Shalom Anglican

 Friends of Shalom, Last month Beth and I helped move our oldest son Sam into his first apartment. We brought him a futon we weren't using (he was sleeping on a camping mat) and took him to Ikea to help him get set up. The experience reminded me of church planting and where we are as a church plant. When you finally move out and get your first apartment it's easy to think because you have a bed, a table, perhaps a couch, that you basically have what you need. When you put the "big things" into your apartment it can feel like you're moved in. Until you realize you don't have a shower curtain, a broom, trash bags, a plunger, paper towels, etc.  Shalom Anglican has moved into our first apartment. The church is going and growing. We have most of the "big things." We have a place to meet, a priest, a team of leaders, a website, a bank account, a core group of committed folks, coffee pots (very important!), etc. So that feels great! Compared to how far we&

 Friends of Shalom, Through the years, I've had many friends who are teachers. And what they've all told me is that the first few years of teaching are the hardest part because you have to prepare ALL your lessons from scratch. Of course there's curriculum to pull from, but each lesson must be curated and put together. Once the new teacher has those lessons worked out and developed, the following years are much easier.  In many ways, the early years of a church plant are like that. Like a new teacher, a church planter has to develop many "lessons." We have to work on websites, discipleship plans, policies, statements around key practices/beliefs of the church, etc. And that's the work I've been doing over the last month and it will likely continue for some time. Of course this work only makes sense if you have a "class" to teach. I'm so thankful that we have one! Over the last few months I have consistently heard from our folks how much they

 Friends of Shalom, Just like life has many phases, so does church planting. Recently I was reflecting on this for Shalom as I believe we are heading into a new phase. Here's where we've been and what's next. Phase 1: Is anyone going to come? When we began at the end of October of 2023 this was the question we were asking. We wondered if this new church plant would even work. This was evident in the fact that we only reserved the church we were meeting in for 1-2 months. We started with Evening Prayer on Saturday night and began slowly seeing folks join with us and begin to explore Anglicanism and starting a new church in Kitsap. This phase lasted through the end of March. Phase 2: What will happen when we actually start the church? As we began Sunday morning services this past Easter followed by my ordination to the priesthood, this was our next question. It was interesting to see how some folks dropped out once we began Sunday morning and others joined us. Overall beginn

 Friends of Shalom, "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain." -Psalm 127:1 In the work of church planting we get to learn this lesson over and over. There are many moments where it's easy to wonder, "Is this going to work? Will people come?" God often brings me to the edge of my faith and wondering. And then... He works! He shows me that He is building Shalom Anglican. Here are some ways I've seen him build his house over the last month. Shalom Update A local business owner saw our sign and contacted me. We had a great meeting over coffee and a few weeks later he showed up on Sunday morning. Later I learned that it had been years since he's been to church. He's excited to keep coming!  We were asked by the school we rent from if we were able to clean up the grounds around the building. I put it before our church and not only did we have 10+ volunteers but one even volunteered to lead the project! It's encouraging to se

 Friends of Shalom, I’m sorry that it’s been 2 months since my last newsletter. From here on out I hope to send at least one a month.  Personal Update Beth and I have had one of the richest seasons of our life. All our kids have had major life transitions. Some of these I’ve mentioned before. Miriam gave birth to our first granddaughter a few days before Easter. Sam graduated from George Fox as a mechanical engineer and got his first “real” job down in Oregon. Ellie got married to a wonderful man who loves Jesus and she is now Mrs. Clark. And Asher graduated from Bremerton High School and is preparing to begin a physical therapy assistant program at Olympic College in the fall! On top of that, my parents came for a 2 week visit as my dad hadn’t been able to travel out here since before COVID. We feel like we’ve been riding a wave of blessings! Shalom Update Since we began Shalom, I’ve often said to Beth after our weekly gathering, “Well, I guess we’ll keep doing this because people kee

 Friends of Shalom, There's so much to give thanks for! April 2024 will go down as one of the sweetest months of my life.  As most of you know I was ordained to the priesthood on Saturday April 13th! It was a joyous occasion with many of our friends from around Kitsap, several visiting priests, family, and of course our new Bishop Jake Worley.  My ordination was just a few weeks following our official Sunday morning launch. Since then we've seen some new folks joining with us and have been enjoying worship with a full liturgy of the word and the table. I can truly say for the first time it feels like we're gaining some momentum even though we are still small. Things are happening!  We started a men's group and a women's group and are currently reading through The Anglican Way  by Thomas McKenzie. Each group has around 7 participants! And everyone is really enjoying it so far.  We continue to see our folks step up into various roles of service including someone willi

 Friends of Shalom, Happy Easter to you all!  I'm currently writing to you from Salem, Or where Beth and I have been spending the week with our first grandchild! Laura Anne was born on Thursday March 28th to Miriam and Tucker! She's perfect and we're enjoying all the snuggles we can get as well as serving our daughter and son-in-law.  March was a busy month for us. Here are some updates and prayer needs. We've officially moved to Sunday morning! We celebrated our first Sunday on Easter and will continue to meet on Sunday mornings at 10am.  Our core team had their first gathering without me! I was preaching at Holy Trinity in Edmonds one weekend in March and our team led evening prayer, worship, and our community meal. This is a big deal for a new church!  We received a generous financial gift from City Chapel! City Chapel is one of our supporting churches in Bremerton. Pastor Peter Vorhees along with the whole staff there have been a huge support to me and Shalom since