Prayer E-mail Dec 23, 08

Dear Family and Friends,
I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas! Your prayers and support over the past few months have been phenomenal. The way God has been working in our lives is testimony to the prayers of His people. I pray for each of you to have a truly blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of God's Son who is our King. As you give and receive presents this year, remember that God has given us the greatest ever! Here's our updated prayer list:


SBCV Affirmation
As I shared briefly the week before last, we received approval to be church planters in Virginia Beach on behalf of the SBCV. The approval process was not easy, but I believe it will benefit us tremendously in our new endeavor. By making us go through so many different types of assessments, we were forced to recognize our strengths and weaknesses. Let us give praise that this portion of our journey is complete, and that we will be working with the talented and dedicated people of our state convention.

Funding Level
I have been approved as a bi-vocational church planter, which means the SBCV has provided substantial funding, but not enough to fully meet our needs. Therefore, I will have the privilege of being like the Apostle Paul, who relied on his tent making abilities to financially support himself as he preached the gospel. I believe being bi-vocational will open doors for us that we can't even imagine. I'm asking you to pray that I will be able to find the right job quickly. We want to be on the field as church planters starting February 1, so we need for something to happen pretty soon.
I hate to ask for funds, but some people have expressed an interest in helping us financially and for this we are especially grateful. Therefore, if you would like to contribute towards our church planting efforts before the end of the year you can do so by sending your donation as follows:
SBC of Virginia
Attn: Sonja Ware
4101 Cox Rd. Suite 100
Glen Allen, VA 23060
(Please indicate whether you want your contribution to go towards our salary or towards funding the needs of the church plant. Either way, please specify that it is for Bert Kirk.)
After the first of the year, I will be sending out information which will detail the financial needs of our church plant and how people can partner with us.

Person of Peace
We are still amazed at how God is bringing people across our path. The Navy chaplain at NAS Oceana is now a point of contact for us, all because he needed to borrow the SBCV's portable baptistry. At LuAnn's business' Christmas party, I got the name of a very musically gifted person who just moved to Virginia Beach and lives near Oceana. Of course, it is still too early to say how these contacts will play out, but we are certainly encouraged by the networking that is taking place. So keep praying that we will meet that person or persons of peace who will open the doors for us to share the Gospel and plant a church.

Find a Place to Live
We will be going down to Virginia Beach in January in order to find a place to live. Pray we will find something affordable and close to our identified mission field. However, these may be two mutually exclusive criteria as the housing in that area is very high. Our preliminary look at what houses rent for, indicates we will be paying about $700 - $800 more per month in housing costs.

Our House to Sell or Rent
Continue to pray for our house to sell or for us to find a good renter.

Laborers for the Harvest
I know I have been sharing with you our personal requests, and because we have so many things in transition for us right now it is easy to lose sight of why we are going to Virginia Beach in the first place. We desire to see people, specifically Navy families, respond with saving faith to the glorious Gospel of Jesus. Yet how can they respond if no one goes to tell them? "Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." (Matt. 9:38) Pray that God will send others to help in the great harvest He has already prepared.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a truly Happy New Year!
His by Grace,
Bert, LuAnn, Taylor, Jonathan, & Emily