Dear Grace,
It’s been a minute! My apologies for the lack of communicating. It’s not for lack of “poema-type” work going on among us. God has been so good, answering prayers and bringing fruit from our focused and attentive labors.
At the end of May, our teaching team + Christine Lee (worship director) + Stacia Hejeebu (women’s ministry director) go away to pray and discern the calendar for the sermon series. God has always met us in a special way – both in the final product and the relationships – and this year was no different. Our elders and leaders have all given a united affirmation to the good menu that our good Chef has for His church this coming year!
We started into Volume 5 of our “Faithful” series, this time focusing in on 1 Kings. Through these successive summers, I’ve come to realize how much I enjoy teaching Hebrew narrative. There’s something about the genre of a true story: the historicity, theological weightiness, literary technique (like foreshadowing, irony, tragedy, etc.), and Christotelic (pointing to Jesus) that makes Hebrew narrative a challenge, but also a great joy. I just love a good story that is told to make you feel the movements of the narrative, not just recount details. I’m hoping that our preaching of it does it justice!
This past Monday, about 200 Gracers came together to go deeper into the passages I preached through on Sunday (1 Kings 1-2). These are “drop-in” studies for men, women, and students to engage the text in a little more focused and slower pace. Come to any you can!
On the personal front, Sarah and I just celebrated our oldest son, Calvin, graduating from high school. I’ve been filled with such a gratitude to the Lord for his grace and kindness, leading us to help form this young man. I’m also carrying a bit of sadness because his launching out is right in front of us. I have so thoroughly enjoyed being his dad. Not only will I miss him, but I am imagining the way that our family dynamic will be different as a result of his absence. Even as we carry all that, Sarah and I are just in awe over the Lord’s kindness to call us and to empower us with everything we need to disciple these children in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.
Continuing the theme of family, God has been so good to add to our number my new assistant, Haley Bajema. Haley is a bright and godly Gracer who has been here for about 4 years with her husband. Her presence and assistance has already made such a difference. I’m realizing that I’ve been carrying a latent anxiousness over the last six months in keeping my world going while we patiently awaited for God’s provision of an assistant. You’ll see Haley alongside me on Sundays when I’m preaching, and she will be handling many details of ministry not just for me, but for our executive team as well. What a gift!
We’ve also been able to welcome Joel, a rising senior at Princeton University, to serve alongside the college ministry. (Please continue to pray for the college student retreat that is concluding on Thursday.) Joel is the son of field workers from Grace who serve overseas in the Middle East. They, too, are back for a few months, along with their daughter. Please be sure to say hello should you run into them.
There’s also some other exciting news on the way regarding new additions to our pastoral team, but you’ll have to wait until the next few weeks for those confirmations to come out!
For those of you with students in MoCo or HoCo, let me encourage you: Keep enduring with all strength and joy. We’re less than a full week out before the summer. May God give you the strength to finish strong! For our teachers/administrators, that you’d have the renewed vigor to handle the inevitable squirminess that accompanies this time of year. I pray that every student who is taking exams would finish with sobriety and focus, anticipating the promised rest and relaxing that is to come.
This coming Sunday, we jump into 1 Kings 3-4, a look at what a wise king does, and how we can live the wise life. See you soon!