If you are curious about what God is having us do to prepare for planting a church in Annapolis, great question. This will be a little lengthy to read, so I'll post a video here of John talking about what's going on too.
You may have been contacted to consider supporting this developing ministry through prayer or monthly giving. If not, please consider becoming a donor or an intercessor for this Victor Haven community! We are in the midst of trying to launch a support network so John can make ministry his full-time commitment.
Areas of Focus
There are three main areas that John will focus his time for now:
The Victor Haven community
A pastoral residency at a local church
Seminary to pursue studies in the Old Testament
Victor Haven Community
Georgetown Elementary
Georgetown Elementary is a public school within eyesight of John and Chelsea's house. Starting in January 2023, John has been volunteering there once a week to support the school and build relationships with the staff and children. This involves being assigned to classrooms to read with or be read to by the children. Between learning English as a second language, and lack of access to resources, many of the students are reading behind grade level. The school is always looking for people who have a positive presence and can help the children capture a love for learning and reading.
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Georgetown Community
Victor Haven and surrounding neighborhoods are a racially, socio-economically, and generationally diverse area in Annapolis comprised of many African-American, Hispanic, and Caucasian households. Once VHM is funded, I will be able to volunteer time creating and managing a community platform where local organizations, political figures, and families can share information about events and resources that will help everyone feel connected. I want to make sure this endeavor is not limited to an online presence as many in the Victor Haven community may not have access to the required technology, so it will be a balance of online and print materials for engagement.
Worship Nights:
We have opened our home twice a month for fellowship and Spirit-led worship. Each evening we organize a meal, everyone eats and builds relationship, and then spend an extended time turning our hearts toward wonderful Jesus. In that time, one leader will have selected a few songs that they prayed over ahead of time—we ask that the leader asks God what he wants to hear rather than what they enjoy singing. While there is a selected list of music, the group collectively follows the Holy Spirit and yield to each other, which leads to spontaneous worship that praises God.
This event has been a time where people from other church communities have come and been refreshed and refocused on Jesus. Our goal is to now develop everyone as leaders to eventually send out to begin hosting worship gathering in their own homes and neighborhoods. This will allow the spread of genuine community and communion in areas past where we have influence, like Davidsonville, Millersville, and other areas within Annapolis.
We are praying that as this group grows in leadership, more people from our neighborhood will attend. We've had one neighbor actually come but are hoping to one day see the whole room filled with our neighbors!
Prayer Walks
John has made a personal commitment to walking around the neighborhood everyday. He prays for the families to flourish and know the beauty of Jesus. We've found the more this happens, the more we fall in love with this neighborhood. Our daughter is always eager to join him!
We are praying that God shows us who to make connections with that will bring the community together.
Pastoral Residency​
The Downtown Hope pastoral residency sprung to life as Estuary (a group focused on equipping individuals to do local ministry) was teaching the VHM team to fund raise. John expressed his desire to be ordained, and Joey, the leader of Estuary, suggested that Downtown Hope would be more than happy to assist with that desire through a pastoral residency. It will involve an assessment of John's heart-health and theological training, what areas are strong and what areas need growth, and a customized residency will be built from there.
The elders and pastoral team of Downtown Hope have approved this step and the assessment will be held July, 30, 2023.
As of right now, John meets weekly with those running Downtown Hope, including the lead pastor, which has lead to a unification of vision for how the "big-C Church" can restructure itself to more reflect that of the bible and remove the hierarchical structure that our culture is so familiar with. We will post more about the structure ideas in another post.
John also joins an early-morning bible study every Wednesday before attending a Pastors Prayer Gathering where pastors of all denominations across the county gather to pray at different locations to create unity of churches and the flourishing of the area at large.
Seminary
John is working towards a Masters in the Old Testament. He was inspired by The Bible Project and wanted to learn more about how to read Biblical Hebrew to see more of the beauty that is within the Old Testament.
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John started his seminary career at Alliance Theological Seminary in 2021 and had an excellent professor teach him how to translate Biblical Hebrew. In the Spring of 2023, John began the next leg of his journey at Denver Seminary. Here he has found the curricula to be rigorous and challenging, which was exactly what John was looking for.
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In the upcoming semesters, John hopes to study Aramaic and Greek and to dive more deeply into the New Testament.
We are hoping fund raising happens quickly enough that John can continue his studies, but it will potentially be at a slower pace due to cost and the ability to dedicate time to in-depth study.
Other things in the works
I am working full time as a Marketing & Communications Manager for a large financial management service, which has been a blessing to provide stability for our home. However, it means that John is committed to raising our daughter while I'm working (he does love every moment of that!). We do have familial support regularly throughout the week, and getting this ministry launched would not be possible otherwise.
Whenever John is funded and God says for me to take over being primary caretaker, I'll do that and John will be able to be full time ministry. I'll then return to working freelance design and then volunteering within the community. We are interested to find out what life will look like with a second child on the way!