Update
Hi All

Been a while since we last updated you on what was happening. For us personally, not a lot, we're building up relationships with a few people - at the moment concentrating particularly on just a few of them.

There are lot's of exciting things happening in and around Looe related to the Church, which is exciting. Hopefully I'll be able to release some more details about those things in the coming days and weeks.

Also, we've now made contact with The Salvation Army in Liskeard and are hoping to meet up with the CO (Pastor) there to forge some strong links. Also, it looks liek the CO was already aware of Grace Church here and is keen to create some good links there - perhaps this is another facet to our purpose here... more news as it happens!

Can we ask for particular prayer over 2 initiatives we're not involved in as yet: Street Pastors and Rusty Bucket (a Christian Coffee Shop/Community Centre in Looe) and also for those relationships I mentioned above.
Prayer Meeting etc
The prayer meeting went really well yesterday, thank you for all your prayerful support! There were 5 of us (including Lucy and me) but it was just right.

We spent an amazing amount of time just praising God for who He is and praying for repentance. Revival must start with us!

Whilst we were praising God and praying for Looe, I remembered how just a few weeks ago I asked you all the pray the promise of Jehovah Jireh (The Lord will Provide) over us. Please join with us praying “Jehovah M’Kaddesh” (The Lord Who Sanctifies) – pray that the people of God here will be set apart from the rest of the populace; not that we will be arrogant in our holiness, but that everything about us will draw attention to God. Pray that we will be worthy servants!

One other thing... my daily reading today was Jeremiah 18-21. The passage uses clay to refer to Israel on a couple of occasions: firstly that if the pot goes wrong, as long as it is still malleable the potter can fix it; but also if the pot is bad and has been hardened, all that can be done is smashing the pot. We have the Old Testament to prove that God will not think twice about “smashing the pot” if that is the only option available to us. May we always rest in the potters hands, being moulded by Him until the day of our completion – baked ready for his use!

“Send revival, start with me!”

Yours in the battle,

Dave

Prayer for Looe
On Friday, Lucy went to a prayer meeting for Looe with Grace Community Church (I had hoped to be there but was unable because of work) - they regularly meet in Looe once a month and prayer-walk through the town, but it was too wet and wild on Friday.

Whilst talking to one of the other people there it was decided that a more regular prayer-time ought to be held in Looe once a week. The leaders of the community groups tried to work out where best to hold the prayer meeting, but were sure they wanted it in the heart of Looe itself, so we offered our home and it looks like we'll be holding a weekly 1 hour prayer meeting here in our house for Looe.

Please pray for and with us:
  • Pray for Looe
  • Pray for Grace and its members and leadership
  • Pray for our home - that it will be a centrepoint in the community
  • Pray that action will follow our prayer
  • Pray for vision
  • Pray that we will listen and follow that vision
God's drawing His people to Looe
Oops... not sure why I didn't publish the below... wrote this last Tuesday, so it's actually referring to a week ago...

Whilst we were at Church on Sunday and being introduced to several people, one member of the congregation handed us a letter saying "this needs to go to one of our members in Looe, they're just down the road from you, now you have an excuse to meet them."

We were a bit scared, after all we didn't know who we were going to meet, but we were extremely surprised when we did meet up with them!

Amazingly this couple were also called by God to Looe!! They also told us that the Church we visited on Sunday have got big plans for Looe (them and God it would seem).

We have just met so many people who aren't originally from Looe but have been brought here... it's extremely exciting and we can see that the Church are extremely outward looking. So on our wavelength about getting stuck in and getting the good news out!

I can't wait to tell you more about what's happening! Keep praying that God will reveal His plan to us and Grace Community Church, pray that we will be faithful and honour HIs will!
An interesting development...
Sorry all for the lack of posts recently. Thankfully it isn't just because nothing has happened!

The van was finally finished a couple of weeks back and Lucy's Dad was kind enough to bring it down to us - to be honest, the amount of stuff that happened to it whilst it was in our possession I'm not sure I'd let me have it again... Anyway, so with transport we went to Grace Family Bible Church yesterday - a Church we had planned to visit but had been unable to.

The Church was lovely, we were made very welcome and the people we spoke to seemed interested in what we were doing, which is great. We'll definitely be going there again, just a shame it's outside of Looe...

