Archives For JourneyNotes

The Rest of January

January 15, 2011 — 1 Comment

The rest of this month is going to be pretty busy as we prepare for our official launch/”Grand Opening” of The Bridge and spend time serving our community.  We will be hosting preview services, topping-off washer fluid for motorists at local gas stations, hosting a blanket giveaway, and, of course, launching!  In between we’ll be canvassing neighborhoods, inviting friends and neighbors, sending out postcards, and doing whatever else we can to get the word out to the community.

We have seen the Holy Spirit go before us in amazing ways, and in the next post, I’ll share some of the highlights of how he’s shown us his favor (it’s probably going to leave you speechless). In the meantime, we are asking you to keep the following events as points of serious prayer throughout the month:

  • Saturday, January 15 — Washer Fluid Top-Off (Exxon @ 7409 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills — click for map) from 10 am – 1 pm
  • Sunday, January 16 — 10:30 am preview service in our new meeting location (Grand Ballroom of 3 Lakes Golf Course)
  • Saturday, January 22 — Washer Fluid Top-Off (Sunoco @ 280 Hulton Rd, Verona — click for map) from 10 am-1 pm
  • Sunday, January 23
    – Final preview service (10:30am @ 3 Lakes Golf Course)
    – “Commissioning service” at Sandy Lake Wesleyan Church
  • Saturday, January 29
    – Washer FluidTop-Off (Sunoco @ 6500 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills — click for map) from 10 am-1 pm
    –  Blanket, Scarf, Glove & Hat Giveaway (@ Penn Hills YMCA — click for map) from 10 am – 1pm
  • Sunday, January 30th — LAUNCH SUNDAY! (1o:3o am @ 3 Lakes Golf Course Grand Ballroom, 6700 Saltsburg Rd, Penn Hills (click for map)).

Thanks for praying.  And thanks to to our committed launch team members who are taking an active role in seeing Greater Things coming to Pittsburgh.  This wouldn’t be happening without you!

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August JourneyNote, Part 2

August 12, 2010 — Leave a comment

Good evening, fellow Sojourners!

Yesterday, we sent out a brief update about some of the exciting things happening with The Bridge; we also shared our need for financial support.  As promised, here are a few of the ways you can help:

Pray for God’s continued and unique provision; ask him to stir the hearts of donors and to create income opportunities for us.  We know God alone is our provider and has proven himself more than faithful time after time.  The way he provides often surprises us, and we’re thankful for the ‘willing vessels’ he is already using.  Please also pray that we would have eyes that see the opportunities which come our way and the courage to jump into them!

If you have committed to give but have not yet followed-through on that commitment as an individual, group, or church, please do so now; if you will be unable to fulfill what was promised, please let us know.  Many of our issues with shortfall have to do with the fact that promised support has not yet been delivered.  Just having those who already said they would give do just that would be a tremendous blessing.

If you have been waiting for the right opportunity to give, genuinely seek the Holy Spirit to see if now is that time–the Spirit of God is moving and we could use your help!

If you have been looking for a different way of providing resources to The Bridge, perhaps you can use our ministry catalog to give practical gifts toward our ministry.  The catalog can also be downloaded from The Bridge’s website here.

As you provide personal support, please make sure “Gomez” is in the memo line of your check and that it is sent to our bookkeeper at:
The Bridge
c/o 264 Shawville Hwy
Woodland, PA 16881

Thanks, again, for taking this journey with us.

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Prayer/JourneyNote

June 24, 2010 — Leave a comment

The cat is out of the bag.

While I’m not sure just where that expression came from (or why we take it to mean a secret is not-so-secret anymore), we have some news to share.

At our District Conference last monday, our District Superintendent shared The Bridge’s plan to daughter a new church in June of next year.  Sarah and I will be the lead planters in what we’re affectionately, for now, calling ‘Bridge 2.0’ and are excited about that next move.  This is definitely a big step, but it’s part of an even bigger dream of developing an urban church planting and training center from which church planting teams are prepared and sent throughout the region, nation, and globe.  It’s an impossible vision that will take the activity of God’s own Spirit to accomplish–and that excites us to no end!

For now, we ask you to pray for us as we identify the people and place where the next church will be.  We have some ideas, but we need to be doubly sure we are focused on where God is already moving rather than just choosing something based on selfish desire.

In the meantime, we’re fully engaged with The Bridge and are ramping up to a busy summer ministry season.  Please keep the following dates in mind as you pray for us and the ministry of The Bridge:

  • Sunday, June 27: Sharing at First Wesleyan in Shippensburg, PA
  • July 7-July 11: Youth volleyball clinic with the women’s volleyball team from Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Our largest event of the summer will be a free Family Fun Day at a local park on Saturday, August 28th; already churches and groups are signing up to take part in helping us offer a meaningful, engaging and totally free event that allows us to serve our community and get to know our neighbors as well as (hopefully) building momentum for our first preview service in September.

