Two Steps Forward...

What's going on with Access? That's a question I am asked quite often lately. We've been living in Aldergrove for 1 year now, which seems like a long time, but it's gone by in a flash! Taralyn has been busy with our two boys, and growing our third child as well! I have been juggling a few different jobs, as well as taking care of and spending time with my family and, of course, church planting.
Whoever said that this would be easy?

We moved here last September 15, armed with a monthly commitment from our district (www.lpd-efcc.ca), a part-time job at Dead Frog Brewery, another part-time job as a care worker for my brother Ryan, and a fail-proof strategy for planting Access Church by Easter.
At this point, I'm still with Ryan, for more hours per week than before. I'm no longer at Dead Frog. And I'm facilitating workshops with people on Income Assistance, meeting a ton of great people in Chilliwack, Port Coquitlam, and Maple Ridge (all three of which communities, by the way, really need church plants!). We haven't 'planted' Access yet either, but we are 'two steps ahead'.

After taking a long, hard look at our dream dying, we spend a couple of months trying to rebuild our confidence. We attended Bootcamp with the EFCC, and also Oasis Retreat. But the big break came in July, when we made plans with David and Linda Williaume to get together every other Sunday evening for dinner, and we'd see who else would turn up.

As it turned out, we had 16 people at our first dinner, including 6 kids! The numbers have fluctuated since then, but a year into church planting in Aldergrove, there are three couples committed to the journey, rather than just one. We are truly two steps ahead. The Eddys, the Williaumes, and the Deyettes have grouped together to make Jesus and His Gospel known in Aldergrove. We're meeting together regularly, building up our relationships with one another, and strategizing how we'll continue to minister to the others God has brought around us. There's a couple living close to the Deyettes that I'm also connected to from the past. There are other families from previous churches that have been at least peripherally interested in being involved, and there are untold numbers of people connected to our three families.

They say that 'luck' happens when opportunity meets preparation. God is doing something here in Aldergrove, most notably He's preparing us, the Access Core, for when opportunity strikes, to share His Gospel in this town on a larger scale. Until that happens, we continue to plod along. We're starting a series on Timothy Keller's "The Prodigal God" this Sunday, which will take us into December. We're thinking maybe of doing Francis Chan's "Crazy Love" after that. And we continue inviting our neighbours into our homes, and to our dinners together as well, to experience The Prodigal God's Crazy Love.

We're also holding a fundraising dinner on November 27 at Abbotsford Evangelical Free Church. Tickets will be $20, for more information email me chad@accesschurch.ca.

Please continue to pray for us. We really need to expand our core, and to become effective at ministering to one another, so that we will be prepared to minister to many in Aldergrove.