Personal Thoughts
We praise our great God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all! We stand redeemed in the fruition of the promises and truths of John 3:16, Romans 10:9-13, and Ephesians 2:8-10! We are eternally grateful for the John 6:44 drawing work of our God to saving faith! We stand with Paul in Ephesians 1 utterly amazed at the awesome spiritual blessings where we the grace-benefiting redeemed find our worth. We the redeemed in Jesus are secured in our gracious God’s provision for our heavenly adoption. We the redeemed stand covered by the very righteousness of Jesus as holy and blameless! We stand with all of the redeemed throughout the ages as the predestined children of God in process of sanctification, fully secured in our eternal inheritance. So it is on this earth that we find ourselves walking through our own (unique) stories of redemption, as our gracious, sovereign God does His refining work in us.

It is with these life-altering and incredibly amazing truths, that we are now privileged to serve our Redeemer God. We are fully confident that God is still searching and developing those whom He can use to stand in the gaps for His righteous cause throughout this broken world. Yes, just as God sought for a man in Ezekiel’s (22:30) day, we are confident of this similar modern need. Resounding with the universal truths of Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10, 3:23, and 6:23 we recognize humanity’s innate need of Divine provision for sin’s gap of separation between mankind and God. Jesus, as God’s redemptive provision, is redeemed humanity’s ultimate Gap Stander. It is this gap stander mindset that we are privileged to reflect in the service of our God. We have sensed the drawing and calling work of our God to reflect His gospel work in our lives through serving Him as His gap standers in this world. Yes, we are privileged to be gap standers for the Gap Stander (Jesus) in this world! What an amazing thought! We stand with the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:16, compelled to herald this gospel of redemption.

As ones responding to the call of God for gap stander service specifically through missionary church planting in remote Alaska, we are led to review our passion, calling, theology, and ministry philosophy. It is our sincere desire that everything we seek to do for God in our lives would find it’s roots securely in a proper view of Scripture. Therefore we adopt the following ministry essentials.

Ministry Essentials
Regarding this passion, we have adopted the following ministry mission/vision/strategy statements:

Mission: “To stand in the gap for our Gap Stander (Jesus) in Alaska” (Ez. 22:30)

Philosophy: “To stand in the gap in remote Alaska through the spread of the Gospel and the establishment of indigenous local churches that continue to be gap standers for Jesus’ renown” (Ez. 22:30, Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Gal. 6:14, Titus 1:5)

Vision: “To play a part in God’s development of indigenous gap standers for God’s redemptive proclamation and expansion throughout Alaska” (Ez. 22:30, Matt. 28:18-20, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Acts 17:11, Rom. 1:5, 1&2 Tim., 1 Tim. 3:1-13, 2 Tim. 2:1-2)

Ministry Applications:
As we seek to be gap standers for our God, the following ministry activities represent essential applications of our priorities as a part of our ministry. (Note: These are currently what we foresee as our ministry essential priorities. They may be adapted accordingly as we remain flexible to ministry needs and the Lord’s sovereign leading.)

1. Gap Stander Partnership Relations
- regular prayer newsletter publication updates
- mutual edification online via blog/writing ministry
- deeper partnership relations involving furloughs and physical partnering ministry opportunities

2. Gap Stander Alaska Ministry
- relationship building
- culture learning
- Gospel-driven acts of gracious compassion
- small group Bible studies
- youth emphasis ministries
- evangelism
- discipleship
- Biblical counseling (as opportunities arise, but always connected to church ministry)
- indigenous leadership development
- church planting (over-arching goal)
- technology (potential culture-relatable tools)
- nursing (supportive role)
- aviation (ministry transportation tool)

Our Specific Strategy:
Our redemptive focus and passion for indigenous discipleship leads us to the following ministry essentials:

1. Be reliant on the Spirit

2. Be a learner of culture

3. Be flexible and innovative

4. Be looking for relationship building opportunities

5. Be perceptive not on externals, but on the heart level

6. Be bold and passionate in truth proclamation

7. Be focused on key Spirit-directed leader development

8. Be focused on love

Note: an expanded ministry essentials explanation can be reviewed in our full Ministry Essentials document, available upon request here: standinginthegap@mac.com