Our Adventure in the Northeast - Part V

New England Water (seen through the fog)!

We are now a team of six! Our group is experiencing some new life now that Brant has arrived to join us for the rest of the week. We're grateful to have another guy to round out the team and that he was able to make it safely, considering some of the roads in the Northeast are gathering snow, sleet, etc. On that note, please pray that the conditions won't affect our travel in the morning. As of right now, we should be fine to make it to Hartford, but there could be more significant accumulation overnight. We're allowing ourselves a few extra hours to rest and get ready in the morning, so hopefully a later time of departure will help us as well.

We had our earliest morning yet today, as we met for breakfast with Tim, a Connecticut church planting strategist and pastor. He was able to give us some significant on-paper information about each of our Connecticut areas that will be useful as we look to the right neighborhood in which to plant a church. He spent some time driving us around the city, showing us the University of New Haven and the surrounding suburban areas.

The entrance to Yale

After that, Lauren & Kailey went to survey the Yale campus area, and the rest of us went to the public library in hopes of striking up conversation with locals. God was gracious to provide each one of us with beneficial dialogues with residents of the New Haven community, and we were able to learn much about the spiritual climate of the city.

For lunch, we met with Andy, who is the Director of Collegiate Ministries for the New England Baptist Convention (quite the title!). He shared more specifically about ministering to campuses, which is something we have really focused on as we look to plant another "University Baptist Church," or at least a similar model by another name perhaps.

Yale University Campus

As the day transpired, I was connected through various Facebook avenues with Sarah, who lives in a New Haven suburb with her husband and two children. As it turns out, her in-laws are actually members of UBC, her mom led in Bible Study Fellowship the same I did, and her family is very close to the Brills, who I work with at Lightbearers. Sarah and I were blessed to speak on the phone for quite a while this afternoon while the rest of the team debriefed, and she was able to give a perspective that we hadn't found yet. Again, God has been so gracious to provide timely appointments with specific people who will all be used to direct us toward that place that He has already set before us. What a privilege for us to be a part of that!

Southern Connecticut State University

As another day ends, I continue to ask you to pray for our team. We have now finished our time in two of the three cities, and already we have noticed extreme differences between them. Pray that God will use those differences to make it clear to the Body of UBC where He is preparing for us to be a part of His work. Begin praying, too, for the team that will travel to Boulder, Colorado, and Palo Alto, California, in May, as they survey an additional two cities. As we talk to more and more people, the need is revealing itself as more and more significant. So many we have met openly declare that they have no view of God at all, and that breaks my heart. These people need to have knowledge of a Savior - and not just knowledge - but they need to have a true, lived-out relationship with Him. This task matters!!!