A Short Devo

“If You will, You can…”

Have you ever realized how filthy you are? I am constantly reminding Morrow and Louis about how dirty their hands, their faces, and their feet are. They walk around with whatever their last meal was lingering, sticky, and greasy on their skin and clothes. I know… it's gross. Sometimes we forget, ignore, or don’t realize how dirty our sin makes us.

I had the opportunity to share my testimony and lead a devotional for the elders at Mitchell Road a few weeks ago. As I prepared to stand in front of the 50 or so men and share with them, I was reminded of my major sin problem and I looked for solace in the Gospel of Luke.

“While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him.” Luke 5:12-13

There are two things that really strike me about this text. One is that this man knew he was unclean. There was no doubt, it was literally written in the law of God (Lev. 14). However, he also knows something else. He knows that Jesus is powerful.

Do you know about Jesus’s power? Do you need a reminder? Follow the example of the Leper.

“Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

If you will, you can.

The power of Jesus, his capability, is never in question. It’s only his willingness. Is he willing? Is he willing to make the leper clean? Well, Jesus, does him one better! He reaches out and touches this unclean man and he assures him of his willingness.

“I will, be clean.”

Throughout the Bible, there is a pattern of a clean thing touching an unclean thing and becoming unclean itself. But when the unclean man is touched by Jesus, he becomes clean. Jesus breaks the pattern with a beautiful combination of ability and willingness.

Franz Wright has a poem titled Heaven about the power of Jesus to make us clean:

I lived as a monster, my only

hope is to die like a child.

In the otherwise vacant

and seemingly ceilingless

vastness of a snowlit Boston

church, a voice

said: I

can do that–

if you ask me, I will do it

for you.

The bad news is, we are all monsters when it comes to our sin in comparison to God’s righteousness. We are unclean and are isolated by our sin.

The good news is we serve a God who is capable and willing!

Jesus came to make us clean. He rids all those who come to him of their sin and shame in his death on the cross. Now if we put our trust and faith in him, we have his Spirit living in us. This Christmas as you interact with others who need the power of Jesus, remember that you have the blessing of his Spirit inside of you. In other words, you are capable, but are you willing? (Phil 4:13)

Betterton Life Update

“Infinite, and an infant. Eternal, and yet born of a woman. Almighty, and yet hanging on a woman's breast. Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried in a mother's arms. King of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph. Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter's despised son. Oh, the wonder of Christmas.” - Charles Spurgeon

We are excited about Christmas around here!

So much has happened since our last update. We are going to strive to make them more timely and are so thankful that anyone would want to read about what is happening on our journey to plant a church. We are especially grateful for all of our Texas friends and many that we consider family, for your consistent prayers and check-ins. While our transition to South Carolina has been better than we could have hoped, it has not been without challenges. Finding our fit in this community has been pretty seamless and we have been welcomed with open arms, however we are certainly feeling the fatigue of all the newness and a depletion of emotional energy after such a big change. But there is so much to share, so let’s get to it!

I (Adam) led a Young Adults retreat to Camp Ridgehaven in Brevard, NC. It was beautiful and a wonderful time to get to know some of the YA’s at Mitchell Road. We had 29 people attend, not counting myself. It was a short trip but consisted of a late night/ early morning worship session around a fire (w/ s’mores!), a devotion in the morning about community from 1 Jn. 4, and a time to share testimonies in small groups. We ended with a hike to a waterfall and a lookout (pics below).

Morrow started playing flag football at the YMCA in late October and has really enjoyed it. He has a catch in every game and we are proud of how much he loves being a part of a team and the way he is learning to listen to his coach! Morrow and Louis both joined a wrestling club that meets Wednesday nights, so far they love learning how to wrestle and as you can imagine, they like practicing with each other.

Louis has a thriving social life at school. He told me the other day that he doesn’t like the weekends because he doesn’t get to see his friends. This is only partially true considering that most weekends we see his friends either at church or hanging out with them and their parents on Saturdays. Just yesterday we had a brunch playdate with them and went to a Christmas parade that same evening together. So he has lots of friend time, he just wants more!

Louis gets his passion for fellowship and community from his mom who is always thinking of how to serve others and have fun with them. It has been awesome to see the community that Kirsten has built so organically with mom’s from the church and the school. She spends time praying with them each week and it seems like we always have adventures or hangouts planned with families I don’t even know, but Kirsten has already connected with. For example, our Thanksgiving consisted of a lovely afternoon picnic at Paris Mountain State Park with a family that we met at a Lego competition at Mo’s school. This family is from Colombia and does not speak English. Kirsten spent an hour communicating with them through google translate and asked them to join us for Thanksgiving. We are praying for those relationships and are excited to share the gospel with this family in the near future!

Please be praying for other relationships we have made with non-believers. Pray that God would give us a heart of the lost and that we would use opportunities he gives us to share the gospel!

I am wrapping up my first course on Church Planting with Pathway Learning online. So far we have covered material on God’s vision for his church in our world, the calling of a pastor, who we are called to serve, how to serve, and the vital signs of a healthy church. After each section I meet with my supervisor and another man who is planting a church in Athens Greece to discuss the content. This has been a blessing and I am so happy to be studying these topics before starting to plant a church.

We would love to ask you to join us in all that God is doing, by praying for us in these ways!

Please pray for our boys to continue to feel loved in this new place and lifestyle and that God would protect and keep them as they are in the world but not of the world.
Pray for Kirsten to sense direction and purpose as she continues to build relationships and serve our family and God’s people in a variety of ways.
Pray for Adam’s studies. He seeks licensure in the PCA in April, which means lots of studies between now and then.
Pray for direction as our family continues to seek God’s will for a location to plant a church.
Pray that God would use us to spread the good news, that we have a Savior who loves us so much he came to earth to die in our place!

Thank you for reading and praying,

Adam, Kirsten, Morrow, and Louis

The Willingness of Our God

First Update: God is Good