Obedience

Hey Everyone!
        It's been a busy last week so I'm finally getting a moment to sit down and update this site. I think we can finally say with some confidence that we are "settled" into D.C. Zac and I are finally not making many mistakes on the metro and know our way around D.C. enough that we blend in pretty well. THANK GOD!
 
     To be honest, I had no idea that moving here would have so many random challenges. Feeling like we have a grip on these things really helps us feel more at home. Thank you for your prayers about this.

     Last week, we had our first team from Alabama. They were a team of high school teenagers with a few volunteers. Because it was our first team, I was a little nervous. What if I led these kids somewhere wrong? What if I lost one?! What if they totally missed the point and didn't help us much? What if they hated it and didn't get anything out of their mission trip? Luckily, NONE of those fears came true and they did GREAT. Almost all of the students shared the gospel at least once with an International person and one students led a man from El Salvador to Christ. PRAISE GOD! These students came into our world with little knowledge about D.C. or what our ministry did, and still rocked it. They were living proof to me last week that with a heart open to obedience and hands open to serve, our God is faithful to use us. After two days of working with them, I was just so proud of them!

Obedience is something that the Lord has been teaching me lately.

 I can't speak for Zac, but I imagine that he has been learning it too. Working this job can come with some odd pressures. For me at least, there's this feeling that there are lots of people counting on us to produce results. These results could be gaining research data, leading a team phenomenally, leading a certain number of people to Christ, etc. etc. Not to say that goals are bad, because I am a very goal oriented person and I think it's healthy to have a certain amount of goals. I'd be lost without goals!  However, the students last week reminded me of something different.

When Christ left the Earth, he didn't give his disciples a number to obtain or region to be reached or even a certain number of verses to memorize. His last command simply asked them to be obedient to tell others about Him. We hear the Great Commission so often, but as a church, sometimes we forget the importance of it. We think it's something that missionaries do in foreign lands. We think it's something that pastors do. We think that God wouldn't ask us to do something that uncomfortable so we "live out our faith in actions" by just being a super nice and serving person but never speak the name of  "Jesus." 

Last week, the Lord just kept bringing to mind that I am not responsible for someone's response to the Gospel. I'm only responsible for telling it. When we don't, we are disobeying Him.

So much easier typed than done. Let me promise you that. However, I'm working on it and praying that the Lord would grow me in my boldness and faith. Join me? 


Just wanted to share what I'm learning! :)

We have smaller groups coming in the next couple weeks, but the week of July 4th we have a really big group coming. I'm particularly excited about this one because its a group that includes my sisters. :) My heart is ready to see them and serve alongside them.

Please pray that God continues to help us make connections so that we can have Gospel conversations with the people we encounter.

Please pray that He continues to strengthen and guide us as we make decisions each day on what neighborhoods to work in.

Finally, pray for the teams that come to our home. Pray God would use them to lead people to Christ in a city that desperately needs it.

God is Working Already

As an update, we arrived in D.C. on the evening of the 5th around 11pm. Due to the density of the city, there is absolutely no way to park the car near our row house which is only about three city blocks from the National Mall so we had to drive it out to the edge of the city and ride the metro back in after we had unloaded everything at the house. Yesterday (Thursday) was spent unpacking, settling in to the house, grocery shopping, and informational meetings with Keelan and Larry Black. Officially, Keelan is our supervisor. His boss' name is Larry Black. Larry works for the Baptist Convention of Virginia and is in charge of all international people groups in the Richmond, Hampton Hills, and D.C. area, affectionately called the 'Golden 'L'".

The informational meetings were super useful. Larry's heart is so closely nit with the urgency of the gospel message and a mindset for the kingdom, I was overwhelmed. It was refreshing for Amanda and I to see that our leaders have the same heart for lost international peoples that God has given us. We actually met at a West African restaurant. The owners were Susu from Guinea and Keelan was able to speak to them in their native tongue. When he found out that I had also lived in BF, the owner quickly left the room bringing back a Burkinabe woman who owned a braiding salon upstairs. We had a short conversation in french before she left with the invitation for Amanda to come and spend some time with her so that she could teach her how to make bi-sap. It is obvious that the Lord is already working to open doors and its only the first day! Praise his name!

During the informational meeting with Keelan that evening we were able to get a better picture of what it is exactly we will be doing. The strategy we are employing is three tier.

Tier 1: This has already been done with the top 100 metropolitan areas in the U.S. by Keelan Cook, Dr. Mike Dodson at South Eastern and ten other Southeastern students. Tier 1 consists of going through census data and compiling it in such a way that we can then see how many different people groups there are in each metropolitan area. The first step is done from a central location and does not involve boots on the ground anywhere, but only offers us knowledge of the nationality of those international communities, nothing more. 

