The Point's 5th Birthday & Burlington, VT

Every once in a while Christin gives me (Kevin) the opportunity to write on her... I mean our blog. She’s especially cool with it since today our church celebrated it’s 5th birthday, and we made an exciting yet difficult announcement during the worship service.

It’s hard to believe the Point Church turned five. Just like five years ago we were hit with a snow storm this weekend. Five years ago we had a “do over” at launching the next weekend due to the impassable roads- this year we were fortunate that the road crews cleared the roads by Saturday afternoon.

A lot has happened over these past five years. I can still remember the first time Christin and I visited New Brunswick in December of 2003. We had only spent four hours in this city and were both thinking, “this is exactly the kind of place I could see God sending us to plant a church.” Just a few months later in June of 2004 we were packing up and moving our lives from the Atlanta area to New Brunswick.

In those first few months when we just had a handful of people worshiping in downtown apartments, we had some very simple God-given ideas about the church God was leading us to start. We knew God cared a great deal about New Brunswick. We knew He wanted this church to be a safe place to discover the incredible journey of knowing and following Jesus. He wanted this church to become a real spiritual family where we could learn to share our lives with each other. He wanted this church to love and serve this city in the name of Jesus. We have not done any of this perfectly, yet five years later these are more than hypothetical ideas or prayers we hope to see God answer. These ideas are what we see God doing around us every day.

I am blown away by all that God has done- especially in and through the people’s lives He has placed around us. My life, our life, the life of our present and future family members have been forever impacted by these relationships.

One of the most exciting and most difficult parts of this day was sharing with our spiritual family what God is calling us as a church and specifically Christin and I to do next. Last year at the Points’ 4th Birthday Party our pastoral team announced that as a team we’d be looking at several Northeastern cities as the next potential place for the Point to plant a church. Christin and I have always tried to remain open to whatever God wants, but I do not believe either of us foresaw God moving us to lead this new church plant and start the process over again.

It has taken almost a year of prayer, research, and deliberation for God to reveal to us that He wants us to lead a team to plant this new church in Burlington, VT. There are many reasons why Burlington and why us, but I’d rather unpack those reasons in a later post. Let me just say that it’s something like when you meet the person you are going to marry. Sometimes you have a good idea this is “the one” on the first date. Sometimes it takes years and the roller coaster of breaking up and getting back together again before you know. The bottom line, though, is that at some point in time you know because God somehow lets you know. With New Brunswick we knew on the “first date”, but with Burlington it has taken a year long process. One big reason is that we are so attached to the Point Church and New Brunswick, and it has taken God a year to pry my hands away... one finger at a time.

To say this is bittersweet is such an understatement. We are torn inside by God’s leading and our heart for the place we call home and the people we call family. 381 Remsen Ave. in New Brunswick is our home. We love this city and the people our lives intersect with every day so much. This is where we have spent the majority of our married life, where we’ve really learned to live as husband and wife, and where we’ve begun to raise our little boy. The Point is our family- as I often say, “We aren’t like a family. We are a family of brothers and sisters in Jesus.” These are my friends who have supported me as both a friend and pastor these past five years.

I’ll let you briefly know what we know about the future. I plan to step down from my role as Executive Pastor at the end of August. Christin and I then plan to take a two month sabbatical, then move to Burlington in late 2010 or early 2011. We are getting on the roller coaster of church planting for another ride!

In these coming months we have asked our spiritual family to...
Pray- we’ll keep you updated on specific requests, but you can begin by praying for us and the Point as we make this transition in the next few months.

Give- the Point is already committing to help fund this new church, but we’ll be praying for God to lead additional churches and individuals to partner with us financially.

Go- we are praying and looking for a team of committed Christians to move with us to Burlington just as a small team moved to New Brunswick to start the Point.


We’ll keep you updated on what God is doing as we continue on this journey.

***INCLUDED ON THIS POST IS A VIDEO SHOWN AT THE POINT CHURCH’S 5TH BIRTHDAY PARTY. A SECOND IS COMING LATER TODAY.