Update 5: Saint Louis, MO and Louisville, KY.

Our trip did not stop in Missouri. We continued east bound first stopping in Saint Louis, MO to have breakfast with our friends Steve and Holly Linsky. Our relationship with these two go back to our time in California. Adam worked with Steve in The Master's College's security department. Dana worked with Holly as administrative assistants at The Master's Seminary.

It was a wonderful time catching up over breakfast with how the Lord is Steve and Holly. Steve has served as minister of children and families at New Community Church in Wildwood, MO for a little over a year. They are also very busy with two young and energetic little boys, Cameron and Austin.

We left Saint Louis on US-70 waving goodbye to the Gateway Arch and continued east till we arrived outside Louisville, KY to a place called Crestwood. Our time was spent with Jack and Lisa Hughes. Jack is pastor of Crossing Church in Louisville, author of Expository Preaching With Word Pictures, and frequently blogs at drivennails.com.  Jack also serves GraceLife London through helping with oversight and guidance as the church continues to grow and mature. I was blessed to have him as a professor at The Master's Seminary for "Bible Study Methods."

Lisa is a well-known conference speaker, author of God's Priorities for Today's Woman, and is also a blogger at http://www.jackandlisahughes.com/blog. They are a very gifted couple who continue to serve the Lord with the gifts that He has blessed them with. We were blessed to be able to hear about how our great God brought them to Crossing Church and provided a home for them outside of Louisville.

We were also introduced to the best restaurant in the area. It was literally called "Our Best Restaurant" which is quite funny considering nothing but farmland surrounds it. It was formerly a grain meal converted to a restaurant. Where else will you find a tin roof and gutters inside a restaurant? By the way, the food was excellent southern-style cooking.


Our departure date to London has been set for November 11th. 33% of the support has been raised, but given the urgency of the need for help in London, the elders agreed that we need to be there now and we hope to continue raising support from across the pond. Please continue to pray for us and, if you’re able, to support us with any discretionary funds the Lord may have blessed you with.

Cross Country - Update 4: Owasso, OK and Prairie Village, KS

As we planned our travels from Texas to Missouri, we planned an ambitious drive 14 hour drive from in one day. Instead of another long day on the road, our friends from Owasso, Oklahoma Matt and Nelly Feldi took us in and hosted us for an evening.  Their kindness was such a blessing to us, not just opening their home to us, but being able to catch up on what the Lord is doing in their lives and with the ministry of the Bible Church of Owasso.

We are thankful for the blessing they were to us, making our trip much more bearable and making one 14 hour drive two much shorter drives.  One of the biggest blessings of this cross country drive has been the opportunity to see friends that we had not seen and probably would not have seen for a few years.  We were reminded as we spent time with the Feldi's that the Lord has blessed us with many friendships through the fellowship of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ around the U.S. and even around the world.

On October 11th, our travels took us to Kansas City where we were able to spend time with Rick and hear him preach from 1 Peter 4:10-11 on the stewardship believers have to use their gifts for the benefit of one another. It was a great time for us to visit Rick at Mission Road Bible Church in Prairie Village, KS where he has been pastor since 2011. MRBC is also a home of The Expositors Seminary where Rick serves as a professor.

Coming to the middle of the country means that we had approached a most serious issue. Where do we find the best barbecue? Our third weekend surely provided us with a potential answer. Pastor Rick Holland and his wife Kim took us out to the best burger I have ever had. Whenever you put burnt ends on top of a burger, you win!

We are grateful for the friendship of the Holland family and are excited to see how the Lord is using biblical shepherding and expository preaching at Mission Road Bible Church to affect the city of Kansas City.

Prayer Request
Praise the Lord that our visas have been approved and it happened in such a short period of time from us submitting the paperwork. 
Please continue to pray for financial support as we have 30% of what we will need for the first year. (If you have any discretionary funds please consider giving to this ministry so that the help they need will be provided as soon as possible.)
Pray also for GraceLife London and pastors Tom and Ross as they endure health issues and continue to preach the Gospel to London and throughout England.

Cross Country - Update 3: Spring, TX

On Sunday, October 4th, our travels took us to Spring, TX (just north of Houston) where we were able to spend the morning and evening worshiping at Founders Baptist Church. Founders Baptist Church is one of the most recent homes of The Expositors Seminary. Richard Caldwell has been pastor of Founders for 18 years following 10 years of pastoring at a church he planted outside of Austin, TX. He is also finishing his Doctorate of Ministry degree from The Master's Seminary.

