Newsletter May/June

¡Hola!

This is a new way that I will be communicating with all of you. I hope to update it more regularly and keep you posted as to what is happening with the church plant.

Anyway, I just got back from our mission trip to Peru a couple of weeks ago and am finally settling back into life at home. Our Peru team consisted of people from our 2 current churches: GLC Baltimore and GLC Stepping Stone, as well as a few people from our Light Church plant. It was a tremendous trip as we witnessed God do amazing things in the small city of Huaycan, about an hour outside of the capital city, Lima.

Over the 8-day period, we presented the Gospel through dramas, puppet shows, and preaching to over 10,000(!) people, and we witnessed over 1000 people commit their lives to Christ. It was a life changing experience for the entire team to be involved in such a work of God. We were out doing ministry for 14-15 hours a day, every day, and that made the 8 days fly by. It also made transitioning back to “normal” life in ministry hard. However, things are really starting to pick up as we are just a little over 3 months away from the launch of our THIRD church plant, The Light.

Yes, we have finally settled on a name: The Light. We are still refining the meaning behind this name as a church, but as many of you know, there are numerous references to the word “light” in the scripture. Also, the art community and God’s creation cannot come to life outside of the light. So it is fitting that a church, a gathering of God’s people, would be that light to the people and the community.

Our church planting core group is working busily. We are meeting twice a week to pray, train, and plan. This last month, we have walked the neighborhoods of Bolton Hill and Mt. Vernon several times, covering them in prayer. These are the very communities in which we will be situated, as well as a central hub of the arts in Baltimore City. We have also been using our time to prepare and train individuals as well as the team. Many of our team are young (half just graduated college this year, and more are still in school), and we want to be responsible with their passion, ideals, and energy. We also don’t want them to get so busy “doing” that their personal and spiritual growth suffers. This has meant teaching and discussions not only on the nature of church, church planting, evangelism, etc., but also on developing their prayer lives and their relationships with God and each other. To this end, we’ve also taken a team-building trip out of the city into the Shenandoah Valley for camping/canoeing, which was quite an experience, and has done a lot to bind us together.

We are also hard at work preparing for the missions teams that are coming up to help us from Mississippi soon. We’ve been mapping out a strategy for announcing the coming church plant to this slice of Baltimore, and how these teams can help us do that. Baltimore is a city that appreciates being a bit different, and even revels in its kitschy-ness. The neighborhoods that we are reaching are especially immune to the ordinary, and we can’t wait to show that the world hasn’t cornered the market on the Creative.

My Trip to MS at the beginning of May was extremely fruitful. I was able to meet, reconnect, and revisit with those of you who came to Baltimore for the Vision Tour at the end of last year. And I was excited to realize that all of “y’all” who did come for the Vision Tour really did catch the vision for what God is doing through our church and especially in Baltimore. It was truly encouraging to witness how we have friends in MS who are not just partnering with us but have become advocates for the work that we are trying to do here.

The MS trip also allowed me to spend face-to-face time with great men like Paul Harrell and Ken Rhodes who have a tremendous kingdom-minded vision for mobilization and missions. I also gained a better appreciation of our denomination as a whole as I visited Gulfport and the work that our SBC has done. We continue to pray for the work being done there.

All this and to top it off “CATFISH”! Yes, all-you-can-eat fried catfish at the famous “Jerry’s”! It was an unforgettable experience, and I look forward to going back to MS.

Our most urgent prayer needs:
(1) Worship Space, which is hard to find in the city and very expensive
(2) For GLC- Baltimore, as I am transitioning out as the Lead Pastor
(3) For those coming to be part of the church plant to remain faithful and committed to their convictions and the heart that God has given them
(4) For the mission teams that are coming: that they would be prepared, that we would use their generous time and help wisely, and they would catch the vision of what God is doing Baltimore.
(5) For more Partnerships: that God would bring others around our church plant to partner together in what God is doing here.
(6) For our fundraising: that we will be able to reach our goal and especially for the next three months as we need to start purchasing electronic equipment, stage setup, lighting, projector, software, web design, etc. for the services beginning in September/October. We are anticipating an expense nearing $20,000.