It is our desire that this be a place where you can come to see what God is doing in our lives on a daily basis. In August of 06 God began to open our eyes to the great need for the Gospel in our nation. As we sought the Lord and His will for our lives it became clear that He was calling us to join and play a major part in a movement that seeks to plant young, missional, Gospel-centered Churches that will seek the transformation of a city and eventually a culture. At this moment, it is a vision. It is a dream in our hearts and, we fully believe, a dream in the heart of God.
If you have been wondering how you can play a part in supporting the work God is doing in our life, yet feel strapped in this crazy economy, now you can. A supporter of ours generously provided us with a website through “shop to earn.” Shop to Earn is an internet web portal that has connected with hundreds of retailers, many of whom we all use on a weekly basis, to pass savings on to consumers.
During this Christmas season, if you purchase your gifts online instead of the store, Shop to Earn will pass up to 20% of your purchases along to us. This money, in turn, goes on to fund the church planting process. We understand that not everyone can give financial so we are excited to be able to provide a way for you to support our ministry with the purchases that you make everyday. Please go to the link in the top right corner or go to shoptoearn.net/oldham, choose the retailer you would like to shop through and it will take you to their website and you can purchase the items like you normally would. If you have any questions on how this works or how you can contribute in this way please feel free to call or email us.
Tonight we are going to begin decorating for Christmas. Yeah yeah...I know. Its early. I was talking to a friend this past week about how much I love Christmas. Its not because of the presents. Its not even the decorations, music, food, or cultural traditions that we attach to the Holiday.
I love Christmas so much for a few reasons.
1. Life slows down. The nights are longer and the days are short and gray. Its either raining or snowing and cold all the time. Thus, people don't run around at such a fast pace. (except for inside the malls) I feel that when we slow down, we are able to see life around us, experience our relationships, and actually take time to look at our lives and ask questions.
2. People are exponentially nicer. Maybe its the feeling of the season. Maybe its because they think Santa sees them when they are sleeping (funny... if you rearrange the letters in Santa you get Satan...coincidence?...I think not). But people do the Thanksgiving thing and for at least once in the year are counting their blessings. Also, we all know we are going to be around family. Some of our families are awesome...some may be lunatics. Either way, we are prepared to be nice to them in the spirit of the season.
3. I'm a big "Jewishness of Jesus" guy. I believe that we can't fully understand the implications of the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus unless we learn the Jewish background that comes along with the story. I always picture myself at the turn of history... living in a crazy political climate...yearning for a Messiah...praying for a Deliverer. Singing songs, reading Psalms, quoting Scripture that rings of the promise. And then, almost out of nowhere, since the prophetic utterances that became OT Scripture had ceased for 450 years, Jesus, the eternal God takes on flesh...Can we every truly understand what happened? The plan that has existed since before the world began was being fulfilled. The God of the universe was coming to man, becoming a man, to save man...His beloved creation. Oh the mystery of what we call Christmas!!!
I want to live my life pursuing that mystery but most of all pursuing the God that became man to save me from my sins, turn away the wrath that was due me, and bring me into intimate fellowship with Himself.
I pray that as you walk these next couple months out, you would be in awe of that God. That you would know, deep down in your being, that life is more than all of this... school...work...relationships with others...eating...planning...saving...investing...creating a life for ourselves. Our life is a gift of a gracious God who wants us to use it finding Him.
I have begun to re-read the book The Grand Weaver by Ravi Zacharias. First of all if you haven't read this book I strongly encourage you to do so, I first read The Grand Weaver after Christmas last year. I had no idea what the book was about when I walked into the Christan book store and asked the sales associate for a recommendation. Without even thinking he told me I had to read this book because it has changed his view of God and life. Intrigued I obliged to get the book and try to complete it. I am not much of a reader but this book gripped my heart and spoke to me where I was at in that season of life. Fast forward, I decided that it was time to give this book another read through. I started reading the introduction and on page 11 Ravi says
"To allow God to be God we must follow him for who he is and what he intends, and not for what we want or what we prefer."
This hit me hard. I have been struggling with this lately. I know that God is sovereign and that he wants what is best for his children, but often I do not understand his plan. I have been struggling a lot lately with our in ability to have children. It is my hearts deepest desire and I know that the Lord knows that. But ultimately He is enough. It is in this season that he is allowing me to see the depths of who he is. To allow me to feel the depths of his love in a way that I would not otherwise have ever experienced. I know that he could in an instant allow us to have children... I have never ceased to believe that. However, it is in this season of waiting and longing that he allows me to see him as sovereign even when it means that I don't "get" what I want right now. It is in this valley the he is chipping away the things of me that are not of him... the things that when removed will make me a better wife, a better partner in ministry, a better friend, a better daughter and hopefully one day a better mother.
