Last week I had a really good friend of mine named Dan Thompson who is the pastor of Crossroads Church in Lincoln, NE tragically pass away after a bad accident on the interstate.  I have known Dan since I was a teenager (my parents attend Crossroads), but over the last 5 years he has really become a great friend of mine.  Dan was more than just a friend, he was a HUGE encouragement and blessing to me. 

When I was in the preparation phase to launch Relevant I met with over 40 pastors to ask them if they would be willing to financially support Relevant as we worked to start it.  Every church and pastor told me NO, except 2…Dan and Crossroads being one of them.  Dan and Crossroads church have been an enormous blessing to me and Relevant.  He was one of the few pastors who was always there for me, giving me guidance, wisdom, encouragement, and feedback.  I love this man…and I am going to miss my friend deeply. 

Dan loved Jesus with all of himself, so I know He is loving life today.  However, I ask that you pray with me for Crossroads Church.  They just unexpectedly lost their pastor of 25 years…without any warning.  Crossroads has spent many hours in prayer for me and Relevant, so I am asking you to please pray for them today.  Pray that God gives them peace, that He unites them, that people come to know Jesus through this, that leaders emerge to lead them forward.  Please pray!

Pastor Ronnie

We are focused on being a transforming church that is part of transforming the world.   We do this corporately together by being focused on our three T-CHURCH initiatives: Culture Investment, Nation Engagement, and Church Multiplication.  One of the ways that we stay focused on this is by giving 25% of all of the offering received within Relevant to these three initiatives…which is one of the reason I am raising my entire salary this year.  We have not yet developed how we pursue all these initiatives, but are working hard at it.

Until we identify a nation of an unreached people group that we are called to engage in long term, we have asked God to show us where to invest.  A few weeks ago a young lady named Tera Sharp (who is a good friend with our Worship Leader, Mike Rhoades) contacted me and told me that she was a missionary in Austria w/ the EFCA.  She has been back in the states raising support so that she can go back there and carry on the work God has called her to.  After talking to her for quite a while and hearing what God had called her to, we chose to financially and prayerfully support her as a church.  This is so cool, b/c she is the first missionary that we are part of “sending” oversees to a people group that truly needs Jesus.  Here is her story!

Who I Am: For a year and a half I was in Innsbruck, Austria working as a missionary with the Evangelical Free Churches of America (EFCA).  I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and rejoice with the opportunity to continue serving.  I am originally from Nebraska, where I graduated from high school and college.  Now I am dedicated to serving where God leads me.  And the next stage is to return to Austria to continue my work there.

Innsbruck: Innsbruck, Austria is a city of 135,000 people.  It is situated in a valley with the Alps mountain range towering above it.  It is a beautiful place, but terribly dark spiritually.  The state religion is Roman Catholic, but the churches are poorly attended.  The younger generations have given up on God and religion.  Only about 0.5% of Austrians are Christian.

What I Do: supporting and helping lead both the middle school and high school youth groups, programming and leading the summer English Camps, mentoring individuals from youth group, beginning a new rock-climbing sports outreach, supporting the church by participating on the worship team and operating the technical duties, tutoring in English as an outreach tool, learning German by attending intensive German classes

Please be in prayer for Tera Sharp as she gets ready to head back to Austria in the next couple of weeks. 

Pastor Ronnie

I feel so blessed that God has called Mike Rhoades to be our worship band leader.  God has given him some awesome gifts.  I can’t imagine Relevant without Mike. 

Recently, Mike has felt that he was supposed to start writing and producing music of his own…so he has.  A couple weeks ago Mike released three songs on Amazon.com.  You will be blessed by his music.  I strongly recommend getting this EP.  The link directly to the EP is Rhoades EP on Amazon

Pastor Ronnie