Puritan Prayer~ Morning Prayer

Compassionate Lord, Thy mercies have brought me to the dawn of another day. Vain will be its gift unless I grow in grace, increase in knowledge, ripen for spiritual harvest. Let me this day know Thee as Thou art, love Thee supremely, serve Thee wholly, admire Thee fully. Through grace let my will respond to Thee, knowing that power to obey is not in me, but that Thy free love alone enables me to serve Thee. Here then is my empty heart, overflow it with Thy choicest gifts; here is my blind understanding, chase away its mists of ignorance.

O ever watchful Shepherd, lead, guide, tend me this day; without Thy restraining rod I err and stray. Hedge up my path lest I wander into unwholesome pleasure, and drink its poisonous streams; direct my feet that I be not entangled in Satan's secret snares, nor fall into his hidden traps. Defend me from assailing foes, from evil circumstances, from myself. My adversaries are part and parcel of my nature; they cling to me as my very skin; I cannot escape their contact. In my rising up and sitting down they barnacle me; they entice with constant baits; my enemy is within the citadel. Come with almighty power and cast him out, pierce him to death, and abolish in me every particle of carnal life this day.


.....May I grow in grace and increase in knowledge.
.....May I know You, love You, and serve You for who You are
.....Through grace let me respond to You as You lead, guide and direct me

Puritan Prayer~ Longings After God

My dear Lord, I can but tell Thee that Thou knowest I long for nothing but Thyself, nothing but holiness, nothing but union with Thy will. Thou hast given me these desires, and thou alone canst give me the thing desired. My soul longs for communion with Thee, for mortification of indwelling corruption, especially spiritual pride. How precious it is to have a tender sense and clear apprehension of the mystery of godliness, of true holiness! What a blessedness to be like Thee as much as it is possible for a creature to be like its creator! Lord, give me more of Thy likeness; enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness; engage me to live more for Thee. Help me to be less pleased with my spiritual experiences, and when I feel at ease after sweet communings, teach me it is far too little I know and do. Blessed Lord, let me climb up near to Thee, and love, and long, and plead, and wrestle with Thee, and pant for deliverance from the body of sin, for my heart is wandering and lifeless, and my soul mourns to think it should ever lose sight of its beloved. Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and-suffering.


.... I love this part, "Lord, give me more of Thy likeness; enlarge my soul to contain fullness of holiness; engage me to live more for Thee."

....and this part, "Wrap my life in divine love, and keep me ever desiring Thee, always humble and resigned to Thy will, more fixed on Thyself, that I may be more fitted for doing and-suffering."

Make me more like You!

Puritan Prayer~ Devotion

God of my end, it is my greatest, noblest pleasure to be acquainted with Thee and with my rational, immortal soul; it is sweet and entertaining to look into my being when all my powers and passions are united and engaged in pursuit of Thee, when my soul longs and passionately breathes after conformity to Thee and the full enjoyment of Thee; no hours pass away with so much pleasure as those spent in communion with Thee and with my heart.

O how desirable, how profitable to the Christian life is a spirit of holy watchfulness and godly jealousy over myself when my soul is afraid of nothing except grieving and offending Thee, the blessed God, my Father and friend, whom I then love and long to please, rather than be happy in myself! Knowing, as I do, that this is the pious temper, worthy of the highest ambition, and closest pursuit of intelligent creatures and holy Christians, may my joy derive from glorifying and delighting Thee. I long to fill all my time for Thee, whether at home or in the way; to place all my concerns in Thy hands; to be entirely at Thy disposal, having no will or interest of my own. Help me to live to Thee for ever, to make Thee my last and only end, so that I may never more in one instance love my sinful self.



.... May my life be lived in such a way that I become afraid of nothing except grieving and offending God. May I understand that my chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. May He be my all in all. He is truly all I need. May I find my complete and utter satisfaction in Him and in Him alone.

GFchurch Update

On July 10th at Gateway Fellowship, Zach Snow taught part2 of a series on Biblical Community. If you missed the service you can catch it here at GatewayTV . This past Sunday we looked at what it means to be One with the Father. We talked about the church as a body and how we are called to be One in community and ministry. We looked at John 17:20-26

20 "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

If you were not able to be here this past Sunday, you can catch the service here at July17@GatewayTV


Here are a few ways to stay connected with our church::

Gateway Fellowship Facebook
Gateway Fellowship Twitter

Here are a few things coming up in the life of our church::

...Gateway Ladies Bunco Night, Saturday, July 23 @6:15pm @GFchurch
...Family Worship and Luncheon, Sunday, July 31
...Promotion Sunday, August 7


