Will the True Church Planter Step Forward

Man, what an amazing few days. I preached a sermon and was examined on the floor of Presbytery Saturday, and I PASSED! What an amazing feeling of relief. But it gets better. I have known for little over a month, that this past weekend was going to be Harbor Ocean Beach's first gathering events. I planned two dessert vision parties. One for Saturday evening and one for Sunday afternoon. Things were lining up well until two weeks ago when I was given the dates for my exams. Same week, no problem, right? After a study session a week ago with Doug Swagerty (Senior Pastor of the Harbor network of congregations), it became clear I had a long way to go to get ready. So for about a week, my life was all about studying. Note to any aspiring church planters: don't plan your first launch events the week of licensure exams.

Saturday evening came and I pulled up to the Brewster's home (hosts) with Faith and Isaac, and Michelle and Greg right behind, thinking I wonder if anyone else is going to come tonight? Two couples I had poured a little time into called at the last moment to apologize for not coming. Amazingly, I had peace about our pending party of seven. But by 7:30 the Brewster's living room was maxed out and we were scrounging around the house and garage looking for chairs! I was so blown away. Most of the folks who came, I had little-to-no contact with before the meeting. I had not gathered anyone. What a great reminder - that Jesus is the real church planter here in OB!

The same scenario played out for Sunday's vision party. I hoped ten people would come. I invited more young singles to Sunday's dessert party. I had not seen any of them in well over a week. It's a weekend and there are so many options living in OB. So maybe if eight showed up I would be excited. Well, we packed out another living room again. The two parties were awesome. I was so encouraged by these folks' passion for a new congregation in OB.

Thank you for your prayers. The real Church Planter showed up big time!

One Small Step for Jim, One Giant Leap for Ordination

With great excitement and relief I am glad to share that I passed the written and oral examination for licensure in the South Coast Presbytery here in southern California. It was actually an encouraging process. The canidates' committe was warm and friendly. I had heard horror stories of committees eating up and spitting out canidates, but I am convinced they were all for me. The questions they asked were thoughtful and approriate. The next step is to preach my sermon on Romans 5, "Rejoicing in Suffering" and to have a brief examination on the floor of Presbytery this Saturday. It is by no means a lay up, but the committe is not going to put you on the floor unless you are prepared.

I am so thanful, that in God's providence, my inlaws were visiting for eight days. They filled in the gaps with the kids while I disappeared for hours into my study cave. GLORY!

Please pray for our first two vision parties here in OB this weekend. Our first one is Saturday evening and our second is Sunday afternoon. I am so ready to start focusing my attention on planting this congregation.

Thank you again for all your prayers for my studies and examination. It could not have gone any better.

Glory

One of my favorite books I read to Faith and Isaac is Curious George. Right after George (a monkey) is captured, he is taken by the man with the big yellow hat on a big ship. George is left to himself to explore the ship but told "not to get into trouble". "Once on the deck, things quickly begin to to happen and before you know it, first this, then this and before George could blink, he was submerged underwater." The good news is I don't feel washed overboard, yet. Things are starting to ramp up quickly. First, the date for my oral examination for my license in the the South Coast Presbytery is next Tuesday at 9:00 am. Please pray that my studying would honor him.

Next, I am super stoked (surfer lingo of excited) to share that I was able to lead young man named Mike to the Lord on Friday. It was so amazing to see how the Holy Spirit had prepared his heart! He was so pregnant for the gospel and about exploded when he received it. Also, I am getting things lined up for our first offical gatherings for the OB church plant. We will have two dessert vision parties in the next two weeks. I can't hardly wait!

God answers prayer!!!

We are so excited to say that our dear friend Ben made it to the USA and the things that he had to attend to went in his favor!!!! We will pick him up from the airport in the morning! Thank you for all your prayers.

Prayer needed for African brother

Hopefully, my dear brother and friend Benjamin is on his way to the United States. He is a native of Rwanda and became very close to our family when he attended the same seminary as Jim. He is going to be visiting with us in a few days then back to Rwanda. God has spared his life countless times and I know He has great plans for him. We long to see his precious face and be surrounded by his Christ loving spirit. Nothing in Africa is easy...so I pray that your plane is in the air!
We must give thanks in all things."
-Benjamin M.
Genocide Survivor Rwanda, 1994

Director of Reach Rwanda- "Bringing Reconciliation and Forgiveness through the Power of the Gospel"

Faith and Isaac with Ben for the last time in August of 2006.

Break Through

For quite awhile Faith has been afraid to get on here bicycle. This may be surprising if you knew how much Faith loved to ride her bicycle around our neighborhood in Easley. During the summer, I encouraged her to venture in the brave new world of training wheel free bike riding. At first she was a bit nervous but gave it a good shot. To my surprise Faith kept making excuses why she did not feel it was “time” to try again. She did not have a bad experience the first time but now she wanted no part of her bike. Once we got to San Diego, I told her that she would have to practice five minutes a day. I gave a rousing speech on overcoming fears. To my dismay each of our practice times ended in tears. After a few days, I could not get Faith within three feet of her bike. I could not figure out what went wrong? My child was now permanently scared and hated her bike. Through the fall and winter Faith’s tricked out Barbee bike collected dust and just got in the way of our over crowded garage. It served as a constant reminder of Faith’s fear crippling her from the joy of riding a bike. Several of her classmates and their younger siblings ride their bikes to school. In a sarcastic tone, I would point them out to Faith. She would just hang her head and turn away in shame. How did this turn so bad? This may sound insignificant, but it broke my heart to see my little girl so defeated and the kicker was that I was responsible for most of the wounds. After praying, I went to her and asked forgiveness. I told her that she did not have to ever ride her bike and that it was OK.

Well after a few months, Faith climbed on her bike minus the training wheels yesterday. I lowered her seat so she could use it as a sit down scooter. After a few minutes she was riding down the driveway with her feet up. I told her that I thought she could probably peddle? In a blink of an eye, she put her feet on her peddles took off like a rocket. I cheered and shouted and our other neighbors who had seen the carnage of our summer practice sessions, joined in. It was such a cool moment. Faith beamed with pride. On January 1, 2008, Faith may have learned to ride her bike, but I learned even a more important lesson. The lesson of applying the Gospel of repentance and unconditional love to my children.