On the Wall
Do you remember the story of Nehemiah leading the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the city’s crumbled walls? At one point because those who opposed the building of the wall was so great, Nehemiah recorded in his journal:
From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. (Nehemiah 4:16, 17 ESV)
While there is no physical threat to rebuilding our new space in The Carroll Center in Irving (but while the spiritual resistance to our work continues), we at the Hub sometimes feel we are laboring with one hand and with the other grasping a weapon. One hand is dedicated to our move and maximizing the possibilities of our new home, and the other is committed to the ongoing tasks of teaching and serving our students, faculty, Teaching Churches and donors. You may feel this same intensified work in your ministry these days, but let us confess with Nehemiah who reminded those on the wall with him, “…do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) Pray and work with us, and we will pray and work with you.
The construction continues at our new home in Irving! You can see some of the progress being made in these included photos. We are packing at our current facilities. You should see the mountains of red moving boxes piled up around the offices! We continue to expect to move in around the first of May, and we plan for our Grand Opening to be the week of May 18. Monday through Wednesday is our Spring Colloquy when our doctoral students, supervisors and faculty will gather in the new facilities. We will post times for you to drop by on Thursday and Friday, May 22, the day of our Spring Convocation, in our next newsletter.
We are grateful to those who have contributed to help make our new office space possible, and I invite you to prayerfully consider giving to the Center so we can move in as debt-free as possible. Here are our current needs. Our new home will provide the facilities and technology to expand the reach of our mission to equip missional leaders here and around the world.
Our first Pastor’s Conference in cooperation with the John Newport Foundation provided training and inspiration for those in attendance to engage our culture with the Gospel. The conference leaders did a superior job, and Dr. Nancy Pearcey opened many pathways to enter the dialogue between opposing worldviews in the marketplace and university. I am grateful to the Newport Foundation for their support and their shared desire to equip pastors and educators with the necessary tools to equip those in their care. You can read about the conference here.
God continues to grow our student base and network of ministry partners. We are humbled by His favor and invigorated by the possibilities He shows us each day. Please pray for us and those connected to Carroll as we seek Him and boldly live out His call on our lives. Be the half who hold “…the [spiritual] spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail” on the wall with us.
If you would like to donate to our new home or a special project, you can do so here.
On the wall with you,
