An Introduction

Hello all. I am new to the blogging scene. After following blogs for the past 2 years it is a bit odd to be doing it myself (since blogging is now a verb). I started a blog a year ago with the plan of chronicling my trip to Nepal last summer, but I didn't make it past the profile. Hopefully I can do a bit better with this.

John invited me to join with him in this blog so that we can document the ins and outs of church planting as we begin the journey. Pam and I are just now entering our journey to Fargo, working on raising support and gathering partners. Everyday we learn a new lesson and gain more insight into the calling God has place on our lives. It is my hope that this blog will be useful not only in giving me and John a place to regurgitate what we are learning, but also a place where people can come and find out what God is doing in Fargo as we seek to bring the grace of Christ to the people there who do not have it.

I think it is appropriate to share with everyone how exactly this team came together. Below is the readers digest version of how God brought the Robinsons and the Fishers to where we are today, I wrote this for a seminary paper so it is not in 1st person, it may read a little awkwardly:

Jeremy Robinson and John Fisher met shortly after Jeremy came to know the Lord at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY. They came from similar backgrounds, so John was very influential in Jeremy’s development as a follower of Christ. As their relationship grew closer, and they began to seek God’s calling for their lives, their paths in ministry continued to cross.

During John’s senior year at WKU, he was introduced to his future wife Abby Callahan. After graduating from college, John began seminary at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. Not yet sure of the direction his calling into ministry was heading, John enrolled for an introduction to church planting class. It did take long for him to realize that God had uniquely designed him and called him to be a church planter. It was at this time that he began to seek out where God would have him to plant. Shortly after coming to this realization, John was hired as the student minister at The Bridge, a church plant in Spring Hill, TN.

Jeremy graduated from WKU in 2006 and immediately began seminary at Southern. During the summer after his graduation, at John and Abby’s wedding, Jeremy was introduced to Pam Lahey, Abby’s maid of honor. They began dating in late September 2006 and were engaged the following year. It is amazing to see how God orchestrated the two couples meeting and the relationships that were built and continue to grow.

Also unsure of the direction of his calling, Jeremy stayed at WKU one year after graduating, interning at the Baptist Campus Ministry and serving as the student minister at Trammel Fork Baptist Church in Scottsville, KY. After spending seven weeks in Nepal on a mission trip during the summer of 2007, Jeremy began to feel a burden to plant churches in North America’s pioneering areas. So, he returned home, asked Pam to marry him, and began to pursue where God would have him serve.

As John and Jeremy began to pray about their burden for church planting, God began to direct them to one another. They shared the same theological convictions, zeal to see lives transformed, and love for the Church, so it seemed God had divinely led them together in ministry over the years. Shortly after they began to talk about planting together, they were asked to come to Fargo, North Dakota on a vision tour led by the Dakota Baptist Convention. So, in October 2007 they set out for Fargo.

Even before the trip, both had felt a strong burden for the people of Fargo growing in them. With an estimated 200,000 people and very little evangelical witness, they saw the great need for Christ exalting churches in Fargo-Moorhead. When they got there, those initial feelings were strengthened as they drove around the city, seeing the great need for Christ in the eyes of the people.

What I didn't say in this is that John met Abby at a wedding that Pam had invited her to. God's hand is all over this team and I can't wait to see what He has in store.

"who dat is"

You're going to start seeing some new content here. The soon to be co-planter of Mission Fargo, Jeremy Robinson, will start blogging here as a co-author. Someday soon Mission Fargo will be something more but for now we will keep the info coming in this format. Jeremy is finishing up a whirlwind summer of Hebrew I, another summer class on top of being a husband, driving to Fargo, and working a pair of jobs. So needless to say he is a little stretched. We are thrilled about partnering with them for the long haul and can't wait for them to get here.

Here is the lovely Robinson couple (Jeremy and Pam).

-BTW-

And as if you didn't already know this he is a much better writer than I haha.

"Oh When the Saints..."

So I have to give a shout out to those who have been so influential and kind to us in our transitional period to Fargo. This is a Church Planting lesson: find like minded people where you are going to join in the mission. These pastors have been ministering in Fargo long before I got here, and the Lord is already doing mighty work through them.



www.prairieviewchurch.com
Nick Geray and David Watson have been so kind and wonderful to us during this entire transition. They invited us to a picnic and other events, and have showered us with support.

www.tbcfargo.org

Pastor Dude has kindly invited us to come and share at his Church this Sunday so we can get to know Temple, and they can get to know us. We are honored by this invitation and look forward to joining them.

www.livinghopewestfargo.org

Pastor John Flowers and Living Hope have been great. They threw a pounding for us and their members have been so great to us. They continue to lock arms with us and show us so much kindness.

