The purpose for our trip to Virginia was two-fold. Ashlee’s brother got married this past Saturday and then this next weekend marks the 10 year anniversary of the original Aletheia Church. We have had a lot of fun seeing Ashlee’s family and being in this beautiful state (you should come to Va during the fall, there is nothing quite like it). I definitely missed my church family back in Tampa yesterday but it was great to hear about how God moved at Aletheia yesterday in my absence. We had our third largest crowd ever and lots of new visitors. I was reminded once again that the health and vitality of the church has nothing to do with me. I am just pumped about the momentum and can’t wait to get back. It was also great to have Cameron (and Meghan) Gwaltney at church yesterday even though I am a bit disappointed that they came into town the weekend I was gone. (Thanks for the pic Meghan)…

In the meantime I am looking forward to being at the mother-ship this coming Sunday. I can’t believe that it’s really been 10 years. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into that church plant and to hear (and see this coming Sunday) about all that God is doing at His church in Harrisonburg. I am so blessed to have been a small part of it.

Here are a couple pics of my little guy (Asher) from our trip to the pumpkin festival yesterday evening…

Every pregnancy we’ve had has been full of its unique challenges. For obvious reasons, Ashlee struggles with a lot of fear and uncertainty throughout the process. On Tuesday afternoon, she found some blood. That was accompanied by a lower back pain, one that she hadn’t felt since our first pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage. After all of the tragedy that we’ve been through, it’s hard not to in that moment fear and believe the worst was happening (it’s at this point where many would quote a Bible verse to us, and tell us that God is in control, and say “yeah, what’s that one verse…you know? Oh, I remember, Romans 8:28!” – Ahh yes, the obligatory Rom828 reference.  And we would respond, “YEP! That’s right!” And trust me, we believe that verse wholeheartedly (ironically enough, I was studying that passage out on Tuesday morning because I’m going to be teaching it at Aletheia sometime mid December) but in that moment, our flesh takes over.

We both sat down on our bed in shock, disbelief; our eyes welled up with tears. Going through my head in that moment was “How in the world are we going to get through this again?” and “How am I going to get Ashlee through this one?” (Because after all we had been through, my counsel was getting a little tired and worn out – I had already pulled all the stops out in the past – what else did I have left to say?). We just sat in silence. God gave me a sense of peace (and Ashlee too) even though I really did expect the worst.

After a few moments to get past the shock, I called the doctor to get Ashlee in ASAP because if you’ve gone through a miscarriage before, you know that sitting on the possibility of a miscarriage not knowing for more than an hour is not really my idea of fun. They got my hopes up by saying they could probably get us in that day, but 15 minutes went by and the receptionist called me back and said “Sorry, we’re going to extend the torture for you and get you in tomorrow at 9am” (She might have not said that but that’s all I heard). Meanwhile, Ashlee didn’t have any more bleeding the rest of the night even though every time she went to pee our hearts stopped beating until we’d find out that everything looked normal.

To try and take our mind off of things, I got the whole family out of the house and I tried to think about what Ashlee would like to do the most. She loves getting new things for the house and we have needed a new trash can for our kitchen for about a year now. So guess what? We were going to get a new trash can. And you know how much that stainless steel – no finger print – trash can cost? 50 bucks. 50 buck! For a trash can? Yep! That’s right. I bought my wife a 50 dollar trash can because that’s what she wanted. Best 50 bucks I have spent in a long time. Ashlee was smiling. We were all smiling. Then, I thought of my wife’s favorite place to eat: Texas Road House! She loves the rolls that they bring you before you even get comfortable in your seats. Have you ever tried those rolls? They are exquisite. Expensive meal? Kind of. Worth it? Better believe it. Best 30 bucks I spent on a meal in a long time. Ashlee was smiling. We were all smiling and hopeful and praying.

(Drew finally overcame his fear of the dreaded saddle at Texas Road House. This has brought forth many tears in the past)

That night we came home and put the boys to bed. Ashlee was exhausted after the emotionally draining day. She laid down on the couch and took a nap while I tried to get the new iMac that my church family at Aletheia got me for “Pastor Appreciation” month. The computer is so amazing but I am so technologically illiterate, and my patience was wearing thin that night, so I got up, threw on some work out clothes and went for a 7.5 mile bike ride around my neighborhood in the brisk Florida fall night. It was close to 10pm. I knew I wasn’t going to sleep that night anyways and I needed to get away and pray and wrestle with God.  And that’s exactly what I did. I prayed that God would give me a sign (sometimes that is how God has spoken to me in the past). But this time, he didn’t give me a sign, just peace. He didn’t assure me by letting me know that our baby was still alive. No, he just gave me peace. So I went back home, got Ashlee in bed and we prayed together. Ashlee fell right to sleep. I, on the other hand, laid in bed, preparing myself for a long night.