Since we're on the main street in East Looe, we have the crowds go by at 2-3am on a Saturday/Sunday morning when the club kicks out and we'd been thinking about how we could engage with this group of people (also, how we could serve them) thinking along the lines of Street Pastors. At Grace yesterday morning, they introduced Street Pastors to the congregation, an initiative they're looking to get set up for next Summer (it'll take some time with planning and training etc.). We both signed up immediately!

On top of that, we're getting our own car, after a few months of sponging off Father-in-Law! It's a green classic-style mini!! Woop!

Now that things are gently plodding along, I'll try and keep y'all updated on what we're doing and how it's working!
Here and almost settled
Hi folks!

What an exciting couple of weeks it's been!! We're now here in Looe and pretty much settled into our amazing house! The only thing preventing me being truly settled is the fact that we still don't have the internet!

Due to a couple of issues the internet was slightly delayed, but all being well it should be sorted come Friday. At the moment I'm having to work with a broadband dongle, which is OK, but not brilliant. Mind you, I probably won't get higher speeds over the phone...

Anyway, my work is going well and Lucy now has a job!! She's got a job in a florist, all thanks to her making the effort to volunteer at one of the charity shops in the town. So she's getting to know everyone and I'm stuck indoors working... still, I have a lovely view of the river from my office...

We haven't settled on a Church yet, but that's mostly due to us not havign any transport to go to Grace Family Bible Church. The Churches in the town are lovely, but not quite on our wavelength. Still, we're making the effort to visit them and meet people!

On the subject of meeting people, Lucy and I are probably going to be attending auditions for a musical with the town drama group - an ideal opportunity for us to meet people. The audition is on Sunday evening, so it's a good job that Lucy didn't take any jobs that were on Sunday afternoons after all!

We really appreciate your prayers as we try and settle ourselves into the community here.

Yours in the battle

David
Real progress!
Oops! It's been a little bit long since I last updated you all, very sorry!!

Best news first! Praise God, that flat that we liked (really a huge house with a bakery underneath it) was still available and was amazing, especially for the money. So we jumped at the chance. It's all ours now and we're just trying to sort out dates etc. We're hopefully looking at next Thursday to move in! Hooray! I'll keep you updated on the date.

So there's some good news, the bad news is that the job that had been promised to Lucy never existed. We made the effort to walk to the shop and visit the lady personally so that Lucy could say we were coming down soon and rather than being happy and saying something along the lines of "That's brilliant, when do you think you'll be able to start then?" she instead proceeded to offer Lucy a job - less hours and this time including Sunday mornings.

The conversation was a little odd, because obviously Lucy was extremely confused as to where "her" job had gone and the woman who had previously said it was no problem that Lucy wouldn't work Sundays was now saying that she had to work Sunday. So that hope soon evaporated.

Essentially we now need you lot to cover our move and Lucy in prayer. We need the move to go smoothly and we need Lucy to get a decent job in the community and soon! Praise God we know he will provide!

JEHOVAH JIREH!

Yours in the battle,

David
More news, more prayers required!
Here's the latest for you all:

1. I contacted my employer to ask for a day off for an interview in Cornwall, because obviously the situation I was in was quite fragile and I had no idea when they would pull the plug. They said no need and firmed up this arrangement until at least the end of the year. Praise God!

2. We're going to look at a couple of places on Saturday and we're really hopeful about one of them. In fact, on paper, we really like it (despite the fact it has no parking). Pray that it will be good and that we can take it!

3. Lucy should have a job, although it is being advertised elsewhere, so we need to get down there asap to make sure she secures it.

We're really excited and hopeful about the flat and if we can get it, it solves an awful lot of problems. Please pray really hard, particularly on Saturday!!

Soon we'll be able to get on with what God has called us to do!

Yours in the battle,

Dave
One step closer... prayers please!
Another update for our supporters...

I'm still working from home and this appears to be going well, my employer is happy. Praise God for this! We pray that this will continue for some time!

Lucy now has the potential promise of a job, so long as we can get down to Looe before September :-S
Praise God for the job, it would be ideal. It would help Lucy get into the community, and help us to afford a decent home. Pray that the job opportunity doesn't disappear!

Finally, as you can tell, we now want to get down there before this opportunity disappears for Lucy. It's the first job offer she's had in 8 months, so we want to grasp it! Pray that the right house comes up soon! Be good to get down there soon!
Launch +1? I'm afraid not...
So things have not gone according to plan.

