God Stories

The past 2 weeks have been indescribable. Planting Church at Bergen has been one of the hardest things I've ever participated in, yet the rewards are out of this world. I had the privilege of speaking at Ramapo College 4 days before we launched on Easter Sunday. Ramapo is only half a mile down the road from the Double Tree Hotel where we gather. There was a student from Suffern, NY who was studying for a midterm and happened to be listening to me from a distance. After I was finished speaking I was talking to students and he asked if I had time to answer some of his questions. He said to me, "I appreciated all that talk about grace and unmerited favor. You really believe that?" We walked through the person of Jesus, His life, His death, and His resurrection, what it means to be a pastor and not a priest (in his sense of understanding), what baptism is and isn't, repentance and faith, and why the gospel of grace gives God all the glory and no room for our boasting as sinners. At the end of our conversation he asked me if I could leave him alone so that he could repent of his sin and trust in Christ. WHAT!?!?!?! Easter Sunday he showed up for the opening service. My eyes filled with tears as I saw him after our gathering. He told me that he had a friend drop him off at the hotel and his friend asked "what are you going to be doing here this morning at this hotel?" to which he replied, "going to a church service, you should join me sometime." 

I've had seekers emailing me with questions about the gospel, who Jesus is, and this new church. We had one young man trust Jesus by coming with one of his friends to our core group gatherings prior to the launch! He is now actively involved in CAB and is learning along side all of us what it means to know and follow Jesus. I've also had families who have been praying for a local church in this area that preaches the good news of Jesus Christ who are rejoicing at the birthing of this new gospel community.

God is at work. He alone deserves all glory, worship, and praise. Humbled.

In case you missed it, our website is www.churchatbergen.org.  

A New Local Church In The Northeast!

It's hard for me to write this post without tears in my eyes. There is now a new local church in the northeast proclaiming and heralding the good news of Jesus Christ. Church at Bergen held its first official gathering Easter Sunday and God moved in powerful ways. The room was filled with atheists, skeptics, visitors, and Christ followers.  I cannot put into words the gratitude to God for His faithfulness and provision thus far in this journey. Kristin and I left Sunday humbled, thankful, and in awe of our great God. With no words to describe the day, I figured pictures tell the best story. Enjoy.

 

 

Website Live!

It is hard to believe that we will be launching our first official gathering as Church at Bergen in less than 2 weeks! Please pray the Lord prepares the hearts of all of those who will attend, gives the leadership and team humility in their service, and that ultimately God would receive glory through this local church.

Other news, our website is live! Visit www.churchatbergen.org to get all the details.

We were also commissioned today at Emergence at all 4 of their services. It was a bittersweet time, yet deeply encouraging and motivating for the future work ahead.  Below is a picture of myself, Kristin, and our baby boy with the elders of Emergence.

26 days

It is surreal to think we are officially 26 days from launching Church at Bergen. Our God is so faithful. Witnessing the ways he has been uniting people from all over Bergen County NJ to be a part of this work is so humbling.

This coming weekend I have the privilege of preaching at Sojourn Church in Fairfax, VA pastored by Justin Pearson. If any of you virginia folk are in the area and your schedule allows, we would love to worship with you on Sunday at Sojourn. Thankful for an opportunity to be with another faith family so passionate about planting churches for God's glory.

Please pray with us during the next few weeks that the Lord would provide endurance, strength, perseverance, and humility to push through the busy weeks ahead preparing for our launch.  Also pray specifically for the marriages of the families involved with Church at Bergen as satan hates what God is doing and some of the marriages are experiences significant spiritual warfare.

"...praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel..." Ephesians 6:18-19

BIG NEWS

As I write this update, tears of joy, thankfulness, hope, and utter amazement at our great God fill my eyes. We have big news. We have found a space to gather and a date to launch!!! The name our church will be the Church at Bergen, and Lord willing we will be meeting at the Double Tree hotel in Mahwah NJ for our first gathering on Easter Sunday March 31!!! It is located 10 minutes north of Paramus NJ. I cannot believe this will be a reality in under 8 weeks.  Kristin and I are also deeply thankful for the many men, women, and families God has sovereignly brought together to join in this mission God has called us to.

We cannot express our thankfulness for all of you continue to support us through prayer, friendship, encouragement and financial support. This will be invaluable as we continue to serve Jesus and His church in the northeast.

I've been mulling over the past few days of Philippians 1:21 "To live is Christ, to die is gain." To live is Christ, not comfort. To live is Christ, not the lusts of our flesh. To live is Christ, not our obligations or desires. To live is Christ, not ourselves or our own pursuits. To live is Christ, not the idols our hearts long to worship outside of God. Join us in ever more dependent, intentional prayer to see Him do a great work through the Church at Bergen in northern New Jersey, Bergen County, and the northeast at large. We have work to do.

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.