Learning to Love My Neighbor

I want to begin with an apology. In starting this site, my hope was to at least write a monthly update on my church planting internship. Unfortunately, I never wrote an update for March and now April is more than half over! So I apologize, especially when I remember how many of you are praying for my family and our ministry. Thank you again for all of your encouragement and support!

At the same time, I don't want to give the impression that my internship has not kept me busy. First, after much prayer and discussion, my community group has decided to focus on our local neighborhood to invest in and reach out to with the love of Christ. Having a growing conviction that I have not been the neighbor that God has called me to be, it was reaffirmed by reading a blog post from Timmy Brister, "From Strangers to Missionaries." And I will only learn to love my neighbor as I intentionally develop a strategy to get to know those living around us and build relationships with them.

As a result, I started using the Nextdoor social networking site to develop more community in our neighborhood. I have also begun cooking brownies and cookies to take around to our neighbors so that I can introduce my family to them and get to know them better. My goal is to connect with at least two households a week. I have already spent some time getting to know both of our next door neighbors (who recently moved in), and I look forward to continue developing relationships with them.

My community group has also sought to become more intentional in getting to know their neighbors, and we are seeking to become more involved. Lord willing, we plan to go to our neighborhood alliance's meeting next month. We are also considering having a cookout and inviting our neighbors over for some free food and games. I am excited about what God is doing among us as we learn to love our neighbors.

Additionally, I went to another training session on biblical counseling earlier this month. While I am not as far as I would like to be in the certification process, I still hope to have my application completed by the end of this summer. If my application is approved, then I can begin supervised counseling this fall. Since Scripture is sufficient for life and godliness, I feel the need to grow in my knowledge of God's Word as I prepare to help bring the hope of the gospel and the truth of Scripture into the lives of others.

As you can tell, I continue to need your prayers. God is the One who needs to bless my efforts for His glory, and I must not rely on my own skills or strength during this internship. My family also needs wisdom as we plan to spend some time in Utah this summer. We hope to engage in some outreach and ministry as well as consider our next steps in church planting in the Salt Lake Valley. Your continuing prayers mean everything to us, so please keep praying!