ConnectGroup Schedule::

WedNite 7pm @GFchurch




I love our church
I love our people
I love our team
I love what He is doing in us
I love what He is doing to us
I love what He is doing through us

Dominican Download

I have been home now from the Dominican Republic for about 10 days and I am already excited about our trip back in December. During our last visit we were able to visit with a lot of people and ministries around the area. My head is spinning about the possibilities that are in front of us in the Dominican. I would ask that you would join with me in praying for Pastor Manny and his work in the villages / bateys of Monte Largo and Dos Hermanos. Our school, Greenville Christian, has basically adopted the community of Monte Largo and look forward to our partnership in ministry with Pastor Manny, Julio and Mercy.

While there we were able to meet with Bob and Diane who are opening Josiah's House which is an orphanage for boys. We spent our time with them talking about our return trip in December and the possibility of doing some future ministry events together. They are great people and have great hearts. Please pray for Josiah's House and the work that is to be done there.

We traveled to Santo Domingo where we met with the headmaster of a christian school in town that educates close to 180 students from K-8th grade. This school reminds us a lot of GCS back home. They have learned to do a lot with a little. The headmaster is a man who loves the Lord and frequently told us that everything they do at this school is based on the gospel. The name of the school is Centro Educativo Buenos Nuevas (Good News)

We are already working on another trip in July of next year as well. We will be beginning putting together an opportunity to collect shoes for the people in the bateys there. Many of them do not have shoes, much less clothes and the basic needs of life. We are working towards helping them with purchasing a water tank for the batey as well. They do get water but only for a very short period of time during the day. If we could get a water tank, it could be filled during the day, when the water is on, and then it could serve the needs of the batey at all hours. We are also praying towards the installation of two faucets in the batey which would help distribute the water through the batey and allow the people to get the water when they needed it.

Pray for Manny, Julio, Mercy, Bob, and Dianne. Pray that the Lord would continue to grant them favor with all of those that they come in contact with. Pray for them as the model the gospel with their lives. Pray for an opportunity for you to go to the Dominican Republic and partner in ministry with us.

July 11, 2011~ Dominican Republic

We are headed home in the morning. We spent our last day here in the Dominican Republic down at Chez Irene conversing with Irene and letting her know we would be back in December. I am praying for her and praying for the relationship that has begun and will continue even while we are gone, through Julio and Mercy.

At breakfast this morning, we met Bob and Diane who are opening Josiah's House which is an orphanage for boys. We spent our time with them talking about our return trip in December and the possibility of doing some future ministry events together. They are great people and have great hearts. Please pray for Josiah's House and the work that is to be done there.

Pray for our friends Julio and Mercy, who are our friend and partners in ministry here in the DR. We have really enjoyed our week together and the dreams that have come out of it. I love spending time with people who have a heart for the gospel and long to model it with their lives.

Our flight leaves at 6:20 am so we will be getting up early and heading to the airport to get there 2 hours before time. With that knowledge, I will leave you with this and catch back up with you in the states.

July 10, 2011~ Dominican Republic

Our trip is winding down to the last few days. I will fly back home Tuesday morning. Today has been another day full of conversations about future ministry opportunities here in the Dominican Republic.

We started the day down at Chez Irene, as usual, to have breakfast. Irene has been a gracious host and has been joy to talk about life with. This morning we talked again about her growing up in the Pentecostal church and about the time she was married to her husband, who was a preacher. She still talks as though there is not anything one thing that is 100 percent true and that the Bible has a lot of great things we can do. I am continuing to pray for her and the relationship that Julio and Mercy are able to continue here in Juan Dolio.

We attended church this morning in Santo Domingo at Grace. The service was great. It is always refreshing to hear the manyu different languages that God's people sing in. As they were singing in Spanish, we were able to follow in English and sing together. We sing many of the same songs in our worship services back in the states. After talking to the worship leader for a little while about Chris Tomlin, Lincoln Brewster, Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp, Phil Wickham and Hillsong, he asked me if I could give him some other recommendations for worship. Needless to say, this was a fun conversation. The church service was very energetic and the pastor was great. After the service, Mercy basically highlighted the sermon for us in English, so we would have a better idea of what all was said. This is the church that has the faith project / Christian school in Santo Domingo also. We ate lunch with the pastor of the church and a few of the elders and had a great time talking about his vision for the school and what he felt like the Lord was leading him to.

You can find pictures of the school here

We finished up the evening back at La Movida, where the pizza is amazing and the gospel centered conversations with Steve, Julio and Mercy were even better.