January - February '25 Update

or, Prayer, Prayer, and a little more Prayer...

This year has gotten off to an incredible start. With the end of February around the corner, I wanted to take some time to reflect on and share what we’ve experienced over the past two months.

We began the year with a month of prayer and fasting for the city of Asheville and our forthcoming church plant. Alongside forty individuals from around the area and the country, we directed our prayers toward revival—believing that God responds to the humble dependence and reckless hunger of His people on the other side of crisis. I’m convinced that the coming years will bring answers to the prayers we lifted up during those four weeks.

Midway through January, I drove to Knoxville for our latest Leaders Collective Church Planting Cohort. This week was dedicated to increasing our emotional intelligence as pastors and working through exercises designed to help us name and process the key challenges we each face in our respective seasons and ministry contexts. Amidst our move last summer and then Hurricane Helene in the fall, I hadn’t had the space or time to fully grieve the loss of mentors, friendships, community, and rhythms of prayer, worship, and shared meals that we left behind. A significant part of my work that week (and still) was naming and carrying that loss while beginning to cultivate new deep friendships, partnerships, and mentors here—no longer feeling like I need to wait for our formal church planting efforts and the creation of this new church community to usher in that community.

Just a few weeks later, Erin and I met up in New York City with Pastors Lorenzo and Casey from our sending church for the Altars Conference, hosted by Pray.NYC, Church of the City, and the Awaken Network. The primary focus of the conference was on prayer and contending for spiritual awakening in our time. Over the years, I’ve been to many conferences (even helped put them on!), but I had never been a part of a conference that spent so much of our time together not only talking about prayer, but actually praying together. There was at least one speaker who gave up their “time” to allow us to continue in worship and prayer together. And so, in unique but shared ways, that weekend catalyzed a good deal of vision and pursuit for us that we are still praying and discerning on an almost daily basis. But one of the more interesting trends during our time there was how, after mentioning we were from Asheville, people from New York and across the country didn’t first associate our city with the food scene, arts culture, mountain views, or even the hurricane—but rather its reputation as a spiritually dark place. Our prayer is to see that reputation changed in the coming years and decades.

A few days after returning, I joined the monthly Carolina Movement lunch. Now that officially a church planter with them, I’m grateful for how they’re resourcing us—connecting us with like-minded churches who can support us financially and serve alongside us in reaching Western North Carolina. One of the things I was most marked by over the course of these past few months has been the centrality of prayer in those gatherings – so often I’ve found it common (and honestly easy) for those gatherings to function as little more than “pastor mixers” or maybe '“church planter speed dating,” but each time we get together it’s been a gift to share in and receive the prayers of the pastors of Asheville.

The following week, I flew across the country to meet up with Lorenzo and Casey once again—this time in Portland, OR, for Bridgetown Church’s Holy Spirit Conference. I stayed with my friend and fellow Western Seminary cohort member, JB Witty. The time was incredibly formative—not only was the conference deeply impactful, but seeing N.T. Wright and my former professor Tim Mackie share the stage for a panel discussion was particularly moving. These two men have profoundly shaped not just how I read the Bible but how I understand its story at work in my life, the Church, and the world today.

After joining Bridgetown for their Sunday gathering (and witnessing a Super Bowl I’d rather not talk about), I hopped on a red-eye from Portland to Newark and then to Cincinnati for the next gathering of my church planting cohort. This session focused not just on our own emotional health and intelligence but also on how we, as pastors, can guide people toward their own healing. We spent significant time discussing the “big three of pastoral care” (and what can often be present in so many pastors) anxiety, addiction, and depression—understanding where they are rooted, how to help folks navigate a potential way forward, and even understanding when the helpful work of a therapist or counselor may be necessary, alongside continued pastoral care.

It’s been a full two months, with more travel than I would typically prefer, but I’m so grateful for these experiences and opportunities. As I continue to wonder, invent, and discern the particular shape Alabaster Church will take, one theme has been especially clear: how our church might hold prayer at the center of our community and pursue the ongoing work of the Spirit as our “eager pursuit.”

Amidst the travel, we’ve continued to immerse ourselves in our city and neighborhood, going over for dinner at folks homes, having them over to ours, sledding with the kids, learning more about Asheville’s history and the stories of our neighbors. Just yesterday, Erin and I prayer-walked the Asheville Black Cultural Heritage Trail, reflecting on the deep and complex history of this place as we asked God that this coming revival we’re praying for would bring not just spiritual reconciliation but racial reconciliation and structural changes to our city and the surrounding region.

Looking ahead to March, we’re eager to keep getting to know our city and its people while also taking a long weekend family trip back to LA, where I’ll be preaching at Collective Church on March 16 as part of their series in Philippians. All this and more upcoming, so please continue to keep us in your prayers as you think of us, and if you would like to participate in the work we’re beginning here, please visit Alabaster.Church