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.