Personal Updates

We come to the end of one season and enter into the summer season. As we do, I thought I would take this time for a personal update as well as a few things I am working on behind-the-scenes.
 
The rest of the month and through July have a number of large markers for me and Angela. Particularly, next Thursday, Angela and I pull out of town for 11 days as we drive to Greeneville, Tennessee and then back. Our son, Josiah, is marrying his beautiful fiancée, Emmy, on May 24th. It is one of those big life moments that we have prayed for over twenty years now. We love Josiah and his fiancée! I have loved watching our kids grow and lean into the Lord over the years through the many trials and struggles they have faced. They are learning more and more how faithful God is to carry us. Now to be able to gather and officiate the wedding for Josiah and Emmy is a great delight and satisfaction!
 
Just a couple weeks later we will be in Missouri for our nephew’s wedding where I get to officiate that wedding as well. I have enjoyed watching our nephew grow up in the Lord and this too is a lovely gift I have to be a part of their wedding in June.
 
Following our wedding trips, the month of July will bring a mission’s trip for me and our group of 16 others to Iquitos, Peru. I haven’t been there since 2018 so I am eager to see how the Lord has been working in the lives of the precious people there. (If you would like to pray and give, there is a link below with more details.)
 
Besides these more personal areas, I am focused on a number of ministry pieces that will affect our ministry in the days ahead. For instance, tomorrow we finish our study through the book of Revelation and then on June 18, we begin a study through the book of Titus. This takes time to prepare for on the back-end. We are also at work in our pastor search for our next associate pastor. We are about to move to the next level of attention needed for this as we get some pre-qualified candidates from the company we’ve hired to help us in the search.
 
There is a lot of behind-the-scenes work in our discipleship process and Small Groups ministry happening now. (More details on June 4th!) In the fall, we will be launching a number of studies and paths to help us draw closer to Jesus that I am really excited about. In the fall we will offer a few new groups:

Praying Life Cohorts (groups to help us grow in prayer) ((we're piloting a semester this summer! follow the link if you'd like to join one))
Person of Jesus studies (seeing Jesus and how to be more like Him)
Hope groups (problem-focused groups)

(If you are interested in any of these, see our Small Groups page and put your name down on the interest list.)
 
Would you pray for me? There is a lot of activity that really excites me for where God is taking us. Pray that I would have wisdom and clarity needed. Pray for our elders and staff and leaders as we work through various areas of our church. As I have said, I truly do mean, God is at work… and it’s good.

Nothing On My Own,
Pastor John