As I am sitting down to write this, I am staring at a blank screen in awe of what Christ is doing. Four years ago, Beth (my wife) and I began to feel the call to move back to Greater Boston to plant Netcast Church. After years of prep, assessments and the approval from those in leadership over us, we moved from Greensboro, North Carolina back to the least reached region in the United States and set out on the journey that God called us into. We had little money, no team, no church planting experience and four children; yet a holy discontentment of the current church culture in Greater Boston, which includes a movement away from things like the gospel, sound theology, conservative doctrine, biblical community and evangelicalism in general.
Here we are one year later and we're wrapped up in something we couldn't imagine in our wildest dreams. Things are moving at a pace much faster than we could have expected and in a region where the majority of church plants never get off the ground. Christ is building his church right before our eyes. Joe Souza, who is our regional SBC director, recently informed me that Netcast is the fastest growing church in New England. This month we are preparing to have nearly 200 people in our gathering on Sundays and on September 11th we will be baptizing around 10 people. In August we had 7 community groups going and are looking to add to that this month. Just this week, Dan Byrd (my pastor in college) and his family moved to Beverly to serve Netcast as our Minister of Gospel Communities. This will give us a staff of 5 people already. Three of the Five are raising their own support to work as Netcast employees.
Besides that, our Video / Audio ministry is growing just as fast. Just yesterday, Netcast had 81 people either listen or watch one of our sermons online. Netcast is reaching areas of the world that we never could have imagined.
Look at the email I just got:
Nubawi Nute made a comment on one of your posts. Not knowing that name or face. messaged her to ask if she went to Netcast. She lives in Thailand and loves listening to the Sunday messages you preach on the internet. She works with Burmese children sold into prostitution over the border in Thailand as a missionary. We're becoming friends. She said if she ever came to the US, she'd love to be a member of a church like Netcast! Love it! - Sharon Staples
I simply wanted to write to you and Thank You for your faithfulness to us. Without you guys, we would have never been able to see any of this happen. The fruit that Netcast is seeing today is simply due to the seeds that you planted. You are a jewel in the Kingdom of God. Words cannot express my gratitude and love for you.
Please continue to pray for us. With all the excitement and growth, comes its own set of responsibilities and issues. We have run out of space, we are having a hard time putting systems together to identify and grow leaders, I am stressed to the max (spent some time in the hospital with heart palpitations), time management has been difficult and our resources are very limited. Currently our church is made up of mostly young adults, college students and about 10 couples in their 50's. Basically, we're young, broke and have a lot of maturing to do. However, the gospel is true, we are seeking to spread it daily, God is saving people and disciples are being made.
Until all have heard of his Glory and Fame,
Matt
6 comments:
Very good and inspirational. I still struggle in my walk from time to time Thanks
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