Church-Planting Update

SIDE BY SIDE

Zach Fallon

AN UPDATE AND PRAYER REQUESTS The Lord's Doing February 11, 2021 "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." —Psalm 118:23

As conversations began to develop last summer around the idea of us being sent by College Church to plant a new work of the gospel, the main recurring prayer we asked of the Lord was, "If this is your will, help us to see your hand of providence leading and guiding along the way." Looking back on my life, I now see how often I tried to move forward and make progress in life full of self-reliance and short on prayer and waiting. The Lord has been kind in helping me see this, and he stirred within Christine and me a strong resolve to have our first plan and strategy for discerning his will to seek him in prayer, and then wait on him to reveal what he wanted us to see and when he wanted us to see it.

Over the last six to eight months we certainly had moments where we defaulted to trusting in our own wisdom and understanding, and then experiencing the internal chaos that comes from impatience, but more than ever before in our lives we prayed and waited. If we were going to be a part of seeing a new work of the gospel, we wanted the blessing of the Lord's hand and to see him at work in it. What good are ministry plans and strategies apart from his Spirit? Now, as these last months have passed, our experience of praying and waiting has left us full of confidence that this new work we are moving into is all his doing and it truly has been marvelous to watch it unfold.

So what are the grounds of our confidence in his providence for these particular circumstances? There truly are too many things to mention for this article, though I am happy to share more details with anyone who is interested in hearing! I will mention a few things though.

• Last summer a man who served as an elder with Pastor Josh Moody in Connecticut contacted him with the idea of College Church sending a plant to where he now lives. Josh shared this with me because he knew I was interested in this kind of ministry. When I asked where the man lived, it turns out that he is currently living in my hometown. Well, that certainly got our wheels going, and it seemed like a spiritual breadcrumb worth following to see where it might lead.

• As we began the exploration process, I approached Steve Krogh to see if he and Lois would be interested in partnering together. Steve agreed to pray about it, but in the meantime he said he would connect me with a pastor friend of his who led a church in the next county over in South Atlanta. Steve sent an introductory email to connect us, and it turned out, his church had recently decided to plant a church in the same place we were exploring as we followed that first spiritual breadcrumb. Along with the College Church elders, we began to wonder if the Lord wasn't putting all of this together right before our eyes.

• As we continued to explore and discern the Lord's will, new relationships and potential partnerships began to emerge. In one of the most marvelous things the Lord has done, in December, Steve and Lois committed to partnering with us in the church plant. Their partnership has not only been an encouragement, but also their previous relationship with the other church in the area has opened up a potential partnership and we are hopeful about that prospect.

More could be shared, but I wanted to make our church family aware of those key spiritual breadcrumbs the Lord graciously showed us as we prayed and waited on him. We have never had a greater sense of being in the Lord's will and to see his providential hand at work right in front of us is marvelous in our eyes!

HOW CAN WE PRAY?

Many of you have reached out and assured us of your prayers and support these last few weeks. This has been a source of great encouragement to us. Please continue to pray for the progress of the gospel through this new work the Lord is preparing for us.

Here are some ways you can pray:

• That good partnerships would continue to be formed with others engaged in gospel ministry in the south metro Atlanta area.

• That the Lord would bring godly, mission-minded people to join us in this work.

• That we would see the power of the gospel at work in the months and years to come in the hearts of God's people.

Stay in touch with us and sign up to receive our updates. We want as many people as possible on our prayer team, and you can join us in prayer by scanning the QR code.

With love in Christ,

Zach Fallon

MORE CHURCH- PLANTING UPDATES

Update from LaPaz, Mexico

On November 15, Steve and Lois Dresselhaus launched a new church in their neighborhood. The dream for this church is that enough people in the immediate neighborhood will be transformed by Jesus to the point where their streets become cleaner, substance abuse declines, families are strengthened and people become physically healthier. These all become possible as people are made new creations in Christ. They write, “In a way, this new fellowship is going retro. We meet outside, have nothing that needs to be plugged in (except for light bulbs hanging from trees) as we study the book of John. Because of COVID restrictions, we meet outdoors and limit the group to 20 people. We eagerly long for the time when there will be no more restrictions because the interest in this front yard, 'walk-to' church is high.”

**As of January 25, they are currently shut down due to increased restrictions.

Update from London, England

The Board of Missions recently partnered with London Trinity Church Central London beginning the fall of 2020. This church has seen many from various countries and backgrounds come to know Jesus and be discipled in the faith. Though the church is just five years old, they hope to plant a church within the next three years.