April Highlights!

If I could have made one month last longer, it would have been April 2021. It was impossible to squeeze in all the things we wanted to do before leaving Kansas City. And yet God did so many amazing things it was hard to keep track of it all! Read on for some of the highlights from our last month as Mid-Westerners.

We Graduated!

Our residency time at Grace Church ended with a special graduation ceremony. Here we are with Nate and Roxanna (who headed off to Brazil!) and two of our pastors (Justin on the left and Tim on the right). Many people ask us what exactly Grace does for us as church planting residents. Honestly, we really didn’t know what to expect when we arrived last August - and it’s still kind of hard to explain. I am pretty sure all the church planting residents who have been through this program would say something different about their experience. For us, Grace Church was a place of healing, strengthening, empowering, dreaming, and planning. We met some of the most loving and encouraging people who will surely be in our life for years to come. Words can not describe how thankful we are for the experience we had at Grace.

Here we are being prayed over by the Grace Church staff 🙏

We opened a bank account!

You know you have a good treasurer when he’ll sit with you for 4 hours to open a bank account 😅

This probably sounds like a small thing, but it was the final step in our incorporation process! We officially have everything we need for Local Church to operate independently of our sending church AND can now accept tax-free donations directly through our own website.

Last month, our fundraising goal was $10,000 in one-time gifts or new monthly donors. To be honest, I was not sure we would meet that goal…but God continues to provide. In fact, unbeknownst to us at the time, just hours before sending our last newsletter, we received a $10,000 donation! I’m telling you, if you want to see God work, start a church. In April, we received over $62,000 in one-time gifts and new monthly donors! In total, we are now approximately 36% funded for our 3-year budget. 🙌 We are so thankful for each and every one of you who has an investment to make Local Church possible on Long Island. We believe your investment will lead many people to discover a life-changing relationship with Jesus.

Our goal this month is to find 5 more donors to join our monthly support team. If you are interested in learning more about why you should invest in a new church, reply to this email and we will set up a time to meet!

Why must we say goodbye?!

Saying goodbye is always hard. Saying goodbye twice in one year is THE WORST. In August, we had to leave the church we gave our lives to for the last 4 years. This was gut-wrenching in so many ways. When we got to Kansas City, I tried to convince myself that I wouldn’t make any friends just to avoid having to say another hard goodbye. But if you know us at all, you know that would be impossible. And I’m glad I didn’t have that attitude for very long! So, we did our best to see as many of our friends and family as possible one last time before we left and are looking forward to when they all come to visit us on Long Island. 😉

We made it to Long Island!

We packed up and hit the road on April 28th! We shared a moving truck with Nick and Sarah (the amazing couple who moved with us to help start Local Church!) and spent two days driving it and our cars across the country. Besides a little bit of rain, the trip went exactly as planned and we made it safely with no hiccups. Both of us couples are settled into our new apartments and getting adjusted to being Long Islanders. So far, there has been lots of unpacking, pizza eating, and grinning at the New York accents (and attitudes 😂). Please continue to pray for the four of us as we make this big adjustment and get busy recruiting people to join our new church!

Ready to roll

Thankful we hired guys to load that truck 😅

“Are we there yet?” -Amigo

Only 1000 miles to go! 🚚

Here’s how you can pray 🙏

We’d love to know you are praying! So if you have a second, CLICK HERE to let us know how many minutes you have spent praying for us, Long Island, and this new church.

Here are some specific things you can pray about:

- The two biggest things we have to work on from now on are finding a location and building a team! Please pray that God would direct us to the right people and places.

- We are hoping to reconnect with old friends and also make new friends as quickly as possible. Pray for our time and energy in this!

- Please continue to pray for us and for the Fosters as we adjust to being on Long Island and to our new apartments.

- Would you pray about how God is leading YOU to get involved with Local Church?

Answered prayers:

- We are blown away by how God has answered prayers for financial provision over the past month. Praise God for the donors he has called to partner with Local Church!

- Our move went as smoothly as possible.

- Although Orchard Group was unable to partner with us, we are officially partnered with Stadia Church Planting! Check out their website to learn more about what this means.

- We are approx. 36% funded for our low-impact budget and we currently have 24 monthly partners! 🙌

- We are already connecting with churches and pastors here. This is such an answer to prayers because we did not want to feel alone when we got here.

Four happy Long Islanders!

Thank you for following us on our journey 🎉

Find previous newsletters by visiting our website at www.churchplantjourney.com

We are looking forward to all that God has for us, for you, and for Long Island! 🌱