MI MI AND PAW PAW NEED YOUR PRAYERS!

Dear Friends,

As many of you already know, Tricia and I have been burdened to get involved in church planting. We have been praying for some time about the direction in which God would have us to go. We have been sincerely seeking His will and His perfect plan for our lives for quite a long time. One of the hardest things in life for us as Christians to do is to wait upon the Lord and I can promise you, we are no exceptions to the rule.

Just recently, Tricia and I met with Dr. Hugh Richardson (Shelby Baptist Association Missionary) and Brother Bob Brown (Church Planting Strategist) to discuss the possibility of planting a church in the Shelby County area. The meeting was truly a blessing to the both of us. Dr. Richardson and Brother Brown are truly, two wonderful dedicated Christian men, excited about furthering God’s kingdom and they are doing an outstanding job at meeting that area’s needs in so many unique and constructive ways. This was, of course, a preliminary meeting, designed to help us assess as to whether we are a good fit for this sort of ministry and to identify the areas of our life in which we might need to develop further. The meeting was very productive and we feel great about the avenue we are traveling down. We believe with all our hearts that God is beginning to open doors that will allow us to be used as His vessels to grow the His kingdom.

The purpose of this letter is simply this: to ask for your prayers on a daily basis that would petition God to use Tricia and I as His servants; and specifically to open doors of opportunity that would allow us to plant a simple, relevant church; designed to bring people in, introduce them to Christ, connect them with others, teach them to be disciples, train and develop leaders, and then finally to send them out to repeat the process. Pray that God will open the right doors, close the wrong ones, and help us to know the difference.

We have several other specific needs we would have you to pray about as well. We need other SBC churches in the Shelby Association to commit to sponsoring this new church start. Though financial support is obviously a needed resource, this is not the only means by which to support a new church plant. Most importantly, we need churches that will commit to praying for us on a consistent basis. Other churches may have members who share a similar burden and would like to be a part of our core group. There may be a church in the area with a praise and worship group available for loan or an individual or group of individuals that feel the call to this type of ministry. We need a name, an area to target, a place to meet, musical instruments, video equipment, an ITG expert, teachers, laborers; etc, but most importantly, we need prayer warriors to pray for all the things just mentioned.

We also need one church to specifically step up and commit to being our primary sponsor. If the Holy Spirit is speaking to your heart and you would be interested in becoming involved in growing God’s kingdom, please contact me at one of the following numbers; (Home 744-0869 or Cell 601-6986) or you can e-mail me at gradycovin@bellsouth.net. I look forward to hearing from you!

Yours in Christ,
Bro. Grady Covin