Exciting Times...

Hello friends! 

It's been quite a rush living life in the fast lane lately.  Between teaching and starting a new church, our life has been a bit hectic.  However, we continue to see God's hand in everything we do.

Every day I'm becoming more comfortable in my role as a teacher.  Don't get me wrong, there are still days when I want to run and hide or just quit altogether, but those days are fewer than they were the first few weeks.  I'm beginning to enjoy teaching and I'm reminded of that passion that was in me all along.  As of this week, I will have completed one month of school!  September has flown by.  So much has happened in just one month, it's almost unbelievable.

We had our first block party at Crossroads Church on Saturday, September 17th.  Oh by the way, the new name for our church is Crossroads Church.  We decided on that name because our location is located at what is called the "crossroads" in Roanoke.  People are familiar with this area when you refer to it as crossroads which made naming the church that a natural fit. 

The block party was a success!  We had about 400 people from the community show up despite very little advertising.  A group of our former students from Palestine Baptist Church came to help us that day.  It was so great to see many of their smiling faces.  We continue to miss everyone at PBC and were blessed by their willingness to serve with us.  Current attendees of Crossroads also helped out at the block party.  One lady who is 94 years "young" was out there serving hot dogs all day to people in the community.  We even had a homeless man who has been faithfully attending our services provide amazing face painting for the children.  It was so great to see people coming together to reach out to the community.  The kids all seemed to have a great time and we're hoping many of them will come visit our church as a result.  We're having another block party this Saturday in preparation for our Grand Opening.

Crossroads Church Grand Opening is this Sunday, October 2nd!!! We're so excited!  Josh has been feverishly getting everything ready and working with so many different people to get this all accomplished.  The renovations are almost complete and the sanctuary looks incredible!  They're putting in the new carpet today.  I'll be sure to post pictures of the finished product next week.  I'm so proud of all the work Josh has been doing.  He was giving two months to completly renovate a church and build a team to help us launch and he's so far managed to do it all!  God is giving him incredible stamina and strength that we know only comes from Him.

Please continue to keep us and Crossroads Church in your prayers.  We need them now more than ever.  As we open this new church and begin to reach out into the community, we know that a target will be on our backs.  Satan will do anything he can to prevent the Gospel from being preached.  We definitely need God's protection over us as a couple and the church as a whole! 

God is going to do amazing things through Crossroads Church!  I'm just excited to be along for the ride!

~Nicole~

Teaching, Moving, & All that Good Stuff!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind.  Since my last post I finished up working at Liberty, put a classroom together, completed my first week of teaching, and moved to Roanoke!  Your brain probably hurts from just reading that.  It's been crazy but God is still faithful. 

Saying goodbye to my co-workers at Liberty was probably one of the hardest things I've had to do.  I loved working at Liberty but I'm glad to be ministering to the people here in Roanoke. 

I have 20 students in my 5th grade homeroom, but I teach 41 students in two groups.  So far my first week has gone well, actually better than expected.  I have a good homeroom and my kids listen most of the time.  I'm still learning how to manage a classroom while teaching and re-learning the content.  When was the last time you had to do a stem-and-leaf plot?!  Yeah I can't remember either. haha  But I'm sure as the weeks go on I'll get more confident in my role as a teacher.

We found a place to live in Roanoke about two weeks ago.  It's a townhouse that is minutes from both our church and the school!  We moved in last week and spent most of this past weekend unpacking.  I'll be glad when it's all unpacked and I've found a place for everything.  I think I'm really going to enjoy living in Roanoke!  I can't wait to have time to explore the city!

Thanks for all your prayers!  They have been greatly felt over the past few weeks.  Please continue to pray for us as we begin to prepare the new church to launch October 2nd.  We'll be having a block party for the community next Saturday and canvassing the neighborhood over the next few weeks.  Pray for unsaved people to come to our church and that God will use us to touch the lives of the people in our area.  There is so much need and I hope that we can bring hope to a community that needs it.

Well, I better get back to lesson planning....

Until next time,
Nicole

Where have we been?!

You're probably wondering why this blog hasn't been updated in almost a year and I apologize for the delay.  In all honesty, nothing really had happened for several months and so I had nothing to update you on in regards to our journey in church planting, until NOW!  

God has been doing some incredible things in our lives in the past two months and I'm here to share it with you.  At the end of June, Josh ran into one of his friends/mentors, Matt Wilmington.  Matt is an executive pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, the church that started Liberty University.  The two talked and Matt asked Josh if he wanted to interview to be the new campus pastor with TRBC as they start a new campus in Roanoke, VA.  Since God had stopped us from going to PA to plant a church, we decided to pursue this option and see where it would go.  Well in about 3 weeks time, Josh was offered the position and he accepted!  So as of August 1st, we became church planters with TRBC!  This campus is a result of a former church, Airlee Court Baptist, turning over its property to TRBC for them to revitalize the church and bring in a younger crowd.  The church currently has about 30 attendees whose average age range is 75-80.  We have our work cut out for us but the surrounding community is in desperate need for a vibrant church that reaches the lost and hurting.  For more information on this church re-launch, you can read this article published in the Roanoke Times, http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/283879.  The name of the church will be changing and the sanctuary will be getting a face-lift among other things.  We are excited to start getting in to the community and reaching the people of Roanoke!

This new position also means that we will be moving to Roanoke, VA as soon as we can find a place to live!  We are both excited to move to a more diverse culture with a bigger city feel.  Roanoke, VA is a beautiful and diverse city with lots of art, culture, and community events.  Roanoke is known as the Star City and it really does shine like a star!!

Here's a picture of the new Taubam Museum of Art.

When we received the call to go to Roanoke and start this new campus, I had every intention of continuing to work at Liberty University.  I loved working with international students and enjoyed what I did.  The hour commute everyday would have been tough but I told myself I would be fine.  But God had other plans!  I have always wanted to teach.  I have a Bachelor's degree in Elementary education and a Master of Education, but I wasn't having much success landing a teaching job.  The bad economy, teachers not retiring and budget issues have decreased the number of teaching positions available making it challenging for me.  I have lots of education and no practical experience.  I began to think all hope had been lost until last week.  I received a call from Roanoke City Public Schools offering me a 5th grade teaching position at Roundhill Elementary School for the 11-12 school year!  I couldn't believe it!  I was completely in awe of how God had provided for us!  The school is in the same community as the church and Josh and I will now work 5 minutes from each other! The school district had 300 applications and only 20 positions to fill!!  God truly opened up the doors and allowed me an opportunity to finally teach! 

I put in my two weeks at work and my last day at Liberty will be Aug. 17th.  I start new teacher orientation the next day!  Life is going to kick up a few notches over the next few months but we're ready!  We've been asking God to show us where He wants us to be for a year now and God has finally revealed it to us!  The peace we have experienced through this process is unbelievable which helps us know that we are exactly where God wants us to be.  Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this next journey!  This blog will be our way of documenting all that God is doing, so I'll hopefully do a better job of updating it.  I look forward to sharing with you in this incredible adventure!

~Nicole~