I am thankful for the wait. It is not everyday that I believe that but ultimately it is true.
So think about that quote and rest in the fact that to allow God to truly be God we must follow him for who HE is and what HE intends, and not what we want or would prefer.
I heard this quote by John Piper this past week at a conference in the city. No, all you young, hip Calvinists that are running to your collection of Piper books to look it up won't find it. It is a quote from a lunch conversation that was had with one of our conference speakers. According to the story, Piper had just found out he had cancer, but no one else knew. The man at lunch with him had just gone through cancer. Piper asked him what he learned and his reply was that besides God and his wife, cancer was the best thing that ever happened to him. At that, Piper, who hadn't smiled or barely talked all meal, dropped his fork and looked up with the Piper smile and whispered, "Suffering...is a beautiful...hermeneutic."
The funny thing is, I feel like I am experiencing both right now. I am finishing my last class of the year and ironically enough its hermeneutics. Hermeneutics refers to the process, both art and science, of interpreting, exegeting, and "rightly dividing" Scripture. There are all kinds of methodologies out there when it comes to hermeneutics. People have presuppositions and preunderstanding that causes them to approach Scripture with a bias. Bias isn't wrong, its inevitable. All of us approach the Word of God with our experiences, culture, doctrinal and theological slants and desires all in front of our faces. Because of these factors we all view Scripture in certain lights. So what do I think Piper meant?
I think he meant that when we suffer, when we experience the consequences of the fall in full force, we are then given the opportunity to see God for who He is and read His word to us in a correct light. Its amazing to me that all over the world Christianity is flourishing. People in areas of China are hiding a page of the Bible at a time in the ground for fear of being found with it. Only the the Western world are we tearing the Word apart, calling it literary criticism. Only in the Western world are there churches that call themselves churches yet don't believe that the Bible is God's Word. Everywhere else people trust it, love it, live by it and thrive by it. What is the difference?
Everywhere else people are suffering. What do we know about suffering in America? Honestly, our scale really isn't even comparable to that of Christians in Asia or the Middle East, but we experience suffering nonetheless. We suffer because though we are "rich and in need of nothing" nothing escapes from the consequences of the fall: the pain, the tears, the disorder of a creation rebelling against its Creator.
So we suffer. For some its financially. With the economy the way it is, some are losing houses, jobs, investments for the future and even their minds. Some are experiencing sicknesses like cancer, kidney failure, diabetes, and heart disease. Some are struggling to have babies.
As we experience and walk through this suffering we have an amazing opportunity to see God. We have an amazing opportunity to see God for who He is. Sovereign, gracious, loving, redeeming, powerful, trustworthy, faithful, merciful, and gracious. We have the chance to see a loving Heavenly Father who carries us through the suffering of life. Sometimes all that suffering does is lead us to a great knowledge of who He is. And I would say...that is enough.
So as you suffer, suffer well. Understand that in God's sovereignty, He knows and allows all. Maybe its time reap the benefits that suffering brings: a greater knowledge of God and His perfect character.
This weekend I thought it would be fun to carve pumpkins and make caramel apples...
The boys like to act like they thought I was nuts but deep down they loved it
Noah carving his masterpiece with a knife.
The Finished product...I forgot what Noah named him but I will update you when I ask him :)
Kimmel and I had bought another pumpkin so she brought over some real pumpkin carving tools and we made the most beautiful pumpkin I have ever seen... Go Gators!We decided to make caramel apples to really celebrate fall...
And here was the finished product. I never realized how hard it is to eat a caramel apple.
Catching up... October has been a pretty amazing month.We had the opportunity to see family as we made our way back to Eldorado for a few days. Spending time with family is always good for our hearts.Noah spent a couple days in Atlanta going through Power Plant coordinator training. Power Plant is a ministry of the North American Mission Board that connects church youth groups with church plants in cities across the US and Canada.The students spend a week learning about church planting and evangelism and the church planters get a week of free labor. Noah was asked to be the St. Louis ministry coordinator, recruiting church planters and teaching for the week. Directly after getting of the plane from Atlanta we rushed downtown STL to attend the second half of the “LEAD for the city” conference.At this conference we went through our final couples’ assessment with the Acts 29 Network.It went extremely well and we are even more excited about what God is doing and how He is orchestrating everything.
Harvest the City...
