A new place to call home

Florida. So new. So beautiful. So different. Three families and one single woman: the sum total of staff working with Emmaus Ministries. All of us one big family. And like one big family we laugh, we cry, we bicker, get sick, and laugh again. And it’s been good for us to remind ourselves, and each other, of why we’re here. We didn’t move here because we had to. We didn’t join this ministry because we had nothing else to do.

We’re all here because we feel called. We love Emmaus Ministries. We love our goal, “To equip the body of Christ with the Word of God.” We love our own experiences as students in the Emmaus School of Biblical Studies. We love each and every student that comes through our doors. We love watching the lights go on, and giving people the tools they need to study and understand their Bibles. We love watching them grow and fall more in love with the God who saved them. Ultimately we’re here because we love the Lord, we love His Word, and we want others to feel the same.
And this is where the Lord has called each and every one of us.

It has been far from easy, and yet so extremely wonderful. We have been welcomed in a way we never could have hoped for by people who want and believe in what we do: teach the Bible. Our hearts can hurt when we think about the friends and family we’ve left behind, but to have found such wonderful new friends has been a comfort only God could have given us.

We have all found housing, the kids have started school, and we’ve finished our first official week of work with Emmaus Ministries! The kids miss their old homes, but they’re quickly finding things that they love about Florida, and slowly making new friends.

As staff we’ve been re-grouping and have been making decisions about what this year will look like. We will be running a Bible study, speaking to groups and churches, running seminars, and getting ready for when we re-launch the 10-month school next fall. This year will be a year for growth both as individuals as well as teachers. This year will give us time to recruit students, form new partnerships, and get our facilities ready for next fall.

Next week we will meet with the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida. His desire is to care for us and send us people from within the Episcopal Church to learn their Bibles. He believes that what we’re doing is greatly needed within the Church as a whole and he has been very encouraging. Our hope is that other churches from all denominations would also desire to learn and know their Bibles, and that they’d send their youth, youth pastors, and anyone else involved in ministry, to us.

We continue to be so thankful for all of you who have partnered with us in any and every way imaginable. Your prayer and support means so much to each and every one of us. Please keep praying as we push into a season of new connections and continue to settle into our new home.

For current updates and info visit us at: EmmausBibleMinistries.org

Written by Ellen Stark