USCP!

Hi, everyone!  Andy and I just got back from an amazing US church planting conference held in Asheville, North Carolina this week.  If you didn't know already, the church we are planting is a part of a greater organization, known as Antioch Ministries International.  Our home church, CFCF in Boston, is also a part of this movement--and that's what it is--a movement of churches across the country and the world.  AMI's slogan is "A Passion for Jesus and His Purposes on the Earth!" and that is a vision Andy and I have adopted as our own.  The sweet thing about the large movement is that although it is large and growing, at the core is a family-like network of people who's lives have been forever changed by the gospel of Jesus and who want to see the peoples of the earth be transformed by it, too.

Every other summer AMI holds a church planting conference, alternating between US church plants and international.  This year we got to go to USCP since we're technically the staff of Antioch Community Church, Tempe (I say technically because as our church grows, our roles will likely change, but at this point, we're all on staff).  What an honor and privilege it was to get to hear from key leaders in this movement.  There were four large sessions where there was dynamic worship, powerful intercession, and awesome teachings and two breakout sessions, where we had the opportunity to get into smaller, more intimate groups and talk about specific ministries we're apart of.  Andy and I went to the college breakouts because we'll be helping head up the college ministry here in Tempe.  We just felt so equipped and envisioned to see the gospel reach this city.  Our team is so thankful to God that we got all of this valuable teaching and information a week before we get things started!  Praise God.

Another fun part about these conferences is that everyone comes together--there are a lot of lifelong friends in this movement that no longer live near one another because God has scattered us across the country and world.  Although we just left Boston a couple months ago, it was SO GREAT to see our dear friends at the conference!  A lot (not all) of our close friends back in Boston are on staff at CFCF, so that's a plus :)  I didn't get many pictures, but here are the ones I got.

worship/ministry time at the conference

getting into the presence of God is so refreshing!

Finally!  A good picture of Amy and me.  I love this sweet friend of mine.

Great buds, Andy and Seth.  So excited for Seth to be a daddy in a few weeks!