October Highlights!
Where did this month go?!
October was packed with phone calls, meetings, and many opportunities to share the vision God has given us for a NEW CHURCH on Long Island. We are very thankful for friends and family who have met with us so far to hear about our plans. As we enter into November we feel encouraged, humbled, loved, and energized by the support you have shown through your prayers and financial investments! THANK YOU! If we haven’t been able to share with you yet, we hope for the opportunity soon. Keep reading for some highlights from October on the Church Plant Journey 😊👇
Making good use of our apartment conference room!
All 3 Lieblers love a beautiful fall day! 🍁
The God Ask & Lake of the Ozarks
We love planning with post-it notes! ✍️
At the end of September, we both read an impactful book called The God Ask by Steve Shadrack. It has a ton of valuable insights about how to invite people to join our ministry team. We spent the early weeks of October digging into the appendix of the book to create our strategy and craft a conversation to share our vision with potential partners. The last half of the month was spent practicing our presentation with friends and fine-tuning how we will communicate our vision.
We enjoyed 39 meetings during the last week of October! This was one of my favorites 🥰
The last week of October was spent with our friends in Lake of the Ozarks. We enjoyed 39 one-on-one meetings during our 8 day visit! We invited people to partner with us through prayer, financial investment, or by joining us on Long Island. Each of these meetings was so special to us and we can’t wait to see who God calls to join us on this journey ⛪️🌱
Core Values
Part of starting a new church involves determining what our core values will be. We are working to put words around what will make our church feel different from others like it. These values will shape how we behave and how we treat one another. As we’ve considered what our core values will be, we decided to turn to Jesus. So we began reading through the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John looking for specific references to what Jesus values based on how he behaved during his time on Earth. It’s pretty amazing to look at how often Jesus went against the status-quo to show the world what truly matters. This has been a great exercise for us, especially considering the tumultuous times in which we live! Before long, we will craft our core values based around what we think it means to represent Jesus as a church.
More post-its 😊
Michael and I are using this sheet to compile the values that Jesus demonstrates in the Gospels.
Where are you starting this church…and do you have a building?
A bird’s-eye view of downtown Riverhead 👀
These are probably the top 2 questions we are asked. In June of 2019, Michael was convinced that we would be starting (aka planting) a church in Riverhead, Long Island. This is a city-center on the East End of Long Island, approximately 80 miles (or 1.5 hours) from New York City. For me, it wasn’t until we began meeting with other pastors on Long Island and learning about the need for life-giving churches on the East End that I decided to get on board for Riverhead. As far as a building, our plan is to start by renting a space for Sunday morning services and to eventually purchase a building. This is a very common option for churches, especially on Long Island. We will be making a trip to L.I. at the end of the month to search for possible locations and to meet with more pastors in the area.
Prayer Requests
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? Thanks 🥰
Amigo’s poker face 😳
Here are some specific things you can pray about for us:
- We have plans to be on Long Island for Thanksgiving and the first week of December. Please pray for our health and protection during the visit!
- 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 other pastors on Long Island. So far, everyone we have contacted has been willing to meet with us and has been very encouraging. Please pray that we continue to have favor with all of the people we meet on the island.
Answered prayers:
- I started substitute teaching in KC! I’m now able to sub with 2 different school districts.
- We are continuing to LOVE our time at Grace Church! We are thriving under our new mentors and enjoying all of our new relationships.
- Our church family at Calvary Lake Ozark hired a new senior pastor! We believe that he will be the leader they need through this season 🙌
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! 🌱