Tier 2: Is where we come in. It is a fusion of three missions: further research on the ground which will help us to identify-affinity, people group cluster, people group, world view, religion; engagement of those international people groups as they present themselves in search of persons of peace; and developing partnerships with churches in the area who would be willing to make long-term commitments to engage and church plant within given people groups in the city. Due to the research that Keelan has already been able to do, the 5 regions/countries Amanda and I will be focusing on for the next 6 months are as follows: Russians, West Africans, Ethiopians, Arabs, & Afghan/Pakistan.    

Tier 3: Is the engagement and church planting by those churches.

For the most part, Keelan will be working on the third facet of tier 2 by developing those partnerships with local churches who will become the driving force of this project in tier 3. Amanda and I are being charged with the first two facets of tier 2. Between us, Larry, and Keelan, we have developed two obtainable goals by the end of this six month commitment (November of this year). (1) To have 5 Churches who have made a long term commitment to see a church planted within a given people group located in the D.C. area. (2) To have 5 international partners who are willing to work with those (predominantly Anglo) churches mentioned in the first goal to accomplish the goal of a church plant in those given people groups. This could be in the form of an international church, a international believer, international church leader, person of peace, or new convert.   

*Pray for us as we figure out what this looks like in a practical way.

 

*Pray for boldness, wisdom, cultural understanding, and endurance. 

 

*Pray for patience when teams come in and are living on top of us throughout the summer.

 

*Most of all pray that God would pour his spirit out on us as we do his work and on this city. Pray that he would work in the lives of those we meet at prepare their hearts for the gospel.
 

We love you all!

Zac

Well, here we are!

Hey Everyone!!!

       We are officially living in Washington D.C. The boxes have been unpacked. (FINALLY!) The groceries have been purchased and physically carried to the house (in the rain... hahah!). The car has been parked in a garage outside the city (because parking in the city is too expensive). There have been several times that we have looked at each other and said, "Um... so... WE LIVE HERE!!!!" It's crazy to think that so many months of planning and praying are finally playing out before us.

       God has a funny way of reminding you that He is in control. We met with a small group of people on Tuesday night in Wake Forrest, NC that really blessed our hearts. We had stopped in Wake Forrest to unload our furniture into a storage facility on our way to DC and Keelan (our supervisor) leads a bible study there. We said we wanted to go so that we could meet some people and have something to do. I think if I was really honest, I'd have to admit that I wanted to go to this bible study so that I didn't have the down time to sit and think about all the people and family and familiar that I had just left in Nashville.

      When we got there, Keelan led the group in something called " Evidence of God's Grace."  Every member of the group had to go around and share a point in time that past week when God had sustained, been faithful, or moved in their life. When it came time for Zac and I share, we looked at each other and could only say, "Where to begin!?" The thought of it actually moved me to tears... (which really messed up my plans of an emotionless bible study evening... )

      God's grace has been more than evident in our lives over the last few days. Every meeting has been a blessing and encouragement. Do I miss home? Of course I do! Do I miss familiar faces and places? More than I could ever say. However, there have been more than enough moments where I have looked at my husband and seen that shiny look on his face and known that we are doing exactly what God has designed us  for in this season of life. 

       Every day, we will be working to engage the people around us. Washington D.C. has 190 people groups in it and 96-97% of the D.C. area is considered "unreached." That can be a very overwhelming statistic and sounds like a number used to describe a foreign country, not our nation's capital. Therefore, we have picked 4-5 of the key people groups in the area that we have some expertise on to build relationships with first. Starting next week, we have a team coming pretty much every week to help us with our work. Basically, those teams will help us go around the city and build relationships with international people in hopes of sharing the gospel with them. Ultimately, we want to see at least 4 churches commit to this project long term so that we can pair them with a people group in need of ministry. Please pray that we are able to serve those teams well and lead them effectively. There may be some training involved for these teams to learn the right and wrong way to engage another culture in the context of D.C. most effectively. The first team to come will be a large group of teenagers. (I'm so excited!) After that, most of the teams will be older.

That's the short answer. I will post Zac's long explanation later so that you can read it in more detail if you'd like. :) He's a better writer on those things than I am. :)

Please pray for us.
1) Pray that God uses us to build relationships with someone from each people group that we are looking to engage. He alone can make those connections and help us build that trust.
2) Pray that God gives us the wisdom, discernment, and leadership abilities that are necessary to leading each team.
3) Pray for our marriage. Pray that God continues to keep us joint together in Christ. We know that part of our ministry here is showing the people we encounter the beauty of a God centered marriage. We long to do that.  
4) Pray for our hearts as they settle in a new place. Pray that all the emotions associated with that get processed properly. :) That can so easily become a distraction for us.