Greetings from Kent! I hope this letter finds you well and that you are soaking up all that is the summer months. I was blessed to have the first two weeks after my graduation off and thus took ample time to rest, recuperate, and recharge for the months ahead of full-time support raising. I went up to Pittsburgh to visit my brother and a few family members that I have there, and I also also was blessed to spend time at my parents’ lake house on Lake Erie, which also doubles as a pseudo retreat center for our staff. The time at the lake house was especially relaxing as I got the opportunity to sleep in, read, reflect, and pray of all that was this past year and simultaneously looking forward to all that seems to be ahead of me.
I am officially in the midst of full-time support raising and I can already tell how it is preparing me for full-time ministry. It is difficult work, but I am definitely committed to what God has for me in this process. I am blessed to be starting at 32% of my full-time goal (thanks to you who began supporting me last summer), but now I am raising a full-time salary, which is over double of what I raised last summer! In total, I have to raise about $3,000 more a month. I am so thankful for you now and I am thrilled that you are on my team. I ask that you’d continue to pray for me and for the dozens upon dozens of people that I will come into contact with and have appointments with. Please pray that I would remain with God and this process and that he would teach me a greater trust in Him through this process. I also would ask two things from you. First, would you consider connecting me with 1-5 people you know who would be interested in sitting down with me and hearing about the work of God in and thru our Church? This would meet a great need for me right now! Secondly, would you consider increasing your financial support? I am so thankful that for what you already sacrifice, so if that is simply not a reality for you, then that is completely understandable. Let me know if you can help in either of these ways! Thank you so much for all you already do!
Summer church has begun in Kent, and for us that means a plethora of picnics, a continuation of worship gatherings and small groups, and engaging with summer school students on campus. This summer our church is going through the book of Acts in our worship gatherings as well as our small groups. We are hoping that our church will be envisioned and impassioned by studying the ancient church as a community. Simply put, we want to be inspired as a community by the practices and pursuits of the ancient Church and hopefully our church will be given a fresh understanding of what it might mean to live as witnesses to the risen Christ and to do so within the context of community that is an exemplar an alternative way of life. I am excited for our church this summer and how we will grow together and individually. Please be praying for our church and that God would speak to us in this season!
Your brother in the gospel, Anthony
Poiema 