March 2025

 

Spring has arrived and the first quarter has been a productive season of ministry for New Vertical.

Happy with a Scythe In the Gospel of Luke Jesus says, "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." This metaphor illustrates the unmet needs in communities. At first glance, the harvest appears overwhelming. So, a natural response is to pursue bigger, faster, large-scale tools to meet market demands.  But this is not the way. While expedited harvesting is great for barley, discipleship is a life-on-life endeavor. In truth, it looks more like a scythe than a combine.  We must learn to steward the harvest within our reach and pray for laborers to gather alongside us. This teaches us rhythms of rest, submission, and learning to trust in the Lord's providence.  Indeed, excellence (in all of life) is about submission. It's learning to worship God with the "task du jour." The daily portion (big or small) belongs to God. As we pray for the long term-term vision of New Vertical, it is important to remember that harvest ultimately belong to God. New Vertical is God's ministry, and we are simply stewards of it.

Lifting Churches  New Vertical joined with HOPE ROSWELL for an evening of pastoral care. Multiple Church leaders from the region gathered for a meal and a time of encouragement.  Brian shared a message of hope and forgiveness from Psalm 77 with these pastors and their families.

Engaging the City  As an extension of the local Church, New Vertical provides pastoral care in spaces the local Church struggles to reach. These existing gathering spots range from professional to social. Below are some of last month's marketplace gatherings. In these photos are leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, employers, etc. Seeking the harvest in the city includes providing pastoral care for its marketplace leaders.

Getting Away New Vertical recently facilitated the March Madness Mountain Meeting in Blue Ridge Georgia. We enjoyed great fellowship, food and the NCAA basketball tournament. After dinner (and between games) we had a great discussion on the intersection between Work and Faith. We discussed the topics in this post and applied a three-fold understanding of work (Divine, Redemptive, and Contingent: source -A. Crouch).

Match Ending Soon!  The Donor Match Challenge will end next month! Reminder, any new monthly partnership (corporate or individual between $50-300 per month) will be doubled for 12 months! This is an amazing opportunity to accelerate your investment. New partnerships can be made here. As a 501C3, all contributions are tax deductible. New Vertical serves the local community and regional churches through: Leading one-on-one discipleship Facilitating group discipleship Organizing retreats (renewal and catechetical) Hosting hospitality and social gatherings A myriad of pastoral duties: preaching, teaching, counseling, care, mentoring, etc.

NV Refresher As a stateside missionary, New Vertical extends the local Church's reach into buffer zones for the self-described "Spiritual But Not Religious" (SBNR). These individuals express genuine interested in spiritual matters yet remain averse to traditional practices. As a result, their lives are often beyond the scope of the local Church Through the PRCC (The multi-denominational chaplaincy arm of the PCA), our Board of Directors, and the many friends who support us, New Vertical seeks to build a sustainable discipleship pipeline by shepherding those outside the local Church or lost within her margins. Three priorities are presently required to pursue this vision. Fund Raising, Development and Discipleship Fundraising: Raising onetime and monthly contributions in pursuits of sustainable giving. Development: Designing networks, content, and resources to supplying long term needs. Discipleship: Shepherding community leaders to the gospel and supporting local churches

Chaplaincy is Pastoring  The data on the expanding gap between culture and the local Church helps explain why some confuse mentoring, coaching and pastoring. While there is fluidity among these roles, they are very different. Here is a short article on the nuances of each. Because chaplains are pastors, their funding structure is different from coaches or mentors. They are dependent on external funding to equip them for gospel proclamation.

Please Pray  God has blessed us with 85% of our short-term funding goal. But to move toward long-term sustainability we need to grow our monthly partnerships. By faith this will include partnerships ranging from $50-300 per month. Will you prayerfully consider joining us to bring the gospel to the marketplace? There are multiple men exploring New Vertical's ministry model in multiple cities. Longterm our passion would be to provide an organizational structure for their calling. Please pray for wisdom on how we can participate or help these men.  Please pray that we could raise enough monthly partnerships in April to capture 100% of the monthly challenge match.  Additionally, That many in our ministry would come to know Jesus as Lord That our budget will be fully funded by monthly supporters. Wisdom and discernment for the board of New Vertical as we care for a growing ministry. Health and provision for the Oaks family as we take these steps of faith. Spiritual protection for our marriage and children.

Grateful We know support comes in many forms. We cannot pioneer marketplace ministry without you. Thank you for your support. You are loved and we are grateful. His Grace is enough.