Dear Friends and Family,
I hope all of you are enjoying your
summer. Contrary to popular belief,
Alaina and I are not dead, nor have we been kidnapped by aliens. We have not run off to join the circus(yet)
and we are not being held for ransom by our superhuman of a toddler Kai Rey as
he plots world domination(I’m not saying he isn’t plotting, just that we aren’t
being held hostage). No, friends and
family, our heroes’ stories have led us to continue our Ministry Adventures on
the East Coast… namely Jacksonville, North Carolina. How did we get here? Just you wait.
It was the end of this past November when my
spiritual dad and mentor, Wendall Ward, asked if I would prayerfully consider
coming out to be the Associate Pastor in charge of Youth and Young Adult
Ministries at Kingdom Life Fellowship in North Carolina where he is the Lead
Pastor. After several weeks of prayer,
Alaina and I both felt that we should be open to this opportunity. After telling Pastor Ward of our decision, it
took a couple months to put together a two week trip to North Carolina to meet
the congregation and to confirm that this was a good fit. It was this past February, when we were able
to fly out for a visit. I had the opportunity
to preach twice and meet all of the different ministries. We were welcomed with open arms and had a
wonderful time getting to know this church.
After those two weeks, Alaina and I felt that this was the right
decision for our lives and where God wanted us to be. It wasn’t the easiest decision as we would be
leaving all of the wonderful people at Encounter Church and our extended Fresno
family. The Lord blessed us mightily
with a group of friends who we miss terribly, but who are also excited for what
God is doing with us in this season. We
were so honored to be a part of what God is doing at Encounter Church! Love you guys! Finally, in the second week of May, Alaina(6
months pregnant), Kai Rey(about to turn two), Charley Bronson(Dog extraordinaire)
and I loaded up our Jeep, said goodbye to our friends and headed cross country
on a 26 day excursion to North Carolina.
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| Preaching at Kingdom Life Fellowship |
We arrived on June 5th and I had the opportunity to preach that Sunday. We have been overwhelmed with how loved we have felt by the congregation. They have done their best to make our family feel right at home and they have taking a liking to us(I think), especially Kai Rey(which is smart if he one day pulls off that whole world domination thing… but I digress…). I have been made an Elder here which is an honor I hold with one other person and I will be able to bring the Word on Sunday mornings pretty regularly.
We are about a month into Youth Ministry and I
am really enjoying it! My second week
here, I was able to go to KingsFest with the youth and I had a blast getting to
know the students. Three days on roller
coasters, water parks and concerts will do that. J Our Youth Group is called “God Squad” which
was chosen by the youth and we meet every Wednesday night and twice a month on
Fridays for Hang Time. Currently, it serves 6th grade through 12th
grade. The Youth Ministry has already
began to gain momentum and I see God doing big things in the lives of my students. Follow us on our Instagram page, godsquad_klf. I am so grateful for the group of students
that God has given me and am excited to pour into their lives over the coming
years. I’m looking forward to the
mentoring opportunities and to see these students fully grasp who they are in
Christ and who they are called to be.
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| Youth Group at KingsFest |
Let me give
you a couple statistics:
70% of
those 18 and up will leave the faith after college. Only 35% eventually
return. That’s
a sobering statistic. We would try to bridge the gap between High School
and Young Adults and keep our young people engaged with Christ.
Youth and Young Adult ministries are some of the most neglected
ministries in the Body of Christ. I have been in churches where the youth
and the young adults were not looked after and they did not come back to the
church. And now those churches are looking around and seeing 50 year olds
as the youngest people in the church and no one to hand the church over to.
Perhaps
you’ve heard this statistic:
85% of
Christian get saved before the age of 18. People make the most
important decisions when they’re young.
Youth
Ministry is so important! And not only
that, Young Adult Ministry is important.
Currently, we are trying to develop a divine strategy for how to
approach Young Adult Ministry in this body.
There aren’t a lot of 18-30 year olds(yet). But I am here to seek God and find out how
best to keep the younger generation engaged and thriving as they walk with God
so that this church has a generation to turn this work over to and in so doing,
have legacy here at Kingdom Life Fellowship last.
And this is
where you come in…
PLEASE PRAY!
We need prayer to
carry out this work. We are trying to bridge the gap between
High School and College and keep our young people engaged with Christ. Your prayers will go a long way to help
that.
· Pray that students will not only come to
know Jesus Christ, but also learn to lead others to Christ.
· Pray that God would give us courage,
boldness and creativity as we aim to share the message of the gospel to this
community and beyond.
· Pray that God would raise up this next
generation of leaders to change North Carolina and the World.
· Pray for Alaina’s pregnancy. We are due to welcome our baby girl into the
world at the end of September.
· Pray for our finances.
PLEASE SUPPORT!
We ask that
you would pray about supporting Alaina, Kai Rey, Baby Girl Lowman and I. Funding
is difficult for Youth Pastors. Many
churches, including Kingdom Life Fellowship, don’t have any money in their
budget to reach out to students even though they want to. It’s such an important age group… a group
that will be our future leaders. I
relish the opportunity to help shape this generation for the Kingdom of God and
I want you to have that opportunity as well.
Our desire is to cover our essential resource needs to enable us to
effectively minister to the needs of the students. Kingdom Life Fellowship is a
generous, loving church but it is a small congregation between 30-50 on any
given Sunday and cannot at this time afford to pay my salary. They did pay to move my family from Fresno
and my rent and utilities for one month.
So now, for the time being, we are on our own to provide for ourselves. We are hoping that in a year, Kingdom Life
will grow enough so that they can pay me full-time.
My hope right
now is to raise $2,000 a month, if not more, so that we can minister full time
here in North Carolina. With all of the
ministry opportunities I have here and our new baby on the way, I would love to
be able to devote all my time to the church and my family. Please prayerfully consider supporting us
financially on a monthly basis or with a one-time gift. Your monetary support will go a long way to
make sure this generation of students has an opportunity to change their
campuses and the world for Christ. Any
gift amount helps. Thank you in advance
for whatever God puts on your heart. And
if you don’t have anything to give, don’t worry about it. God is going to take care of this
ministry. We just wanted to give you an opportunity
to be a blessing to these students and to us.
But if you can’t give, please know that your prayers are also a huge
support.
To
send support to us directly, please make your checks out to Alaina or Daniel
Lowman:
If
you would like a tax deduction for your donations, please make your checks out
to
Kingdom
Life Fellowship with “Lowman Ministry Support” in the memo line and mail it to:
KINGDOM LIFE
FELLOWSHIP
P.O. Box 1249
Richlands, NC 28574
P.O. Box 1249
Richlands, NC 28574
If you would prefer to give online you
can donate at:
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| @PMDan |
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| $PMDan |
We’re excited for what God is going to do in this new
season! And we are thankful so many of
you will be along with us on this journey.
Thanks for your prayers as we take this leap of faith and trust in God’s
goodness and greatness. We love all of
you, so so much! God bless you all!
In
Christ’s love,
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