We get a lot of questions about the name “August Gate.” And rightly so; because that is exactly what we wanted when we came up with it in the spring of ’07. We want this new church to be about three things: loving God, loving people, and restoring the city. To do so, we believe that we must be a church that prepares people to be missionaries in their own daily context. Ephesians 4:11-16 explains that God gives the leaders of the Church to just this; to train people with the Gospel so they may live and speak the Gospel. Matthew 9: 35-38 explains that as Jesus looked upon the crowds of the cities He was moved with compassion for them because they were lost and without hope. We believe that God is moved with this same heart of compassion when He looks upon our cities today. Jesus’ next words are crucial for all of us, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” We believe that we are just a few of those workers that God is sending out into the fields for the harvest. He has sent us to St. Louis, Missouri to harvest the city that is knows as “the gateway to the west.” Where are you called to? Where is God (literally) “thrusting” you?
We need your prayers.We don’t want to be ignorant of the tremendous amount of spiritual warfare that is going to begin and is already going on because we are walking in obedience to God’s call. We are planting in the area of St. Louis that holds one of the largest Mardi Gras celebrations in the world (2nd only to New Orleans itself). We are going to a city with a high crime rate and low number of evangelical churches.But we are confident in what the Lord has in mind, for just this week I heard “the light is much brighter where the darkness is much darker.”We want to gather a group of people who will commit to daily and weekly prayer for us as a church and as individuals.If you are such a person, please contact us and we will tell you more.
There is a ton more going on in our lives... we will keep you updated :)
Thanks for taking the time to read our blog. We would like to know your questions, comments, thoughts and prayers. Feel free to leave us a comment.
These last several weeks the Lord has really captivated my heart through the image of the threshing floor. As most of you know the first several years of Noah and my marriage have not been easy. I feel that we have been put through the fire and often selfishly feel we have walked this road too many times. I will not get into the specific circumstances of which have captivated our hearts, minds, and beings but trust me when I say that I wish these circumstances on no other person.
At Mathias’ Lot we have been studying Luke since Noah and I have moved here. A few weeks ago, Marc, the pastor, was speaking on Luke 22:31-38… I would encourage you to read it for yourself but for the sake of keeping the flow I am going to focus on the first 2 verses of this passage.
31 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you Simon that your faith would not fail.
Chew on that for a moment. When we were reading this passage in the service a couple Wednesday nights ago it hit me square in the stomach. My mind was immediately taken back to the night that Noah and I were engaged. If you have not heard the full story of the man prophesying over us ask me about it and I would love to fill you in… but for the sake of staying on point I will talk about a very specific point of that night.
As my mind was taken back to the beach in Ft Lauderdale FL around midnight with sand in my toes and the waves crashing behind me I vividly remember this man who told my future husband and me that anything that Satan would try to bring against us would have to go through God and He would have to allow it. I couldn’t fathom what that meant that night, I had no idea what the future had in store.
So back to the passage… two things stood out to me 1. Satan had to ask God permission and 2. Satan asked to sift him like wheat. Here became my obsession … what does it mean to be sifted like wheat? What is a threshing floor?
To give a very simple description a threshing floor is a place away from the town often on a high hill exposed to the wind so it can aid the workers. It is here where the wheat and the chaff are separated. The chaff, which is useless, blows away in the wind because of how light it is. The grain is heavier so it falls to the ground and is gathered for the harvest. I cannot tell you how many times God has brought this image to me in the midst of feeling "threshed" in order to remind me that He is the one who does the sorting in my life.
This brings me to one of my favorite passages in scripture 1 Ch. 21:18-28 (Please Read)
It is in this passage that King David goes to Ornan to buy a threshing floor from him, to build an alter to worship the Lord. When he gets there Ornan offers it to him free of charge. David insists on paying full price for the threshing floor and he says in verse 24 I will not offer a burnt offering to the Lord that cost me nothing. David grasps what true worship looks like, he grasps that true worship is a sacrifice of our lives, our wants, and selfish desires for His.
So what does David do next? He pays Ornan 600 pieces of Gold for the threshing floor then goes and builds an alter to worship the Lord.
How beautiful is that picture? The question then is...
How can I truly worship the Lord with my life and my whole heart if it has cost me nothing? Also when we do feel the sifting shouldn't we consider it a joyful experience?
I so often find myself crying out to the Lord begging Him to tell me specifically what my offering should be, when He tells me I have to then ask for the strength to be faithful and give it away. This is ultimately my hearts deepest desire.
