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Feb 2010 Update
Update
• We had our first baptism service at TWE on January 31st thanks to MOB’s portable baptismal. It was awesome!!! The service was packed with family and friends of the five young men who publicly confessed their faith in, thankfulness for, and allegiance to Christ. Though each of them said they were nervous, each spoke passionately, eloquently, openly, and at length about the work God had done in their life. It was clear that the Holy Spirit was upon each of them. We concluded the service by laying hands on and praying for the five young men and then singing Amazing Grace together. Many greeted and encouraged them afterwards with hugs and kind words. It was truly a day of great joy, praise, and celebration!
• The following Monday, I (Erik) had the very great privilege of attending the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference in Minneapolis. There were over 1500 people there from around the world. Most were pastors, but there were also missionaries, students, and potential pastor/elders there as well. Three other men from TWE went down including one who was just baptized this summer and another who had just been baptized the day before we left! It was so neat to experience the conference with these new, young believers. It was also really neat to be able to spend the three days with the fourth man from TWE as well as the group that went down from MOB. What a blessing!
• On February 10th, Elliot Corban Johnson was born to Brian and Shayna, their first. It was a long, hard labor, but the end result was worth it. Praise the Lord!
• We had our second New Comer’s Dessert where people can come and hear more about the vision of TWE and how they can get involved, meet people, and get their questions answered. It was well attended and a blessing.
• On Valentine’s Day we had a baby dedication service. LuLu Watczak and Isaac and Johnny Emerson were dedicated.
• Our “Bucket Fund” team met again and determined how to distribute the 15% of our budget that we have set aside for church planting, local outreach, and world missions. Our vision is to give significantly to a few. We thought it was going to be very difficult to narrow down who to give to given all the great ministries out there. Though it wasn’t easy, God was good, and we came away with what we believe is a good direction. We’re excited to finalize things and get that money out into the field.
• Beginning February 12th we started 30 Days of Praise and Prayer leading up to our first anniversary March 15th. Each day a new person from TWE sends out a thought or story from this past year to spur on praise and prayer. It has been really neat.
Prayer Requests
• As you know we’ve been asking God for the past year to lead 30 people to Himself through our people by March 15th, 2010. So far this year eight people have been baptized. Of those eight, three came to Christ directly through the ministry of TWE. We have another baptism service scheduled for the day before our anniversary, March 14th. A fourth person who has come to Christ this year through TWE will be baptized at that time. Though it seems impossible, and like time has run out, we are continuing to pray with great diligence, and as much faith as we can muster, that God will do something HUGE in these next few weeks. After all, over 3,000 were saved and baptized in one day on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). God can do it! Additionally, there are well over 26 people in, or connected to our church, in whose lives God seems to be significantly working. Please join us in praying for an incredible outpouring of God’s Spirit over these next few weeks. We believe that this prayer aim was from the Lord, and we want to do all we can through prayer and openness to the leading of His Spirit, to be used by Him to bring it about.
Dec/Jan 2010 Update
December 2009/January 2010
Update
•God was amazingly generous to us financially in 2009. We finished the budget year having spent very little of the start-up church planting monies we were given. His generosity encouraged us to approve an ambitious budget for 2010. We are hopeful that God will continue to provide.
•The Provisional Leadership Team is up and running and is meeting monthly. This allows us to use our entire 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. time for prayer and not administration on Sunday mornings. Our 10 ministry group leaders are rotating the responsibility of leading this time of prayer. It has been neat to hear their hearts and see them lead.
•Andy McKinnon came to Christ and was baptized at MOB (Chub Lake) two years ago. His dad and three brothers began attending in December and are eagerly seeking the Lord and plugging into the church. Andy’s future father-in-law Paul and his fiancé Steph also attend TWE. Last week they began a McKinnon/Nelson family Bible study. They are going through Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. Pretty neat!
•The 9 and up youth Bible study is underway and going great! The group meets every other Wednesday and rotates homes. A few weeks back it was at our house. There were more than 20 eager students, including three or four friends, eagerly digging into Jesus’ first miracle right there in our living room! Awesome!
•We had the very great blessing of being able to help David Ronoh go home to Kenya for about three weeks over Christmas. David came to the U.S. two years ago and hadn’t been home since. Most Kenyans who leave, never come back. His family, friends, and community were SO BLESSED to see him!
•We made the heart wrenching decision to cancel our first ever Candle Light Christmas Eve Service due to the snow storm. Fortunately, with the help of some heavy blankets and duct tape, we were able to darken the chapel enough the next Sunday morning to almost replicate it.
•Church basketball started in January. TWE has two teams in the league this season. About half of the 24 guys playing are friends of our guys. We’re looking forward to getting to know both them and each other better.
