Published September 11, 2017
Involve Church, Nampa, Idaho
Luke
Ministry Highlights
We were excited to be able to baptize six people in August, five of whom were over the age of 14 years. We see God working in people’s lives and as they are excited about Him, living for Him, they share the Gospel and see others come to faith too.
I was able to complete our Starting Point group with 5 individuals. My co-leader, Lance, felt it was a great experience and I’m setting him up to train the next co-leader and begin a new group later in the Fall. The individuals who were a part of the group are all pursuing further discipleship. Previously, they were unsure of what to do next in regard to spiritual growth. Its great to see God growing people!
We also had Serve Sunday on August 20. We hold this once per year and get out into the community to serve in whatever capacity we are able. Since we are a mobile church and guests in an elementary school, we decided to pull weeds, pressure wash windows, trim hedges, and renovate an old shed. We also partnered with the parks and recreation department in our city to restore some old picnic tables. It was fun to get to serve together and it seems we built some bridges with the school and City of Nampa.
This month will be forever marked by the drowning of Mason Cunningham, the 18-month-old son of a couple in our church. It has been a difficult thing to work through, but it has also been amazing to see how our church family has come together to love Mason’s parents and grandparents, all of whom attend. God has used something horrible to demonstrate the love of Christ through our local church.
Key Prayer Requests
Please pray for the Cunningham family. The father is taking things extremely hard. We are working with them to love them through this time and help them heal. They have another little boy on the way, which complicates matters even further. Both Pastor Ryan and I need wisdom as we minister to them.
I will be preaching from Mark 11:1-26 on October 1, so please be praying for me as I prepare.
I’ll be heading to a ministry conference where I serve on a committee that focuses on church planting and revitalization. I just started serving in this capacity, so please pray that I am able to both learn quickly and contribute to help with church planting and revitalization in our network of churches in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Please pray for my wife, Rachael, as she begins teaching trumpet at two universities in the area and enters into the performance season for an ensemble in which she plays.
Prominent Lessons
I learned a lot about the mourning process with the death of Mason this month. I found that people all process loss differently. I also found out that it seems God will provide the energy necessary to make it through the next minute, the next hour, and the next day. This was especially important as Pastor Ryan and I processed through this tragedy with the family.
I also learned that God uses many different ways to draw people to Himself. In our Starting Point class, we had a session covering the resurrection. While the people in the group had heard of the resurrection (some of them were professing believers already), they hadn’t realized how central the resurrection was to their faith. The centrality of the resurrection seemed to strike a chord and I saw the faith of many of the group members strengthen that day.
Pastor Ryan and I headed to the mountains to spend time reflecting on the last year of ministry, prayer, and looking to the future. It was a good time and we accomplished quite a bit of planning. It reminded me that sometimes we need to hit “pause” and seek God outside of the normal demands of ministry. It highlighted for me the need for regular times of solitude.
Pastor Ryan and I were able to counsel a lady named Malorie who was a candidate for baptism. She was having second thoughts about baptism because she felt she wasn’t good enough. It gave us an opportunity to talk her through the Gospel once again, reinforcing with her grace versus works. In addition to that, we talked about the fact that sometimes feelings don’t agree with what we know to be true. As we talked through it, she seemed to get more excited at the prospect again and ended up being baptized on Sunday, August 27. It reminded me that God uses many different situations in the church to refine and clarify people’s faith. I also learned a lot by watching Ryan walk her through things.
Key Goals for the Next Month
For September, I am beginning to help mentor a guy we are preparing to plant another church in the next 2-3 years. Our goal is to fully establish a formal pathway for him so that he is better equipped to handle such a challenge.
I am working with our leaders in implementing a next steps discipleship pathway. While discipleship is happening informally throughout the church, there is not a broad understanding of the concept. As one of my projects, I am hoping to help jumpstart the process.
Moving into our third year as a church, we are going to establish a more formal leadership structure, including clearly defining the roles of elder/pastor and deacon. We are also praying that God would provide and raise up qualified men for these roles. As a part of one of my projects, I am going to being writing informational papers that are accessible to laypeople that outline the biblical definitions of elder and deacon. I will also be writing role descriptions to help people understand how these roles are applied at Involve Church.
I am looking to recruit several more people to our more formal process of training church planters/pastors. I hope to see several people express interest and have them enrolled in September.
Rachael
Ministry Highlights
Our back to school family night brought in a lot of families from the neighborhood. It was good to visit with a few of them.
I have been encouraged by how well our church family has helped out another family who needed help. Everything from prayers and encouragement, to meals has been joyfully provided.
Key Prayer Requests
Last month a family from our church lost their 20 month old son when we drowned in a creek. This has been very hard on all of us. Luke was with the family through it all and I know it was emotionally and physically exhausting for him. We prayed all night long that they would find him safe and sound. Even from me, it is hard to understand why God didn’t answer that prayer. I know it will be a long road of healing for the family and I ask for prayer that we would help and minister to them well.
Prominent Lessons
Praying for and grieving with the family who lost their son has been a growing experience for all of us. Some things that I have been reminded of are: this world is not as it should be, God is still good and we need him as we live in this broken world, and the church is necessary as we live this life to encourage and hold each other up.
Key Goals for the Next Month
We will be starting life groups next week. Our group has grown too large for one home, so we are dividing into two groups. Praying that this goes well and we have two strong groups this season.
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