Originally this post was intended to be sent out as a letter with our Christmas cards to many of you. We were half way through sealing our Christmas card envelopes when I realized we’d never actually printed the letters. Thank goodness for technology! Even though it’s not quite the same as receiving an actual letter, here’s our 2018 year in life and ministry recap.
As I sat down to write this end-of-year letter to each of you who are connected with our family and following our work to restore and launch young adults into their identity and purpose in the Kingdom of God, I skimmed over the end-of-year letter we sent just over twelve months ago. So much has taken place since last Christmas.
Last November we experienced the miscarriage and loss of our second baby; today Kelly is a couple days shy of 36 weeks pregnant with a healthy and very active boy. Twelve months ago I was working full time while we did Threshingfloor and elementum in our nights, weekends, and every other spare hour; now we’ve been focused full-time on reaching young adults with the Gospel for nearly 6 months. Twelve months ago we were completing a year-long process of re-evaluating and re-naming Verge Ministries; now we’ve been elementum for a full year. Twelve months ago Micah was just learning to walk; today he’s nearly potty-trained, talking in (almost) full sentences, and displaying an amazing imagination as he plays with cars, trains, dinosaurs, and attempts to boss his parents around.
When Kelly and I sat down for an evening of prayer and planning a year ago, we both felt that God was going to have some significant steps of faith for us to take in 2018, and that has most certainly proven true. We’ve learned much in the process, and Jesus’ words that God will provide for those who seek His Kingdom (Matthew 6) have become a precious promise and daily prayer.
We’ve continued to see the incredible impact of intentional, relational discipleship. In July we had the joy of Kelly and the two girls in her DNA group, one of whom became a believer through Kelly’s faithful discipleship, getting baptized together. Over the summer we hosted two neighborhood grillouts at our home and got to know several of our neighbors, none of whom are followers of Jesus and all of whom we are continuing to invite in to discover more about the Gospel. This fall I spent three days in Dallas with a dozen young adults and ministry leaders going deep into trinitarian theology and its implications for our faith and leadership. Last month we sat down with young adults from a church in Grand Rapids and were delighted to hear stories of how the investment of a few key people from their church is impacting their lives, inspiring several of them to tackle a 90-day Bible read through together to learn more about the God they love.
There’s a beautiful power when we love the people around us and welcome them to discover the goodness of God that’s so readily displayed in Jesus. When people encounter a community of people that are living in light of God’s rule through Christ, they can’t help but be drawn in and transformed by the good news of the Gospel. That’s part of why we’re so excited for what’s coming in 2019, and are so thankful for your continued partnership in the ministry we’re doing.
Next year Threshingfloor, our young adult ministry of 8 years, will be planting a network of missional communities that will operate as a church to reach the nearly 190,000 people in the Fargo-Moorhead area that are not being engaged by traditional church models. We’ll be expanding our focus beyond young adults, launching Gospel-centered communities for all ages throughout the metro, each with specific missions and means of spreading God’s Kingdom.
elementum will continue to partner with churches throughout the Midwest and beyond to support them in reaching the young adults in their communities, with a particular focus on a two hour radius around the FM area and on cities in the Midwest where there are community colleges present. By conservative estimates, there are over 2 million young adults in MN, ND, SD, and IA who are “post-Christian” and have either rejected Christianity outright or call themselves Christian but don’t practice their faith in any tangible way. That’s an absolutely massive opportunity to spread the Gospel and restore young adults to the body of Christ.
We’re so grateful to each of you – for your partnership in the work, both for those of you who have partnered with us since we stepped into full-time ministry back in July and for those of you who have been faithfully supporting and praying over the work we do since the beginning. May the Lord bless you and keep you this Christmas season; may he make his face to shine upon you and give you peace as you enter into a new year.
Love you all! Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year.
In Christ,
Ben, Kelly, and Micah Pontius
P.S. – Want to support the ministry we’re doing? You can do so here.
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