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God Grows: Spring Is Here
Imagine a neighborhood where nearly everyone knows Jesus and has been transformed by His love. The neighbors are living in close community with each other, looking out for each other and meeting each other's needs. Jesus simply radiates from this place and no one can enter it without experiencing His life. Any household that doesn't know Jesus has five other households praying for them and witnessing to them every day. Grace and praise pour into the streets and drive people to live outwardly and be Jesus to the rest of the city. 

This is our vision for the Churchill Downs neighborhood. That everyone who doesn't know Jesus would be rescued by Him and that everyone who does know Jesus would be so radically transformed by Him that they can't help but share with everyone around them the new life He gives. And God has asked us to move here to be a catalyst toward this vision, spending our time loving, serving, shepherding, and challenging our community into the arms of Jesus. 
Right now we are in an important season of gathering a strong team to make this possible. The team consists of people who pray regularly for this vision to come to pass and people who give of the financial resources God has entrusted to them. If you are reading this newsletter, you are part of the team. Take it seriously, because we are in a spiritual battle every day.

In addition to meeting with people and sharing our vision, we've become increasingly connected to the people around us as the weather has warmed up. The youngest kids from a large family across the street come over regularly to play basketball and *attempt* to help with yard work. We've learned the names of the neighbors on our street and learned about some of their stories and backgrounds. We've been really encouraged by simply asking and listening to people share about their lives with us. There is inherent value and importance in storytelling - listening to stories and sharing them with one another.

Our next-door neighbor, for example, has lived in his house for 50 years. He's a single father of three girls, has been a widely-known Jazz singer, has toured in a band, went to culinary and cosmetology school, and also drives semi-trucks. In 2019, his house caught on fire. When investigators came soon thereafter, they asked him if he set his house on fire, just like the black arsonists in Detroit. They said that to his face. We're in the middle of 2021 and he has still not gotten money from insurance for his burnt-down house. The whole process has been a headache, to say the least, and he's had to stay elsewhere in temporary housing. We often talk with him when we're outside doing yard work, and he regularly tells us the stress and frustration he's feeling. We don't have the answers or quick solutions to fix his situation, but we can listen, believe, and pray with and for him. 

On Easter weekend, we got the privilege of celebrating the baptism of our previous neighbor, K, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church! K was one of the friends we made when we were in our apartment in Okemos from September 2018 to September 2020. During those two years getting to know him, we got to share our lives with him, pray with him, share the Gospel with him, and watch him encounter the warm embrace of his Loving Father! 
At the end of March, we organized a combined middle school and high school ministry event at DEFY Trampoline Park in Lansing (formerly District 5). Towards the end of the night the General Manager, who's around my (Phil's) age, asked me how he could get involved in our church community. So we exchanged phone numbers and planned to meet sometime over coffee to learn more about each other and his desires to be involved in church. Finally, three weeks later, I ran into him again at Defy (he was too busy to meet outside of work) and he shared about how he was stressed with his job and never felt like he was doing enough. In fact, the night before, he had cried out to God because of all his stress and frustration. I asked him if he knew what the "Good News"/Gospel of Jesus was and I shared with him about the freedom that's found in Christ when we surrender our lives to Him. He told me he wanted "more" in his walk with God and he felt like this was that opportunity. I asked him to pray with me and he surrendered his life to Jesus! He felt the Holy Spirit come in and give him joy and warmth! I was so pumped for him and he was so thrilled to have experienced the God of the Universe, his Heavenly Father, in such a real and personal way!  
In March of 2019, Elizabeth and I had the opportunity to go with Scott Rolff and MCMD on a discipleship trip to Costa Rica. The trip was impactful for both us and the Costa Ricans, and we met one young man named Josué with whom I have stayed in contact.

In the second week of May, Josué came for a week to visit Michigan and stayed with us! It was such a blessing to host him and invite him into our life. We celebrated a wedding together, went on a bike ride, talked about Jesus, prayed, and shared openly and honestly together. On Thursday mornings, Elliott (on the left in the second picture) and I have coffee together while talking about life and challenging each other in our walks with God. Instead of canceling with Elliott because we had a different guest over, Josué joined in with us and encouraged us with what God was teaching him.

Honestly, though, it was a hard week for me and Elizabeth. Josué came at a time where I was dealing with a pretty severe poison ivy reaction, we were busy with work and preparing to step into our ministry with MCMD, and we were all around tired, weary, and stressed out. But we walked through it together, as brothers and sisters in Christ do with one another. We didn't put on a front or force a smiling face, but we were honest about our weakness and struggles and apologized when we didn't act kind or loving. Josué wasn't just our guest for a week, he was our fellow brother in Christ. And when we got to the end of the week, he told us he was encouraged by how vulnerable we were, how much we loved each other and him, and how often we prayed. I certainly didn't feel like I prayed very much, but God moves through us even when we can't see it!

It's truly by the grace of God that He could still use us in our weakness. I had spent most of the week feeling like a terrible host and friend for all the times I was grumpy and unChrist-like. Yet God wasn't limited by how we felt. He was present in the midst of our time with Josué where all three of us were able to be authentically ourselves without the smoke and mirrors. How has God been working in your weakness?
Prayer requests:
 
  • For God to show up in miraculous power in the life of our next door neighbor who has been so mistreated and discouraged.
  • For God to keep drawing K and the General Manager at Defy close to Himself.
  • Phil is wrapped up at Trinity and starting in this neighborhood full time! Pray for guidance, wisdom, and many more meaningful opportunities with neighbors.
Donating:
 
Thank you for those who are already partnering with us financially. If you would like to join our team with your finances, there are three ways of donating.
  • Write a check payable to Ministry Coaching Multiplying Disciples and send to11929 Upton Road, Bath, MI 48808
  • Set up bill pay with your bank
  • Donate through Paypal
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Our mailing address is:
5010 Conners Ave, Lansing, MI 48911

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MCMD · 11929 Upton Rd · Bath, MI 48808-8426 · USA

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