Church planting preparations

Pastor Paul has asked us to go through a church planter assessment process so Joan and I have been filling out spiritual gift tests, talent assessments, personality tests, and applications over the past couple of weeks. It has been quite a grueling process because most of the questions require a lot of soul-searching and transparency. Honestly, I believe that the process has been good for us because it has caused us to take a closer look at what God has given each of us and what God might want to do through us.

In a few weeks we will be traveling with Pastor Paul to Grand Rapids MI where the West Michigan District of the Wesleyan Church has established a church planter assessment center. They will have collated and analyzed all of our answers to the various questions we were asked and they will put us through an interview process that lasts about three hours. After we are done they will compile all of the data and let Pastor Paul know if they believe that we are an appropriate fit for church planting.

Please keep us in prayer throughout this process. Ask the Lord to guide the assessors, Pastor Paul and us. We want to end up in the place and the position where we can best serve the Kingdom of God and the Eastern New York district.

With the understanding that we might be planting a church in the Clifton Park NY area I have begun looking for a solid job since I will probably have to be a bi-vocational pastor in the beginning. We are also looking into housing in the region. Both renting and buying are quite expensive so please pray with us about the right housing situation for our family.

We are so excited to be part of God's work in eastern New York.