Equipping
Christian Leaders to Fulfill the Great Commission
20 October 2006
A couple of Sundays ago, I was faced with the following note from one of the kids in the church:
Dear Mr. Wilson,
Your sermon was fantastic, unbelievably awesome, better, loud, and looooooong!
How do you respond to that???
I used to criticize missionaries who
were infrequent in sending newsletters. Now I sympathize. I have never known
life to be as busy as it has been since moving into church-planting! Here are
highlights of things that I’m doing these days:
· Studying the Hebrew text of Isaiah and preparing sermons - check our website to see my Isaiah commentary develop and to read/hear my sermons!
· Recovering data from my computer and setting up on a new computer after our house was struck by lightning (groan)!
· Weekly apologetics meeting with college and military guys – look for new topical papers on hell, church membership, etc., in the Bible section of our website.
· Hospitality – dinner guests every week and overnight guests every other week!
· Dates with Paula – getting to know all the local coffee shops!
· Meeting local pastors to build rapport with them.
· Lunches with men in the church for pastoral care.
· Getting to know new people, especially neighbors.
· Completing a new TentMaker Project website: http://www.tentmakerproject.org/ - I’m still on the board.
· Morning prayer walks around the neighborhood.
· Planning weekly worship, including music – yeah!
· Steering Committee meetings.
· Planning church advertising for K-State
students,
· Weekly long-distance mentoring with my Dad.
· Working through the ecclesiology of church planting with the Illiana presbytery and my steering committee.
· The joys of first-time homeownership: fixing our own appliances, plumbing, roofing, lawn, etc.!
· Homeschooling – I do Hebrew, Guitar, Biblical
Manhood, and Isaiah; Paula does History, Art, Science, and the 3 R’s.
Kids Corner: Hope Victoria
Recently, I’ve been trying to figure out the
“mine/yours” thing.
I say, “Mine.”
Mama says, “Yes, that’s yours.”
“Yours?”
“Yes,” says Mama, “You say, ‘mine,’ when something is yours.”
Confusing! I HAVE figured out a lot of my colors, though: blue, yellow, black, purple, juice…. They always correct me by saying, “orange,” when I say “juice,” but I KNOW it’s really “juice.” And I just LOVE to sing the “Jesus Loves Me” tune and words. I’m almost 2 years old, and I try to obey Mama and Papa with a happy heart, but sometimes they tell me “no,” when I REALLY want them to say “yes,” like when I find markers laying around and I want to decorate the furniture with them…
Uniting Church & Family
We are dedicated to a family-integrated model of church, based on scriptures like Deut 31: 12-13 and Matt. 19:14. (See Nate’s “Generational Vision” sermon on Deut. 4 for more!) This means trying to develop worship so that children as well as adults can participate and be edified and planning church events that whole families can attend together. Nate attended a Vision Forum “Uniting Church & Family” conference earlier this month, where one of the speakers, Voddie Baucham, shared alarming statistics that during an all-time high in youth pastors, there has been an all-time low of children remaining in the church past their first year in college (12% according to one survey); Voddie encouraged us in our quest to reform the way the church relates to its children. Because this value is so violently opposed by contemporary American culture, it was helpful to see working models and be encouraged by others.
Prayer
Corner
Praise God for the development of Christ the
Praise God for the ten family units (including some singles,
young couples, and families with children) who have come more than once to
worship with us. Pray for wisdom for Nate and Paula in where to spend our time
with so many opportunities.
Praise God for the good rapport we have found with six neighbors;
pray that we can continue to show God’s love to them and that we will be able
to share Jesus with them.
Pray for our daughter Hope to submit to Jesus’ lordship by
obeying her parents, and pray that she would continue for the rest of her life
to praise God with her words and songs.
Please continue to send tax-deductible
donations to Christ the
Christ The Redeemer Church
P.O. Box 1007
Link to Christ the Redeemer Church Website
