Our first day here!
If you haven't heard by now, we are moving to PA. Yesterday was my official first day of being the pastor of Faith Community Church Lakeside. How awesome is our God! It felt so good to be back preaching God's Word to people who want to hear it. This church has treated us so well that I had to pinch myself last night as I thought "this might be too good to be true". I know that we will have trouble, but God has given us a great start.
Yesterday, 2 or more people stepped from death to life at the end of our service. One, a mother, came up to me after the service telling me she has never been to our church. She told me how she felt pulled to be here this morning and how she couldn't believe how much God loved her. She cried with joy that Christ lived in her and that she could talk to Him at anytime.
I met a family right before our service that hadn't been to our gathering in over a year. At the end of the service, their daughter said yes to Jesus. The dad was so excited that his daughter recognized her need for Christ and keep thanking me for the service. They shared with me how they have been looking for a church to be part of and how they kept thinking about coming back to FCCL. The mom shared with me how rough a morning it was for them trying to get here but how they knew God had brought them back here. They are offering meals for our family while we move here.
Another family came to me and told me they wanted to join and be baptized. They have been waiting a year to be part of our church and wanted badly to be baptized. The dad asked me if he gets to baptize me since we were joining the church also. We both laughed and cannot wait to baptize this family.
Several others made decisions but did not come up to me after the service. I have not felt that free in the pulpit for a long time. God blessed me incredibly with our time together yesterday. We had a lot of people come to gather and we enjoyed a great beginning to our time here. It was a packed house until we dismissed our children but still felt pretty full when they went to their classes.
This church has overwhelmed me with a new office with a bathroom (anyone of my good friends know much this makes me happy). They have been so gracious to us about our moving time line and have loved on my kids tremendously. We are so pumped to be here and I cannot wait until we have moved here permanently.
Pray for the next 2 months. I hope we can have our house on the market soon while we paint and redo the last bathroom. We also need to find a temporary place to stay while we are going back and forth from PA to Lebanon. Then we need to either rent a house or buy. We would like to buy but might not have the down payment necessary to buy. Pray that we will be joyful about whatever option God gives us. Also pray that I will not try to push forward too fast with ministry. We need some time to know our people and our area; many of you know how I can get ahead too fast sometimes. Pray for my abiding in Jesus!
Thank you for being our prayer team. God has great things in-store for us. We cannot wait to see what God is going to do with us.
Yesterday, 2 or more people stepped from death to life at the end of our service. One, a mother, came up to me after the service telling me she has never been to our church. She told me how she felt pulled to be here this morning and how she couldn't believe how much God loved her. She cried with joy that Christ lived in her and that she could talk to Him at anytime.
I met a family right before our service that hadn't been to our gathering in over a year. At the end of the service, their daughter said yes to Jesus. The dad was so excited that his daughter recognized her need for Christ and keep thanking me for the service. They shared with me how they have been looking for a church to be part of and how they kept thinking about coming back to FCCL. The mom shared with me how rough a morning it was for them trying to get here but how they knew God had brought them back here. They are offering meals for our family while we move here.
Another family came to me and told me they wanted to join and be baptized. They have been waiting a year to be part of our church and wanted badly to be baptized. The dad asked me if he gets to baptize me since we were joining the church also. We both laughed and cannot wait to baptize this family.
Several others made decisions but did not come up to me after the service. I have not felt that free in the pulpit for a long time. God blessed me incredibly with our time together yesterday. We had a lot of people come to gather and we enjoyed a great beginning to our time here. It was a packed house until we dismissed our children but still felt pretty full when they went to their classes.
This church has overwhelmed me with a new office with a bathroom (anyone of my good friends know much this makes me happy). They have been so gracious to us about our moving time line and have loved on my kids tremendously. We are so pumped to be here and I cannot wait until we have moved here permanently.
Pray for the next 2 months. I hope we can have our house on the market soon while we paint and redo the last bathroom. We also need to find a temporary place to stay while we are going back and forth from PA to Lebanon. Then we need to either rent a house or buy. We would like to buy but might not have the down payment necessary to buy. Pray that we will be joyful about whatever option God gives us. Also pray that I will not try to push forward too fast with ministry. We need some time to know our people and our area; many of you know how I can get ahead too fast sometimes. Pray for my abiding in Jesus!
Thank you for being our prayer team. God has great things in-store for us. We cannot wait to see what God is going to do with us.
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