Morning came a little slower than I would have liked. Ashlee woke up to a little more bleeding. The anxiety quickly came again. I kept begging God for a miracle. We got dressed and headed to the doctor’s office. I used social media to ask everybody to pray for a miracle with me. That’s what many of you prayed for. The sonogram technician was ready for us. She laid Ashlee down and got to work. I sat down next to Ashlee, put my face in my hands and pleaded with Jesus one last time. I still didn’t have a good feeling that our baby was alive. And then this is what we heard and saw:

When I saw our baby move and heard that heart beat pumping loudly and quickly (is it a girl?) I pumped my fist as hard as I could (it was like I just won the big game) and I think I might have clapped as well. Ashlee sat there quietly with a smile on her face. She later told me that she felt like everything would be okay. I was hesitant to ask her because I didn’t want her to think that I didn’t think it was looking too good. Here is my hero with our peanut:

It was a miracle. Our baby was alive. We rejoiced. I made some calls, put some posts on twitter and facebook, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Tragedy was averted this time around. Our baby was alive, healthy, and coming to us on May 30th. Thanks to all of you who prayed on our behalf. We feel like God performed a miracle. After all was said and done, we still believe that whatever the outcome was, God would have still been faithful. But let me tell you, we are pretty overjoyed that outcome was a living baby, who is developing properly in his/her mama’s belly. Praise Jesus!

It was a crazy week. Even our drier was possessed at one point…

#IAAJ (It’s All About Jesus)

Today, I will share with you a recent development in the Proffitt home.

We are having another baby. Yep, our 4th kid is on his/her way. We’ve had 3 boys up to this point. What do you think it’s going to be? I am 90% sure that it’s going to be a girl. But I was 100% sure that Asher was going to be a girl and well, I was wrong. Comment back what you think it’s going to be and let’s see if you’re right. You have a 50/50 shot…pretty decent odds.

1. Our church plant has seen unusual summer growth over the past couple of weeks. For collegiate church plants and planters, summers are a time to catch your breath, solidify the core group, do some fun events, and really gear up for the fall. We made a few crazy risky moves at Aletheia Tampa this summer. Instead of just tightening down, not changing anything up too much, we decided to move locations and times. The results initially were a bit discouraging but as the weeks have gone by, we’ve seen growth, tons of new visitors, and the idea of taking risks in church planting has been reinforced.

2. If you haven’t heard yet, Aletheia Tampa got a brand new site. Check it out here and be amazed. Thanks mostly to Graham Cochrane who also had some help from Ashlee, Emilio, and Ace. The site looks incredible!

3. My two boys are growing up way too fast. Drew turned 3 on June 16th and Asher is pushing 5 months, although he is as big as Drew was at 7 months old (yeah, he is a beast!) Even though I lose my patience frequently with my two little fire crackers, I really am seeing more and more as the days go by that “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord , the fruit of the womb a reward.” Check out this pic that my wife took a couple days ago…

4. Although performing wedding ceremonies aren’t my most favorite thing in the world to do, I’ve had the privilege to marry off some pretty spectacular people in recent weeks and months.

5. At the end of this month, Kevin and Jackie Anderson, along with some of their team members will be heading to Florida to probe one of the major Universities in the state as a potential spot for the next Aletheia Church. We are excited to say the least about what God is going to do with that, whether He sends the team to Florida, or to some other state.

6. In August, Aletheia Tampa will take it’s second and third respective global mission trips. We will continue to make world outreach a main focus of what we do as a church in the coming years. One team will head to Haiti to help the struggling quake victims in that nation while the other team will be heading to Tuxtla, Mexico, to support our church planters Mark and Abby (and their new baby Rachel) Huffman and their ministry at Aletheia Tuxtla. Please pray for these trips, that God will use our people to impact the people in those nations.

So that’s about it from the update front. This summer has been extremely productive, and it’s only half over. I’m really looking forward to serving God in the coming weeks and months and seeing what He does through the Aletheia Network during that time.

