We’re Growing!

March 8, 2021

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3) and grace and peace to all of you reading this.

Daniel and I have been immensely blessed by your prayers, your giving, your words of encouragement, and your support. As we continue on this journey of planting Redeemer Fellowship VA we are in desperate need of the faithful prayers of the saints. Our mission is to cultivate a family of transformed disciples who love God, love their neighbor, and seek God’s kingdom together. Our vision is to see people in Northern Virginia transformed by the Gospel through planting a church that seeks the lost, matures the believer, and cultivates leaders to serve the city.

With that, we have so much to update you on and many, many things to praise God for with you!

Zach and Emily Hollifield, members of our leadership team.

Praise God for the gift of another little baby on the way! I am 16 weeks pregnant and finally turned the corner a few weeks ago from some serious morning sickness and fatigue. I certainly need all my energy back to chase around our sweet and vivacious Evelyn who is now 15 months old!
Praise God for calling Zach and Emily Hollifield (and for their obedience in answering God’s call) to join our leadership team and help with the church planting process. Zach and Emily have been a tremendous gift to Daniel and I and continue to step up and serve us and the church where needs arise.
Praise God for calling Alex Lee to join our leadership team.
Praise God for allowing us to complete the process of becoming established as a separate entity under the SBC. Praise God for the many men and women at the SBC and elsewhere who have helped us step-by-step through the process.
Praise God for All Peoples Community Church, their elders, and leaders who have been loving and hospitable to us, providing us a home to grow and a runway to launch Redeemer Fellowship VA.
Praise God for gathering 8-10 men and women to join us weekly in small group, to follow our leadership, and to learn more about what it looks like to partner with us as part of our core team.
Praise God for providing for us! Praise God for allowing generous individuals and families to support us financially – those gifts have allowed us to purchase full coverage health insurance that will go into effect next month.
Praise God for the opportunity for Daniel to grow in relationship with other pastors in the area and for opening the door to establish relationships with other churches in the DMV that long to see this church planted and more people come to Christ in Northern Virginia.
Praise God for providing the opportunity for us to serve several of our neighbors who recently became parents by providing groceries and meals. We are continuing to pray for those relationships to grow and for more opportunities to share the Gospel with our neighbors.

I could go on. Truly the Lord has shown us His faithfulness, His goodness, and His sovereignty in more ways (big and small) than I can count. He is using this season of preparation and anticipation to cultivate deeper dependency on Him, intimacy with Him, and a heightened sense of passion to share His great love with those around us. This season has also been a tremendous challenge for us individually and as a couple. As we ride out rougher waves we are continually trying to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and leaning on the support of faithful friends and mentors who are praying, coaching and correcting us as we go.

As we look forward we are praying for 20-30 individuals and families to commit to joining us over the next three months, and we are praying and planning to use this summer to delve deep into discipleship and leadership training as we plan to launch in person services this Fall. Much of the timeline and logistics will depend on local/state COVID guidelines; we will certainly adhere to such while still finding intentional and creative ways to gather and grow Redeemer VA. We have also identified and started building relationships with two fantastic local organizations that align with our mission: Second Story and Food For Others. We are excited to serve and love those in need in our community through these organizations.

Prayer Requests:

Pray for our marriage. Pray that God would strengthen and unify us in this season. Pray that we would be intentional about creating time and space to invest into the health of our marriage.
Pray for our leadership team. Pray that the Lord would deepen our affections for Him, pray that we would grow in servant leadership, and that God would allow us to use our gifts to His glory as He grows His church.
Pray for our small group. Pray that God would guide Daniel and I as we aim to lead faithfully, point our group to Christ, and strive to cultivate a “space” where people can be fully known in a virtual environment (for the time being).
Pray for God to call other pastors and elders to join Daniel. Pray for God to raise up 20-30 families to join our core team over the next several months.
Pray for new partnerships. We are aiming to raise another $150,000 for church operations for a total of $300,000 for Year One of Redeemer Fellowship VA.