The ups and downs of church planting are somewhat indescribable. Friday before last I was somewhat troubled by our attendance which was probably the lowest we've had since the beginning. However, I was encouraged that the people who came were engaged and genuinely interested in becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.
This past Friday was fun because it was our Christmas gathering... not to mention my entire family was in town. Mom and Dad drove in from Kirby, TX and my sister flew in from Pearsall, TX. Coming off one of our lowest attended gatherings I was not sure what to expect but we have been praying for God to bring the right people at the right time no matter what the numbers look like. Well, God brought the people because we had a rough count at somewhere just over 40 people!!!
There were several awesome things about the people who came to The Pathway this week. First of all, there were tons of new faces. Second, those new faces were invited by the old faces. That is the first step to multiplication and that is what we are going for. Finally, every person in the room got to hear the true PURPOSE of Christmas... that God sent us a Savior!!!
Our Prayer:
Although we had an awesome gathering, the gospel was presented and our numbers were up we are still desperately praying for more life change. We are crying out to the Father, and ask that you join us, in praying for salvation for the lost and genuine growth and re-focused commitment for the saved. God is working and is on the verge of doing something huge in Tacoma... you are a part of that so please don't leave the fight!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
With out Christ there's no Christmas!
Just wanted to say Merry Christmas and thank you to God for sending Jesus to save me, and the world, from the sin that separates us from him. Kelli and I were in the dollar store yesterday trying to find some decorations for Jagen's crib and Rylan's isolet at the hospital. We really wanted to find something that showed the true meaning of Christmas... Jesus! We searched and searched and finally we found a cheap (of course it is the dollar store), ugly, porcelain looking nativity scene... and that was it. There were rows and rows of stockings, cards, holly, reindeer, Santa, snowmen, candy canes and everything else that man has added to Christmas that takes away glory from our Savior. But there was only one, tiny representation of Jesus.
So as you pray for The Pathway this Christmas, please pray that God would use the story of his Son's birthday to point our people to the real, authentic and purpose-filled meaning of Christmas. It's okay to put up lights, give gifts and drink cider... but everything we do needs to reflect and point people to our Savior Jesus Christ on his birthday. That is our prayer for the people God is using us to reach and it is also our prayer for you and the people God is calling you to reach.
Merry Christmas!
So as you pray for The Pathway this Christmas, please pray that God would use the story of his Son's birthday to point our people to the real, authentic and purpose-filled meaning of Christmas. It's okay to put up lights, give gifts and drink cider... but everything we do needs to reflect and point people to our Savior Jesus Christ on his birthday. That is our prayer for the people God is using us to reach and it is also our prayer for you and the people God is calling you to reach.
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Praying
I'm just sitting in my chair, next to my newly chopped down and not yet decorated Christmas tree, praying and thinking about what God has done and praying and wandering what he wants to do next.
I mean honestly-- over the past 6 months God has allowed us to enter a brand new city, minister and meet the physical needs of people in our city, start a Bible study around some picnic tables under some trees at a city park, and transition that Bible study for the winter into a Methodist Church that is allowing us to use their facilities for $25/week!
Oh yeah, not to mention that my wife gave birth to our two beautiful twin babies, Jagen and Rylan, 2 months early, the babies are healthy and doing well (although still in the hospital), God provided us a beautiful home to rent that we moved into the week before the babies were born, and that new home is less than a mile from the hospital where Jagen and Rylan are staying.
And in case it was some how overlooked, God is allowing us to be a part of lives being changed. Only a month or so ago we saw the first salvation, a student named Brian, in the life of our young church. Last Friday night God answered our cries for him to battle Satan's attacks against our Bible study. Not only did he protect us from the attacks of Satan, he brought another person into his Kingdom family. Antwan, the first guy I remember meeting at Wright Park in the beginning of the summer, finally gave his life to Jesus!
That simply begs the question... I wander what he is about to do.
Our small study has grown to about 20-25 people per week and more than that if everyone showed up at the same time (which they never will)! Our leadership is praying through some big decisions that will require some steps of faith, much more time commitment on all of our parts, and as always it will require the Lord to continue to draw people to himself.
Throughout this entire journey to The Pathway God has been so generous to make obvious the doors he is opening and closing. We have had very little confusion about what direction God wants us to head. He is so faithful and we give him all the glory for what has been done and what he will continue to do. Continue to pray for our Friday night gathering. Please continue to pray for salvation but also for spiritual understanding. There is so much spiritual clutter in the minds of most of the people we serve, we need the Holy Spirit to wipe all that they think they know away and deposit the truth of the Bible in their minds.
