We named the church!
Many important events have taken place this past month that have made the Roanoke church plant more of a reality.
First, I’m transitioning from my current role as assistant pastor at Good Shepherd into my new role as a church planting pastor. Beginning October 1st, I’ll be part time at Good Shepherd as I continue to raise support and prepare to go full-time with the church plant on November 1st. The people of Good Shepherd have been incredibly supportive and we couldn’t have asked for a better situation in this time of transition. Lauren and I are very grateful for Good Shepherd’s generosity and excitement for us as we prepare for this new work.
Second, we sold our house in South Carolina. Our house went on the market two weeks ago and a little over 48 hours later, we received an offer for full asking price! The buyers are also willing to wait until November 1st to close.
We have a contract on a house in Roanoke. Last week our family made a quick trip up to Virginia to look at houses. We spent an afternoon looking at a handful of options, but none were realistic for accommodating our family and allowing us to host. Inventory is very low in Roanoke (and all over the country) at the moment and the home buying process seemed bleak. Lauren and I were discouraged as we began the drive back to South Carolina. A couple hours into the trip, my mother-in-law texted us a “for sale by owner” listing.
Fast forward a couple days, and the house is now under contract! It checks all of our big boxes: it’s spacious, sits at the end of a quiet cul de sac, and the location is central to the areas we’ve considered for the church. It needs a little bit of updating, but we’re excited to settle in and make the house our home.
The church is officially set up legally. I spent many long hours last week setting up an EIN, incorporating the church, and registering with the state of Virginia. It probably comes as no surprise that the whole process was far more difficult than it needed to be and the IRS gave me muddled and conflicting information, but it is done nonetheless. Getting the church set up legally allowed me to set up the church’s bank account so I can start receiving a salary. But completing these administrative tasks also frees up my time so I can focus on networking, meeting new people, and hosting once we get to Virginia.
And the church now has a name! Because the church needed to be set up legally with the state, it had to have an official name. In a perfect world, I would have loved to have more people involved in the church naming process. I’m sad that we weren’t able to make that happen.
However, I did consult two random church name generators just to see what they could help us come up with. Namemy.church suggested Harvest Song Community Church of the Vision and the Babylon Bee’s random church name generator suggested Glory Typhoon Squad. (Both of those names did make me laugh out loud.) Obviously, neither of those options made the cut.
In all seriousness, the name of the church will be Providence Presbyterian Church.
The Westminster Confession of Faith devotes chapter five to the subject of God’s providence:
“God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy.”
God sovereignly controls and directs everything that comes to pass. Our sovereign, all-powerful God is worthy of our worship.
God’s providence is also a wonderful reminder that in spite of His utter transcendence, He chose to draw near to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
There’s a theological rationale for the church name, but there is also a personal reason. Stepping out in faith has caused Lauren and I to pay more attention to God’s providence. Here are just a few examples:
God guiding my life up to this point
My experience at Good Shepherd
The timing of the church plant
The home selling and buying process
The overwhelming and humbling support and prayer of both individuals and churches
The financial support raising process
Those are just a handful of the big things, but we’ve also seen the Lord’s hand in many of the small details.
Finally, there is a practical reason for the name Providence Presbyterian Church. From my research, there are no other churches in the Roanoke Valley named Providence! This will make it easier for people to find us in Roanoke.
My wife, Lauren, is a graphic designer and enjoyed coming up with the church’s new logo:
And lastly, we’ve raised 88% of our first year’s budget. Raising financial support was one of the more intimidating aspects of planting a new church. I’ve told many people that I did not know what to expect when I set out to raise support. While I’ve raised some support in the past, I haven’t raised anything on this scale. And yet, by God’s grace, we’ve raised 88% of our first year’s budget!
In 2 Corinthians 8:3-5, the apostle Paul seemed surprised by the generosity of the churches in Macedonia. He writes:
“For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints -- and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”
I can relate to Paul when he wrote that their support was “not as we expected” because it exceeded their expectations. It’s quite clear that their generosity was an overflow of their faith in Christ. They “gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” The generosity that I’ve experienced and witnessed is more a testament to people’s faith in Christ than anything. Nevertheless, I want to thank everyone who has supported us.
If you or someone you know has a heart for church planting and would like to help us get even closer to our goal of $131,000 for our first year’s budget, click the link below to be taken to our support site or reach out to me on the contact page.
As we look ahead, the next thing on the calendar is our move on November 1st. Once we’re back in Roanoke, we’ll begin meeting with people and setting dates for informational meetings. I’ll be sure to share those in an upcoming newsletter.
In the meantime, please be in prayer for:
A smooth transition as we close on both houses and move to Virginia
Raising our Year One budget before November 1st
Those whom the Lord would call to be a part of this church plant
The Lord has continued to go before us in every way and we’re excited to see what is to come! We’ve been humbled by His care for us and comforted by the affirmation of all these milestones as we continue to pursue His will for this new church!
