The Journey Continues...

It's been a really long time since my last blog post... A lot has happened in these passing years! I have since graduated from seminary and am working full time while also ministering with our church. As I've written here before, Carol and I joined "The Church at the Well" back in 2008. Our church started in a coffee house here in Wake Forest, NC. It was a combined business/ministry outlet with the primary goal of reaching people with the good news of Christ by serving "a cup of coffee in Jesus' name." However, with the downturn in the economy back in 2008, the business soon failed and we began the process of regrouping and rebuilding as a church in the garage of our pastor's home. Since "The Well" coffee house was no more, our church simply became known as Wake Forest Church.

After about a year, the church began to feel God's calling to minister to the poor in downtown Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina (a few miles away). We also had a strong word from the Lord to become portable. For several months now, we have been renting a space in a downtown restaurant called Gravy which we are already outgrowing. It's incredible to see God moving in the lives of the poor and homeless. These are people who have been living without hope, looking only toward their day-to-day needs of food, shelter, and clothing. Now you can visibly see the change in people's faces when they come through the doors on Sunday mornings. Many have come to realize the hope they have in Christ and they are beginning to feel His love through the body of believers! People are being healed from diseases and addictions and lives are being changed! Most importantly, they are realizing their need for a savior and putting their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

During this time by God's provision and through our own sacrifices as a church we have acquired a van, trailer, and generator - three major steps to becoming more portable. Fresh on this journey, we are very pleased to see that God has been preparing and using other churches in this very type of ministry. There are even businesses that have sprung up out of this movement to help churches become equipped for portable ministry.

It's very exciting to see what God is doing in His church today and I can't wait to see where He takes us next! If you have the opportunity or means to help our ministry, please contact me at sutton.email@gmail.com or contact the church via the information on our web site. Our current needs are meal donations (for feeding Sunday lunches) and inexpensive rental space in the downtown Raleigh area. Of course any financial contributions would be great as well and are fully tax deductible. Continue to pray for us as we continue on this journey!

Hide and Seek

If you have kids or have been one, ha ha, then you know how fun it is to play hide and seek. Think about it...one child hides excited that he/she will not be found and the other seeks, going from room to room knowing they'll find that person eventually. I asked Noah which he likes more...to hide or seek. He said "hiding, because when he is in one room, he can decide to go to another room...you know, change places." Grace said basically the same thing. She likes to choose a good hiding spot.

I was reading in Psalms 119:10-11 this morning when the Lord brought this game of hide and seek to mind. Wow, its actually biblical I thought, ha ha. It says, "I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." There are a lot of references to David "hiding" from Saul. He would hide in caves, in the hills and so forth. During those times of hiding was when David wrote a lot of Psalms. David must have chosen a good hiding spot! His best hiding place though wasn't in caves, but in the Lord. It says this in Psalm 32:7, "You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance."

Where do you go to hide from trouble? I'll be honest. I'm tempted to hide in my husband or friends sometimes. But the Lord tells us in Psalm 91:1 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." Let me be clear....we should not treat God as if we were playing a game of hide and seek. Rather we should take refuge or hide in Him and seek after Him while we're there in that place of refuge.

It has been over a month since our last blog. I felt I needed to update it. We had such a great time over Christmas with our family and friends. I cant believe how many of you guys met up with us in Dallas for lunch. I counted 14 adults and 13 children! Ya'll are very special to us and we miss you a LOT! And I cant thank you girls enough for all the presents I received when we arrived back in Wake Forest. You really know how to make someone feel special.

Well, Allen will be starting up his classes the last week in January. I continue to home-school the kids but pray for me on that one. Im not used to not having family and friends around who can give us a break from time to time plus being with them 24/7. Dont get me wrong. I love our kids and Im so glad for the opportunity to home-school but this is a new challenge for me.

We will keep ya'll in our prayers and pray the Lord's richest blessings on all of you! We Love You! Allen and Carol