December Prayer Letter

Thank you for taking the time to pray for Refuge City Church. Sorry this one is a little later then usual, I’ve been fighting a cold for the last three weeks.

John preached at Koinos Christian Fellowship the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Everything went well and the team had a great time in Dayton. I was unable to join them because of a few things that were going on at the time.

While in Dayton, John met with some of the pastors at Morning Star Baptist Church. John is still trying to work through what a partnership with them would look like. One thing I found out is Morning Star is a plant of Far Hills, I grew up attending Far Hills. Morning Star planted long before I was born.

Some of the time while in Charlotte I have doubted how God was growing me, it has been humbling to serve Refuge City with gifts that have developed since being in Charlotte. Some of you may now one of my passions is seeing people with a love for God’s Word. I really enjoy helping people to understand and apply scripture. John has taken that passion and put a vision to it. John Pope has asked me to consider editing and writing some material to take people through the different literary styles of the Bible and then through the Bible. So over the next several months I will be learning some more about Biblical Theology and interpreting scripture. Then editing some old material I wrote years ago and writing some additional material.

During my time in Dayton this month I hope to visit Morning Star and Koinos for a worship service. In addition to the Christmas activities, I will be taking some of my family downtown to show them areas Refuge City is considering. There are a few leaders from my past that I will be trying to meet with during this time as well.

Please continue to pray for other churches to consider partnering with Refuge City. Koinos is a great church with a wonderful pastor. Morning Star has some amazing leaders and we are starting to get to know the church. We continue to meet with people in the surrounding areas, and all are excited about the ministry of Refuge City.

A few members of the team are hoping to move to Dayton sometime next month. Scot, Jeff, and Lauren could use your prayers. They are searching for jobs and housing at this time. Jeff and Lauren have found a place and are working through the details.

John 1:12-13

November Prayer Letter

Thank you for taking the time to pray for Refuge City Church. Hopefully these letters encourage you.

Last weekend the team was in Dayton. One of the members of Koinos flew John, Luke, and I on his four-seater plane. The flight made the trip so much easier on us.

Most of the team stayed with me at my parents’ house. Mom blessed us by cooking breakfast. The weekend was filled with meetings and familiarizing the team with Dayton and the areas we will be focusing on in the beginning. We were able to be witness the first baptism for one of the churches that started just recently.

The city of Dayton is trying to renew the city by building programs, artsy décor, bike paths, and other such things. Refuge City believes that for city renewal to happen, Gospel renewal is necessary. These efforts of the city will be temporary, however Jesus Christ is not temporary. It is our prayer to renew the city with sharing the saving message of Jesus Christ and a regenerate relationship with Him.

Your time at Koinos was amazing. A couple people came up to me commenting on how they were sad to see John and I leave back in 2004. But when they heard John and I were coming back to plant a church in Dayton, they were excited and eager to find out how they could help. Others welcomed me with a hug and encouraged me, not only in regards to the church plant, but also telling me about the ministry John and I helped them start back in 2003 and how it has changed over the years. I thoroughly enjoyed being around Jonathan Newman, the pastor at Koinos, his humbleness and love for people is a joy to be around.

John Pope is preaching at Koinos November 22, and it looks like he will be flying with his wife. This last trip, because of Jack flying us on his plane, we were able to stay longer and could focus on the task at hand, instead of the eight and a half hour drive.

The team is reading some books together over this next year. The reading is about one book a month. I am also reading through some books and revisiting some old material I wrote a couple years ago. Through this personal reading and rewriting material, John and I hope to have discipleship material to take people through parts of the Bible and then to reading the Bible in a year. While John Pope and I worked on the syllabus for the teams’ reading I began to understand why I have been teaching these past five years. I’ll share more on that next month.

Ephesians 3:7-8

October Prayer Letter

It’s so true that months go by fast, when you’re busy. I get the feeling that it was just a week ago I was sending my first prayer letter to you.

For the last three weeks I have been serving alongside my friend John Johnson at Parkwood Baptist Church. John J. serves as youth minister and has been a friend of mine for six years now. On Sunday nights I am leading a class for some of the youth called “Key Doctrines 1” so far we have covered the seven different world views, what is truth, and why is it important to know what you believe. This past week we talked for awhile about the perception of science being able to prove everything. Some of the youth saw some of the inadequacies of science before we really got going. This time with John J. is so exciting.

A couple weeks ago the leaders for the plant were able to get together in Raleigh. While there we were able to meet, settle on a church name, and get some pictures taken. We had some pictures taken so we could get prayer cards made. You see ones for overseas missionaries. A church plant is missions so we thought it would be a great idea to have some made for the plant. I’ll send you a copy when they are finished. Every time I hear John Pope share how this church plant has come to be reminds me of how God is always at work. John and I helped start a children’s ministry at Koinos Christian Fellowship in Troy during his last year of college. I never thought that God would bring me back to that church. I am looking forward to having them as our sister church.

The name for the church will be…Refuge City Church. You will begin to see Nahum 1:7 in these letters, because it is our verse for the church. “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”

This month I will be going to Ohio twice. My first trip is this weekend, a vacation with the Hauser family (mom’s side). Maybe the trees will be changing when I go. Then at the end of the month John Pope, Luke Neff, and I will be going to Dayton to visit Koinos. It has been six years since I have seen any of them. It will also be a joy to hear their pastor Jonathan Newman preach. Don’t get confused on all the John’s here, we are at three if you’re counting, a youth pastor, my friend, and the pastor at Koinos.

Check out this video on youtube “The Greater Downtown Dayton Plan”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVBTUeRmfqE&feature=related

This will help those of you who are not familiar with Dayton to know what is going on there, keep in mind evangelical churchs are a rare find in the city of Dayton. Most evangelical churches are in the suburbs.

-Dave Graham