This past weekend was the annual Mathias/ 2 Rivers picnic. I wanted to post our most recent family pic. This is Noah and me getting ready to represent on the fields. Noah played football and I played on the coed softball team. Even though the football team lost we ended up winning in volleyball and softball so Mathias took home the trophy again.
i want to take a minute hear to introduce you all to our team.
first, let me introduce you to josh and kim jones...
i met josh my freshmen year in college through football and campus ministries. from the beginning of our relationship we clicked and quickly became the best of friends... mushy, i know. we were roommates for the last three years of college and got to know each other way too well.
josh is one of the dearest friends i have ever known. he is a man that stands as close to friends as he does family. he has walked with me through some of the toughest times in life lending strength and support.
josh is also amazingly talented. not only is josh a gifted speaker, writer, and entertainer...if you know him, you know what i mean...he is also the greatest worship leader that i have ever known. josh isn't just a guitar player or a song leader, josh is a pastor at heart that knows how to teach people the Gospel as he leads them in song. i experienced this for 3 years as we traveled around the midwest leading worship together.
even though josh is so amazingly talented, it is still a mystery to all of us as to how he ended up with kim. kim, formerly bright, jones is the perfect addition to josh's life. i met kim in college. she was a bubbly, loving, kind girl who was an instant friend. kim is well educated, amazing at everything she does, and is the perfect help-mate to her husband. kim has a knack for hospitality and has a very keen sense of style and art. kim loves to take care of people as is evident in her marriage, friendships and personal business that she has started.
josh and kim are a-teamers. no, i don't mean that they resemble mr. t in any way. i mean that these guys could go pretty much anywhere they wanted and be successful. we are so incredibly humbled that God would call them to be with us.
next, let me introduce you to todd genteman.
wow! where do i even start? i met todd in college through josh. for as long as i have known todd, he has amazed me. from fca, to lifeway camps, to churches to starbucks todd is proclaiming the Gospel with his life.
todd graduated siue with a degree in medical biology. genius, i know. but todd decided against dental school to be in ministry. todd has always followed God's call since i have known him. a talented communicator, leader, athlete, facebooker, latte maker and percussionist, todd is also one of the most talented dudes i know. on top of all this, he is the funniest person i know.
todd's faith amazes me. i called him on a wednesday and challenged him to move back from texas to plant with us (and live with us) and he was packed that weekend. todd could go anywhere he wanted and fill any position in a church. i know this because he gets offers all the time. every day i spend time with him and every day i am more and more thankful that God has brought him into my life.
finally, the person who rounds this team out and makes it the most amazing group of people ever is my very own wife, heather... heather is the most amazing woman God ever created. not only is she extremely beautiful (come on! check out that smile!) but she is so so so so extremely talented. most people don't ever get a chance to see all the talent because she hasn't even begun to tap into most of it.
for instance, since moving heather has gotten into photography. most people start out slow, but some of her stuff is already amazing! heather is such a hard worker as she proved last year by working horendous hours in an extremely competitive and fast paced environment.
she is an amazing cook, decorator, dresser, wife, sister, friend, user of photoshop, hostess and player of uno. even more competitive than me in a few instances, she has a tenacity that is matched by very few.
contrary to what opinions may be out there, heather is the brains of the operation. she is as much of a dreamer as i am. and what is more, my wife's faith is on the same level of that of my mother's. that isn't a flippant statement as most who knew mom would describe her as a modern day female job. heather is the driving force that keeps me going when i have one of those elijah "just-let-me-die-i'm-so-worthless" moments with God. any time that doubt over the call sets in, heather is the first to uncover it and rebuke it. i don't say it enough, but i am truly the luckiest dude ever! i mean seriously...i really married up a few levels.
trusting God gets easier and easier as i look around and see the caliber of people He has put around me.
here's the challenge for you though... is God calling you to come be a part of this team? would you abandon comfort, hometowns, and perfectly planned lives to be a part of a movement of God to reach the city of st. louis? are you even asking? the challenge is to ask...and you may be surprised, God may call you to join this amazing group of crazy people to turn the stl upside down!
i can’t even begin to tell you all that we are learning during our time here in st. charles at matthias’ lot. this past month has been a whirlwind. our weeks have been
filled with both plugging in and serving the matthias’ lot congregation while at the same time spending hours and days down in the city asking God for vision and clarity over a location to plant.
for the past three sundays we have been leading matthias’ version of a small group called a “lot family” in our home. there is nothing like celebrating the sabbath like it looks in the books of acts. we each lunch together, spend time in fellowship and then spend time in God’s word and prayer. it is a beautiful thing as we have seen God transform our sundays into a day of rest, remembering Him as creator and that we are slaves no more because of His redemption.
two weeks ago we began to host “the truth project” for a group of 17 college students that range from strong believers going into ministry to wanderers with questions. it has been amazing to watch the Holy Spirit convict, challenge, and open doors for conversation.
i have been playing a role in every worship gathering since we got here. one week i may open with a challenge and call to worship, the next i may give announcements and lead in a responsive reading. marc has been training me more thoroughly in video editing and i feel like i am growing in that each and every week. the greatest part ofmy week here is being involved in teaching. though i won’t teach on a wednesday night until december, i am involved in the teaching every week. every thursday and monday the staff gathers to study the scripture that will be presented that week. though i am not the one presenting, it is great to be a part of the preparation process, see how what God is showing me is brought into the message.
