Forever Reign
Well, it has been two weeks since I last updated and life has been extremely busy since then. Yesterday some of our youth ministry team got back from an incredible week of Emerge, our missions camp that we have joined First Baptist Kettering in. It was probably the last youth camp I will do with Urbancrest and was probably the last time I lead worship with the band that the Lord has allowed me to be friends with for the last four years. God was and is so good to us. I thought I would never be able to experience a Passion Conference style worship service as a worship leader (they are intense and the Spirit of our Lord is so present), but I was wrong. God did the most incredible things during our time of singing and response to His Word. Over twenty students put their YES on the table to go wherever Jesus sent them. Our students lead 22 people to Christ and the singing was so loud on our last night together that I could hear them over my monitors and me; that's saying a lot since I am usually too loud because I love to sing for our Lord. I still can't believe that God loves me that much to invite me to be part of it. He is so GOOD.
Okay, Emerge was the icing on the cake to what God had done last week. The Thursday before I left, I had the overwhelmingly opportunity to speak to four people from around the country, all with the hope to spread the glory and fame of Jesus Christ. The wild thing about those conversations were that I did not know any of them before that week. One of them facebooked me out of the blue. Still don't know how you got to me Aaron, but I am so glad you did. One of the conversations was a friend made a couple of years ago during our Global Impact Celebration. One of them was through a mutual friend and one of them was through our church heading to Joplin, MO and serving those who were affected by the tornado. Henry Blackaby, in his book "Experiencing God" writes how God can connect anyone around the world to His plans anywhere around the world. We are seeing that and are simply blown away. God is at work around the world and is inviting people to join His work in Hawaii. We have a couple of people praying about joining us for a year and a few others praying about joining us for the complete journey. While I write this, I cannot describe the feelings of joy and am overcome by God and His love for us. I still cannot believe that He would invite Michelle, our kids and myself into His work. He is also inviting others which is becoming way too much for me to take in. God is SO GOOD! I know I said it before, but He is. Which leads me to ask you to pray hard for a few things:
1. We believe that we need to take a vision trip with two other couples and possibly some singles this August or September. Michelle and I are still paying for the Las Vegas trip and we don't have the $2200 it would take to fly and rent a place for a week (Harlan is going to let us use His van while we are there). Please ask the Father to open His storehouses and pour this money toward us.
2. We begin our training with Launch next Saturday. The training is $500 and we need to get that in soon. Please pray for the funds to come.
3. We need to begin website work and promo fliers. This will begin at a cost of $1000 and then will be $25 a month for the website upkeep. We don't have this either but we believe this will allow people to connect with the church before we get to Hawaii.
4. We need to get our house ready to sell. I have not had enough time to paint, repair and clean. We also need carpet and I accidentally tore a hole in the flooring in our kitchen. I need help with yard work and out side cleaning and painting. Please pray for God to bring people that can help in those areas and for our house to sell. Wouldn't it be cool if someone bought it before we put in on the market!
5. Some have begun to send in their monthly support and I praise God for these givers. Pray that the Lord would connect us with more churches.
6. This has nothing to do with the church plant; but a friend of our's, Kevin Singerman, is taking several people with him to Africa monday to share the Gospel in two large villages that have never heard of Jesus. Pray that they will be close to Jesus and that out of that intimacy, many will turn to Christ.
7. Pray for our friends Ray and Kathering Henz. They are moving through their process of getting to serve the people of Asia.
8. Pray for Chris Straw and his team as they join God in planting a church near downtown Lebanon two mile from Urbancrest.
9. Pray for our students as God might have connected us with a man to lead them.
10. Pray for my travels this Saturday as I finally get my family back. I have felt divided this week between the incredible intimacy with God and my family being in Memphis. I know what Paul talks about in 1 Cor. 7. My heart hurts for my wife and kids.
Thanks for praying for us and if you would like to receive prayer updates, please email Tanya and Eric at gracecommunityhawaii@gmail.com . They will get you on our email list. Thanks and draw near to Christ!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Shawn
Okay, Emerge was the icing on the cake to what God had done last week. The Thursday before I left, I had the overwhelmingly opportunity to speak to four people from around the country, all with the hope to spread the glory and fame of Jesus Christ. The wild thing about those conversations were that I did not know any of them before that week. One of them facebooked me out of the blue. Still don't know how you got to me Aaron, but I am so glad you did. One of the conversations was a friend made a couple of years ago during our Global Impact Celebration. One of them was through a mutual friend and one of them was through our church heading to Joplin, MO and serving those who were affected by the tornado. Henry Blackaby, in his book "Experiencing God" writes how God can connect anyone around the world to His plans anywhere around the world. We are seeing that and are simply blown away. God is at work around the world and is inviting people to join His work in Hawaii. We have a couple of people praying about joining us for a year and a few others praying about joining us for the complete journey. While I write this, I cannot describe the feelings of joy and am overcome by God and His love for us. I still cannot believe that He would invite Michelle, our kids and myself into His work. He is also inviting others which is becoming way too much for me to take in. God is SO GOOD! I know I said it before, but He is. Which leads me to ask you to pray hard for a few things:
1. We believe that we need to take a vision trip with two other couples and possibly some singles this August or September. Michelle and I are still paying for the Las Vegas trip and we don't have the $2200 it would take to fly and rent a place for a week (Harlan is going to let us use His van while we are there). Please ask the Father to open His storehouses and pour this money toward us.
2. We begin our training with Launch next Saturday. The training is $500 and we need to get that in soon. Please pray for the funds to come.
3. We need to begin website work and promo fliers. This will begin at a cost of $1000 and then will be $25 a month for the website upkeep. We don't have this either but we believe this will allow people to connect with the church before we get to Hawaii.
4. We need to get our house ready to sell. I have not had enough time to paint, repair and clean. We also need carpet and I accidentally tore a hole in the flooring in our kitchen. I need help with yard work and out side cleaning and painting. Please pray for God to bring people that can help in those areas and for our house to sell. Wouldn't it be cool if someone bought it before we put in on the market!
5. Some have begun to send in their monthly support and I praise God for these givers. Pray that the Lord would connect us with more churches.
6. This has nothing to do with the church plant; but a friend of our's, Kevin Singerman, is taking several people with him to Africa monday to share the Gospel in two large villages that have never heard of Jesus. Pray that they will be close to Jesus and that out of that intimacy, many will turn to Christ.
7. Pray for our friends Ray and Kathering Henz. They are moving through their process of getting to serve the people of Asia.
8. Pray for Chris Straw and his team as they join God in planting a church near downtown Lebanon two mile from Urbancrest.
9. Pray for our students as God might have connected us with a man to lead them.
10. Pray for my travels this Saturday as I finally get my family back. I have felt divided this week between the incredible intimacy with God and my family being in Memphis. I know what Paul talks about in 1 Cor. 7. My heart hurts for my wife and kids.
Thanks for praying for us and if you would like to receive prayer updates, please email Tanya and Eric at gracecommunityhawaii@gmail.com . They will get you on our email list. Thanks and draw near to Christ!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Shawn
Thanks for the prayer request! Looking forward to seeing you in a few months!!
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