November Highlights!
November was a month of both hustle and rest. The month began with meetings, phone calls, and lots of work. Thankfully, this was followed by a long overdue trip to Long Island which we spent resting and relaxing with family. Keep reading for some highlights from November on the Church Plant Journey 😊👇
Thankful for this sweet girl’s visit in November!
Quality family time at the Christmas Tree Farm!
Our Home Office!
Here’s a peek into our home office 👀
Most of November was the same old routine for us. After our 10-day fundraising trip at the end of October, we had some catching up to do with recording videos, sending letters, making phone calls, and planning for the upcoming months. We are still very much loving our time here at Grace Church and continue to learn so much from this opportunity!
With COVID precautions, we are in what we call “hybrid mode.” We still have some meetings in person, but a lot of our work is virtual these days. At the moment, we are spending a lot of time working on vision, values, and sermon planning. Stay tuned as we plan to share lots of this stuff with you soon! 🥳
Long Island Road Trip 🚗
We were finally able to make a trip to Long Island in November! It had been well over a year since we had visited, which meant we haven’t even been there since deciding we were returning to start a church. We originally planned on setting up lot of meetings to connect with old friends and other pastors there, but due to rising COVID numbers, we decided to play it safe and spent the week resting and enjoying some down time.
We did get to visit Riverhead, the town we are hoping to “plant” in. To be honest, our time there was a bit anticlimactic. Maybe we were expecting the skies to open up, for God Himself to come down from heaven and meet with us there, assure us that everything was going to work out, and hand us the deed to a brand new building (okay - maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration). That did not happen. But what did happen was still pretty special! We had just a few conversations with people - enough to feel bonded and affirmed in our calling to reach Long Islanders with the good news about Jesus. When we asked people what they loved about Riverhead, the response was the same each time: it is a tight-knit community. We can’t wait to be a part of it!
Here we are in Riverhead - our future town!
20 hours in the car means lots of pup-cups for Amigo. 🐾
Thank You for Giving!
We want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our Giving Tuesday campaign or have partnered with us financially for any part of 2020. We are so encouraged to have gained 11 monthly supporters on our team! Thank you for choosing to live generously - even in difficult times.
Still looking to make an end of year charitable donation? Any financial contributions made to our new church are tax-deductible and under the accountability of our sending church. Click here for more information!
What we are reading…
Currently, Michael is reading a book called The Pastor, an autobiography of Eugene Peterson, one of America’s most influential pastors. The book makes the case for pastoring being less about what you do, and more about who you are. So far it’s encouraging and challenging…like any good book!
I’m about to begin reading Forgiving What You Can’t Forget by Lysa Terkeurst - one of my favorite Christian women. I’ve loved many of her books, so when this one came out, I immediately added it to my shelf. I’ll let you know how I like it!
Should I include podcasts?? If so, we’ve found one that we love and are learning so much! It’s called “New Church Hustle” and is hosted by Dan and Amber Sweaza - the pastors of Connect Church in Calgary, Alberta. Not sure how we stumbled upon this podcast, but we are so glad we did. If you are interested in learning more than you would ever need to about church planting, give it a listen! 🎧
Prayer Team
Did you know we have a goal to cover this new church in 1000 hours of prayer? We can’t do that alone. So if you think of it, would you CLICK HERE to let us know how many minutes you spent talking to God about us, Long Island, and this new church? Shout out to our prayer team - especially to our friend Melissa Chrzastek who has prayed a total of 235 minutes! Thanks girl - we love you ❤️
Photo-op on Long Island’s North Shore
Here are some specific things you can pray about:
- We are beginning our sermon planning for 2021! Pray that we would hear from God about the needs of our community and how to share His word with people there.
- That God would call a team of people to launch this church. We are praying for awesome musicians, people who love kids, and lots of friendly faces!
- For a church name! We have a few options in mind but want to prayerfully consider what will be the best fit for Long Island and for our vision.
- We are continuing to meet virtually with pastors and friends on Long Island. So far, everyone we have contacted has been willing to meet with us and has been very helpful. Please pray that we continue to learn exactly what we need to as we continue to prepare for Long Island.
Answered prayers:
- We stayed healthy and safe on our trip to NY. 😊
- We are continuing to LOVE our time at Grace Church! We are thriving under our new mentors and enjoying all of our new relationships.
- We have made some awesome connections with people on Long Island and look forward to building these friendships further!
- After about a month of fundraising, we are 16% funded! 🙌
Thank you for following us on our journey 🎉
We are looking forward to all that God has for us, for you, and for Long Island! 🌱
