This past Sunday evening I gathered around the Barnes family kitchen-table down in Georgia. Seth and Karen, all five kids, a few spouses and two brilliant grandchildren – the food was over the top like it always is with Mrs. Barnes at the helm, and the conversation was loud and the laughter was flowing… As we took the hand next to us for prayer, little Mrs. Emily Barnes-Dunlop broke out in song! The whole family joined in, and we sang at the top of our lungs! It’s what I imagine every family is supposed to be.
After dinner I found myself back in a very familiar place. For the past decade or so I have traveled to Gainesville, GA and the night always ends sitting out on a large southern porch; the bugs chirping, the humid air, talking about the poor, the widow and how to reach a generation, this night was no different. We dream, we strategize and we act. Seth said, “You know, if we do family right God gives us a tribe – and, if we do tribe right, God gives us nations. If we skip a step, we go back to get family right, and we start over – with all we have walked thru Black, and the humility that has come from it, we are primed for a movement that we have always dreamt of.” I believe him.
Moving to Spain is much bigger than Lisa, Noah or me. Spain holds healing, restoration, some trial for sure, but, and… activation.
In the coming months you will see emails and blogs from Lisa and I that will make you cheer! Some will make you cry, others will drive you to prayer. Lisa and I know this – we will die giving ourselves away to the ones that cannot help themselves. We will give our lives to activate a remnant of young men and women from all over the nations that want to do the same. We will continue to serve our family and sing around the kitchen-table – we will build our tribe of liberated and disciplined sons and daughters –and God will give us more keys to the Kingdom. He wants everyone on the planet to know Him as Grace!
We are rolling into the last three weeks until we move, and we need your help! A few more monthly supporters and a bunch of one-time gifts! If you are stirred for what is to come and what God is doing with us, please join us. It is all tax-deductible, you will have fun, and it will be honored. We believe we are building a foundation for what every family is supposed to be.
Thank you, so much. Gary, Lisa and Noah
