Sep. and Oct. Update

Wow! It’s been a long time since we provided an update. There’s been a lot going on, so we’ll try to catch everybody up on what’s been happening. Lots of stuff to cover, so I’ll try to be concise.

Carissa, Melanie Gann, and Rachel Berkheiser

Towards the end of August, we began our first Bible study with a family from Brighton named the Ganns. They are Paul and Melanie and their children Sarah, Jack, Ashley, John, Rebekah, and Abigail. We’re super thankful for them, and they’ve been very excited to be a part of this church plant. We began studying Titus, and a couple of weeks into our study, the Lord connected us with another family—Tom and Rachel Berkheiser and their two children Zane and Haukin (spelling again!). They’ve also been a great blessing to us, and we’re really grateful that God brought us together. We were meeting on Wednesday nights, but we had our first Sunday meeting today and did a review of Titus. So, we’ll be meeting on Sundays from here forward for services and still meeting on Wednesday nights for more of a small group kind of focus. Right now we’re just meeting in our houses, but we hope to secure a public place for our meetings very soon, so please pray with us that the Lord will make this possible and provide for us just the right place. This morning was a great blessing to all of us to be able to worship together and to hear God’s Word together on the Lord’s day. Unfortunately, the Berkheisers are on vacation, so we can’t wait until they’re back with us, and we are praying for the Lord to bring more people into our Sunday morning services as we take this next step forward in the church plant. To this end, we’re meeting people all the time and letting them know about what we’re doing, so please ask the Lord to give us more people to serve and serve with.

In addition to this group of people, Ryan and I have also been meeting with some other friends for a separate discipleship study. It is going very well too. We’re enjoying the opportunity to lead the study, and our friends tell us that they’re really benefiting from it as well. We’ll see in the next month or two if the Lord will lead them to join up with the rest of our group. We’re hoping so.

We’ve also gotten our website up! Credit and thanks to Ryan for all his work on this. You can check it out at RedeemerColorado.com. We know we have some things to iron out with the site, but Ryan did a great job on it, and we’re really pleased with the way it looks so far. In the next couple of weeks we’re also planning to go out into our neighborhoods and pass out some information about our church. Please pray that God will use these efforts along with our personal contacts to connect us with more people here in Brighton.

Also, since the last time we posted an update, the Fishers and we have both moved into our houses in the Brighton area. It’s so nice to be over here now, and it’s great to have the all-consuming moves behind us! Ryan and Danielle moved into their house toward the end of August, and we finally got moved into ours on Oct. 15. We’re all very thankful for the houses God has given to us. They’re great for having people over and for having out-of-town guests. We’ve both already been able to use our houses for church gatherings and for other guests. We’re trusting that God will continue to allow us to use our houses to serve people. We’re getting to know our neighbors and spending a lot more time in the Brighton community now, so please pray that God will establish good relationships with these people for the sake of his kingdom work.

We’ve had several visitors from our hometowns since the last update too. We’ve had a number of family members visit in the last couple of months, and we’re very grateful to God for allowing for this. I was able to go backpacking for a few days with my brother Steve in Rocky Mountain National Park, which was an extremely cold but great adventure. Another young couple also visited the Denver area recently, partly on vacation and partly on an initial “scouting” trip to consider the possibility of moving out here to help us. Please pray for them and for others we’ve mentioned before that God would continue to make their way plain and straight as they pursue his direction for their future and the possibility of moving out here.

Some final personal notes. Carissa is nearly 36 weeks now into her pregnancy, and she can’t wait for the end of it! This has been a very painful but otherwise good pregnancy, so we’re thankful for the Lord’s grace in it and are looking forward to the new baby. Ryan and Danielle got to experience their first Colorado snow last week (we had a few in March and April before they got out here), and it was a 14 inch or so dumping that’s pretty much all melted now. It was beautiful, but it also led to my first car wreck! I lost control on an overpass and we slid into a guardrail. The front of the car is pretty banged up, but the Lord was very gracious to keep our way clear of any other cars, and none of us was hurt. So, that’s some of the fun of living in Colorado. I guess I’ll have to learn to be a better snow-driver, and I’m buying some new tires!

We continue to love the life God has given to us here. He’s providing for all our needs, and he is beginning to build this church. We love the families with whom he’s connected us and we’re eager for more. We’re excited about the opportunity to teach God’s Word to his people and to spread the knowledge of the gospel of Christ to others. We’re grateful for all he’s done so far and prayerful and expectant about his continuing work for the sake of his name and the good of the people here in Brighton. Please keep on praying to the Lord for this work, and we’ll be sure to let you know how he’s using your prayers to build this church.