Thank you for taking this journey with us and praying for us.

We’re honored to have you in our corner.
Jeremiah, Sarah, and Jubilee

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JourneyNote #3

December 13, 2009 — Leave a comment

55.5 Square Miles

Within an area of 55.5 square miles, not very far from where I write these words, is a community which is home to fortune 500 companies, seats of commerce, houses of industry and institutions of innovation and education.  Within those 55.5 square miles, hundreds of thousands work, live, and build relationships.  Millions more live just outside the area.

The community found within that tract of land is known for an uncanny ability to reinvent itself; so resilient are these people that the recent G-20 Summit was hosted there to showcase one city’s ability to not only weather but grow stronger through economic crises and global storms.

Within those 55.5 square miles, you will find incredible fusions of old and new, stayed and untried.  You will also find 455 bridges, 712 public stairways, 8 tunnels, 90 distinctive neighborhoods, and 140 separately identifiable ethnic groups.

But you won’t find a single Wesleyan Church.

In fact, you won’t find a Wesleyan church within what is considered ‘reasonable driving distance’ of those 55.5 square miles.

I’m sharing about the city of Pittsburgh, where “95 percent of the local population has no recognizable, identifiable relationship with Jesus Christ.”

Sarah and I, partnering with the Cox family (Rick, Eunice, and Trevor), and, hopefully, partnering with you, are working to change at lease one of those statistics.  The Coxes and Gomezes have joyfully accepted the call to church planting in the Pittsburgh region and are growing in passion for what we sense as God’s desire in the area.

Our heart’s passion is to see a multiethnic, multicultural church right in the ‘Burgh.  We sense God’s leadership in developing a relevant, engaging hub of ministry to people from a variety of cultural, economic, and spiritual backgrounds–where once steel was forged, now lives are fused with the Spirit of God, strengthened and engaged as members of His Body.   What we can see is a multiplication center working within the heart of the city where countless individuals are sent out as missionaries to the communities of Pittsburgh, the surrounding areas, throughout the region and around the world.  In fact, God is already drawing people to be part of this great work and we believe His dreams are far bigger than ours.

Does any of this stir your heart with excitement and passion?  If so, remain on the lookout because in a few days, we’ll be sending you more information on how you can be involved in this Great Pittsburgh Adventure.

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JourneyNote

November 7, 2009 — Leave a comment

bridgeA couple of months ago, my wife sent the following JourneyNote to many of our friends and family.  It’s a bit of a personal update I thought you might enjoy.  The second Note was sent out yesterday; but here’s the first one for your perusal:

To our family and friends:

Yes, you.  If you are receiving this note, than you can be sure that we consider you family or friend (or both!!).

As many of you already know and some may have heard through different grapevines, life has taken some twists and turns in the last six months or so for Jeremiah and me.  Our time of pastoring at Carlisle Wesleyan came to an end in mid-June, and since then we have been trying to decipher the ‘next steps’ that God has prepared for us to do.  God has been proving himself to be our provider as we began the difficult transformation into realizing that we couldn’t do it for ourselves!

Part of what God has begun to unveil to us is that deep in the DNA of who he created us to be, there is the unique make-up of “church planters”.  While the idea of taking part in a church plant (a new church) has shown itself a few times since our years at Bethany, it wasn’t until recently that God began showing this to us not only as a viable option of what he could do through us, but perhaps even the very thing he wanted to accomplish through us.

So our journey continues; as our family and friends, we cherish the idea of taking you along for the ride.  Every couple of weeks, we will be writing these “JourneyNotes” to hopefully accomplish two things: 1- to keep you up to date on what we are up to, and 2- to keep you aware of specific ways you can be praying for us.  If you’d rather not receive our JourneyNotes, all you need to do is reply to this email and let us know you’d like to be removed; if you do wish to receive these updates, please be sure to add these two email addresses to your ‘safe email’ lists: jeremiah<at>jxgomez<dot>com and sarah<at>jxgomez<dot>com (also, if you have another e-mail address you’d prefer we send these Notes to, don’t hesitate to let us know!).

We know that we are not the only ones involved in this sojourn through life, and would love to hear from you and have you share specific ways we can be praying for you as well.

We thank God for the gift of each of you,
Sarah (and Jeremiah!)

PS–Another way you can keep up to date on what we are up to is to follow our blogs (these notes will be posted there as well). Jeremiah’s blog can be found at jxgomez.com/blog and Sarah’s blog is at sdgomez.blogspot.com

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