Bridge City Church | Martin Family Story from North Mountain Media on Vimeo.
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Monday, July 28, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
St. Johns Saturday
Here are some shots from our Saturday picnic lunch in Cathedral Park, Downtown St. Johns a few weeks ago...
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| St. Johns bridge. It's amazing. |
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| This coffee shop is local and they roast their own beans IN house. So cool... I experienced my first "pour over" coffee here. For coffee lovers, this is a must! |
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| There was a random guy making LARGE bubbles in the park. The girls had a blast chasing them and popping them. |
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| This bridge is just amazing. |
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| Do you see what I see in this cool shot of the bridge?? |
Monday, July 14, 2014
July in Portland
Good things are happening here in North Portland. Really good things. Like a team mate joining us...
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You can email Andrew at wash.andrew@gmail.com, I know he would LOVE the encouragement! If you would like his address, shoot him an email :) Please Pray: 1. …that we will continue to make friends and have opportunities to share the gospel. 2. …that we will be daily transformed by the glorious and gracious news of the gospel. Thank you for your commitment to praying for us and partnering with us to make disciples and plant churches in Portland! Justin and Chandra 7920 N Courtenay Ave Portland, OR 97203 Here is a link to our July newsletter, if you would like to receive the monthly update email, please subscribe from the newsletter page :)
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Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Greetings from Portland!
We drove from Kennedy, AL to Portland in 6 days. We drove through 11 beautiful states. Our kids traveled AMAZINGLY! Luke (8 months) was a dream; he loved it. He slept a lot and played with lots of toys. We can't be more thankful for how easy our kids made the 2500 mile journey.
When we started seeing signs for Portland, it was truly surreal. Such a long time in the coming and we were almost there. The drive through Oregon was my favorite. So incredibly beautiful, and our new home.
Our rental home in NoPo (North Portland) was waiting for us. It is just what we need, and we were happy to explore it for the first time...the girls especially.
It wasn't long before we HAD to try one of Portland's famous food trucks. We started with chicken pot pie from Paiku. Delicious!
We can't stop oohing and ahhing over the scenery. New types of trees and never ending flowers are everywhere. Mountains and rivers, bridges and landscapes are just beautiful here.
In the first two weeks we've been getting to know our neighborhood and establishing a schedule with school drop off and pick up. We've worked hard to unpack and hang pictures on the walls of our house. We had a scare with Luke that caused us to call 911 for the first time with any child. After a few hours in the children's emergency room, he checked out ok and is doing fine now. It was not the best way to learn where the hospital is located...
The girls love their new school and teachers. Their classmates are being super kind to them and helping them adjust to this new culture. Madelyn told us that her friends asked her what "yes ma'am" meant and when she explained it to them they thought it was so cute and wanted to say it too. One of our first days in Portland, Madelyn was asked by a little girl if she believed in Jesus and when she said she did, the girl told her that Jesus was a loser. Madelyn was crushed, but it was a really great way to help her understand that not everyone believes in Jesus! We share openly but the Holy Spirit changes hearts, not us.
God is so faithful. We are just thankful to be here and thankful for you who pray for us and support us. The cards that were waiting in our mailbox were treasure to us. The emails and calls were such encouragements. We really are thankful for all of you and how you help us in this mission to plant a church in Portland. We are excited to see what God will do in this great city.
-Chandra
Our new address is:
7920 N Courtenay Ave
Portland, OR 97203
New Phone Numbers (Call or send a text!):
Justin 503-740-2468
Chandra 503-740-7169
Friday, March 21, 2014
March Update
Introducing Andrew Wash
Q. Tell us a bit about yourself.
My name is Andrew Wash. I was born on August 27, 1992 in Birmingham, AL and was raised there. I am a senior at the University of Alabama majoring in Marketing, and I am about to graduate this May.
Q. Why
Portland?
Although I have never
been to Portland, I already love the city and look forward to engaging with the
people there. I think that my hobbies will match well with the culture of
Portland: I love coffee, outdoors, good food, big cities, and the NBA, and
Portland has all of these things. I cannot wait to get to Portland and start
working to meet people and engage neighbors with the gospel. I think that it
will be very challenging to walk by faith each day and depend on Christ and
love my neighbors well, and I know that I cannot do it apart from the grace of
God, but I think it will be an incredible adventure and one which grows my love
for and delight in God. And I am specifically excited to walk by faith in
Portland and live for God’s glory in the midst of the community that will exist
amongst the families who are going there. I think the love and fellowship that
we share among our team will be critical for us making disciples in Portland,
and I am stoked to join these families in God’s mission.
Q. What are
you most excited about as you look toward life and ministry in Portland?
I am most excited for making relationships with
nonbelievers and laboring to point them to Christ. In college I have found
great joy through relational disciple making, and I look forward to seeing what
God will do in the lives of people I meet and engage. I want to echo John the
Baptist with what he says in John 3:30 regarding Jesus, “He must increase, I
must decrease.” I want to labor diligently to reap a great harvest in Portland,
fully trusting in and looking to the power of God and grace of God through me.
