Keep it coming

Praise report from Matt…

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Matt. He told me that he was meeting with his pastor in PA to let him know the plan to come plant the church. He asked for prayer so I prayed for him. Matt really wanted his pastor to understand his heart. That he loved the church he’s at, but feels compelled to come partner in the new church. I received a text from him today saying that it had gone really well, and I’m glad to hear it.

A Prayer Partner at work…

I’ve been looking for a map of our target area only 4’ x 4’. I haven’t really mentioned it to anyone, just something I wanted. (I want to know this area better than anyone else. That is a personal goal of mine. I want to fully understand the culture to which I’m ministering.) Yesterday my secretary, Carol, mentioned her husband, Roger – one of my prayer partners- picked up a map from the Bank in Severna Park and had started praying for every street in our target area by name for SRC. (I love prayer partners). And its jut the kind of map I wanted. He gave me his and has started a research project with me to deliniate all the area churches on the map.

Unexpected blessings…

I believe that prayer partners fight against principalities and powers of the air for me. It’s amazing to me that already, in light of yesterday’s post, I’m receiving things I haven’t even prayed for. Churches like Cornerstone A/G in Bowie donating a printer. Then there’s the daughter of a friend who works for a direct mailing company, she knows someone in sales who has offered to reduce a direct mailing by the amount of her commission. God is providing, and I can’t wait to see how he continues to do exceedingly, abundantly more than I could ask or imagine.

Partnership and a kingdom view…
I talked with Noah today. Noah is lead pastor of a Mennonite church in Greenbelt. We’ve been in talks about how their church might partner with SRC. He mentioned it to his leadership team, and they are really excited about the possibility of partnering.
One of the team talked to Noah and told him this story (summed up for time). In the 1980’s a pastor of a local A/G church down in that area lived next door to the pastor of the church Noah now pastors. They grew a friendship and decided to partner together financially and in prayer to plant churches in Guyana. They were not Mennonite churches, not A/G churches, kinda just half and half partnership to start churches. The A/G district officials found out about it and told the A/G Pastor that his church was not permitted to participate because the churches being planted were not specifically A/G.
That story is heartbreaking, and while I know that the current leadership of our district has a greater vision for the Kingdom, it now has this church wondering if they are allowed to partner financially with us. Ridiculous! God give us a vision greater than a man-made denomination. I have credentials through the A/G and am proud to be part of it as an organization. I adhere to its 16 fundamental doctrines, and the church I’m planting is thoroughly A/G. But to miss the harvest field for the denomination is not what I’m about.

--Ben