The van only went in to a garage on Wednesday after lots and lots of phonecalls going round and round the varying companies all contracted to do the work of the insurer. The underwriter knows nothing about courtesy cars, the insurer explains that they have redefined the word "accident" to suit them - we only get a courtesy car in the case of third party fault. Apparently the fact that I didn't start the fire doesn't count...

So we have no vehicle (and possibly more importantly, nowhere to live).

Eventually, after much thought, we decide that the best bet is to stay with Lucy's parents in Bristol and for me to start work and save the holiday until we actually move. This way we can save up some money and get ourselves sorted - i.e. find a house etc.

This isn't how we planned it, but we're sure God will bring glory to it. Perhaps this is a case of in his time rather than in ours.

On a secondary note, the lorry that we had booked for our move didn't arrive. Thankfully I'd phoned the hire company on Friday just to make sure everything was ok and was told that not only was our confirmed booking not going to result in a Lorry, but also that they had phoned me to tell me... strange that I can't remember that phonecall...

Eventually, though, my parents managed to book a Lorry cheaper than I had managed which gave us enough to put our stuff in storage. It'll make the next stage of the move easier, and it will also free up some room here.

Keep praying! This is just a small delay! Looe... we're still coming!!
Emergency at T-4
Prayer Needed Urgently!

As if to confirm that we are definitely stepping onto the right patch, the devil has hit us hard - not so hard that we will be put off, though!

As you may recall, we are about to move out of our existing home but don't yet have a home to go to. We were planning on living in Lucy's Dad's camper for a couple of weeks whilst we sorted out accommodation.

Unfortunately as I drove it home from work yesterday a small fire erupted on the leads coming from the leisure battery under my seat!

Luckily my brain kept working and I soon had a fire extinguisher working on the fire. The fire brigade were called and managed to extinguish the fire completely and be happy the vehicle was safe. Since the motor battery was not affected, we thought it may be safe to drive home. Just to be safe a fireman started the engine and immediately smoked poured forth from every gap imaginable.

The fire brigade then set about putting out the second battery fire and disconnected the main battery.

Eventually, after a wait, the breakdown people took me home.

So, although the camper isn't burnt out (praise God!!), we are without transport and home.

We're praying "Jehovah Jireh" prophetically and praise-fully (not that it's even a word). We trust that God will provide for us! Please pray that He will perform miracles with the insurance company and get stuff sorted quickly!!
Mission Needs (T-5)
Launch isn't very far away and Lucy and I have been thinking very much about what we're going there to do. Lucy watched a program about some girls who have totally missed out on what life should be (The Trouble With Girls - BBC) and how they just need some help. I replied to her e-mail with the following. It all kinda just poured out of me and I suddenly realised how true it is:
Exactly. It is what they need. It’s exactly what James is talking about when he says (and I paraphrase) “It’s no good saying, yeah I believe, and then just sitting on your bum. If your mate comes up to you and says ‘I’ve got some problems’ don’t just say ‘Oh, well, God bless then’ and walk off. What good is that? You can’t have faith without actions, and actions without faith are lost. You gotta have both!”

That’s what the Army was all about. And sadly, at some point, the “social work” got divorced from the “church” and we became exactly like the Churches William Booth fought against. He saved men and women and then sent them to Churches who wouldn’t even let these people in. That’s the only reason that the Christian Mission ever became a Church, simply because no other Church would take the people he was saving.

Look at how far we’ve come from our calling... incredibly really! So that’s what we’re going into: saving souls and serving suffering humanity!

I can see us spending a lot of time out at night with the young’uns, with bottles of water and those mini bibles that Andrew gave us. We’ll just be chatting to people, helping them out, telling them there’s another way.

That’s also why I want us to have a bigger place, because we’re gonna have people round for food all the time and we may even have people staying with us occasionally. B&B but without getting paid for it, lol.
At the moment, without Lucy working and with debt that we've built up whilst we've been living beyond our means in Reading, we'll only be able to afford about £400/month. Even in Looe we're only looking at a 1 bedroom flat for that. Basically, we both feel that our mission and our creation of community down there is going to require a bit more space.

More space means more rent, more rent needs more income, more income needs a job. Our most outstanding prayer need right now? That Lucy find a job and we find the perfect home and base of operations.

