A Beautiful Picture of Kingdom Cooperation

Our newest God’s Missionary Church will be launching on November 12 in Rome, New York. We have been honored to work in cooperation with the New York Pilgrim Holiness Church on this exciting venture. It is our mutual conviction that our resources are God’s resources and we are privileged to join in this beautiful partnership for the furtherance of God’s one Kingdom. We, being many, are one body (1 Cor. 12:12).

Below is a word from Conference President Peabody, Church Extension Coordinator Terry Newman, and Senior Pastor Eric Samborski. As Bro. Peabody notes, “May God use this article to clarify the vision and leadership of the Holy Spirit in our minds as we have traveled the road to Rome.”

Dear friends, greetings in Jesus’ Name! God’s truth continues to march forward!  Though it may seem as though Satan is in control, Jesus Christ is still the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords! 

In regards to the new church plant in Rome we are happy to announce that the move has been completed. As of October 31st, the Samborski family has moved into their new home in Rome, NY. Their new address is 205 North Madison Street, Rome, NY 13440. Please feel free to extend a greeting card and say “I’m praying for you!”  It would be greatly appreciated.

For the next 10 days, they will be given a break in their responsibilities to help them get settled in and orient their family schedule in their new home. Please take the Samborski family to the throne daily in this time of adjustment. 

The Launch date for this new work will be November 12, 2017. This will be Bro. Samborski’s first Sunday and a big day in Rome, NY. All are invited to attend! There will be three services that day. In the morning service Rev. Jeremy Fuller, Vice President and Home Missions Director of God’s Missionary Church, will be preaching. In the afternoon their will be a dedication and installation service. Then, Bro. Samborski’s first message will be in the Sunday Evening Service.

Pilgrims, it’s time to set sail! God is calling us to raise the sails of the old gospel ship in a new direction! The Church Extension committee is excited to announce the appointment of our new Church Extension Missionary! The Erik Samborski family has been appointed as our Church Extension Missionary under appointment to Rome, NY in a joint effort with the God’s Missionary Church!

We, the Pilgrim Holiness Church, have pledged 40% of the salary to support Bro. Samborski for the duration of the 22 month internship. This has commenced as of November 1, 2017. This will amount to $10,000 a year with the total being approximately $18,000. The following is an article authored by Bro. Samborski. Please read it and let the burden grip your hearts. Let us take this family upon our hearts and please consider sending an offering to our Conference Treasurer marked for this new endeavor. Let us support our new missionary!

About two and a half years ago, I was gripped by the book of Acts. Acts seemed to me the normal expression of the Christian church. The power that was displayed and the propagation of the Gospel were very attractive to me and stirred my soul. During that time I had also felt a great stir in my heart to start street preaching. I tried street preaching in the town of Saranac Lake which has a population of about 3,000 people. Every third Thursday of the summer months they had what was called an Art Walk. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to preach to people as they were walking by. I saw visible conviction on people’s faces and some people that we had been talking more intimately with. I told my wife, “This is exactly what God wants us to do!” I didn’t mean that God just wanted us to street preach but that we needed to be talking to people about their souls and about God’s law that they had broken and that there was salvation for them.

At that same time Bro. Peabody called me and asked if I would be interested in being part of the Church Extension Committee. This would involve discussing our home missions efforts and desire to plant a new church. I remember thinking how his offer had fit so perfectly with what the Lord was already doing in my heart. I attended my first Church Extension Committee meeting where we discussed a wide variety of things. I remember sharing my insights into the book of Acts and how passionately I felt that we needed to be doing things in the same manner. After sharing this, one of the members of this committee said to each of us by way of email, “I believe that God is calling Erik to a church planting ministry.” I had not considered this before in a serious manner. That one statement made by one of the Church Extension Committee members started to become a growing conviction that God in fact wanted me to plant churches.

Over the course of the following year this was made a matter of prayer, trying to discern if this was in fact what God desired for me. In November of 2016, I met a particular individual at our local IHC convention in Schenectady. We had a great conversation and seemed to be of kindred spirit. I had been praying a long time “Oh Lord, lead some soul to me that can carry the burden with me so we can go out, knock on doors and preach in the streets! Preferably, one that is similar in age to myself.” After having spoken with this man, I wondered if he might be the answer to my prayer.

In February 2017 the Church Extension Committee had another meeting. They were discussing the next move of a church plant. The consensus was that we needed to find God’s man for the job, that being the biggest hurdle to overcome. As this same thought was tossed back and forth for a short while my heart started beating very rapidly. The only thing I could think was Isaiah’s response to having heard the Lord ask the question, “Who will go for us?” All my heart could say was, “Here am I, Lord, send me!” I told the other men of the committee this very thought, expressing that I was terrified and had no idea what would come of it, except that I needed to tell them that I believe the Lord wanted me to share that with them. They responded that we needed now to pray and seek the Lord’s guidance about this matter.