And I know that God’s design for making disciples is by using His church, so I
cannot wait to join together as the body of Christ to see lives changed by the
power of the Gospel. Adoption Of Sam
Ben and Catherine have been in India for two weeks and are currently flying home! They return this afternoon with Sam, oh how we praise the Lord for such a miracle! Pray as they reunite with family and friends with precious Sam. Pray as they adjust to life as a family of five.
Prayer needs
1) Pray For the Dockerys as they return home with Sam from India. Pray as they adjust to becoming a family of five.
2) Pray for the Martins’ house to sell and that we will keep our eyes fixed on Jesus as we wait.
3) Pray for other families that are praying and making plans to join our team and move to Portland.
4) Pray for Portland. God is already at work!
Monday, January 27, 2014
January Newsletter Update
Thank you for taking this journey of
faith with us. The last three
months have been fruitful. By
God’s grace, we have enjoyed many opportunities to share our vision and hope
for church planting with churches in Alabama, North Carolina, and Texas. As a result, we currently have 12
partnering churches, along with several individual partners. We are incredibly grateful for the
generosity of God’s people!
We are still waiting for a buyer to
purchase our house. Until then, we
remain in Tuscaloosa. Emmanuel has
graciously allowed us to remain on staff as we continue to raise support and
wait for our house to sell. As we
wait, we are working on all the busy work associated with planting a new church
like incorporating, establishing a constitution and by-laws, and setting up a
future payroll. This time has also
proven beneficial for our core team.
We now have a core team comprised of four families making plans to plant
their lives in Portland. We meet
each week to share a meal, fellowship, study the Bible, and pray together. This is has become our favorite time of
each week, and we look forward to this team growing in Portland!
We have been told the two primary
reasons church plants fail are money and marriage. We need people to pray for both, but especially for our
marriages. Please pray that our
marriages will be healthy and distinctively Christian. Please pray for our kids as we move to
a place that does not share many of our Christian
values. Pray that they will grow
to know, love, and follow Jesus regardless of the cost. Please pray for our families that will
be left behind. Please pray that
our team will have unity and give evidence that we are disciples of Jesus. Please pray for favor with our
neighbors and community. Pray
especially that people will repent of their sins and trust Jesus for their
salvation and that a new church will be planted. This is a journey of faith and we need God’s people to
partner with us in prayer.
Written by Justin
If you are not receiving our monthly newsletter, please send us an email and we will add you! plantinginportland@gmail.com
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
You call me out upon the waters
Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever You would call me
Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander
And my faith will be made stronger
In the presence of my Savior
From the song "Oceans, Where feet may fail" by Hillsong United
In Matthew 14:22-33 Jesus makes the disciples get into a boat and go on without him. The text says that they were battered by the waves because the wind was against them. Jesus walks up (on the water) and they are afraid he is a ghost. He calls out to them so they will know it's him and not be afraid, and Peter throws out a fleece here:
Lord, if it's You, command me to come to You on the water.
Jesus says "Come!"
And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord save me!"
When God laid planting a church in Portland on our hearts, it was a command to step out onto the waters, the great unknown. Our boats looked like secure jobs, great schools, family close by, and familiarity. A comfortable life. We have found in this journey that He is sustaining our faith. There are many, many great winds that have the potential to cause us to sink into doubt, but He is ours and we are His and He keeps us above the water. Oh how we've experienced His grace poured upon us as we continue in this journey! The needs are great and are much bigger than anything we could accomplish on our own; only by His hand will we not only plant a church, but even get to Portland! From raising support to selling houses, finding jobs and homes to rent, etc., there are many potential crippling winds. He will continue to make our faith stronger as He paves the way to Portland because this journey isn't about us, it's about Him.
We've had the great joy over the past couple of months of being in nine churches in North Carolina and Alabama sharing this vision and plan of planting a church in Portland, asking for people to partner with us through prayer, financial support, short term teams, and even joining our team. We're so thankful for the many who have already stepped out with us and offered their support, and we've been encouraged with each opportunity as God truly uses His people to confirm over and over that He is leading this and it is beyond us. We'll be speaking at Dalraida Baptist in Montgomery and First Baptist Detroit (AL) in the coming weeks. In addition to speaking in churches, we are also meeting weekly as a team, and Justin and Ben are being trained to pastor the church plant. The Martins are hoping to sell their house this month, and the Dockerys are hoping to get court approval in India to adopt Sam this month. We are also praying with a young man and a young family who are considering joining the team. In all of this, we pray that God will make us worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified (1 Thes. 1:11).
Back to our original passage.
At the end of this event of Jesus calling Peter to step out of the boat, guess who gets the glory? Not Peter. It wasn't about Peter at all. It was about Jesus and His power over all things. His desire for us to trust in Him. Peter got to experience being rescued by the Savior in a situation where only Jesus could do the rescuing. When God calls us out of the boat, it is an opportunity to experience Him in a way boat riders never will. Boat riders aren't safe in the boat. Though it may feel safer, can it not sink?? Sitting in the boat may feel like playing it safe, but truly it is missing out on experiencing how God can strengthen your faith when you step out on the water in the midst of powerful winds and waves.
Oh Lord, continue to command us to get out of the boats in our lives and trust in You.
Posted by Chandra and Catherine
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