Update #4 - Our Team

God is cray-cray.

I don't mean that in a disrespectful way. I mean it in a mind blowing way.

God's calling us to plant a church. That's a crazy thing to write, but it's more crazy to think about. 

I know it doesn't make sense that God would use us, however, we know the God of the universe is calling us to plant a church. We are called labor in this harvest (Matthew 9:36-38). 

God's laid another passage of Scripture from James 4:13-17 on my heart. The last verse is extremely poignant: "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

God has called us to plant a local church as part of His Church. Some may question that, which is fine. But, we know what God's asking us to do, and we know it is the right thing to do.

For us not to plant a church would be sin.

OUR TEAM

For the mission God has called us to we are in need of help. God has called us to plant a church that is focused on Biblical, Gospel Centered teaching. He's also burdened our hearts to be a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and inter-generational community that show the world what unconditional love looks like.

We need courageous people willing to do one of three things (or two...or even all three). We need people, who we are calling prayer partners, to PRAY for this church plant (even in its fledgling stages) and our family. We also need people, financial partners, to GIVE financially to the ministry and calling God has placed on our lives. Finally, we need people, mission partners, to GO with us where this plant will be (Charleston, Chattanooga or the metro-Atlanta area).

Here's a brief idea of what each involves:

PRAYER PARTNERS

James 5:16 says, "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." We know that prayer is powerful, yet it is often the most underestimated, underutilized and undervalued part of ministry. We need people who will go before God on behalf of us, our ministry, and the people we will impact. We are going into a war hotspot against the enemy for the hearts and souls of people who desperately need Jesus. Will you commit to joining our team as a prayer partner?

FINANCIAL PARTNERS

We need people to give financially. I really believe this is true, because it's true in our life. People need to give more than we need to receive. We are being obedient to the Lord's calling on our lives, and inherent in that call is the need for financial partners. So, there are people who need to give to what the Lord has called us to do out of obedience to God. That's why I'm asking people to join our team financially.

Having people contribute to our ministry will allow us to do the ministry work God has called us to do now, and when we leave FBC and plant this church. For this next year we need 30 people to commit to give $100 every month. If that's not something you can do, another amount the Lord puts on your heart would be a blessing as well. This is what God has called us to do, and we must do it.

You can give to fellowship Bible Church and designate it to "Brett Durham" or "Church Planting Resident Brett Durham." You can send hard copy checks to Fellowship Bible Church, 480 West Crossville Road, Roswell, Georgia  30075, or you can give online (FBC) or through a paypal account (paypal). Would you commit to joining our team as a financial partner?

MISSION PARTNER

This one is a bit difficult at the moment since we do not have a destination solidified yet. But, we are looking for people who will do life with us. We need people committed to the ministry of evangelism and discipleship. We need people committed to loving people unconditionally. We need people committed to the vision God has given us for this church plant. We need people willing to die for the cause of Christ (sounds harsh, but this is a spiritual war and we need to lay it all on the line).

So, if you are interested in being a part of a church plant in and around the NW metro-Atlanta area, the Eastside of Atlanta, Charleston or Chattanooga areas, please let us know and we'll share more about the vision God has placed on our hearts. Would you commit to joining our team as a mission partner?

As you prayerfully consider joining our team, we would love to meet with each of you individually and discuss what God's doing in your life. Please let me know the best way to reach you, and I will set something up with you.

Also, if you have questions about anything I've mentioned, or would like more information please don't hesitate to ask or contact me. You can comment here, email (bedurham@gmail.com) or call me.

Thanks for taking the time to read the whole thing and prayerfully consider being part of what God's going to do.

Together In Him,

Brett & Holly Durham

Update # 3

Here's another update from us Durham's as we journey with Him.

The first and second week of the church planting residency are in the books. We are so blessed to be here.

Fellowship Bible Church is going to be a great family to be part of and have already proven to be so. The leaders that I have the privilege of working with are godly examples and they have so much wisdom to share. The other residents that I’m working alongside of are so awesome and it is truly crazy how similar our hearts are. It’s an honor to work alongside of these men and women.

Here’s just a glimpse of what a typical week looks like for us: Just about every week we have three things due; a book report, a church planting case study, and a critical review of a sermon. On Sundays, we are expected to be part of the church services, as any staff or elder also would, and then Sunday nights we have the Greenhouse service. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we have meetings for about half of the day. The rest of the week is for us to pray, plan, research, meet with people and develop our ministry partner team. I'm also going to be attending several conferences with Crawford and the other residents (Resurgence, Catalyst, Thrive, Passion and Orange).

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity of preaching at the Greenhouse service. I was humbled by the opportunity and I felt like God moved in and through me with the message I was able to deliver. We are on our third book now, Dangerous Calling, which as many of you may already know is a book that transformed my life. The other residents and I get to process these readings with Crawford, and then pray through the things we are learning. We also have a breakfast once a week with Crawford just to do life. Our time with Shane, Tim, Mike, and the rest of the staff is so refreshing.

