Fall Ministry Update
CLICK HERE to check out our fall ministry update!
 |
http://www.emmausbibleministries.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Fall-2015.pdf
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.
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
ESBS RELOCATES TO FLORIDA!
Subscribe in a reader
When we moved to Lake Lure, Tom was concerned that the
mountains there were too small and the temperature too hot (yes, insert chuckle/scoff/snarl here).
Yet, over the course of 9 years, our hearts filled with love for this
place and its people. Lake Lure
became a home we never thought we’d leave as we discovered just what these
mountains had to offer. I (Julia) birthed
2 new lives here and figured my hair would grey and face would wrinkle watching
our children forge friendships with families at the small church and hometown
school we love. We lived alongside
ESBS students, saw them come and learn and grow, and saw God grow a wonderful staff community around the school. We grew too, as ESBS flourished where God planted us.
Over the past two years, God has continued to grow the ESBS community, as He's made our hearts ready to
respond to the next adventure ahead...a move...a rebirth for the school...and a call to leave this wonderful mountain town, for the place He’s taking us next.
We’re moving the school to a community called Oviedo, just outside of Orlando, to plant it at a thriving and exciting conference center there. Here's how this all came about:
In November 2014, Tom and Caleb met for lunch in Lake Lure
with Jon Davis, the Executive Director of Canterbury Conference Center in
Oviedo, Florida. He happened to be
in Lake Lure and Caleb knew him, partly because Canterbury was the place Caleb
first heard about ESBS and made the decision to come and be a student
here. As Tom and Caleb shared
about our search for a new location, Jon was instantly excited and invited us to come check out Canterbury. Our program was a perfect match for his vision of seeing a long-term discipleship community form at Canterbury.
A week after meeting Jon, Tom and I were in Hawaii. He was teaching at a YWAM school and we
were also celebrating our 10 year anniversary. On our first morning there we stepped out onto the streets
of Kona at 5:30 a.m. and the first person we ran into "randomly" was a man named Dave Behring,
someone we’d never met, but who happens to be on the Board of Directors for Canterbury,
and who was the one who initially encouraged Caleb Ives to apply for ESBS
(while they were at Canterbury together 4 years ago). He and his wife were in Kona for an art show. We were surprised to meet him like that, and we chatted
about what had just happened at Canterbury. He had already heard about it. He prayed for us right there on the sidewalk. It was a wonderfully weird experience!
As we've searched for a new location over the past year we’ve
sensed the Lord saying that He’s going to provide the place and when He does,
it will be like a sailboat whose sails become full of wind blowing and pushing
it. It will be like the sun rising
and where there was darkness, there will all of the sudden be
illumination. It will be like
opening a present on Christmas morning.
We feel like now the Lord is bringing these words to fulfillment by
providing Canterbury Conference Center as the new home for the ESBS.
In December 2014 six of us from the ESBS community flew to
Canterbury to officially explore a partnership. After several great days of meetings we said “no” to the
partnership and decided to continue to pursue a location in Lake Lure. In may ways Tom led that decision,
keeping the school in Lake Lure was something he’d always wanted to do, and we
had an open door with a property there at the time. We announced the decision to stay in Lake Lure in January 2015.
In April plans to remain in Lake Lure began to deteriorate. Our ministry model had already outgrown
the facility we were moving into. As we began to move in, it became clear to us all that we couldn’t do what God was
asking us to do there. The
property couldn't
facilitate growth. After discussions
with the owners, we chose to discontinue the planned rental agreement.
A partnership with Canterbury was obviously an open door we needed to re-investigate.
By early May we had been back down to Oviedo once more, for
three more days of meetings with Canterbury, and we’d achieved a working
partnership. By May 11th both boards had approved the move, and by
June 3 all of our ministry supplies had been relocated to Florida. When God moves…sometimes you just have
to hold on tight.
Our first morning at Canterbury in May, before the meetings
began, Julia and I participated in morning prayer on the campus. There were two scripture readings for
the day. We were asked to read
them both. The first one was from
Deuteronomy 8. “Remember the long
way that the Lord your God has lead you these 40 years in the wilderness, in
order to humble you, to test you to see what was in your heart, whether or not
you would keep his commandments….for the Lord your God is bringing you into a
good land…where you will lack nothing…you will bless the Lord your God for the
good land he is bringing you into…(Deut 8:2-10 parts omitted). Julia was asked to read that scripture,
and I saw the tears well up in her eyes as we both felt those words impacting
our hearts. Next I (Tom) was asked
to read from Luke 9:18-27 “If any want to become my followers, let them take up
their cross and follow me, for those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.”
