2020 Vision

I came to faith while in college. Now, that's not so unusual; many young people can say that their exposure to Christ in college was the decisive moment in their lives when they gave themselves over in faith. But my college isn't in the Bible Belt, or even close. It's not on the energetic West Coast, or in some great urban center on the East Coast. It's a little liberal arts college in the wilderness of western Massachusetts, in the center of one of the most unchurched regions in the United States. Cynicism, atheism, relativism, feminism, Marxism -- all exercise a strong hold on so much of New England. How could I have come to know and trust Christ in such a place?

Enter MERCYhouse, a young church plant of ten years right in the center of the town of Amherst. I could write for hours about its pastor, its leadership team, its faithful student ministry, its miraculous story as a small student-populated church in a largely spiritually barren corner of the world. But those students from the Five College area whom MERCYhouse has helped transform into men and women of faith by the Holy Spirit's great power and the redeeming grace of Christ are evidence enough. And I am (so thankfully) among them.

What I want to highlight instead is MERCYhouse's 20/20 Vision, a prayerful push to plant fifty Scripturally sound churches (ἐκκλησία: a gathering of believers) throughout the Pioneer Valley and beyond in the next ten years. Through that effort, by the Lord's providence and guidance, MERCYhouse hopes to bring the life-changing, earth-quaking gospel message to at least a tenth of the million people in the region, a humble but still incredibly significant and, in many ways, very difficult mission. Read more about the 20/20 Vision at the MERCYhouse website here. Please be praying for this momentous work and for the blessing of those involved with the necessary wisdom, patience, compassion, and resources.