I went to several conferences in the UK to see what else is happening, and one of our colleagues asked if I’d ever considered Liverpool. I’d heard of a church-planting network in Liverpool called Cornerstone Collective (about five churches, three of them planted in the last dozen years). I did more research on the city and then got in contact with some of the pastors, and I just had a really good relationship with them. We felt like it would be a good landing place for ministry.

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We went on Stateside for six months, January to June of 2023, and throughout that period I stayed in contact with the pastor of Liberti Church, our primary place of ministry. We would chat every few weeks. We started attending some prayer gatherings on Zoom with the church, so when we came here we were acclimated and ready to dive in.

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J. We asked our four oldest kids if they felt like moving to Liverpool was what they wanted to do. All four of them said they wanted to move. So we felt like that was also confirmation from the Lord, that our whole family wanted to move here.

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How has support in the U. S. made a difference in your ministry?

J. When we are on the field, we bring hundreds and thousands of prayers back home to the events that are happening here. We had a missions team come and help us settle in, but they also brought us things like Goldfish, my little girl’s favorite yogurt melts from Walmart, Sour Patch Kids. The American church helps keep us excited, and they keep pouring into our cup so that it’s full so that we can pour out here.

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How can we pray for your ministry?

S. We’re being asked to take more leadership responsibility in the church. It’s a very young church, and they want some mature Christian believers, so we’re being asked to step into that. So please just pray that we would do that well in this new season of ministry.

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How can we pray for your family?

J. Our kids started a new school this month. This is actually their third school in a year, with Stateside and moving countries. So just prayers that they would adjust well, that they would make friends, that they would see this place as a home, and that they would enjoy being here in Liverpool.

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Is there a story you’d like our supporters to know?

J. Liberti Church doesn’t have its own building. Our pastor was talking with the building that we rent out, and they had mentioned that they’re not going to be able to give us the time slot for our Wednesday evening prayer service anymore. Our pastor was sending us a message to ask us to pray about figuring out what we were going to do. And while he was typing the message, I was on a video call with our supporting church, and they were literally asking, “What does your church need in regards to a building? We want to know how we can support you and how we can be praying about this.” And it was just so cool that at the very moment we had a need, God was already orchestrating how to fulfill that need.

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In one word, describe how you feel about your current stage of ministry.

J. Our word is “excited.” We’ve prayed about moving to Liverpool for the better part of a year, and we’re just really thankful and grateful that we get to be used here, that this church needs and wants our help, that by God’s grace they’ve already trusted us quickly to allow us to be involved in ministry. We’re just so excited to pour into the things we feel like God’s given us the talents and skills to do and to get to do those, and that our kids are doing well and happy. We just really feel like we’re in a good place.

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Watch a ministry update video here.