Home Sweet Home

I mentioned in our last blog (and newsletter) about traveling around to different churches every week and how that has affected our sense of community. It has been great finding community with new people at new churches. We consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to see more and more of the body of Christ each week. We truly have enjoyed our visit to every single church we've visited. At each one we've found pastors with great hearts for missions and parishioners with a desire to hear our hearts for Costa Rica. It's been amazing to me how often I've felt as though I could see myself attending these churches on a regular basis. Yet, with all that said, there have been two churches that we've visited the last few months (one of which we will be visiting again twice next month) that have been a little extra special for us: North Shore Assembly of God in Malden, MA and Capital Assembly of God in Trenton, NJ.

North Shore AG in Malden, MA is the church my (Mike's) family started attending in the spring of 1988 when I was just shy of five years old. Twenty four years later, my parents still faithfully attend this church. Though I ultimately credit my parents first and foremost for training me in the way I should go (after all, this is the parents' responsibility), the church was a great complimentary assistant in that process as well. It was during these years that I was saved, water baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit and called into ministry. I have great respect for Rev. T. Kenneth Norcross (the senior pastor when I was a small boy), Rev. Steven Antin (the man I called my senior pastor for much of my life), Rev. Anders Eliason (the current lead pastor and an associate pastor of much of my life), Rev. Matt Yukon (my first youth pastor), Rev. Troy Mini (my youth pastor through my critical high school years) and all the other pastors who served that church during my time there. I also have great respect for the many, many lay leaders who poured into my life through the years. I could probably name them all but I don't want to list them for fear that I might accidentally omit one. If you're reading this and you're one of them...thank you! It's true, I have a lot of gratitude for the people who faithfully served in various capacities at North Shore AG over the years. This is why it is still so precious and special for me when I have the opportunity to visit. This is why I was so blessed to have the opportunity to preach there in July (non-missions related) and will have the privilege to preach there twice in October (once to the youth, once in the regular Sunday worship service; both missions-related).

Capital AG in Trenton, NJ (or Hamilton, NJ if you care to be technical I suppose) is the church where Polly's mom began attending as a teenager and where Polly was raised her whole life. Much like my own life, we know that her parents were the most important people with regard to her spiritual growth, but like North Shore AG for me, the church played a great complimentary role in Polly's life. She was dedicated to the Lord there as a baby by Rev. John Cairns (the current senior pastor's father), was saved, water baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit and called into ministry while attending Capital AG. I'm sure she too could list off pastors (including Rev. Jack Cairns, the current senior pastor and her youth pastor Rev. Jeff Spuler) and lay leaders who were valuable and instrumental to her life. This is also the church where Polly and I vowed our lives to one another in holy matrimony. This is why it was so special for us to have the opportunity to preach in their missions convention this past weekend.

Yes, we have enjoyed visiting other churches and meeting new people. Yes, we love our home church of Calvary AG in Dudley, MA where we now attend their new Bible study on Wednesday nights. Yes, we will undoubtedly love the body of believers we fellowship with and find community with when we will be in Costa Rica. But nothing can ever/will ever take away from the incredibly special, unique places these churches have in our hearts. This is why I'm unashamed to say that our recent visits (and upcoming visits) to these churches are very, very dear to us.

(To see when we'll be at North Shore AG and the rest of our itineration schedule, please click on the new link on the top of this page)

In His service,

Mike