“Praise the Lord!
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who
greatly delights in His
commandments!... Light dawns in the darkness of the upright; he is gracious,
merciful and righteous… he is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm,
trusting in the Lord; his heart is steady, he will not be afraid.” ~ Psalm
112:1,4,7-8a
As we
continue this journey that the Lord is leading us on called church planting,
one theme that
continues to be shared with us is, “You know church planting is
not for the faint of heart. Can YOU
handle it?” My answer is always the same. “Well…actually…no.”
Ministry
itself is not for the faint of heart. Let me remind you that being a Christian is not for the faint of
heart! None of us can handle the pressures of the world, the flesh and the
devil on our own. None of us can withstand the depression that comes with
feeling like a failure at times, or the low self-esteem that is around the
corner when our human plans are, well, not going as planned.
The Psalmist
reminds us that to whatever and wherever the Lord has called us, we are to
praise Him and be obedient to Him. It is in that which we receive His grace,
mercy and righteousness. It is by trusting in Christ that our heart stands
firm, is steady and we lose the fear that is before us.
Oswald
Chambers reminds us in My Utmost for His
Highest (June 3rd): “Whenever there is doubt, stop at once.
Never reason it out and say – ‘I wonder why I shouldn’t?’ God instructs us in
what we choose, that is He guides our common sense, and we no longer hinder His
Spirit by continually saying, ‘Now Lord, what is Thy will?’”
So can I handle it? No, I can’t. I
will be the first to admit. However, I know the One who can. Lisa and I know
that the Lord’s will for our life at this time is to plant a church. We also
know now…and here is what many of you have been waiting for us to tell you…
that the place He wants us to plant is Myrtle Beach, SC. We also know the area
He wants us to plant the church is in the Carolina Forest community. You can
learn more about this plant in what follows.
You may say,
“Wow!! Myrtle Beach, I would love to
live there! – the sand, the sun, the ocean.” I have to admit that Myrtle Beach
is a wonderful place to vacation. However, what we are truly entering is a
spiritually dark place. As you will see in our handout there is a lot of
brokenness there – gambling addictions, drug and alcohol addictions, teen
pregnancies is through the roof (higher than state average and a lot of repeat
births), broken families and a non-commit to religion of any kind. That is part of the reason why no one
has wanted to take on this challenge for seventeen years. Yes, the sand, sun
and ocean will be nice; but the reason we go is out of obedience to the Lord’s
call and the lost souls who are broken that need to hear about the grace and
love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Let me ask you to partner with us in
two important ways. First, and most crucial, is pray with us. Pray
fervently
that God will go before us into this vast mission field. We need Him to “guide
our common sense.” Second, pray about partnering with us financially. We begin
with twelve percent of our goal. Ask the Lord if His desire for you is to give
above the tithe to your church a three year committed support offering to
reaching the lost in Carolina Forest. Even a one-time gift will go a long way
in helping us get started toward moving on the field. Another opportunity may
be for your church, Sunday School class, or small group/Bible study group to
support us financially.
Finally, I want to close by telling you how much we appreciate you. We would not be where we are if it wasn’t for God placing you in our lives. Our friends and family have been very supportive in standing with us as we sought Him in this next step of our ministry. We love you and we pray for you.
