We have been all over the place this Summer as we transition from Houston to Denton. We have spent the past week in Denton so Kristen could help with her father and I could connect with friends and leaders. My father-in-law improves everyday, and it is a blessing to see his sense of humor returning. He will be in a rehab hospital for at least another three weeks. Thank you for your faithful prayers.

It has been a joy to spend time with Jeff Williams who is one of my early mentors and has faithfully served Denton as pastor of First Baptist Church for over 15 years. I was blessed to hang with Jeff Weisner the college pastor at Denton Bible Church and hear about his plans to go through the residency program at Capitol Hill Baptist. He is leaving as we are arriving. I also had some productive and encouraging meetings with some of the pastors at Christ Community Church. It has been a special joy to reconnect with the Crenshaws who have already expressed interest in the new church. They are close friends who were in our church in Austin. I had the honor of baptizing Andy and marrying he and Jillian! It has also been fun to spend time with many other old friends this week.

Loving friendship has been refreshing to the soul recently. Jesus was described in Luke 7:34 as a “friend of tax collectors and sinners.” He was rebuked for this friendship in Luke 15 and responds with the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The unearned love of the Father in that parable is the love we feel from our Heavenly Father right now. We have been so blessed by His friendship, as well as the loving friendships he has provided us in Houston and Denton. We know there will be highs and lows when starting a new church, but the unmerited love of the Father refreshes our souls and moves us forward.

We officially move to Denton on July 22nd. I am working hard to develop our initial strategy. In order to begin laying out our plans I will launch an email newsletter by the middle of August. We need people committed to praying for us and this newsletter is how we can get the word out about our prayer needs. If you want to be included on the newsletter please email me at micah.caswell@gmail.com.

God continues to propel our family to Denton and is providing for us each step of the way. In fact, we are feeling his provision during this season in unique ways. His provision is like an engine driving us to Denton but also is building our faith. I have been reminded that his provisions are birthed from his character.

I Corinthians 15:10 says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.” I’m a Christian, even a pastor, so I know in my head all about God’s grace, but the past couple of weeks I have deeply felt his grace toward me. I am what I am because of his grace, but continue to be changed by his unearned workings in my life.

Baxter says that God’s glorification and God’s salvation/provision for his people are “not two decrees with God, but one decree, to glorify his mercy in their salvation.” God has been very merciful and gracious to our family, thus he is glorified. In the end, I am simply overwhelmed by his mercy and grace thus continue to grow in my faith and happiness in Him.

God is providing for all our needs. Numerous details for the church plant continue to fall into place. The housing market in Denton is intense right now, especially for rent houses. We were initially discouraged but he provided us a rent house zoned for a good public school and the owners are believers who have been praying for believers to rent their house! We heard this morning that a spot just opened up in the second grade class at the local Christian school we have been researching!

Starting a new church will have its ups and downs but in the end we know it will be faith building and will lead us to be more satisfied in Jesus than ever before. As we experience God, like a boat’s engine, propelling us into this new endeavor we want to share the joy with you all. Finally, I am more driven than ever to make sure all this grace is “not in vain.”

Our family has exciting news that we want to share with you…this Summer we will be moving to Denton to join the staff of Christ Community Church as a Church Plant Resident. The residency won’t officially start until September but we want to get our family settled and begin building relationships. The goal of this position is to plant a new church with the mission of reaching the southern part of the city. The southern portion of Denton is where the city has grown tremendously.

Like all cities there are existing churches in Denton, even great churches that we love dearly. We initially were not convinced of a need for a new church in Denton. We have spent over a year studying the data, praying, and discussing the endeavor with other leaders and pastors. In the end we have learned that the Denton portion of the 76210 area code (over 20,000 people) needs a conservative evangelical church to focus solely on them. We realized that even though people in 76210 can drive 20 minutes to one of four mega churches, there is a glaring need to build community in south Denton.

Recently I met with a pastor whose ministry it is to strategize on how to serve Denton County. My friend said that there is a need for two churches in south Denton! Then he said that the profile of who should start a church there is a guy in his mid 30′s who is able to relate to professionals. We became convinced of the need then convinced that our family has the right experience to meet that need.

Finally, over the past weeks we have simply developed a heart for the community. Even though Kristen and I grew up in Denton, God began to give us a genuine burden for Denton and desire to love our hometown. God has begun to give us a vision to share the beautiful gospel of grace, serve those in need, and build community in our hometown.

This Sunday will be our last at Christ Community Houston and we plan to move to Denton in mid July. We plan to start the Denton residency in September. Please be in prayer for our family as we transition. Please also pray for this new work.