Birch Tree Fellowship Initial blog entry

To my fellow brothers and sisters in the faith: Grace, peace and mercy to you from God the Father, the Lord Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit!

This is my very first entry in "Pastor Eric's Blog". I was asked by my fellow laborer for Christ, Ricardo Reyes II to set up a blog to keep people up to date on what is happening at Birch Tree Fellowship (BTF).

So Ricky, for what it is worth, here it is! I don't know who all will read this, but I will do my best to be faithful to update frequently.

I can say that I would be very encouraged if my brothers and sisters in the faith would pray for me. Lately I just have such a heavy burden for the calling God has placed upon my heart.

Let me give you all a little background, here is a rundown of what has transpired thus far in order to get you all up to speed. Any and all questions are welcome!

December 2006 Pastor Eric, Pastor Kolan and their wives pray for God’s direction for the next area we felt called by God to go, at the time we were in Riverview, Florida.

During this time of prayer, I was offered an opportunity to be stationed in Albuquerque, New Mexico as the final stop in my Coast Guard career.

We all prayed together about the possibility of my next duty station being Albuquerque and God gave us peace over that decision.

God puts on our hearts that He has a specific purpose for us in Albuquerque but He won’t share the specific purpose with me just yet. God simply puts it on my heart to “Preach the Word” and that we are to go camping in the wilderness of New Mexico with Him as a ministerial team and then He will reveal to us what His plan for us is.

July 2007 I arrive in Albuquerque and begin looking for a church home in the SW area of town to no avail. God keeps putting on my heart that He placed me in this area for a reason but will not disclose His plan until we are faithful as a ministerial team to go camping together.

November 2007 we are thrilled to find a Pastor who is a Christian expositor, Pastor Wayne Barber and begin to attend and fellowship with believers at Hoffmantown Baptist Church in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Pastor Barber is definately gifted of God and we have been tremendously blessed in our fellowship with the believers there.

December 6th and 7th 2007 Kolan Wright, Ricky Reyes and I went camping in the Jemez mountains of New Mexico in answer to God’s call for us to do so. Through our time in the wilderness with Him, He clearly put on our hearts to start a full time start up church in SW Albuquerque. Through much prayer and seeking His face, He gave us the name of the fellowship: Birch Tree Fellowship.

This name came as a result of our first night. It was extremely cold and had rained for a few days prior. All the wood was wet in the area and we could not get a fire to start. Then Kolan remembered that birch wood burns even when wet and we were blessed to find God’s provision of birch trees in the immediate area. We then used what God had provided and lit a fire. When looking for the wood we came across a Birch Tree that had the word “Joshua” carved in it in a vertical fashion. We spent some time studying together from the Book of Joshua that first night and God blessed our study in giving us guidance and direction for the ministry. The campsite was near the San Antonio river, this was unknown to us at the time. As we trekked deeper into the woods, we initially crossed the river, at times it would have been easier to go back across the river in order to keep progressing further into the woods, but God never allowed for us to cross back over. He clearly had us stay on the side we had crossed over to.

Half way through our hike, Kolan lost half of his fishing pole. This is a funny story because Kolan didn't want the thing to begin with, but God kept putting it on my heart that he was to have one. So I bought him a fishing pole right before we began our hike. So there we were trudging through the wilderness, we came to the first place where we were going to break to rest our shoulders and drink some water when we realized that Kolan had lost half of his fishing pole. So Ricky stood guard over the bags and took a much needed rest as he was carrying most of the weight, while Kolan and I started back along our path to see if we could find it. After much diligent searching, Kolan found the other half of his pole. It was when he found his pole that he shared something very interesting with me.

Kolan told me that he was frustrated because his pole kept getting stuck in brush and trees and it was impeding his hike, and that as he was thinking these thoughts, God kept putting on his heart that he was called to be a fisher of men. And Kolan kept rationalizing that he didn't even like fishing, and that from the more important sense, he didn't feel qualified to be a fisher of men. He felt that he wasn't qualified. God put on his heart that God qualifies those He calls into service. Kolan shared this with me and said "I get it now Eric, I have to be faithful to what God has called me to do, I guess I need my fishing pole." God put it on my heart to tell him, "No Kolan, you are the fishing pole. God is the fisherman, and He intends to use you. But if you are lost, or entangled you will be no good to Him in service." It was a profound moment for Kolan and I, and Birch Tree Fellowship.

Rick had it put on his heart that he needed to give 100% to the ministry and this was exemplified by the carrying of all of our packs for 15 minutes up the trail, but as soon as He was willing, it was evident that he didn’t have to do so. The idea was that he was willing to do whatever it took. Again another profound moment in BTF history.

At the only point in which I was in front of the group (usually Ricky was leading) I came to a “dead end” so to speak. There was a path that was completely covered over by thorny branches. This reminded me of my studies and what God has put on my heart for a long time that as Paul found in 1 Cor 16:9 “because a great door for effective work has opened to me and there are many who oppose me.” As I approached this area, God simply said “clear the way in My strength” and faithfully I simply brushed the thorns aside and they crumbled as if brittle although the surrounding woods were soaked! God is amazing and I'm so grateful for His confirmation of the ministry at BTF that He has called into being!

Some of the significant things that God put on our heart:
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Perseverance, He told us that we would face difficulty and challenges and that we were to overcome them through His strength and to walk by faith not by sight.

Revisit, He put on our heart that we were to revisit Him in the wilderness from time to time, to get away from the KOSMOS and spend time in His presence.

He also put on our heart not to start a business based on the information that we had at the moment. Kolan’s information square foot prices was erroneous and thus in prayer it didn’t seem prudent to open a business. We were however to find out later that his information was incorrect and God put it heavily on our hearts to pray over the issue of a business again in January of 2008.

December 10th 2007 Doctrinal Statement of BTF is complete.

December 12th 2007 Church Government Statement of BTF is complete.

December 15th 2007 Secondary Doctrinal Statement of BTF is complete as are my instructions to Pastoral Staff.

January 7th 2008 Kolan sends off non-profit corporation paperwork to the State of New Mexico. BTF applies for a Employee Identification Number (EIN) we are given EIN for BTF

December 2007 – January 2008 Kolan works on the Bylaws of BTF

January 8th 2008 final revisions are made to the BTF Bylaws.

January 9th 2008 Bylaws are signed by Secretary of the Board of Directors Lisa Wright and are thus effective.

January 9th 2008 BTF Ordination of Eric S. Highland BTF Senior Pastor, and Kolan C. Wright BTF Administrative Pastor is effective.

January 9th 2008 Kolan and I meet with an Elder of Hoffmantown Baptist Church seeking counsel and guidance.

January 10th 2008 BTF PO Box is opened. Although we don’t have a physical place to hold worship services, we do now have a mailing address. Our mailing address is: Birch Tree Fellowship P.O. Box 12580 Albuquerque, NM 87195.

January 10th 2008 We have prayerfully picked a local bank, “Bank of Albuquerque” and we have a meeting with them tomorrow Wednesday 16 January at 0930.

So that should bring us up to date for now! Any questions feel free to ask! Please pray for us! May Jesus Christ be exalted to His name be the glory forever and ever!

Pastor Eric