There is so much to be thankful about here. I think the most humbling thing about being here is that Holly and I are here. Wee know we've made a ton of mistakes. We know we are broken and messed up people in desperate need of God’s grace on a regular basis. We know that apart form Him we can do nothing.

We can listen to the lies of the evil one and focus on those past failures and let Satan, the world or our flesh define who we are to discourage our journey, or we can look to Jesus. We can look to His Word. We are choosing to trust in Him and walk by Faith in Him. In Him there is redemption. There is freedom.

First Timothy 1:12-17 has been such reassurance for us as we have been here. Here’s what it says:

1Timothy1:12   I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,  13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,  14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.  17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is what he has called us to do. We are so humbled by this call. There will be some who don’t support us, our obedience to God's call or the vision for ministry God has led us to.  This is HIS service. This is the calling HE has given to us. We are trying to be obedient to HIM. We must do what HE has called us to do, and we are confident…with a confidence that can only come from His Spirit and through the confirmation of mature believers…that this is what we are supposed to be doing with our lives.

Another thing that has blown us away is the opportunity I get to sit under Crawford Loritts. Crawford is an example of what it looks like to be godly leader. His wisdom in the things of God also blow me away. The things he says on a daily basis leave us all looking for something to write with so we can record that thought...probably to tweet out later.

I believe there are two compliments that you can give someone that are greater than any other compliment. First, to call someone godly is the highest compliment we can give anyone on this planet. The second is to say that someone inspires you to be like Jesus. Crawford deserves both of those compliments.

The things the Lord is stirring in us are exciting. We are running to His Word for our main inspiration. The things we are praying over, dreaming about and talking through are humbling and awe inspiring. I cannot wait for people to join us on the journey he is going to take us on wherever it is that he leads us.

We are looking for ministry partners to join with us on this journey as God leads us to begin a community in a diverse metropolitan area. If you are interested please email me at bedurham@gmail.com, and I would love to set something up to chat with you about the Lord’s call on our lives and the vision He has given us for ministry.

Thank you all for your love, prayer and support! We need all we can get!

Brett

Update #2

"Church planting is a full-contact sport of the spiritual and physical worlds." ~Trinity Jordan, "Jesus Never Said to Plant Churches, Page 12.

We know that we are in a battle being here to begin this Church Planting Residency Internship at Fellowship Bible Church. No doubt. This is a quote from our first assignment of the Church planting residency internship.

 We know this is what God has called us to do, even though this month has been quite difficult spiritually, physically, emotionally, financially and a whole bunch of other words that ends in -ally. But, this time has been great for us.

Here’s a quick prayer request section: One vehicle is incapable of being driven at the moment. Another vehicle needs $1000 in repairs for struts and breaks. We still haven't moved into our rental, AC just got fixed yesterday and the carpets are being worked on this week. There was an inspection done on our house in Cary, and this week there will be an appraisal. We need positives in both of these reports so we can close Sept. 25. We also are at $150/month commitment to our support goal, which leaves us with $2,850/mo to go.

 Ok, now back to our regularly scheduled blog.

MaryMayes and Maddie had a great time at school this week meeting new friends and learning a ton. We all love their teachers and they really seem to love the girls. We are praying for good relationships with classmates' parents.

This past week was very cool because we got to attend a staff meeting at the church and share who we were and our hearts for church planting. I love sharing our vision for church. I also love to do it with my best friend and teammate by my side (that's my wife, Holly, for those who didn't catch that).

We really connected with the other two couples also in the residency program, the Dulas and the Twiggs. It is so cool to see how God has brought all three of us here to be part of this ministry over the next year. We all have similar hearts for the Lord, his work and his Church.

Please keep praying that God would give us a clear vision for where we should go. Like I mentioned in the previous post, there are areas God has put on our heart. I will say, there is a front-runner in our hearts, but we want to make sure to only go where God wants us to be.

Update #1

We thought we'd give y'all a little update.

Our move to the metro Atlanta area has been a bit chaotic. We are kind of moved into our rental house and kind of moved out of our house in Cary...But, at least we are under contract on the house in Cary. The house here in Roswell has also had issues.

I just got back down here on Saturday after being in Cary for a few days packing up a lot of our stuff, then driving a truck while towing the equinox. That was tense. Storms and a large penske truck with a big vehicle on the back got me all stressed out. But, I got here safe and we got stuff moved in.

Our home here in Roswell is not quite ready to be moved into as the carpets need cleaning, the flooring in the kitchen needs to be replaced and the air conditioning doesn't work (what is it with us and AC units??!). So, everything is still in boxes and off of the flooring that is going to be worked on. And, since we left our home in Raleigh partly staged, we don't have our main furniture to live on yet.

Maddie started preschool today, and MaryMayes is going into her first full week of school. We're not the biggest fans of driving 35 minutes each way to school, but at least it gives us time to pray for the day and sing our favorite praise songs together! Love that time.