Richard preached two unforgettable sermons "Clinging to the Gospel for Life" from Hebrews 2:1-4 and "Godly Wisdom and the Guarded Heart" from Proverbs 4:20-27 which are still echoing in my head and heart today. When you have a chance, please listen to both for your own sake. We are grateful for Richard's kindness to have us come share the ministry of GLL with Founders.

I should take a moment and explain how the Lord providentially brought an answer to our prayer from this congregation. Dana and I ran into an issue with our visas a few days before we visited Founders. We were ready to spend more money to make what would turn out to be the wrong choice. I was given the opportunity to present the ministry of GraceLife London to the Founders' congregation during the evening service. After the service, a lovely couple Chris and Tiffany, walked up to us to explain how they had seen our support video and had been praying for GraceLife London for quite a while. It turned out that Chris works for the U.S. government and was able to help us get the answers that saved us both time and money. We are so grateful for God answering our prayer through this couple and their wonderful encouragement to us. 

Our time in Houston also led to us spending time talking with Ken Ramey, church planter and pastor of Lakeside Bible Church in Montgomery, TX. Ken is the author of the book Expository Listening. It was an opportunity for us to hear about how Lakeside was established and its recent progress.  We are grateful for Ken taking time to talk with us and allowing us to talk to him about GraceLife London.

The Lord is providing for us as we go but we still have a ways to go before we have the financial support we need for the first year at GraceLife London. Please continue to pray for financial support. Also, we just submitted the final paperwork for our visas. Pray that the process will be fast and that we can receive them by November 10th.

Stay tuned for more updates from across the country including this past Sunday at Mission Road Bible Church.

Cross Country - Update 2: Austin, TX

Our first Sunday stop was September 27th with the congregation of Grace Community Bible Church in Austin, TX where TMS alum Michael McGrath has served as pastor for a little less than a year. I was privileged to preach for the morning worship service.

 

We also had the pleasure of sitting down with a few of the families at GCBC for some great fellowship around some really good barbecue.

Michael has established a culture of expository preaching and sound doctrine at GCBC. We were excited to hear from the members of the church their desire to grow in God's word and serve God's people. May the Lord bring the Gospel to Austin and to all of Texas through this local church. We are grateful for Michael and his family's friendship over the last five years.


We are still working on the visas and seeking financial support to join GraceLife London in the next few months. Please continue to pray for us through this process. Also, pray for GraceLife London as they continue to spread the Gospel to England!

Cross Country - Update 1: Central California/Las Vegas

As you may be aware, we set out on September 21st to drive across the U.S. telling pastors and churches about the ministry of GraceLife London seeking to raise financial support as we wait on authorizing visas.

This journey has given us the opportunity to sit down with pastors in different states to not only talk about the ministry that we are joining but to hear about the various situations of these pastors and churches in their unique locations and circumstances. As we go, we will update on the local churches and pastors we encounter.

For the first stop on our trip, we were able to stop in Bakersfield, CA for a lunch with Steve Swartz, pastor of Grace Bible Church. One of the exciting things happening at GBC is the Bible Training Institute which Steve began not long after becoming the pastor. They recently had their first graduating class.

GBC Bakersfield will also be hosting the "Steadfast Conference" October 16-17 which Steve, Pastor John MacArthur, and Carl Hargrove (Grace Advance Academy) will be preaching at. We are encouraged by Steve's faithfulness and are excited to see how the Lord will continue to use this local church to spread the Gospel. http://www.steadfastconference.org/

A second stop took us to Las Vegas where we were able to have breakfast with Jason Vaughn, pastor of Cornerstone Las Vegas. Cornerstone is a Grace Advance church plant established in December 2012. Jason kindly sat down with us and explained to us how it is to pastor in what has been called "Sin City." We were excited to hear that there is a church with biblical preaching and a love of the truth in a city that desperately needs the Gospel.

We will continue to provide updates concerning the churches we visit and the pastors and other saints we speak with. Stay tuned!

Please continue to pray for us as we continue to work on the visas and seek financial support to serve in GraceLife London.