God Grows: The Stepnowski Family on Mission in Lansing with Jesus
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After two years of apartment living where God taught us a lot about loving and serving our neighbors, He told us it was time to move into Lansing and build community there. We wanted a house that would become a safe space for the people around us and a diverse neighborhood where we could serve others and learn from them. God put a fire in our hearts to see the city of Lansing fully on fire for Him, and that would start with Christians (including us) intentionally loving and sharing with their neighbors.
We spent months walking, biking, and driving through neighborhoods in Lansing, MI, praying and asking God to lead us to the right house and neighborhood. Throughout the process of house-hunting, we developed a friendship with our realtor, Austin Keiser (pictured above), and got to share with him God's heart for the city of Lansing.
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God taught us patience and what it really means to trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). After three months of searching and two rejected offers on houses, God finally brought us to 5010 Conners Ave in the Churchill Downs neighborhood!
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Since moving in November, we have met several of our neighbors and had the opportunity to serve one of them by providing a full Thanksgiving meal (prepared lovingly by Dan and Lisa Singer, who are also part of MCMD) when they had lost their turkey due to a power outage.
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Phil has also had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with several students from Trinity's youth group and other young men through Network 20 International to listen, pray, and challenge them toward deeper relationship with God and more intentionality with others.
Please be praying with us for:
- Opportunities to connect with neighbors.
- Peace and wisdom as we try to balance our time between work, support raising, meeting our neighbors, and resting.
- God to continually open our eyes to see the things He is doing around and in us.
- God to be moving and working in the hearts of the people living in Churchill Downs.
- God providing deep friendships for us with other believers who live in Lansing and have the same passion we do to see the city transformed.
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God Growing Us
This season God really convicted me (Elizabeth) of being a Martha, from the story of Mary and Martha told in Luke 10:38-42. Most days I like to be busy because then I feel productive and valuable. Even on days I don't want to be busy, I find myself running from one task to another because things just need to get done. And when I see Phil reading his bible and praying for an hour or more, I am sometimes upset that he isn't helping me with all the projects around the house! (To clarify, Phil helps a lot, that is just how I feel in the moment). I am very bad at sitting at Jesus's feet and listening to Him. This impacts my spiritual life because I am distracted from God and don't spend enough time being nourished by Him or loving Him. It also impacts my relationships with others because I either feel too busy to make plans with people or when a friend finally comes over, I am still trying to tidy up around the house or prepare food for them. The root of the problem is my (seemingly) never-ending battle to give up control in my life and trust God with everything. But by His grace, I am able to surrender my will to His more and more. I am really thankful for a reminder from the book The Practice of the Presence of God by brother Lawrence, "God won't allow a soul that is searching for Him to be comforted anywhere other than with Him." I can trust that I will never find the satisfaction I am looking for in my busyness, but will only find that satisfaction when I am sitting at Jesus's feet, living in His presence. So let's continually "choose what is better" and have our first priority in life to love and listen to Jesus.
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Partnering with us
Thank you to those of you who have listened to our story so far and have begun to partner with us through prayer and finances.
If you want to learn more about our ministry, reach out to Phil at (708) 698-4404 and we'd love to set up a time to share with you.
All funds are sent to Ministry Coaching MD with the memo "Phil and Elizabeth Stepnowski". There are three ways to donate:
- Paypal
- Bill-pay through your bank
- Check sent to 11929 Upton Road, Bath, MI 48808
Click the button below to donate through Paypal.
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