COME UP AND HELP US!

For eleven years Chris and Lisa Skowronek, homegrown leaders of the work in Hartford, Connecticut, have been laboring in their hometown harvest field. God has been faithful, granting conversions, growing disciples and establishing the church. Although not weary of the work, and also knowing their labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58), our dear brother and sister are weary in laboring alone.

Rachel and I, along with the director of the Northern Atlantic Fellowship's camp, Mike Gehlert, and his wife, Yara, invested this past weekend with the Skowronek family and CenterPoint Community Church. We did come away concerned for our brother and sister. However, we also came away refreshed from their grateful, trusting obedience of Jesus Christ, and the church's joyful worship and fellowship.

Meeting in the auditorium of a local school, Chris and Lisa are leading the establishment of an indigenous church in Wethersfield, a suburb of Hartford in which they have lived for years. The singing was energetic and Christ-focused, the message from Chris evangelistic, simple and engaging. There were 60-70 in attendance, up from the twentys one year ago.

Christ is building His church in Hartford. Perhaps He is calling you to join the work there. Pray for CenterPoint Community Church in Wethersfield, Connecticut, led by Chris Skowronek.

All of the pastors of our New England churches really appreciated the visit and the personal words of encouragement to their people. A personal visit meant much more than any memo or email or telephone call ever could mean. Pray for Jack, Jake and Chris in New England, and consider what God would have you do now.

"THANK YOU FOR REMEMBERING US!"

One of the dear saints in our sister church in the "Northeast Kingdom" of Vermont shared this with me after joining them for prayer meeting last Wednesday evening.

Earlier that day I had traveled to Montpelier, capital of Vermont, enroute to Island Pond. We have no church in Monteplier, or Burlington, Vermont's largest and most vibrant city.

The day before I had traveled to Concord, the capital of New Hampshire. We have no church in Concord, or Manchester, New Hampshire's largest and most vibrant city. Or anywhere else in the state.
When I called a classmate from seminary, born and raised in New Hampshire, his wife (also of New Hampshire) told me how to pray for New Hampshire: "Pray for good churches!"

Last Monday I traveled to Augusta, the capital of Maine. We have no church in Augusta, or Portand, Maine's largest and most vibrant city. Or anywhere else in the state.
When I called a fellow elder in ministry, who was born and raised in Maine, he told me how to pray for Maine: "Pray for good churches!"

During the well attended Wednesday evening meeting, I challenged the church at Island Pond to have courage to trust and obey God and His word to do again what He has done before. In the first centuries after Christ the gospel triumphed throughout the Roman Empire. Early in our nation's history and in New England, the gospel triumphed.

God has not changed; the gospel has lost none of its power; people are still people. Let's trust God to do it again, through us, for His glory.

Are we listening to our brothers and sisters? As we make disciples of all the nations in and from the northern Atlantic region, Christ will build His church. Pray for the Island Pond, Vermont Grace Brethren Church, led by Jake Kocis.

PROVIDENCE, AND BOSTON IN THE FALL

In the middle of three weekends invested with my wife visiting churches in the northern part of the Northern Atlantic Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, Rachel and I joined Jack and Christine Brown in Essex, Massachusetts. Our son, Samuel, was also along. They responded well to my challenge to "preach the gospel," bearing the good news they have to people they know who need it!

In Providence, Rhode Island, one can stand at the riverside in the downtown, and see all the structures of authority and influence. In the smallest of our United States, one can pray with eyes wide open for "all who are in authority" to the One "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:2, 4).
We have no church in Providence, or any other community in Rhode Island.

On a drive through Massachusetts, I visited three towns briefly. One was Northampton, where Jonathan Edwards led a church during the first Great Awakening. Another was Enfield, where he preached the famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Apparenty the lampstand had been removed (Revelation 2:5)from many of the churches long ago. Now they are used for shops, museums and city halls. Northampton is now a center of radical feminism and the occult, and in Enfield only the tranisent literary works of men and women are memorialized near the church building where Edwards preached.

But thank God for the lampstand burning bright on the North Shore of Boston! Pray for the North Shore Bible Church, led by Jack Brown.