans for His purposes to be accomplished (yet should I be surprised when it's from the hand of the sovereign King of the universe?) Now, I could write pages upon pages sharing unbelievable God-stories, ways he is bringing people together, stirring in hearts, and transforming the area of Paramus for His glory before we have even officially "arrived" to launch the church plant. However, these 2 recent stories have reminded me and testified to the truth that God is in the business of building His church as He promised and will do that on His own.

A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking at Montclair State University. I spoke from Philippians chapter 3, encouraging and challenging students to spend their life with the one great aim of knowing Jesus. When I finished, I hung around after talking to a good number of them about their life, their story, some of them their conversion, and how the Lord brought Kristin and I to the northeast.  One girl in particular came over, we began to dialogue, and after she gave some very encouraging words, she went on and on about how her family drives almost an hour to attend a church south of East Rutherford, and how they have been praying for over 2 years that God would birth a God-centered, passionate church where she lives.  She then told me how much she treasured God's speaking through me that evening, and that she would love to know where we planned on planting the church.  Before I could answer her she said, "I live in a town called...(yep you guessed it) Paramus, will it be anywhere close to there?" What a gift! This 20 year old girl had been praying for over 2 years with her family that God would revive the very town He has called us to go to, what a privilege! She was beside herself when I continued to tell her of our plans to see God birth a local church in that very place. The passion and excitement she exuded fueled in me a passion for why we are here. To see God glorified through the making of many disciples through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The second story just happened this past Sunday night, after I finished preaching at Emergence continuing our walk through the book of 1 Corinthians. The text we were at was 1 Corinthians 9:19-27 where I taught on Paul's aim to forsake his liberties and freedoms for the sake of love to win as many as possible to Jesus. We saw how love limited Paul's liberty, and what were once legal restraints in his life became love restraints.  The love that drove Him to see men and women reconciled to God was staggering. After the sermon I was standing off to the left of the stage and a man approached me, 62 years old, with tears in his eyes. He went on to share with me how he retired just two days prior on Friday, owned a volvo dealership for over 40 years in bergen county new jersey (where Paramus is located), stumbled into Emergence as he was looking for a church that preached the word, planned on buying a retirement home and enjoying the remainder of his life. With tear-filled eyes he said to me "Mike, I was so convicted, compelled, and inspired by God's Word through you, that I don't want to waste the remainder of my life. I don't want to buy a retirement home. I don't want to coast through the finish line. I don't want to settle for temporary worldly pleasures.  I want to exhaust myself for the kingdom to see as many souls as possible won for eternity in the town of Paramus with you where I've grown up and spent most of my life."

God is so meticulously sovereign, that before the foundation of the world he planned for Bill to retire at the age of 62 on October 5, 2012, two days later wander into Emergence on Sunday October 7 to hear a sermon on 1 Corinthians 9, the exact text he needed to hear, from a pastor who had been convinced by God to leave Virginia and plant a church near his home town in Paramus NJ, be shaken by God to forsake his retirement dreams of picking up sea shells for the remainder of his life and die to his dreams and his own pursuits and redirect his joys, pleasures and loves for the sake of the glory of God in Paramus New Jersey!!!!

Are you kidding?