Gary Thomas just completed an interview for Focus on the Family on his book, Sacred Marriage. If you’d like a preview of next weekend’s conference, follow this link: Gary Thomas Interview. There’s still time to register for the marriage conference at Sacred Marriage.
Archive for the 'By Gene' Category Page 2 of 4
If you missed the Sovereign Grace Ministries ministry videos, you can view them online! The South Korea Missions Update (shown October 24) can be viewed here. And the update with CJ Mahaney (shown October 31) is here. As you watch these, join me in giving thanks for God’s mercy in allowing us the privilege of advancing the Great Commission by planting Gospel-centered churches around the world!
From Keith to KingsWay:
As you may already know, my family and I relocated to KingsWay from Sovereign Grace Church in Chesapeake this past September to start a residency for evaluation and equipping to lead a church plant. It has been an absolute joy for our entire family to get to know many of you and serve the Lord alongside you. God’s grace is so clearly at work here, and we thank God for this opportunity!
Planting a church is a huge undertaking, and leading a plant requires a pastor to be well equipped for the task. Over these past six months, God has been refining me and equipping me in key areas - particular the preaching of the Word and administration. Apart from this season of receiving specific and much needed help, I cannot conceive of how God could have met me in the ways He has. I am so thankful for these pastors and for each of you. Your feedback has been very encouraging and helpful. As it stands today, I am trusting God for additional, needed help - especially in the area of administration. This has been an historic weakness for me, and God has highlighted it once again through the pastors and through my opportunity to lead the Resolved ministry. Given the administrative demands of church-planting, I believe God has new convictions and habits to build into me. In light of that, I am not ready to plant a church at this point. But I am trusting God to continue this work of training and equipping so that I will be prepared for the future.
Thank you for your encouragement and prayers… and for the ways you have embraced me and my family. Please continue to join us in prayer - to the God who completes every good work He begins. Please pray for wisdom, as we seek to discern the call God has on my life and to discern His timetable. We count every week spent with you a blessing. And we look forward with faith and joy to Christ: who has gone before us, and who oversees every detail of our lives. As you pray for us, and as we pray for you, let’s take great courage that each of our days are in His hands… while we have breath, let’s all be looking for ways to bear eternal fruit for His kingdom.
From Gene on behalf of pastors:
Last month I asked you to give us feedback on how Keith’s ministry has impacted you. Thanks those who have provided thoughts, which have been very helpful in considering the way forward. The area most of you have connected with Keith is in his preaching, and many of you shared how his love for God’s Word helped and encouraged you in specific ways. The single adults also experienced Keith’s leadership in the Resolved ministry. He brings a love for community and evangelism. Some shared some specific ways where his administrative leadership needed to improve. A number of you have also received personal care & encouragement from Keith and expressed how wise and meaningful that care has been.
The reason SGM invests in church-based residencies is that the day to day life of a local church provides the best arena for seeing where a pastor is strong and where growth is necessary. Your feedback has helped Keith and the pastors to establish two things. First, we agree with Keith that more preparation is important before planting. This is not because we are reluctant to take a risk, but because we have seen that planting a church is one of the most demanding tasks a pastor can undertake. Making sure he is prepared from the beginning is a practical way we can extend care to Keith & his family and confidence to those participating in the church plant. So your input was important to the decision to postpone the church plant. Second, the pastors recognize significant gifts in preaching and leadership in Keith’s life that we believe will position him to be an effective church planter. He has a gift of faith and the ability to care for people along with an evangelistic heart to reach the lost. Since Keith is receiving care and training from the pastors with a genuine and humble heart, we believe he is in process to be prepared to plant a church. What a joy it would be to send a team from KingsWay to impact another city with the Gospel! But since the funds SGM is providing for Keith’s residency ends in May, we will need to trust God for resources to make that happen. We’ll talk more about that in a couple of weeks in relation to our partnership fund, but please pray with us as we seek clarity and provision for this next step. Thanks!
Last weekend, Liz and I had the privilege of joining our friends in Sovereign Grace Church of Chesapeake, VA, for two historic events. On Saturday evening, the pastors and wives took an evening to honor Keith & Joanna Breault. Keith has served as senior pastor for the past four years and will be sent out to KingsWay this Sunday. (The Breaults will arrive Sunday afternoon to begin a nine month church planting residency in preparation for launching a new church next summer.) It was deeply encouraging to hear each of the pastors & wives share how Keith & Joanna have been a means of grace in their lives.
On Sunday morning, I had the joy of bringing a charge to Eric as he was installed as the new senior pastor. I shared Paul’s charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1 to “Preach the Word!” We have a high view of preaching as a family of churches, and I was privileged to emphasize that priority and to encourage the church to respond to Eric’s leadership through responding and praying for him. Eric’s father, Bob Hughes, one of the founding pastors of the church, joined us in praying for Eric. As the church gathered for a reception following the meeting, there was a tangible sense of joy & faith for this new season.
Please pray for Eric & Marie Hughes as Eric steps into this new role. And pray for Keith & Joanna and their children Emma, Gordon, Henry & Peter–along with the baby “on the way” to be delivered in Midlothian in early 2010! The Breaults are leaving behind all that’s familiar to follow God’s call on their lives. Please join us in providing a warm welcome as they arrive!
Written by Gene Emerson
I’ve been enjoying Bryan Chapell’s book, Holiness by Grace. Chapell is an engaging writer, presenting biblical issues in an accessible way. The heart of the book is to help us to understand 
sanctification as a work of grace through the Holy Spirit in our lives. He begins with the concern that “What robs many believers of joy is…an endless pursuit of trying to satisfy God with good works that will keep Him loving them. This belief…makes the Christian life a perpetual race on a performance treadmill to keep winning God’s affection.”
If you identify with this concern, I’d happily recommend Mr. Chapell’s book to you! Available in our Bookshoppe also.
I’m away in Warm Springs, Virginia, on a study/planning retreat. One of the areas I’ve been studying is the book of Revelation. It is an enormously encouraging book, revealing a hopeful, eternal perspective that has historically sustained the church during times of adversity. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to study Revelation in depth early next year.
Liz and I are staying in a house with several units that a family kindly makes available to pastors for retreats at a very nominal cost. It’s a peaceful and beautiful area, and also has the benefit of being mid-way between Roanoke and Franklin. This affords Liz and I the opportunity to spend time with these churches on consecutive Sundays. But when I’m away I always miss being with you, especially as we gather on Sundays. May God richly bless you as you encounter Him this week!
With care,
Gene