I still haven't started the job at the church yet, but I've enjoyed being in the area and talking with people about the Lord. I do so much better in life when I have a consistent and full schedule, so I'm really looking forward to getting things started.

We're still not really sure where the Lord is leading us to be part of a church plant. We are passionate about being in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and inter-generational metropolitan area, though we don't know if that is here in the metro Atlanta area or somewhere else. All we know, is we are praying for 10-15 family units to go with us.

Some preliminary thoughts about a location are are Decatur, Charleston, Birmingham, or Chattanooga. One of the air conditioning guys I was talking with encouraged me to move into downtown and work with the addicts and homeless folks. He wanted to do it with me, but unfortunately, I don't believe he is a follower of Jesus yet. I pray God opens that door with Greg.

The support raising hasn't gone as well as we hoped, but that is mainly due to the chaos of the two houses. Please pray that the Lord would lead us to people who would be willing to partner with us, specifically those who would partner with us financially. If you would like to hear about our hearts for this church plant and the next steps in our ministry please contact us via email (bedurham@gmail.com) and we would love to set up a time to talk with you.

Thank you for all of your faithful prayers and your tremendous love and support.

Together for His renown,

Brett

Christmas in July!

WE ARE BLESSED!!!
Joshua 24:14
"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

We have been counting our blessing everyday! THANK YOU to all of our family and friends who have prayed, loved and wished the BEST for us during our seminary days and now through our transition in life! We feel VERY humbled and overwhelmed by the Lord's blessing on us! Please continue to pray for our trust in the Lord and that we don't listen to any worldly views on how we should live our life, but that we continue to keep our focus on the Lord's will for our life!

Let's catch you up: Brett got a job at Hope Community Church in Raleigh, NC as the College Pastor (check out their website: http://www.gethope.net). MaryMayes became a big sister on April 16th (Madelyn "Maddie" Moriah), Brett graduated on May 30th with his Master's in Divinity, we packed up all of our things in Cali and shipped them to Raleigh, NC (where it is currently in a storage unit), sold my Acura Integra (so hard to part from). So we needed another car for our family and a beautiful couple gifted us with a minivan for free in GA. WOW!!! We had a blast with our family in GA for the month of June and now we are currently in temporary housing in Morrisville, NC(for free ~ WOW) until our house closes this Friday (finger's cross everything goes smoothly). We will be living in Cary, NC. We are excited about getting our things out of storage here in NC as well as back in GA that have been stored since after we got married and moved to Cali! It feels like Christmas to our family!!!! We continue to THANK AND PRAISE the Lord for His provisions and His love for us as we continue to faithfully follow Him.

3 John 1:3

It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth.

Psalm 40:10
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.

We are soooo EXCITED about what ALL the Lord has done, is doing, and is going to do! We look forward to sharing our continued adventure! PLEASE COME VISIT US ANYTIME!!! Our home is your home! The Lord has provided it for us and we feel it is a place to share with everyone! You have a FREE place to stay and would love to introduce you to the church.

We will give you our updated information hopefully this weekend! Pictures will be coming soon!
LOVE,
Holly, Brett, MaryMayes and Maddie

Then he said to his disciples,
"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Matthew 9:37-38

Carolina Dreamin'

Well, first of all, we made it safely across the USA. Holly and the girls flew across country, and I (Brett) drove his car, even though when I got to GA I needed to get the breaks worked on. Praise the Lord I got there safe! We have been living with Holly's grandparents and the girls have enjoyed seeing Nanny, Big Pop, Gammy, Ganpa, mama, papa and all her aunts and uncles. It's been great to see them.

Right now we are here in Raleigh, NC house hunting. We've been here since Monday afternoon and we've been hunting for houses every day for several hours each day. As of right now, we have had no luck. We almost found a place, but we our phenomenal real estate agent did some work and found out some things that saved us a ton of money, and we were able to walk away. We've got one more day we think, and then we will get back to GA (we left MayMae in GA with Nanny and we really miss her). We are hoping to find a place to stay tomorrow (rental), while we continue to look at houses...so we'll see.

We're really trusting the Lord for a lot these days, but our faith is weak. Our prayer right now is, "Lord we believe, but help our unbelief."

Spoiled, or Befriended, rotten

Here are a couple pictures of our daughter who is in the middle of all of her "friends", this after she just got four new ones from her Nanny and Aunt Lin Lin. She loves when we do this, and daddy is a fan as well.

Also, check out the picture of our new angel, we are calling "Maddie Bug." So, here is the the story behind those two names. We have officially confused MaryMayes, who knows her name well, but we have also called her "Nooni" and "Princess." Well, Daddy made the mistake of referring to Maddie as "princess," to which MaryMayes replied, "I princess." Daddy saw the betrayal in her eyes so we had to come up with another sweet name, so we chose "angel." Then, we thought that we needed to even things up and call her "Maddie Bug"...we know...we are ridiculous.