As some of you know, yesterday evening I returned from our “tour” of the sunny south which included attending two excellent conferences at Shades Mountain and Valleydale Churches in Birmingham, getting some very brief time with family in ATL, and consuming as much southern BBQ as is humanly possible.  Since moving to Burlington in November, we have been so encouraged to know that we have an extended spiritual family in places like New Jersey, California, Alabama, Georgia, and North Dakota who believe in what God has led us to do and who back it up with their time, energy, prayers, and resources.

This Sunday will mark a very significant milestone in planting this church as we begin our first Home Fellowship.  Our game plan for Home Fellowships is rooted in Acts 2:41-47 and fairly simple: meet weekly for a time of focused worship which includes praising God, studying and discussing the Bible, praying for each other, and often sharing meals together.  Each Home Fellowship will also focus on serving a specific neighborhood or network of relationships in the Burlington community. We expect to have six people meeting in our home this Sunday.  God has already opened a door for us to volunteer with the Kids Alive ministry in Burlington’s Old North End, and we believe God is also opening a door for us to begin teaching English to Somalis and other refugees.

Here are some specific ways you can pray for us and our ministry:

*Please pray that within our Home Fellowship, we will quickly cultivate authentic relationships with each other and grow into a real spiritual family.  As we grow in our relationships with God and each other ask God to draw others into this spiritual family.

*Over the past few weeks several people have expressed interest in joining our “core team” here.  For a few of these individuals and families this would involve transplanting their lives to Burlington.  Please pray that God would give them clear direction.  Specifically pray for Matt & Tirzah from New Jersey as Matt looks for a job in VT and Miles as he prepares to move from North Dakota this summer and pursue a job in law enforcement.

*As God continues opening a door to teach English to refugees, pray for wisdom in bridging the language barrier, the Muslim-Christian barrier, and learning how to best serve the refugee community.

*Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program has asked Christin and I to be “family friends” to a Bhutanese family which has recently immigrated from Nepal.  We’ll be meeting them for the first time this Sunday afternoon, so please pray for wisdom concerning how to best serve this family as they adjust to life in America.

*Pray that God would show us how to best represent Jesus to a community that is disinterested in church, resistant to the gospel, and has misguided ideas about who Jesus is and what he is about.

As always, thank you for remembering us in your prayers.