Seeing God Work
28 Mar
I have been blown away by how God has been so faithful to take care of our family in so many unique ways.
We have watched God do some incredible things that only He gets credit for, and we can just stand by and applaud. I wish I could list them all out, but for now, many of them are tucked away in my journals, so that I’ll look back on them in difficult times to remember all that God has done.
When we moved to Rockland, back in November, we knew that God had given us a unique opportunity to become a part of a wonderful community here in New England. We have been so encouraged by the wonderful people that we’ve met and we’re excited to be “New Englanders by choice.” (Even if it is pretty cold up here.) Our dream is to live out our lives in New England showing people how much God loves them and wants a relationship with them through Jesus Christ. We have not necessarily laid out a formal plan for how that might happen, but have just been open to what God wants to do.
Well, in typical God-fashion, He has showed us one small “next step” after another. One of the first steps was the decision to become self-employed in web design. I opened my business, NearlyFreeLance.com, on January 1, and God has been so faithful to help me stay quite busy with it. We have also been extremely blessed by the generosity of NewSpring Church and individuals that love us who have made it possible for us to get our feet under us. I believe that God has given me a unique opportunity to pastor without asking a young church to pay my salary. The decision to become self-employed has opened up many doors to meet people and to help people with their own businesses.
Many of our other “next step” decisions are too boring to mention, but we’ve just tried to do the next thing without worrying too much about “down the road.”
One of my desires was to begin a brand new church out here, and honestly, I thought it would be quite a while before that would happen. But, once again, God has some other plan in mind.
It has become clear, and has been confirmed by my conversations with Sean, pastor at Grace Church in Stoughton, Mass., that we have a green light to begin crafting what this local church might look and feel like, and begin making preparations for this new church very soon! I can hardly stand my excitement! I’m crazy excited and completely energized by what I believe that God wants to do in this area and across New England.
When I say “very soon,” I mean it. I will be holding a meeting at my house on April 16th to tell whomever is interested about how this church will look and feel. Many people who live in our area who currently attend Grace Church will receive an invitation to come and see what’s going on. I’ll have the chance to give details and take questions and share my excitement of what I believe God is going to accomplish through this church. I believe we will be able to join the momentum that God has created throughout this area in helping people become disciples of Jesus.
There are some tentative dates that we have created, but all of them are completely flexible with what God wants to do. They may be totally off. It just helps me know what my next steps are.
For each Saturday evening in April, we will open our home up and will talk about the potential of this church. It’s going to be radically different than what many of us who grew up in church are used to, because my dream is to attempt to live out the concept that the “church” is actually the people who follow Jesus, and that wherever those people are is the church is. I’ll attempt to flesh that out more in these meetings. These meetings do not ask for any sort of commitment from those who attend.
The first weekend of May, we’re going to have another meeting at my house, but this time, it’s for those who have decided that they’d like to help us actually start this new church. This group of people will covenant together to be the church and we’ll begin working together weekly to pray, plan, and encourage each other in this new work. For the months of May and June, those who are members of Grace Church will continue attending Grace’s Sunday service.
In July and August, we’ll begin to meet on our own on Sunday, but probably not weekly. Maybe just once a month, depending on if we’re able to access a place that’s large enough to be a reasonable meeting space.
There is potential that we would begin meeting every weekend starting the 3rd week of September: September 18.
So, please pray for us as a church that we will truly live out our calling to help make disciples of Jesus Christ and that God does this in such a way that ONLY He gets any kind of credit or praise.
The last thing I want to do is force any kind of time constraints or schedules on God. He’s quite a bit bigger than that. However, I’m eager to see what the next steps are, and I’m completely convinced that God is about to do some even-more-amazing things!
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