Hi Friends,
It’s been a cold winter here but Spring is coming! Here’s the latest:
Personal: Pam is now fully vaccinated, and I get my second shot on March 22nd. We are so grateful for this blessing and now look forward to seeing my mom and her husband (who also just got their shots) next month in Florida. It’s been a year and a half since we’ve been able to be together and so we are all very excited. I also would appreciate your prayers for my mom as she just had surgery for bladder cancer and is now preparing for four months of chemotherapy.
Care Net: Since a new administration has taken office, a lot of the political polarization and anxiety in my programming area has settled and, gratefully, it’s much easier to keep the focus on Christ and the gospel. There’s also lots happening, and we are growing! Just last week, I hired a second full-time fatherhood and family program manager. So, our church initiative team now consists of three full-time positions, three part-time, and 19 volunteer Making Life Disciples Regional Coordinators to move our mission along. Indeed, God is providing well for what we need in this new season.
Book: The newly expanded & updated 2021 version of How I Became a Christian Despite the Church is now available!
Church Plant: 2020 was an interesting year to consider planting a church! As a reminder, we got approval and funding to explore planting an EPC church in Gloucester County at the end of February 2020 and then the pandemic hit. Like the rest of the world, we were left struggling for several months with the question “How do we get to know and build relationships with our neighbors when we can’t even leave our homes?!” Despite all the challenges, however, in God’s mercy and providence, we began 2021 with a core group of six adults and a firm decision to move forward with a three-year plan to plant a church. Here are our priorities for 2021:
- Continue prayer, leadership development, one-on-one mentoring, and small groups
- Choose name for the church
- Populate a church website with content and make useable for sharing with friends
- Take our core group through Christianity Explored so we’re equipped to do this in our neighborhoods
- Identify 2-3 tangible ways to connect to students at Rowan University
- Launch a simple weekly digital “Sunday” service by the end of the year
And here are a few ways you can pray for us specifically:
- That I would be more like Mary than Martha: listening well and especially to Jesus
- That our core group would have strong marriages, wisdom, creativity, unity, and deeper, trusting relationships with our neighbors
- That we would have a successful planning “retreat” at the end of March
- That we would get a good name for the church so we can establish a virtual presence this year
- That we would find the best way to connect with the right people and ministry at Rowan University
- That we would launch in a way that keeps the focus on neighbors, new converts, and reengaging those disillusioned or hurt by the church
Finally, I wanted to share this provocative 35-minute film called Godspeed with you. It contains some important but forgotten reminders about what it means to follow Jesus in our busy culture. I hope it stirs some great conversations between you and your family and friends.
Thank you so much for caring about our ministry and praying!!!
Greg
P.S. Please drop me a note about how you and yours are doing. I’d love to hear from you.