What a Summer!!

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”  – Luke 19:10

The seed that was planted in our hearts last October to plant a church is now beginning to produce buds for

flowers. This past month has been one of meetings and affirmations. The last newsletter gave you the update that we were assessed and approved by our denomination’s home mission organization called Missions to North America and of our calling to plant a church in Myrtle Beach, SC. This month I attended Pee Dee Presbytery’s MNA committee meeting to cast my vision for the church plant. I was approved by their committee and was issued a call by them for the work. That call was then approved by the Pee Dee Shepherding Committee. Finally, I had to go before Pee Dee Candidates and Credentials committee to be examined on my views about certain areas such as theology, sacraments, etc. Finally, I had to go before all of Pee Dee presbytery itself to give my testimony and be examined in order to transfer from my current presbytery (Calvary) to the one Horry County is in – Pee Dee Presbytery.

Now for my friends and family who are not Presbyterian, you may be asking, “why in the world does Mark have to go through all of this ‘stuff’?” The simple and best answer is that God is preparing us. I have been reading a great book this summer titled Prepared by Grace, for Grace: The Puritans on God’s Ordinary Way of Leading Sinners to Christ by Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley. On page two is this quote: “The Puritans urged people to prepare for many things: prepare to hear the preaching of the Word, prepare for conversion, prepare to partake of the Lord’s Supper, prepare to face trials, and prepare for the Lord’s coming in glory.” God is always preparing us for all kinds of things. The book primarily focuses on God’s preparing us to be saved by grace through faith in Christ alone by Scripture alone for His glory alone. However, as the quote above mentions, God prepares us for other things, not only the hearer hearing the preaching of the Word; but also the preacher preaching the Word, the evangelist sharing the Word, the church planter beginning a new work in a new community, and even you starting something new in your life if you are truly seeking the Lord’s will in your adventure.

I told you that to tell you this, the preparation is done for this portion of the work. I have been called, prayed over, assessed, examined and approved by all committees and agencies. There is nothing left to do here but to raise our support and then move to the field. So if you were asking, “What’s next?” That is it. MNA requires us to have the first year of support raised before we can move onto the field. At present, we are at about 26% of first year, either in pledges or cash given. We are reaching out to individuals and churches to partner with us in this ministry, to allow us to be an extension of their hands to do a great work in a spiritually dead area. You know the beach is a great place to work, live and vacation; especially if you are not saved. Myrtle Beach, as beautiful as it is, contains some of the highest percentages of vices: drug and alcohol addiction, sexual and pornographic sin, broken marriages, high percentage of teen pregnancy, high percentage of out-of-wedlock cohabitation, in other words – if you can name it, you can find it in Myrtle Beach. Our goal is not to go and just gather other Christians to form a church, but to gather the saints that are lost that God has been preparing to hear about His Son, Jesus Christ and bring them into His Kingdom.

Jonathan, Tanner & Katherine

It is not going to be easy. Beeke and Smalley quote the great Puritan Thomas Shepherd in the book mentioned above on page 91 stating, “Those that are saved, are saved with much difficulty…. It is a wonderful hard thing to be saved. The gait is strait, and therefore a man must sweat and strive to enter.” Shepherd wasn’t speaking about working to get into heaven. No, he was talking about how many fight God and wrestle with their own hearts when the Holy Spirit breaks down that heart of stone and turns it into a heart of flesh. We know God is calling us to witness to and be witnesses of His great work there. What can you do to partner with us? The first and most important is to pray, pray, pray. Below is some things for which you can pray specifically. The second is to help support us financially.  The instructions for doing this are to the right if God lays this on your heart. You or your church may pledge support for the three year work, or it may be more feasible for you or your church to give a one-time love gift.  Either way, please uphold us in prayer!