Friday, June 30, 2006

Still Alive / In a phase of discerning

Yes I am still alive. My family and I have been busy little traveling bunnies over the last month. We have been to the west coast and the east coast looking at ministry opportunities but for reasons not entirely known to me, those opportunities have been closed. Nevertheless, I will trust that God is providentially at work in our lives, as he has always been in the past. We also went home to the southern part of the Lake Michigan area (did I mention we were traveling bunnies?) to see family and most especially Laura’s father who is recovering from prostate removal surgery which caused some serious complications but he is better now and is recovering well. He, Jim Martin, is still not out of the woods in terms of cancer and may need to undergo chemo therapy, so please pray for him.

Any ways, Laura and I are trying to discern the future path God has for us. We know God has called us to serve him and for me to proclaim his Son Jesus as the Messiah. All I want to do is help other people find hope in Jesus and learn to live the life he is calling them too, while leading others around me to be effective witnesses and servants of the Risen One. Yet I am not sure where, so I continue to be discerning. While we continue to discern, we are asking ourselves if God is calling us to ministry through church planting or through an existing congregation. But I believe all discernment should be done in Christian community – and you all, the readers of this blog, are part of my Christian community, so what do you think?

In the meantime, if you know of a congregation looking for a minister, one where I would fit in well, then please let me know. Please keep us in your prayers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Rex,

I will pray you find something soon. We were in your shoes ten years ago. I don't know what kind of ministry you are lookin for. You might check out the church in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. This is a church that is in a growing community that really needs revival. I started in a small struggling church of 40, and it grew to nearly 100 in 4 years. This church is a little less than half that size.

Jason said...

Hey Rex,

Have you thought about staying in Memphis? Laura is an excellent witness of God's power in Memphis City Schools. You could work part-time in some coffee shop and just spend time building relationships with unbelievers. When you have several new baptized believers in your midst, start a house church or two. Before you know it, you'll be a full-time minister among hundreds of new believers waiting for God to send them out in his name. I'm sure you don't need to hear another option. But It's something I've been thinking about recently.

-jason