God was speaking.
The meetings were a huge success, and a strong partnership was created.
Emmaus Ministries will operate in partnership with
Canterbury much like it did with Lurecrest. We will maintain our own 501(c)3 status. Our curriculum, calendar, costs and
staff will not change. What WILL change is that we will be
integrating ourselves into a campus that has deep connections in Central Florida,
and where the school will have a much higher visibility than it ever did in
Lake Lure. College groups and
ecumenical ministry fellowships meet on Canterbury’s campus on a weekly basis. Youth ministry training, and church
leadership training also happen there regularly. Additionally Canterbury operates in partnership with the
Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, which is the most conservative and
orthodox Episcopal diocese we’ve ever seen. The diocese has been very receptive to the partnership we’ve
created, and we’re so excited to see all the ways that God will plug us into
what He’s doing there.
So, we’re excited about this new season for Emmaus, and for
our community of staff members.
Currently we have three families and two singles transitioning out of Lake
Lure and towards Oviedo. The past
month has been a wild ride for all of us, but we’re so confident that God is up to something
good. After 9 years at
Lurecrest, we are THRILLED to follow God into this new adventure. We all feel like Emmaus Ministries is positioned to really grow and thrive in Florida. This partnership is
replete with signs of God’s providence.
We stand in awe of His provision, and with heart of faith we say “yes”
to the leading of God towards the “Good land” he is calling us into.
Tom and Julia
New exciting changes coming to the ESBS!
With the new non-profit (Emmaus Ministries) and a new property, we're also implementing new programs to expand our impact! We really want to see our training programs reach the broadest audience possible.
We feel God leading us to open up new entry points into the Biblical studies opportunities we offer.
We will continue to run the same 10 month ESBS as the backbone of our ministry, but now we are also offering other opportunities for others to come and learn their Bible.
Here's what's NEW:
- 3 week seminar on how to study your Bible
- an audit track for commuters that want to come sit in on live-classroom lectures
- 5 month study of the Old Testament
Take a look below at these new ways to engage with the school and for more info visit us at:
The Book of Joshua
This week we've had the privilege of hearing from Dr. David Hansen about the book of Joshua!
Each day we've continued to unpack the text from an archeological prospective, and it's always amazing to look at the conquest and promise land from a new lens.
We as a school have also tried to make a greater impact in the community around us, and this week we had a number of visitors from surrounding local churches! There were 29 students in our classroom this morning, enjoying the Joshua lectures.
Our heart is that every person would be transformed by the Word of God, and it's always great to see people's eyes opened to the Scriptures.
We also wanted to highlight our wonderful staff Ellen Stark!
She is currently in Venesula teaching Ephesians & Philippians.
For those of you that don't know, Ellen grew up in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish. It's so incredible to see how God is using her to further the Kingdom!
For more pictures of her journey, check out her FACEBOOK page!
Just as a reminder, continue to stay connected with us on:
FACEBOOK
INSTAGRAM
STUDENT BLOG
ESBSONLINE.ORG
Each day we've continued to unpack the text from an archeological prospective, and it's always amazing to look at the conquest and promise land from a new lens.
We as a school have also tried to make a greater impact in the community around us, and this week we had a number of visitors from surrounding local churches! There were 29 students in our classroom this morning, enjoying the Joshua lectures.
Our heart is that every person would be transformed by the Word of God, and it's always great to see people's eyes opened to the Scriptures.
We also wanted to highlight our wonderful staff Ellen Stark!
She is currently in Venesula teaching Ephesians & Philippians.
For those of you that don't know, Ellen grew up in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish. It's so incredible to see how God is using her to further the Kingdom!
For more pictures of her journey, check out her FACEBOOK page!
Just as a reminder, continue to stay connected with us on:
STUDENT BLOG
ESBSONLINE.ORG
For further info email us at: info@esbsonline.org
PO BOX 228
Lake Lure, NC 28746