Monday, August 04, 2008

The true Gospel

Chad and I just experienced the two-year anniversary of our move to Lexington, KY this past week. When we moved, we had great plans and great visions, but we had no idea what to expect and what our lives here would hold. We knew, though, that God was calling us here and we were to follow. Period. No questions. There was a city where a dearth of biblical churches existed, and so we came.

And now, two years later, we rejoice to see the Hand of God working here in Lexington. Granted, we are not seeing fireworks or masses of people follow Christ every Sunday. But -- God IS working. In our new sanctuary, we are already approaching capacity. Our nursery is booming (we actually rejoice for this problem!). But most importantly, the Gospel is being preached and lives are being changed. Just yesterday, we had two new couples visit our church -- praise God for this! Amazingly, both of them found our church by finding and liking what they saw on our website. Since I am married to the man who puts so much effort into this aspect of our ministry, I was especially grateful for this. I see the time he puts in at the computer, doing "mundane" tasks like spell-check, updating sermon series, new classes, etc. He is a workhorse, no doubt. I really can't say enough about how wonderful he is -- those who know him know how he can pretty much do anything, and do it well. From taking care of Juliana, cooking a meal, prepping the house for company, cutting my hair, maintaining our lawn, building stuff ... he is amazing. Anyway, I digress.

As I was talking to one of the visitors, she commented on how difficult it is to find a church that actually teaches truth ... so many water down the truth of the Scriptures. I couldn't help but reflect on what I had been studying this past week in Galatians: "If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:9). My heart is so very thankful to be involved in a church where the true Gospel is being proclaimed, because in so many places -- even in seemingly *good* churches -- this is not the case. My heart was also overwhelmed with the burden that the elders of our church carry on their shoulders (which of course includes my wonderful husband!). Our days here are not just to pass the time, entertain people, raise our family, make ends meet, etc. We are involved in the greatest undertaking in all of human history -- spreading the true, life-changing Gospel of Christ. Praise God that this work is not dependent on us, but on the work of the Spirit and the words of Scripture going out.

I desperately pray that God continues to protect the Body here at Providence Community. He has given us such sweet people to minister with and to -- only by His grace are we kept under His protective wing.

4 comments:

anne said...

amen.
We are so glad to be a part of Providence and to be a part of bringing the truth of the gospel to Lex.
We are looking forward to the next few years as we continue to grow.
Love you guys! :)

anne said...

ps- you must've figured out your username and password...as I see you posted under your name instead of chad :)

Melody said...

Yep -- I'm on a roll now! Except now I need to change how my username appears!

Anonymous said...

I was just thinking about you guys. I am traveling to Southern KY for work and it made me think of you guys.

It was good to read about things are going for you guys and the church. I agree with you regarding the importance of a church that teaches the truth. We have had a hard time finding a church since we moved to St. Louis, so anytime you want to move further west let us know :)

I have checked out the website several times and I think it looks great (good job Chad!!). Since we have been looking for a church for a while we like to check out the websites since it saves us visiting a church we know isn't for us.

I hope you are feeling well and getting ready for your new baby!!!


Rebecca Barker-Townsend