July 2023 Update

A few updates from church first:
1) We debriefed with the messengers who went to the Southern Baptist Convention to represent us yesterday (one of the reasons that I wanted to wait until now to write this update).  Despite what you may have heard on the national news, the convention was unified on many important issues (every decision I'm aware of was made with more than 70% support, most of them with 90% or more of the messengers).

2) Things are going well with our building plan.  We're at the point of getting our drawings sent off to the architect and then we will be able to come up with some kind of budget for the building project.  It's very exciting to see how God is allowing everything to move forward and blessing us as we move through the approval process and as we have opened up a dedicated building fund.  I think it's fair to say that we've seen God do "exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or imagine" at this point.

3) We continue to grow having both a couple of child dedications and a baptism recently, and we have also welcomed several new members into our fellowship who have transferred their membership from other churches.  We're not really about counting heads, but all these things are an encouragement to our elders, and we rejoice along with them that we are seeing parents who are bringing their children to church and want to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the LORD, children, teens, and adults who are giving their lives to Christ and signifying that through believer's baptism, and people of like mind covenanting with us (see the What We Believe section of this website for some information about what I mean by this).

Now for a couple of things that you can pray for:
1) We still want to ask for prayer for the process of our building project.  No matter who you are or where you are, you can join us in prayer that God will show us how to best use this property and the building that we believe we are to build there.  Specifically pray as we reach out to our immediate neighbors and those in the housing development right behind this land.

2) For my family you can pray for us as we need to make some major house repairs over the next month.  I won't give details here as I'm not sure my parents want me to share that, but I think it's fair to say that God is giving us a chance to fully rely on Him to provide for us in this situation.  Specifically, these are two passages that are on our minds right now as we want to remember to have faith and not to worry.


Philippians 4:6
New International Version
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Matthew 6:25-34
New International Version

Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

​28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.


2) I have a couple of relatives that are going through some medical procedures (again, I don't want to give too many details here).  Please pray for the doctors that are running the tests and treating them and for their families who are taking care of them and for their recoveries.

3) Please continue to pray for the men that I disciple online.  Whether it's that they are in a new position at work, or that there are not enough employees at work for the job that needs done, or if they are struggling with how to be a Chrisitan in their workplace, all of them have requests about being good ambassadors for Christ in their workplace, so this is a good way to pray for all of them.  Pray for their churches that they are members of (or seeking to become members of in some cases) that the leaders there would hold fast to biblical truth where we see that many churches are looking to culture and not the Word of God to define what they believe and how they should live out their faith.  Pray for their families as I believe all of them have family members who are not saved, and pray for them as they study the Word of God together that they will see clearly what God is trying to teach them and that they will receive the Word and put it into practice (we don't want to only be "hearers" of the Word, but also "doers" of the Word).

Those are my "big three" things you can pray for right now.  I look forward to updating you in future newsletters on how the Lord has worked in these situations.