God is so good. heather and i have been wrestling through some very huge personal prayer issues and God is holding us through it all. it is amazing to see God’s provision not only financially but also emotionally, socially, and spiritually. we are sure that He is and will hold us through it all.
my studies are going very well. i was a little worried with having so many things going on that my grades would begin to slip. but, glory to God, things are going well. my class on the gospel of john is “rocking my face off” as i learn more and more about Jesus, his plan, and his call on my life. each and every day God is growing a deeper passion for truth in my heart.
Loving People...
lot families is just one way that we are able to connect with people. on the second saturday of each month, we as a church go out into the community to serve the poor, the marginalized or the widowed. this month we worked for a woman named phyllis, a mother of many and a grandmother of even more who lives in a house that has been in her family for generations yet is very run down and dilapidated. as a group we spent the morning cleaning, hauling out old furniture and appliances and loving on the family.
this month i have had the opportunity to get back into the leading worship. i spent a weekend playing bass for a youth retreat and will begin to help during our wednesday night gatherings.
everyone here is so amazed at how quickly and how well heather has plugged in…in everything. she’s involved in a woman’s bible study, wednesday nights, hosts our lot family (which is a bigger task than actually teaching at it) and is mentoring a handful of college-age women.
in all of our activities we are rubbing shoulders and elbows with people but are we really loving them? we’ve learned to love people better over these past two months. i’ve learned to listen to people’s hearts, not just what they are saying or doing. i’ve learned while truth, community, accountability and discipleship are necessary components to being the church, love is primary. without love we have no permission to speak truth, engage in community, require accountability or disciple anyone.
we’ve learned all this not from a class or reading a book, but by doing it; by choosing to reach out to people, to engage people, to ask questions and be ready to love, no matter the cost. it’s a beautiful thing.
Restoring The City...
i want to thank each and every one of you who prayed for us after our last newsletter. in that newsletter, we stated that our biggest prayer need was location. well God is faithful! after a few months of wrestling in prayer and exploring the city, we feel like God is opening doors for the location that we are to plant.
we have been fortunate to be able to network with some amazing guys in the st. louis region. two of these guys are darren casper from the metro baptist association and tim cowen, the pastor of rock hill baptist church. as we sought God for direction on where to plant, these men stepped in and have played a huge part in encouragement and wisdom.
just south of downtown st. louis are several neighborhoods. marked by their culture and diversity, both racially and economically, beautiful parks, and the restoration projects that are happening, soulard, benton park, layfayette square, the gate district, and downtown south are some of the most unchurched areas in st. louis. a historically catholic area, the architecture still stands, but the Church is no where to be found.
five years ago God burned Isaiah 58 on my heart. and today, we are watching as that vision is coming into existence. it is the belief of our team that God is calling us to reach what we are calling “the interchange” (where highways 55 and 44 meet and the 1.5 mile radius surrounding it). we believe that God has a heart for the city of st. louis and has placed that love in our hearts. we desire to see the name of Jesus lifted high, coming worshipfully form the lips of those who have be bought back from a life of hopelessness, despair, chaos, and blindness.
right now we see a couple of opportunities on the horizon that we need prayer over. currently rock hill baptist has ownership of the famous “jesus church” building in soulard. their may be a possibility of us partnering with them to share the building and ministry in the city as they send a team down to lead a service on sunday nights. also, there is an african american church just across the highway in the lafayette square baptist church building that is struggling to reach the increasingly growing white community. we are asking God for favor with these leaders and for His direction as we pursue relationships and share vision.
please keep praying for us. ask God how you could play a part in this work. whether it be through prayer, financial giving or even God calling you to move to st. louis to join us in this effort, please plead to the Lord on our behalf. also, pray for our team as they raise funds and situate life to prepare themselves for this work. we love you all!
OK. So when I first started this blog I had the best of intentions of keeping it updated. I am still trying to do this but often falling short. I want this to be a place where all of our dear friends and family can keep up with the many aspects of Noah and my life. Right now we have a lot going on. I will let Noah comment later about our prayer needs on location for the church plant and I will focus on the thing that has captivated my heart.
As most of you already know Noah and I have been trying to get pregnant for over 3 years now. We have sought out medical advice and help in every area that we have lived and nothing has been positive. I am going to post the letter that Noah and I sent out to close friends and family a little over a week ago because I think Noah is an amazing writer and he puts things just the perfect way.
Dear friends and family,
We are writing this letter because we want to make you aware of a very emotional situation in our lives but the thought of even trying to explain things to everyone brings us to tears. For the past three years (our entire marriage) we have been trying to have children. We believe that children are a gift from the Lord and that He has placed a desire for them deep in our hearts. After being unsuccessful month after month we began to seek medical opinion. This morning was the more recent appointment, with unfavorable news.
