A new direction

Dear Ones,

Hello from the ever growing Watson family! First we want to say thank you to you all for the emails, phone calls and prayers that so many of you have sent our way recently as we’ve been discerning God’s next direction for us. The process has not been easy at all, but knowing that we are surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses has been very encouraging to us.

Having said that we have 2 updates for you.

First, two ultrasounds later, we’ve learned that baby #2 is going to be a BOY! Nathan is going to have a brother, Matthew has been found mumbling “Watson boys” under his breath and grinning at the sound of it, and Lisa is settling into the idea that she will be outnumbered 3 to 1. So far, all doctor’s reports are good and baby and mom are doing well.

Secondly, we have sensed God’s leading, and in excited obedience, we are taking steps. Those steps are leading us to Memphis where Matthew is joining the staff of a wonderful church called Living Hope. We are very surprised by this development as we never expected to be heading back to the South, and certainly not to Tennessee. But the city of Memphis and the community of Living Hope Church has captured our imagination. The growing year and a half old church has asked Matthew to come on board as their Mission Pastor where he will coordinate the church’s urban ministries in inner city Memphis and also provide leadership to their international mission efforts in developing countries overseas. Additionally he will serve on the pastoral team where he will assist in pastoring the congregation, particularly in helping members understand their gifts, talents and passions and how those can be used in loving God and loving the World.

Although Matthew is the one ‘officially’ on staff, obviously much of the work and ministry that the job entails resonates with Lisa’s experience and passion as well. As much as she’s able and wants to before boy #2 comes along, we will be able to travel internationally and serve locally together.

We are very excited about this new adventure. Living Hope provides us with an avenue to use our experience in urban ministry and international missions; two things that are very near to our hearts, and help shape the missional DNA of a local congregation – a work that we are very much looking forward to.

Over the next 6 weeks we will be charting a course across the US and finally arriving in Memphis in mid March. As we begin the process, there are a few things we want to make sure that our prayer and financial supporters are aware of. First, the congregation has been incredibly gracious and generous financially. Consequently, we will no longer need to raise funds for this season of ministry. Thus, for those of you that give on a monthly basis, February will be the last month which we will need funds sent to Fresno, First Baptist. If you are enrolled in our automatic electronic funds donation system, February will be the last month in which those contributions will be automatically withdrawn. If you would like to continue giving to the Faith Alive Foundation in Jos, then feel free to contact us and we can put you in touch with the right folks.

Secondly, even though we no longer are in need of financial support, we still need prayer support. So we will continue to share prayer requests, emails and newsletters with you. These will allow us to stay in touch with you, inform you of what’s going on in our family and ministry; and chiefly, serve as a way to communicate prayer needs and prayer celebrations with you. Even though we are ending one chapter of ministry, we are opening another. We still need your prayers as, together, we begin this new chapter.

Thirdly, we are setting up a new, temporary website so that you can continue to check in on us. This site will give you updates, blogs and pictures of our journey to Memphis and life once we’re settled in. We intend to keep a web presence as a means to continue to stay in contact with as many of you as possible. The new site is called Watsonopolis (like Metropolis) and is located at www.watsonopolis.squarespace.com.

Finally, we ask that you celebrate with us these good gifts that God has given us. New life. New ministry. New adventures. Thank you for walking alongside us through our missionary stint in Nigeria, through our transition and through our professorship at Golden Gate Seminary. We look forward to having you walking along side us as we minister in our new parish of the city of Memphis with Living Hope Church.

With full hearts,
Matthew, Lisa, Nathan and one on the way.