A few days later I spoke with the gentleman that I met at the local IHC in Schenectady.  He informed me that God was making it very clear that a church plant was to be taking place in Rome. He told me some of the miraculous Providence of God that had taken place. I expressed to him what had just happened in our Church Extension Committee and said how crazy it was that these two things were happening right at the same time! He then said to me, “Maybe you’re the man to come here.” I said, “I don’t know.” I then talked with Bro. Newman and told him about this prospective church plant in Rome. He asked me to explore this as an option. I then reconnected with this gentleman and he informed me that the God’s Missionary Church was undertaking this church plant. I then felt, as well as Bro. Newman, that this was not an open door for us.

Fast forward to June of 2017. I received an invitation to Revival meetings in Rome at a hotel that was more exploration for this church plant in Rome. Rev. Jeremy Fuller was preaching and I had not yet heard him preach so we decided to go and support their efforts. We stayed in a hotel and woke up the next morning for the continental breakfast. Eventually Bro. Fuller came over and talked with my wife and I. He told me that my name kept coming up concerning this church plant in Rome. I told him I thought it was unethical for me to be a part of this church plant because the Pilgrim Holiness Church conference had put confidence in me regarding a church plant effort for themselves. He then expressed to me that if I felt the slightest bit leaning in this direction then he was thinking of a joint effort between the Pilgrim Holiness Church and God’s Missionary Church for this church plant in Rome. I told him, “I don’t know what to say.” He asked me to go home and pray about it and then he would call me in a week.

I went home and prayed asking the Lord how I was to determine if this was his will. I told him that I didn’t want to go anywhere just based on a feeling. He then reminded me of the Impressions book written by Martin Wells Knapp. I then proceeded to answer the questions: Is this scriptural? Is this reasonable? Is this right? Is this providential? I do not have the space to give you every detail in this article; however, there were questions that came up that we had to face squarely and put them under scrutiny. If any of these questions involved other people I contacted them to see if I could get an answer one way or the other to clear up the general picture.

At one point I had many questions to ask Bro. Fuller. I called him and asked only one of my questions and he answered all the rest without knowing that I had written them down on a piece of paper. Before this phone call, my wife said she did not feel at peace whatsoever. I had determined that if my wife was not at peace with it we weren’t going to go because the Scriptures say that I’m to honor my wife as the weaker vessel. After this phone call, however, I shared with my wife the answers I received from Bro. Fuller and my wife was at immediate peace. While all this was going on I had shared with Bro. Peabody and Bro. Newman what I had found in prayer under each of these headings of scriptural, reasonable, right, providential. I told them I felt that the Lord was leading in this direction but I was under complete submission to their leadership.

It wasn’t until halfway through Adirondack Camp 2017 that I knew from our leadership of it being a very real possibility. However, there was a meeting scheduled between Pilgrim Holiness Church and God’s Missionary Church leaders for August 25th where details would have to be discussed. After that meeting all these details had to be presented to our Conference Council on August 29th. The council unanimously accepted the agreement between the two conferences, expressing that they felt this was unmistakably the Providence and hand of God.

There were a few times, even when I felt more certain, that I had doubts. I prayed and said, “Lord it seems like this is your will but please make it clear to me!” About two days later, a member of my own church wrote me an email. Within the email they expressed that they thought Bloomingdale was a stepping stone for me and that God had something greater for me to do. I was shocked! That seemed like a clear approval of God on this path. After I told my church board, one of the members of my church board told me that for about a year they had been feeling that I was not going to be here much longer. After I told my church on September 3rd, two more people expressed the same sentiment that my board member did.

There’s so much more than what I’m able to give you in this article. I’m willing to share more details to anybody that desires. I feel inadequate for the task at hand. I am both excited and terrified! The Lord, however, revealed to me that if He’s called me to do this then He’ll provide the ability. He showed me that this work is not my work.  It is not the Pilgrim Holiness Church’s work, the God’s Missionary Church’s work, or even the work of the local base of people in Rome. This work is Christ’s work and I am an unprofitable servant. All I have to do is be wholly dependent on Him and obey Him. The rest is His responsibility. My family and I greatly feel the need of your prayers. I used to think that sometimes this was just a nice thing to request. Now, I feel the request as a necessity. Please pray for us daily and we would be very grateful!

• The Road to Rome: Our Most Recent Church Plant by Jeremy Fuller
• A Word from the Pastor of Our Newest God’s Missionary Church by Eric Samborski
• Lessons on Church Planting from Acts 16 by Jeremy Fuller