Fortunately, the doctors say that there is nothing harmful going on. Heather and I are both biologically “fine,” even down to the hormones. Unfortunately for some unknown reason my body isn’t doing what it is supposed to do. I have done several tests over the past few months and each and every one has come back at the same level: extremely low.
So here we are at a crossroads. We aren’t sure what to do. The options are out there and we see that we have three. 1. Wait on the Lord and His “perfect timing.” We have been very prayerful this entire process and we feel the more we pray, the more we long for children. 2. In vitro fertilization. 3. Adoption. If you know anything about infertility you know that the options can be very expensive and/or take a very long time to pursue.
We’ve heard all the clichés and we’ve been told all the anecdotes. As well-meant as they are, it’s interesting that those only come from people who have never struggled in this area and honestly have no idea. We don’t need opinions and we don’t need lip service. We need prayer, because we need to hear from the Lord. Heather and I are asking that you would join with us for the next 4-7 days to diligently pray for wisdom from God. We are emotionally spent. We are at the age when and belong to a church where people are getting pregnant almost weekly. While we rejoice with the blessing those children are, something inside our hearts breaks a little more as we wait and plead for answers from the Lord.
We appreciate the time that will be spent on your knees pleading before the Lord on our behalf. We need wisdom. We are clinging to James 1:2-8. We believe God has a plan that was set before the foundations of the world. Ultimately, this is His story and not ours. So we, putting our will at the cross, are asking for His will and His plan to be made known to us.
Clinging to His promises,
Noah and Heather Oldham
I ask that you all pray that God makes himself clear. We are desperately seeking him for answers and all we know is that our deep desire for children has not changed. At this time I am asking for your encouragement especially from those who have walked this before, scripture that speaks to you.. really anything you feel like sharing. In the days and months ahead I will keep you posted on where our hearts are and what our plans are for moving forward. Thanks.
After a 13 month sojourn in South Florida, we have finally made it back to St. Louis!The past month has been a whirlwind of unpacking, getting settled, getting to know the new area we are living in and meeting all sorts of new people.
I (Noah) started the church planting internship the Monday after we arrived. I didn’t want to waste any time. Heather started digging out all of our things that had been in storage for the past year. We forgot that we had some of it! Check out the pictures below...
If you didn’t hear, our move was quite adventurous.An hour down the road, on the Florida turnpike, two of our suitcases flew off the top of the car onto the highway in the midst of rush hour traffic.Both suitcases were destroyed and Heather and I watched one of them literally explode while being run over by a semi. We salvaged what we could, called Heather’s mom and started over the next morning…this time with a UHaul trailer.
The total trip was 3 full days as we had to stop in Southern Illinois to get our things out of storage. Exhausted, we pulled into St. Charles dreading the final leg of the move.But when we arrived, 33 people form Matthias’ Lot (the church I am interning with) were here to move us in.They finished the task in 34 minutes!
Right now I am pulling double duty.I am working with Matthias’ Lot, creating and supporting ministry for them, as well as taking the steps for a new church plant. My Matthias responsibilities include developing ministry to LindenwoodUniversity (less than a mile from our office), overseeing the load in and load out of equipment each week, helping with graphics and video, leading a “Lot Family” and sharing time on the teaching team. It is not hard to see how valuable this next year is going to be in the planting process.
Preparing to Plant...
We call it church “planting” and not “starting” or “building” because of the nature of the Church as described in Scripture.The Church is not a building and the Church is not an organization. The Church is a living organism that grows and spreads.It is a body made up of a diverse group of people with Jesus as the head.
Our biggest prayer need right now is location.
As we prepare to plant we need God to show us an area in the St. Louis region that needs a Gospel-centered, missional church that He has equipped us to reach. We know that every area in every region needs such a church, but we believe God is going to strategically place us in an area so that we can bear the most fruit. Over the next couple months I will be meeting with other church planters as well as leaders of church planting networks to discuss location. Pray that God would give us wisdom and insight to be where He wants us to be.
Pray for Our Team...
For any work like this to be successful, you have to be able to gather like minded people around you.Three are already here.Many of you know Josh Jones, my roommate from college.He and his wife, Kim, have committed to planting with us, as well as Todd Genteman. Todd is another friend from college who moved from Texas to come join us when we heard we were moving back. Both of these guys have been in full time ministry and feel called to church planting as we do.Pray for their finances as in the next year they will have to raise support to give themselves full time to this vision.
We are also praying for 14 people to come along side us as a core team for this plant.Some of the people may be here; some may have to uproot and move. Pray that God would burden hearts for the mission of the Gospel.
Also, please pray for finances as we raise money to give ourselves to this work full-time and prepare for the planting of a new church. We thank you all for your prayers and support.
