Historic Night

I have had a very difficult time giving this post a title. I was tempted to label it the “Best Youth Event Ever”. I recently gave a run down of our upcoming youth events in a post, Youth in Ministry. I did not list the service we had last Thursday night. I should have. It is an event that you can not plan in a matter of weeks or months. It made a huge impact on the life of our teenagers, especially the life of our young men. It was the ordination of a man of God!

I sincerely believe that this wonderful service may be the one of the most historic services that I will ever have the opportunity to be a part. I am am very grateful as a Student Pastor to have such wonderful examples set before our young people. In many ways it is nearly impossible to have a strong College and Career Ministry without a strong Youth Ministry feeding it. It is also very difficult to raise world changing teenagers without the faithful witness of passionate young people in the early and mid twenties.

Mark and Natasha Tolson are two of the most incredible, consecrated people that I know. They are headed to China this August to pour their lives out as a sacrifice to our great God. They will be the eighth couple from our church! However, my heart is knit to Mark in a very special way. I had the great privilege of meeting Mark Tolson six years ago. By watching his life I have seen the powerful potential of the life of a young man who completely surrenders his will to the will of his Maker.

Mark took many risks to be where he is today. He abandoned traditional education to receive the apprentice/mentoring relationship all men in the ministry need. He worked relentless at our church full time while working nearly a full time job outside of the church to pay the bills. He has seen people saved, baptized, and discipled them to be faithful members of the body of Christ.

Natasha and Mark are going through what will be one of the greatest changes of their lives. Mark and Natasha recently found out that their second child that is still in the womb has a condition called “Body Stalk Anomaly”. You can and should read Mark’s post concerning their response to this event in their life (here). Here is a couple of lines from his post “We will love this baby as long as it lives. We will tell it of it’s Creator and the love He has for us. We will tell it how it could soon be meeting Him.”

Request:

I fully understand that I do not have a very larger read base. However, there are a few out there of means. Not only financially, but with a powerful prayer life and with influence in arenas that could assist this family. Mark is a brother to me. We are connected by being part of the same generation, church, missions team, and unified by a common work. My wife and love Mark and Natasha with our whole hearts.

Would you make this young couple a priority in prayer life and a financial priority this year. Many of you read stories of the great missionaries of the past like Adoniram Judson and Hudson Taylor and would love to have been part of their great ministries. Here is your chance to be part of something bigger than yourselves. The world desires for you to be a cog in a machine that plays it safe and lives for yourself. Partnering with the Tolson family would allow you to do something that will impact eternity.

Learn more about mark Tolson and his family:
Personal Blog
Watch the ordination service
Learn about Project China