•We had our first “bucket fund” meeting last week to seek God’s leading on how to distribute the monies that we’ve set aside for world missions, local outreach, and church planting. From the beginning we have dedicated 15% of all that comes in to these causes (5% to each) and hope to increase that percentage every year.
•We are VERY EXCITED to announce that at least four people will be getting baptized on January 31st at TWE, thanks to MOB’s portable baptismal! Two of these fellows have come to Christ during their time at TWE, and the ministry of TWE has been significant in the lives of the other two as well. We plan to tape the service and put it on the website for you to see.
•The 5 ministry groups are up and running and doing very well. We’re going through The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney, getting to know each other, and seeking to support one another as we obey god’s call to minister at home, at work, and out in the community.
•Finally, average attendance in December/January was 103, up 10 from the September/November average.
Prayer Requests
•Keep praying HARD that the Spirit of God would move POWERFULLY and that 30 people would come to Christ through our people by March 15th, 2010. I continue to believe that God is going to do this, even though time is running short. Pray that God will use this baptism service in a mighty way in the lives of the 30.
•Pray for wisdom for the bucket fund team and excitement for the church.
•Pray for protection for the new believers at TWE as they will have big targets on their backs. Please also pray for boldness for them to go and share their new found faith with those God has placed in their lives. Please also pray for their elders in Christ at TWE, that we would have wisdom and energy to disciple them well, and that we would set an example for them in every area of life, especially outreach and evangelism.
Oct/Nov 2009 Update
Update
Average attendance since the beginning of September has been 93 and seems to be on the rise.
Jess and I got away to a BGC church planters retreat in the beginning of October. It was a great getaway and a real encouragement to meet and get to know other local church planters and their wives.
The following weekend was the women’s retreat that many of you prayed for. Over 20 women attended including several new ones and the Spirit moved powerfully. One women reported the following Sunday that her life will never be the same. Praise God!
I preached four messages in October on the vision of our ministry groups (small groups). Ten ministry group leaders and assistants (most of whom had also received training in the summer) met on Thursdays nights to make final leadership preparations. In the end, 97 adults and kids signed up to join a group. That’s almost 75% of those who I believe would call TWE their church! The groups met for the first time in November and there were many great reports. This CRITICAL piece of the TWE puzzle is now in place and off to a GREAT start! Thanks for the prayers!
The TWE musical worship team had the privilege of leading worship at the BGC Annual Meeting at MOB in the beginning of November. They did an excellent job and made us all very proud!
We had three special guests stop in and share with us over the past two months including: George and Lisa Weller (the owner’s of the Halloween House ), Ryan Underwood from the Encounter, and Heather Hankin.
Sharon Krause and Leah Richter are going to be leading a 9 week youth Bible study on Jesus’ miracles in the Gospel of John beginning December 9th. Over 20 TWE kids ages 9 and up are planning to be a part of it along with some of their friends as well. The TWE kids will also be doing a Christmas Program for Emmanuel Baptist on Sunday evening, December 20th.
We are in the midst of our first formal budgeting process as a church. Giving has been far exceeded our expectations. As of last Sunday, almost $105,000 has come in in tithes and offering. That is already more than $35,000 more than we anticipated for the entire year, and we still have over a month to go! God is generous!
More new people continue to come forward to help with childcare, meals, set-up and tear-down, etc. on Sunday mornings. We also talked through some things that should make our Sunday morning routine more efficient and less taxing on all.
We have now instituted a temporary provisional leadership team, comprised of the leaders of the five ministry groups, who will meet monthly and seek to serve the church in a fashion similar to the MOB church board. This team will be in place until we are able to institute our permanent plural elder/deacon leadership model which will hopefully happen by this fall. This frees us to use an entire hour for prayer Sunday mornings (from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.) rather than using half of it for church business.
We plan to hold our first membership class in March. We also plan to have a constitution written and approved by then.
The Holy Spirit is at work! His presence has been more palpable during our worship services than ever before, more than one person is looking into being baptized, more people are coming forward for prayer at the end of the service and staying for the extended worship time after the service, and there are many stories of people seeking the Lord and living out their faith in greater and greater ways. Praise you Holy Spirit!
Prayer Requests
That the Spirit of God would move POWERFULLY and that 30 people would come to Christ through our people by March 15th, 2010. I truly believe that God wants to and is going to do this. Please pray hard on this point!
That God would truly bless the ministry groups and that they would be the enormous blessing that we hoped they would be not only to MG members but to the church and the community on the whole.
For the budgeting process, first ever Christmas Eve Service, two TWE church basketball teams, provisional leadership team, more willing workers, continued financial blessing, and lot’s of wisdom, strength, and love.