On May 1st, Zoe Community Church in Texas had their first official service! What a blessing to be able to see God’s faithfulness! Pastor/Elder Jesse Terasaki wanted to send some updates to the Lighthouse Church Family back here – thanks for praying!
1. How have the last couple of months been, as more people are moving out and things are getting settled in Texas?
These last couple of months have been great! There have been challenges, of course: moving into new homes, learning the roads, missing what’s familiar. But the weather has actually been great since we’ve moved out, people are friendly, and we’ve been able to meet together first at the Hee’s house and now at the First Presbyterian Church of Allen. Now everyone is out here and we’re meeting regularly on Sundays in the afternoon, plus prayer meetings on Wednesday nights.
2. What have you been going over as a church to prepare for the launch?
We did a teaching series through the fruit of the Spirit and The Lord’s Prayer. Once we started meeting at FPC Allen we started a ten week series through the book of Philippians to remind us of the partnership in the gospel that all Christians share—we are all on mission to be witnesses of the good news of Jesus. Now we’re preaching through Ephesians which, Lord willing, will provide us a solid foundation on what the church is and how we’re supposed to live as Christ’s body. We also had a seven week equipping course on personal evangelism that many people in Zoe participated in.
3. What have you (Jesse, Eric and James – the Elders of Zoe CC) have been doing to prepare for the launch?
We meet every week for a few hours to pray, go over different studies, and discuss issues regarding the church. We’ve also been busy meeting with local pastors and church leaders learning more about the area and the needs here. Other churches have been so helpful and gracious to us and we feel welcomed. Every week we divvy up our time between studying the Word and specific topics we need to know more about, meeting with people, praying, and administration.
4. How did the launch go? (Please take pictures!!!)
The launch was great! A lot of Lighthouse people and other friends and family came to support us. It was amazing to see so many familiar faces and we were overwhelmed with the love and well-wishes. We preached an intro message to the book of Ephesians, sang together, and took a time of communion. Afterwards many of the visitors stayed and we enjoyed fellowship and good snacks.
5. How can we be praying for you?
Please pray that:
- We will trust in God’s gospel and the working of his Spirit to change lives and transform hearts, not our planning or anything we do in of ourselves.
- We will not get discourage with the inevitable hardships of church planting—low attendance, people who visit and don’t come back, sin, and the difficulties of transitioning to new jobs, new homes, etc.
- That God would use in the service of his kingdom and that we would bear much fruit for his glory.
And here are some pictures from the launch! (Photo Credit: Christine Terasaki)
