faith

Without faith it is impossible to please God.  Hebrews 11:6

On the morning of January 25, 2010, I woke up with this verse in my mind: “Without faith it’s impossible to please God.” I understood immediately what that meant: give notice on February 1, you’re moving on March 1. I knew God wanted us to look for a large house to move into, to fulfill (in part) our God-given vision to disciple young people from home. Thus, Community Discipleship Mission was to begin officially.

I told Kathy and Connie to prepare, search, and start packing, without knowing WHERE we’re going. This was our own personal “Abraham” moment: God wanted us to move ahead, in faith, and He would show us where, in time. Throughout the month of February we searched, and searched, and searched. Surely the Lord would show us what house we were to move into soon.

But, He didn’t.

About mid-February, a trusted friend spoke a prophetic word that Kathy was the "key" to the home we would move into. Knowing my wife, that meant the house had to work for her. The house had to bright, spacious, and on open land (meadow-like, not heavily wooded). So as she searched for property, she limited her search based upon those desires, dismissing anything that didn't look and feel right. We continued packing, still believing God would reveal where He wanted us to start CDM.

The last day of February came. Almost every box was packed. I reserved a large rental truck. But there we were, the last Saturday of the month, and still no house to move into. Now what? I found myself actually laughing, still (pretty) confident that I heard from God. So Kathy and I started talking about options...

We both recalled a house that Kathy had driven by and had seen only from the outside. But we dismissed it because she felt the exterior of the house looked too shaded (remember, she needed a bright home). The size of the house was right, but it was also in a rather high rent area of the city. But here we were, less than 2 hours before I need to pick up the moving truck, and a small tribe of helping hands waiting on a decision from us. We knew they were looking at us, wondering, "what are they gonna' do?"

At the last minute, we agreed to call the rental agent (it was her day off), who, amazingly agreed to meet and show us the inside of that house. We hopped in the car and drove off, and about 10 minutes later we rendezvoused at the property. We walked in, and behold: the inside of this house was flooded with bright sunlight! Kathy and I just exchanged a knowing glance, conferred briefly, and asked if there was any way we could move in today. To our surprise and delight, the agent said, "I'll make it happen." There’s a lot more to this miracle story. Suffice to say that later the same day, we moved in!

So the vision the Lord birthed in us back in 1991, to make disciples by having them live with us and minister together, became a reality on March 1, 2010.

Now let us share with you some of the photos and highlights of CDM during 2010 »

— Mark Lucas

what we believe

We believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died, and buried. He descended into hell, and on the third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and He shall come to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.