Prayer partners,
Thank you for your faithful praying over Emily and I, our family, and our new church over these last two years. We can’t believe it has been almost a full two years since we moved from Charlotte, NC to Boston, MA. We look forward to the many years ahead!
See how your prayers were answered from last month!
Second Preview Service
Our new church is hosting one preview service each month this summer to allow time for us to learn set-up, tear-down, and logistics of a worship service at our future meeting space, Brighton High School. We had almost 60 people at our last preview service, including a few volunteers visiting from Georgia, members from our launch team, and some of our non-Christian friends and neighbors. This summer’s preview services are focusing on our church’s core values of gospel, community, and mission. We are greatly looking forward to City on a Hill Church’s launch in Brighton in just two short months!
2. Many Preaching Opportunities
Over the last month I have had three preaching opportunities at our City on a Hill network churches in Somerville and in Brookline (with more opportunities coming up). I had the opportunity to preach Ruth 4, Ruth 5, and then Psalm 51 in accordance with the series each church is currently going through. I am extremely thankful for a residency church that allows me the honor of preaching at each of their congregations and serving their pastors and members in the preaching of God’s Word. Pray for my continued growth in sermon preparation and delivery as well as for me to be constantly shaped by the Word personally as I preach it corporately.
There are many ways you can pray for us this month!
Community Group Multiplication
These last few months have seen a lot of growth for our church, City on a Hill (CoaH) Brighton. So much so that we are having to multiply our Community Groups to accommodate the larger numbers and to spread the good news of Jesus throughout our neighborhood. Each Community Group chooses a pocket of people that they will intentionally and actively share the gospel with as a group. The multiplication of our Community Groups is a huge answer to prayer as we desire to continually share the good news of Jesus to each person within our area. Our three Community Groups will multiply into EIGHT different groups starting in the next few weeks. Pray that the mission of Jesus would stay a top priority within our groups and that we would be intentional in how we reach others in our community and how we care for one another in the church.
2. Cornerstone Volunteer Team
We are so thankful for partner churches! Cornerstone Church from Greensboro, NC holds a special place in my heart because it is one of the churches where I grew up throughout my high school years. Emily and I are greatly looking forward to having a volunteer team from Cornerstone to Boston next week from July 9 through July 14. This particular volunteer team will help us with all of the prayer requests listed below, including free community events and our third preview service. Pray for their endurance and stamina as they serve here in Boston.
3. Family Fun Nights
In our neighborhood, there are six low-income housing developments, each housing a couple hundred families. In an effort to begin building relationships with the families at one of our local housing developments called Faneuil Gardens, CoaH Brighton will host two Family Fun Nights at a nearby park. We pray these Family Fun Nights will allow us to build a permanent partnership with Faneuil Gardens, including its staff and tenants. Please pray for many families to come to these free community nights so that we can begin building relationships with them and that we would have many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus.
4. Movie Night in the Park
CoaH Brighton will host another free movie night in the park for our community next Saturday, July 13! Our last movie night was canceled due to rain so we are eager to see our neighbors at this next showing. While we have always had a great attendance rate for every movie night we have hosted (between 200-300 people show up every time), we have seen a big increase in those interested in exploring more about spiritual things since we started. Each movie night we host a raffle and the raffle tickets also operate as a survey, with options to show interest in more City on a Hill community events and/or to show interest in ways to explore the Christian faith. At our first movie night, we didn’t have any people express interest in exploring their faith. However, at our last movie night, we had 15 people express a desire to have a spiritual conversation! Pray for these individuals as we personally follow up with them and invite them to a course called “Alpha” in the fall, which introduces the basics of the Christian faith through talks and discussions.
5. Third Preview Service
We are quickly approaching the official launch (or Grand Opening) of City on a Hill (CoaH) Church in Brighton. We couldn’t be more excited! Our church has another upcoming preview service on July 14, which allows us to learn how to set-up the space we are in at Brighton High School, determine what needs we have, and how to adjust accordingly to make the worship service as smooth as possible so that there are minimal distractions in hearing the good news of Jesus. A preview service is a full worship service that serves as a practice run once a month before we begin hosting weekly services starting September 8. Because of that, we have had non-Christian friends and neighbors at our last two preview services and expect those that are new to church to come again next Sunday. Please pray for their hearts to be softened to the good news of Jesus and for our church members to care for one another and our non-Christian friends and neighbors well.