It has been one month since we uprooted and left South Florida to move to St Charles MO. This past month has been crazy as we have been trying to get settled and turn this old house into a home. It is important for me (Heather) to make my home a safe haven for my family, one where we can relax and just be comfortable. Unfortunately, it seems as though that task has been a bigger one to tackle this time around. After a month I am ALMOST done unpacking and I have painted three rooms... the living room, dining room, and master bathroom. These three rooms were in the worst shape when we moved in and demanded my attention first. The living room and bathroom had hunter green and mauve floral wall paper and that had to go :) I am going to post pictures of the rooms as I finish them so you can all enjoy them and see what our house looks like. I am getting excited to see how the house is turning out and hope you all enjoy the pictures. Living Room
Living Room #2
Dining Room
Other than getting the house in order I am also looking into some options for a job while we are here in St Charles. I am finishing up the paperwork process for Substitute teaching and am excited about that opportunity. I will post more house pics when I get it done :)
As Heather and I have talked over the past couple of years in regards to planting a church, a few necessary elements surfaced. The first two elements that we felt God telling us were necessary for a church plant to reach this generation are Truth and Beauty. We will let you all in on the vision for these two at a later time, but for now I want to share a little bit with you about the third: Community.
Community has become a buzz word in church circles today. If you go to the Christian book store you will find books upon books about "community" groups, small groups, home groups, cell groups, etc, etc, etc, all attempting to introduce the church to this much needed element of "community."
Dictionary.com defines community as a locality inhabited by a a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. But as we look at the Bible, this is in no way what the church in the 1st century looked like. This definition could mean a number of things. This definition describes book clubs, PTO, swim teams, country clubs, and any other social connection we can really have. As human beings, he have a vast number of social connections. Have you ever wondered why? Why do we want to belong? Why, though we are buried under a schedule of tasks and plans, do we still commit ourselves to numerous social engagements? I believe it is because God created us in His image. In the Godhead there is perfect community. This relationship is one of ultimate fulfillment. God created us to need community, true community, and we know it to be true when He said in Genesis that it was not good for man to be alone.
As we look down the road here at the beginning of this year of planting a church, we long for true community. We don't want to create another club or group that enjoys shallow relationship and vague endearment. We long for what the Bible calls in the Greek koinonia. We desire to see God bring together people under a common banner. That banner is Jesus and His mission that He has left for the church: the ministry of reconciliation.
I am happy to report that just in the past 3 days we have begun to truly experience this. We are working with Matthias' Lot in St. Charles, MO (www.matthiaslot.com) mostly because they are a church that already does what we desire to do.
For example, at 5 o'clock on Saturday, an hour after we rolled into town with a UHaul truck and trailer, exhausted from 3 days of travel and packing, we watched as 33 people showed up to serve us by unloading our stuff. It took the group only 34 minutes to have it all in the house in the right rooms. The amazing thing is that this isn't a church of thousands, but averages a little over 200 every week at worship.
Sunday we went to the "Lot Family Celebration" and watched as families and singles, young and less young, enjoy true community with worship, whiffle-ball and tons of food. Last night we attended the Matthias' Lot Values class, teaching us the doctrine and values of the church. It lasted an hour and a half. Immediately after we prayed to close, all at once everyone naturally turned to those around them and engaged in real conversation for almost 2 hours!
The greatest thing for us in this whole this is that it is not forced. The conversation, the fellowship, the serving of others is not an obligatory task. No one is grumbling. No one is awkwardly trying to fake a smile. We feel so blessed to have been welcomed in to such a community of people who love Jesus and want to make Him famous. We look forward to the next little bit as we make more relationships and grow in community.
I pray that those of you reading this would long for this type of community. That you would hate gossip and back-biting because it is the enemy of fellowship. I pray that you would seek it out. I pray that you would want to see it created by started within your own relationships.
Two days ago, on Wednesday evening, we set out on our journey back to the Midwest. Heather and I went back and forth for weeks about whether or not we should get a Uhaul. Finally we came to the decision to see if we could fit everything into our vehicle and strap suitcases to the roof. Our decision yielded less than desirable consequences.
About an hour down the road, as we drove along unaware, we heard a couple thumps coming from above our heads and as Heather looked in the rear view mirror she watched as two of our suitcases actually took flight from the top of our Highlander. We stopped as abruptly as possible and pulled to the side of the Florida Turnpike. I then sprinted as fast as I could, about 200 yards behind us to where our bags laid in the road. One landed to the right of all lanes and was therefore pretty safe, however the other was on the white striped line between lanes. Sweating like a champ, everything seemed to go into that movie-like slow motion experience as it seemed a certain semi driver decided to swerve and hit our suitcase. I watched in horror as the bag actually exploded amidst three lanes of 70 mph traffic. Shoes and clothes were everywhere! Luckily we only lost a few pair of shoes and were able to avert a more serious ordeal.