If God can, by some miracle, give us the home first, then fair enough. But if we have to do this the worldly way, we're going to need Lucy to find a job. Please cover this issue with as much prayer as you can!!
T-6 days and some good news!
It's hard to believe we're this close now. God, being the provider that He is, has fixed it for me to keep working for my present employer from home on a limited contract. This means I have an income (as long as I can get myself connected to the Internet) but work can pull the plug with only a weeks notice.
It means we have breathing space and time to get ourselves settled. Work have agreed to one weeks paid holiday (a few days more unpaid if I need them) which I will need to use to find a suitable wifi connection!
We actually don't have our accommodation sorted out yet, but will start off camping just outside of Looe whilst our stuff get's stored at Lucy's parent's house. All being well we'll have all our stuff back out of their house before they come back from holiday...
Your prayers regarding a job for Lucy (and a more long-term job for me) would be great and also for a suitable home somewhere in Looe. Finally, we still don't fully understand our purpose, so your prayers for that would be great too!
God is good! We will not go hungry!
A bit of encouragment (T-16)
We're still on our holidays (I'm just dropping this in by e-mail) but we've managed to visit Looe a few times now, getting improved knowledge of the town as well as practical things like job-hunting.
To be honest, the more real it's become the more I've worried. It's very close now, just over two weeks, and we have neither home nor job. It could be extremely worrying (and is at times) but I'm clinging on to the fact that God is preparing a place.
Two verses have come up that have just encouraged me greatly: Firstly Luke 11:11 and also Matthew 5:14-16. God loves us and we have a task to perform, is there anything else to it than that?
Yours in the battle,
David
Update at T-22
22 days left until the big move! Tomorrow we go down that way on holiday - the holiday was long planned, but little did we know it would come at such a fortuitous time.

We're camping near St. Austell (as this is where we were originally looking) and will be joined part of the week by our respected friends who no doubt will help us to prepare spiritually for the whole thing. So our nice relaxing holiday has turned into job-hunting and house hunting. Still, I can't think of anywhere nicer to be doing it than Looe!

Was looking over my e-mails in relation to our little mission and realised that we first felt this calling before we were married last year. We tried to explore it, but felt it was just too big and scary to do straight after we were married - I wonder how things would've been if we'd gone then? It's also amazing how in the busy-ness of life we managed to sort of forget it for 6 months!! Incredibly, the St. Martins came up then - how was is so surprising when it came up later?

One last thing: Today's verse of the day was Philippians 2:3-4 (naughty, it's 2 verses!) which says: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. " It fits very well with our intentions, a good bit of encouragement!

one last thing, whilst doing one of my many google searches for Looe, came across Looe.org on which was the following advertisement:
Finding the Lord where potatoes once were stored
If your idea of a church congregation is a faithful few of advancing years then you've clearly not heard about the Grace Community Church, an independent Evangelical church, which meets in a converted farmhouse and potato barn at Morval near Looe and regularly has around 200 worshippers each Sunday and has recently opened two new churches in Bodmin and Torpoint. Interested? More information on the church and its service times may be found on www.graceccmorval.co.uk
We'll hopefully be making contact with them (along with any other Churches in the area), so expect some updates on that!

Don't expect many posts of the next week or so whilst we're away. I'm sure there'll be a big update the day after we come back!!

Yours in the Battle,

Dave
Welcome!
Greetings all!

I thought it was about time that I started a blog for our little adventure! In these last few weeks of preparation we'll keep you updated on the plans and then once we land we'll start updating you on our progress. A little bit of accountability is always a good thing!!

So, where are we at? What's the vision, what's our status at T-23 days?

We're moving to Cornwall following a specifc calling from God to go there and light a bit of a fire old Army style! Once we get there we're just going to follow Jesus' final command, our Commission: to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I [Jesus] have commanded you."

We don't really know a lot about starting a Church, but then neither did the disciples. They just went and told people about Jesus. The Holy Spirit built the Church!

So we're going to be preaching (in some form) and connecting ourselves into the Community; we'll be doing and being Church in new ways; we'll be supporting people practically as well as spiritually; we'll be tackling demons, witchcraft and Freemasonry.

So that's the vision and the mission, what's our status? At the moment we have no home or jobs, yet we are go for launch, preparing to move out and set up camp (probably literally) in Looe.

Why Looe?
Good question! You know what, we don't know yet. We just believe very strongly that this is the place that God wants us to start this. We think there may be some significance to St. Martins Road, but I guess we'll explore that as time goes by!

You're prayers are greatly appreciated!

Yours in the battle,

Dave