This has been a great time, and we have just one more move left at the beginning of August. This month, being in limbo, has been fruitful, but strange. It is always weird to play the waiting game, but it is where the Lord would have us, and to that end we rejoice.

It is also a reminder that living like a missionary doesn't necessarily lead to roots or stability, but it does lead to usefulness, joy, and the knowledge that you are living as Christ would have you live.

"Walk Like an (Egyptian), I mean, Missionary"

We had a great experience today. Maybe this post should have come before the last one. We met a couple here that are living like missionaries.



Over and over phrases like "I don't know any non-Christians", "that's not my gift", "I don't know how," come up in conversations.



Well, there are answers.



1. If one knows no non-Christians, then one is either blissfully ignorant of their context or disobedient to the calling of Christ



2. Nowhere in scripture can one make a case that evangelism is in fact a gift to the follower of Christ, but rather it is in the character of a follower of Christ.



3. This one can be remedied.



2 Corinthians 5-6 lay out why it is in the character of a follower of Christ: LOVE, we love Christ.

We show Christ through our words and with our lives.



This couple today out of the blue asked Abby and I to go to lunch. They are members at one of the local Churches, and aren't able to come to a "Welcome to Fargo" party they are throwing for us.



Several things that they do are challenges to us all.



1. 4 out of 5 days a week he eats breakfast at the same place. An inexpensive place where it costs very little, and you don't have to eat junk, but it is a place.

2. Every Saturday they go and eat breakfast with a group of people that they are having a significant impact on. When they first started going they were the outsiders but as time has passed they have grown to be the chaplains, so to speak. It has been overwhelming for them to think that by this small practice they are having kingdom impact on them.

3. They Pray consistently for the people they are called to minister to.


We can all do things like this not just to start a Church but to have an eternal impact on the people around us.

"Deep Down"

This is going to be a first of several entries about getting started. People keep asking, and rightfully so, how do you begin well? Let's learn together.





Assumptions:

This is what it falls to, we can make tons of assumptions about the town that we live in and the people around us but at the end of the day, without diligent research, our assumptions are barely worth the time that it takes to formulate them, or the breath required to expel them.





Research:

I know that for a lot of you, this is a rehashing of things that have already been said, but I wanted to throw some different resources to you.





http://www.thearda.com/:


This is one of the best research websites out there. If you want to find out the religious climate for the area that you live in, then jump on this one. Type in your zip code and it will give you a snapshot of the 2000 Census and how things stand in your area. If you would type in Fargo, ND; and then Moorhead MN. Compare them with where you live, I think you will find it interesting.





Then, when you are done, go to the websites of the groups that are in the majority and see what they belive and see how, for good or ill, these things shape how the people there view Christ, His Church.





http://www.northamericanmissions.org/:


One of my profs, Dr JD Payne, heads up this site and there is some great info on cultures, regions, etc... Well worth your time.





http://www.churchplantingvillage.net/ :


Not just because of a particular denominational persuasion, but there really are a large amount of free resources here that you should take a look at.





http://www.newchurches.com :


Another really neat website with a lot of links to places you can go to find all types of resources.

"give a little bit"

Here we are in Fargo ND, the sole reason we have been placed in this place is for the expanse of the Gospel by sharing the Gospel and that resulting in new Churches.

Anyone a little overwhelmed, we are!

So we made the 1200 mile trek Westward this past week, we are moved into the basement apartment the house that we will be living in. So right now we are stuff EVERYWHERE.

So now we begin the journey, will you pray with me for Fargo, the next post will have some pictures of Fargo that we want to share with you to ask for your prayers and support..

"on the chain gang"

Join us in praying for the people here in Fargo, MSUM, NDSU, the surrounding universities and the people in the city as a whole.

"Too Much Fun?"

A new era is presenting itself here on Supremacy of Christ.blogspot. The Blog is now going to be about Church planting and the things that might go along with this. Now it is not going to be talking about a different strategy etc every time I post but the gammit of things that go along with Church planting might be limitless, but none the less that is what this is going to be about. I look forward to hearing comments suggestions etc but lets welcome in the era of Mission Fargo posts here.