Heather's mom, Joan, was kind enough to meet us on the side of the road and help us salvage what we could. That night, we went back to the house, unpacked and repacked the car and waited until the morning to get a Uhaul and begin the trip over again.
Although we had a slight set back, the rest of our trip went smooth. We traveled 13 hours yesterday from Davie, Florida to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Our room at the Holiday Inn Express was comfy and provided for a few much needed hours of sleep.
We woke up this morning and got on the road by 7 am. We were glad that we were on the time zone line (it was 8 eastern time). Stopping only once, and battling the periodic tsunami-esque rain showers we made it to Eldorado and my grandparents' in 5 short hours. We spent the rest of the day packing up our stuff that was scattered between my grandparents' and dad's houses and being fed by a grandma that loves to cook for her grandkids.
Although we experienced a little trouble getting started, the trip ended up being quite enjoyable. We were able to make a quick stop in Gainesville to take pictures of the Swamp (Go Gators!). The seemingly endless hours of driving also provided much needed alone time for Heather and I to talk through our plans and ask each other questions.
We are both completely exhausted! But we are so thankful for what God is up to in our lives and so anxious for the days ahead...
Many of you may have heard a little bit about our plans, but some may not have…so we’ll start at the beginning. In August of 2006, while serving as youth pastor in Southern Illinois, God began to nudge our hearts about a call He was placing in our lives. God began to open our eyes to the great need for the Gospel in our own nation. It was easy to see the need once we stopped and looked. Whether it is education, media, government, or entertainment, our nation has slipped from its once “Christian” status and has become what writers are calling a “post-Christian” nation. God began to burden our hearts for our nation and our generation. And as we sought the Lord and His will for our lives it became clear that He was calling us to join and play a major part in a movement that seeks to plant young, missional, Gospel-centered Churches that will seek the transformation of a city and eventually a culture. Over the past few years we have gone through many of the steps of preparing for church planting. We have gone through the Acts 29 church planter assessment and boot camp. The Acts 29 Network (www.acts29network.org) is based out of Seattle, WA and is a network of church planting churches that wishes to plant relevant churches all over the World to transform culture for Jesus.
Whats Next...
As one of the youngest couples to ever go through the process, we have been accepted as ready for church planting after a thorough assessment process and challenged to take the next step. The next step is to work with another Acts 29 church for 12 months to learn the ins and outs of church planting. At the end of that year, we will launch a new church. The calling and mission are still the same from when God initially laid this on our heart. We have been called to plant a missional church that will be a beacon of light in a darkening world. This church will be Bible centered, theologically solid, Gospel driven, people loving, Jesus worshipping, Holy Spirit yielding, and relevant to an increasingly progressive culture.
We are so excited to take this next big step of faith and happy to announce that in a few days we will be moving to St. Charles, Missouri to team up with Matthias’ Lot Church (http://www.matthiaslot.com/).
In this next year it is our goal and desire to learn the ins and outs of church planting; we will be starting new ministries, meeting new people, building a core group, networking with other church planters, deciding on and researching a location and developing the vision God has put in our hearts.
Moving Forward... We know that we are called to do this, and because we are sure of that calling we are certain that God will provide for it. But because God chooses to use His people instead of a cosmic debit card, we must let His people know of the need and the opportunity. This is a vision for a church, not an income. This is the vision for a ministry that within a few years will be a self-sustaining movement of God that will be impacting a community for Christ. It will be a full-fledged, functioning church with tithing members. At this moment, it is a vision. It is a dream in our hearts and, we fully believe, a dream in the heart of God.
The Challange...
It has been one of my (Noah’s) greatest fears to ever have to ask people for money. But, if we are to be obedient to the Lord, we have to follow His call. I can’t apologize for that. Would you pray and ask God if He would use you to be a part of this work? All gifts are tax deductible and go directly to the work we are doing. We can promise you this: your giving will be a part of a movement of God that sees the Gospel preached, the lost evangelized, the poor fed, the Church grown, disciples challenged, and the bound set free. We would also ask you to pray. We know that not everyone can give financially. But we need people to commit to praying that God would bring to completion what he has started in our hearts. Our lives belong to Jesus and we are going to spend them advancing His Kingdom. We believe, according to Matthew 16:18 and other scriptures, that God’s plan until the return is the Church. We believe that He has called us to plant a church that is representative of His call in Scripture.
Check out Noah's teaching from August Gate's weekly services
Prayer Requests
Vision: Noah has taken the past several weeks to preach through vision for August Gate. Pray that our team gets it and that it will truly be what we are marked by as a church.
