The Ups and Downs of Church Planting, Updates, and The Weekly Word

Friends of Shalom,

As you can imagine, there are ups and downs to church planting. So much emotion can be tied to each week's gathering as we wonder if our regular folks will be there or if anyone new will come. This last week I was discouraged heading into our regular Saturday night gathering because I knew over half our core group wasn't going to be there that night.

A few hours before our meeting, a pastor friend of mine texted me and told me he and his family would be coming. That brought some encouragement. But then as we were about to start two new couples wandered in! I quietly thanked the Lord for bringing some new folks and for keeping us going on this new adventure!

A few updates:

- I'm getting close to finishing my ordination exams! This has been a big focus of mine over the last month.

- In the month of January we saw over $3,000 come in from outside givers!

- Recently the school that owns the small church we meet in (All Saints Academy) invited us to share some of our desires for updating the sanctuary. We're grateful that they see us as long term partners and we're excited to fix up the space more!

- We opened a bank account! A small step, but one of many of the administrative tasks in starting a new church.

- I was gone last week for a spiritual formation academy that I have been a part of over the last year or so. The time away was a blessing!

Here's my weekly word video!

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