Thoughts Across The Bow

We are shifting to Magnolia, TX!  One of my favorite books is Pilgrim's Progress. They say that Charles Spurgeon read it over 100 times and I think that is reflected in his devotional "Morning and Evening." In Pilgrim's Progress, the main character, Christian is on a journey to the Celestial City and he has to navigate through unknown terrain. Christian's journey in the book is a powerful metaphor for the Christian life. Similarly, church planters often refer to church planting as a journey. There is a process where this team of people who are committed to starting a church, learn to trust the Lord, respond to His direction, and develop the courage to act.  In our journey toward planting, the Lord put some new terrain features in our path. We felt it was prudent to assess our plan for planting in Cypress. We realized that although we were meeting in Cypress we had no committed full-time core team members in Cypress (despite evangelism and recruiting). As we began ...

Driskill Mountain: The highest point in Lousiana. Elevation:  535 Ft.  Approximate Location:   https://goo.gl/maps/TUqPyECmX8xZXdqp7 Approximate Trail Head:   https://goo.gl/maps/ae7Cf7jwgGiokcJa7 Alltrails link: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/louisiana/driskill-mountain-trail Elevation: 535 Ft.  Means of travel: Hiking Distance: Approx. 1.8 miles Out-and-back Description: You park at the trailhead at an old church and cemetery. The trail is clearly observable and similar to a wide forest service road all of the way to the top. It took our family of six (including two 8-year-olds who like climb and jump off things) about 45 minutes to hike to the top and back to the car. Bring a bottle of water it is pretty humid. There are no public bathrooms.

  Gospel Partners,  We have some updates! We have a target date and timeline for launching our church plant:  January-Febuary 2024!  That means we need to begin raising financial support to plant a church! The first thing we need to begin raising financial support for is to begin establishing a legal entity we call church. We generally take for granted that churches have a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, FEIN, registered name with the government, bank accounts, and all of those unseen support systems. There are companies with CPAs and attorneys that help church planters get the right paperwork filed and the right legal systems built out in order to protect this work in a healthy manner. After talking with other church planters, we think that it is wise and prudent to use experts and professionals to assist us in this work. Please pray about and consider financially supporting this work.  The elders of our sending church were also gracious enough to let me prea...

  Strategies for Reading Your Bible More in the New Year: Here are some strategies, ideas, and tips to encourage you to read your Bible more in the new year. These tips are in no particular order, with no context.  Pick a consistent time and location to read your Bible. This will aid you in becoming more disciplined and begin forming a habit. (I have a particular spot on the couch I read my Bible. My reading Bible, pens, and highlighters all live there next to that spot on the couch, to my wife's chagrin.) Read your Bible, preferably in the morning. If you try to read your Bible right before bed, real scientific studies have shown that you will, in fact, fall asleep. Plus, you want to pray and read your Bible before the day's battles have begun, not after they are over. Then you can also marinate on the Word throughout the day and apply the word throughout your day.  Find a Bible reading plan. Our church uses a community bible reading plan (now called “ Seeing Jesus Toget...

An Argument for Church Planting:   Biblical Justification             The Great Commission presented by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 is generally regarded as the motivational track for evangelism, but it should also be linked with a passion for church planting. Evangelism must be tied into making "disciples," "baptizing them," and "teaching them to observe" God's Word (Mat. 28:18-20). The pattern laid out in the book of Acts is that after people came to faith in Christ, they were baptized, devoted themselves to the "apostles' teaching," "fellowship," "breaking of bread," and "prayers" (Acts 2:41-42). This New Testament pattern for believers assumes that new believers will join a local body of believers and commit themselves to "fellowship" (Acts 2:42; Heb. 10:25). The book of Acts primarily records the missionary journeys of Peter and Paul. After the Apostles left a community of believers, a church...

Quick Update: In September, Juli and I attended a church planting assessment with Send SBTC. It was our second church planting assessment, and we left the assessment encouraged (and excited for the journey ahead).  We received a recommendation to plant from Send SBTC. Our launch team/life group has also begun meeting. Please pray for us as we begin to engage the community evangelistically, expand our team by inviting others to join us, and enrich relationships on the launch team. We are also talking over church names and could use some prayer. Two of my brothers from the HCPN (Houston Church Planting Network) launched their respective churches. I got to attend both church launches, which encouraged and blessed us.  Fr. Jon Beadle is the pastor at All Saints in Conroe, TX. All Saints is an Anglican church. Our Anglican brothers have produced some great Gospel-centered thinkers like C.S. Lewis, J.I. Packer, and J.C. Ryle.  https://www.allsaintsconroe. com/ Pastor Raph Peter...