A Church is a River, not a Pond
Two years ago God inserted Ronnie Goble and his family into our lives. He did this because He had clearly been orchestrating their story towards planting a church somewhere in the greater Detroit area. Today, our church unanimously voted to send him to plant Rooted Church in Royal Oak and the Woodward Corridor.
Gospel goodbyes are joyfully sorrowful. As our church grows in sacrificial love towards one another, our deep connections and shared tears knot us tightly to one another and to Christ. But, we cannot let the difficulty of distance deter us from sending people out for the sake of God's name. The sorrow we feel as we send our friends away is a sacrifice we are willing to take, because we know that in the end it will be worth it. Some day, we will stand before our Lord with arms around each-other singing "All glory be to Christ, our King." But, because we chose to say goodbye and send our best to plant new churches there will be a whole host of people who never would have heard the gospel also joining in the chorus, "His rule and reign we'll ever sing, all glory be to Christ!"
We are praising God for what he is doing at Resurrection Church, and are bracing ourselves for our own gospel goodbyes around the corner.
15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
(2 Cor. 4:15–18)
Jesus Over Everything,
Austin and Rachel Hunt
