Acts 28:31
"The Lord is good and upright; therefore he shows sinners the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. All the Lord's ways show faithful love and truth to those who keep his covenant and decrees. Lord, for the sake of your name forgive my iniquities for it is immense." Psalm 25:8-11 CSB Thank you everyone for your prayers and support, I’m writing this to update you all on my journey. I’m now entering year 3. The Lord has been so good to me since moving here. Hope Hills is continuing to grow and flourish despite the rough start to the new year (more on this later), and heading into this year, I’ll have some more challenges, things to learn, and opportunities to seize. My spring semester is in full swing, Ministry opportunities are abundant and I have a few plans that I would like to share for this coming year. Hope Hills ChurchEntering in to this year, there was a mix-up with the city regarding our rental agreement with the school. For January that left us without a location. However, another church that we had a partnership with allowed us to share their worship space for the month. Despite the inconvenience, we were still able to gather and worship the Lord. Dustin was able to correct the issue and we’ve began meeting back at the school starting the last Sunday in January. This week we’re starting to bring back our community groups after the winter break and as part of my own training, I’m going to co-lead the group with Sara, and the Conner’s. I’m nervous yet excited to lead an adult small group (up to this point I’d only led youth groups). Most of the people in our group is older than me, all of them are parents with small children so a completely different life stage than Sara and I. From previous conversations with Dustin, we're anticipating a decent number of teams coming up from the states to help us in our summer camps. It's encouraging to hear, as I've stated in previous posts, our camps are the primary way of reaching our community with the Gospel. It helps free Dustin up to engage with the community as well as our members who volunteer as well. Also it gives us the opportunity to share Calgary and our vision for the city with our partner churches in the states. If you are interested in bringing up a team please contact me and we can organize a trip with you as well. Life UpdateFor Sara and I, this past winter has been tough. To begin in November, Sara’s grandfather’s health began to deteriorate. Through some gracious gifts from a classmate, and a church member, Sara was able to go spend the month of December with her family and with her grandfather. The emotional strain was tough for the both or us, and we struggled with the separation, but the Lord is good and He kept us through the difficult time. He passed away the week before Christmas, and I was able to fly out at after the semester ended to be with her and the family in time for the funeral and stayed through to celebrate Christmas. It was a tough time for her family and I would ask that you remember the Urribarri family as they continue to navigate this reality. By God’s grace for this year, Sara and I are planning to make two trips to North Carolina, one in July, the other for Christmas. I would like to give an account for the past two years here, and a testimony to God’s work in Hope Hills, in Sara and I, and progress in Sara and I’s plan for ministry. Right now we’re rounding out the first quarter of our plan, graduate from Seminary, the next part is going to be a church planter’s internship/assessment, Currently I am in the internship technically, after graduating I’ll be full time in it leading to the assessment with the Aspen Network, and then assessment through NAMB to prepare to a lead church planter role in Calgary. Semester UpdateI'm now on the back end of my studies here at the Canadian Baptist Theological Seminary. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness in this endeavor. It's a joke for me these days, but I started off as a guy who was so done with school by grade 7. Grade 10, I. made it up in my mind that I didn't want to go to college. But God had other plans and here I am with an Associates, Bachelor's and finishing up a Master's degree. I know that this is only something that could've happened by God's work in me, and everything that I'm learning now will be used for his glory. If I've had the opportunity to talk about my plan for moving up here in the first place with you, reader, it is a 10-year plan. Right now I'm entering into year 3 of this plan, by God's grace, if everything continues to follow suit here, I'll finish up my degree, dive deeper into my internship with Hope Hills and the Aspen network, working towards being assessed to go before NAMB to be assessed as a lead church planter. I have below the slides from previous presentations I've put together to aid in communicating the goals the Lord placed on my heart in leading me up here. Prayer Requests
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AuthorMy name is Nokomis Gregory. I'm a native of Winston-Salem, NC. After graduating from Piedmont International University I moved Calgary, Alberta as a church planting team member, with the hopes of planting a church in Calgary. Archives
September 2023
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