Then we will see AWAKENING!
I mean honestly-- over the past 6 months God has allowed us to enter a brand new city, minister and meet the physical needs of people in our city, start a Bible study around some picnic tables under some trees at a city park, and transition that Bible study for the winter into a Methodist Church that is allowing us to use their facilities for $25/week!
Oh yeah, not to mention that my wife gave birth to our two beautiful twin babies, Jagen and Rylan, 2 months early, the babies are healthy and doing well (although still in the hospital), God provided us a beautiful home to rent that we moved into the week before the babies were born, and that new home is less than a mile from the hospital where Jagen and Rylan are staying.
And in case it was some how overlooked, God is allowing us to be a part of lives being changed. Only a month or so ago we saw the first salvation, a student named Brian, in the life of our young church. Last Friday night God answered our cries for him to battle Satan's attacks against our Bible study. Not only did he protect us from the attacks of Satan, he brought another person into his Kingdom family. Antwan, the first guy I remember meeting at Wright Park in the beginning of the summer, finally gave his life to Jesus!
That simply begs the question... I wander what he is about to do.
Our small study has grown to about 20-25 people per week and more than that if everyone showed up at the same time (which they never will)! Our leadership is praying through some big decisions that will require some steps of faith, much more time commitment on all of our parts, and as always it will require the Lord to continue to draw people to himself.
Throughout this entire journey to The Pathway God has been so generous to make obvious the doors he is opening and closing. We have had very little confusion about what direction God wants us to head. He is so faithful and we give him all the glory for what has been done and what he will continue to do. Continue to pray for our Friday night gathering. Please continue to pray for salvation but also for spiritual understanding. There is so much spiritual clutter in the minds of most of the people we serve, we need the Holy Spirit to wipe all that they think they know away and deposit the truth of the Bible in their minds.
Then we will see AWAKENING!
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Crazy Life
Sorry for such a gap in posts. As most of you know our world was flipped upside down by the early arrival of our twins! Jagen and Rylan came 2 months early on November 15th and are unbelievably beautiful. They are still in the hospital but are doing quite well. Your continued prayers are appreciated and please join us in praying that they will be home for Christmas!
Last week was probably the most difficult gathering for The Pathway to date. We've really been seeing God work in some lives in some personal and often painful ways. I believe Satan recognizes that God wants to use The Pathway to have a huge impact in the city of Tacoma and so he is taking this opportunity, while we are still in our infancy as a church, to attack. One of our most promising attenders has really been battling the lies of Satan in his life over the past several weeks and last Friday he busted into our Bible study late and brought a group of his friends who obviously did not want to be there. Things got pretty rowdy for a while... and frustrating... but then calmed back down and God continued to speak through his Word and continued to work in the lives of those he is drawing to himself!
Please join us in praying for tonight's gathering. Pray that Jesus would be victorious in the spiritual battle that is being raged and that tonight we would have numerous people surrender their lives to Jesus! Also pray for direction as we are outgrowing our current space but can't really afford to rent the bigger area at the Methodist Church. We are praying about dividing into two smaller groups that meet on separate nights. I think this would be a great thing but I want the entire leadership team to be on the same page.
God has been clearly showing us which doors to walk through and which doors to walk away from so I trust that he will do the same here. Thanks for following our journey to The Pathway and I hope you know that we give all the glory to Jesus for everything that is happening!
Last week was probably the most difficult gathering for The Pathway to date. We've really been seeing God work in some lives in some personal and often painful ways. I believe Satan recognizes that God wants to use The Pathway to have a huge impact in the city of Tacoma and so he is taking this opportunity, while we are still in our infancy as a church, to attack. One of our most promising attenders has really been battling the lies of Satan in his life over the past several weeks and last Friday he busted into our Bible study late and brought a group of his friends who obviously did not want to be there. Things got pretty rowdy for a while... and frustrating... but then calmed back down and God continued to speak through his Word and continued to work in the lives of those he is drawing to himself!
Please join us in praying for tonight's gathering. Pray that Jesus would be victorious in the spiritual battle that is being raged and that tonight we would have numerous people surrender their lives to Jesus! Also pray for direction as we are outgrowing our current space but can't really afford to rent the bigger area at the Methodist Church. We are praying about dividing into two smaller groups that meet on separate nights. I think this would be a great thing but I want the entire leadership team to be on the same page.
God has been clearly showing us which doors to walk through and which doors to walk away from so I trust that he will do the same here. Thanks for following our journey to The Pathway and I hope you know that we give all the glory to Jesus for everything that is happening!
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