Some News to Share with Those We Love

We have a letter to share with you, written by Frank.  It will come in the mail to many of you soon, but we realize we don’t have everyone’s current address since moving to the blog for our updates years ago. We wanted to share here too so as many people possible can be reached.

Dear Friends,

I am writing this letter to you with very mixed emotions. My family and I would first like to thank you for your prayers and support of our service here with Cornerstone Community Church. Over the last ten years we have seen God move in many incredible ways, touching the lives of many. What was a very small congregation when we first began, has grown into two services on Sundays, and many different small groups throughout the week. God has specifically been doing some awesome work within the recovery ministry here in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, making it a consistent light house in the community for those seeking freedom from substance abuse. God has surrounded us with wonderful friends and family here, making it very easy to call this our home. For all of these reasons it is with tremendous sorrow that Carisa and I believe our time here in Philadelphia is coming to a close.

Over the years God has been laying upon my heart to engage with people on a deeper level. I have been working with men and women who suffer from incredible pains, much I have personally felt inadequate to counsel or help in any way. Though I fully know that our God is the answer to anything we may encounter, I also realize he uses us as vessels to minister His word to His people. Because of this calling I entered Cairn University two years ago to receive a Bachelors in Bible with a focus on Christian counseling. Over the last two years God has continued to confirm the calling in continual education. I believe that though we serve in an excellent ministry here, He is making it very clear that there is more preparation to be done. In April of this year I was accepted into Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Master of Arts in Christian Counseling program. This is very exciting and Carisa and I have spent so much time in prayer over this, and believe that this degree will better equip me to serve on a deeper level. We are feeling confident that this is the direction that we are to go, so we are looking to relocate to North Carolina around Christmas time 2014. We hope to get settled in the first part of the year in which I will begin school full time in the summer of 2015. Gordon-Conwell offers a partnership program which is a full tuition scholarship where I would raise a small amount of support. Our prayers are that God will open that door which would ease a huge financial burden.

Many of your hearts I know have a special place not only for us but for the people here in our community as well. For this reason I am sure that there will be many questions and concerns in which I will try my best to answer to the best of my ability. Please feel free to email me anytime. As far as our financial support of our family with Cornerstone Community Church is concerned, it will still be needed through the month of December. After that our family and ministry needs will change in which if you are interested in learning about those changes please let me know. This time of change reminds Carisa and me of when we first came up here. It is another leap of faith in the adventure God has for us, however He has shown us just how good He is, and that this needs not to be frightening, but rather full of joy and excitement. Once again we thank all of you for your involvement with us here in Philadelphia. We hope that you will continue to keep our family and Cornerstone in your prayers as we make these transitions. There will be some transitional pains but we know that God will show up in some powerful ways.

With Love,

Frank and family