Ashlee and I are in survival mode. We are taking it one painstaking minute at a time. We also know how to put up a pretty good front. Most of our pain and sadness comes out in places like a bedroom or a car as noted above. This all feels so surreal to me that honestly I wake up most days and hope that he will be there. But then the harsh reality sets in and punches me in the face. Our second born son is gone and there is nothing that is going to change that.

Moving forward is so arbitrary. But we know that it must happen so we are attempting to do so.

Drew is helping us through this process and making the transition somewhat manageable. Yesterday he put his first two word combo together. He said “Bye Bye Da Da.” Before it was just “Da Da” (as you know) or “Bye Bye” or even “Da Bye Bye Da.” But no, not yesterday. He finally crossed over into the English language. I know it’s big time, you don’t have to tell me

That being said, Ashlee and I still need your prayers. We will probably never stop needing them. Please remember us.

I will try to update now more often. It’s a process; a very slow process.

In the meantime, we have a big day planned tomorrow at Aletheia once again. I will not be leading worship for the first time since we went to Puerto Rico at the beginning of August. It will be nice to get a day off and to just enjoy what God is doing at Aletheia from a different perspective tomorrow. Cameron will be stepping up for me and I am so grateful for that guy.

Also, we are having a baptism tomorrow after the worship experience in the morning. 6 or 7 people have stepped up to declare to all who are there that they have committed their life ot Christ. We are so excited about this. A few of the people stepped up as a result of a video that our very own Jenny Reid put together to encourage people to do so. It was a moving video and if you have not seen it on our facebook page I put it on my youtube page as well (http://www.youtube.com/user/aaronproffitt3).

Other than that I am pumped about tomorrow and I know god is going to do some incredible things.

Switching gears, we once again had another incredible Sunday morning this past week. About 66 visitors or so came to check out Aletheia (which brings the three week total since the students came back to 240 new people). Many of the students are still church shopping right now but it is our desire that everyone will get firmly planted at a local church here in Harrisonburg. The service was amazing as we continued with our series “Time’s Up” in Isaiah and worshiped God through an authentic expression of praise. We once again were very close to running out of space as almost every seat was taken. God is so faithful.

Last night, we had our first Wednesday night worship gathering of the semester. About 80 people came out to worship Jesus with Graham, Chelsea, and the band and Chris, a professor at JMU, gave a challenging word from 1 Corinthians 9 in which we were all reminded of God’s grace that brought us out of what we once “were.” I can’t wait to see what God does on Wednesday nights over the next 3 months.

There is a lot going on and a lot that we can be encouraged about. I hope that those of you who are reading this blog are excited about what God is doing. Let’s continue to be fervent in prayer as we plead with God to continue to do great things here and at our sister church plants in Richmond and Norfolk.

Many of you now know but the new Aletheia logo has finally been introduced to the world and this past Sunday night, a crew of 30 people canvassed the community with posters, as well as yard signs and sheets (that we put in front of aletheia people’s homes); all to promote the site www.3blocks.org. If you haven’t been there yet please take a minute or so to check it out. Below the logo is a description of it by our very own Ace Cosner…

“The Aletheia 3-Blocks logo has numerous meanings. It is first and foremost intended to communicate a feeling of solidarity. The structural essence of the blocks reflects the strength of Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of the Christian’s life, and reinforces its most critical understanding: that He alone is our strength. In that there are three parts, it also reflects several key aspects of Christian doctrine: the Trinitarian unity of God, the three nails of Christ’s crucifixion, and the three days comprising His death and resurrection. It carries further symbolism in that the three shapes act as the inside of the letters ‘A’ and ‘C’, the initials of Aletheia Church. Furthermore, every letter of the word “Aletheia” can be seen abstractly somewhere in the logo. It also beckons the eye to move upward, regardless of which way it is turned. This angular and acsending quality can also reflect the modern architecture of cities in which Aletheia intends to do ministry. All of these elements combine to reflect what Aletheia’s ministry exists to do: demonstrate the power of God to change lives in a way that is both culturally relevant and biblically orthodox.”

Another big event is the launch of the new Aletheia Church website. At 4am on Monday morning, Thomas, after many hours of toiling, finally made the site available for everyone to enjoy. If you haven’t been to it yet then you’re going to need to do that right now www.aletheiachurch.com.

Thanks to Thomas and Ashlee especially for creating and designing an incredibly amazing web site.

We were able to check out some pretty sweet churches that are doing cool stuff to reach people. If you are ever traveling through Athens or Anderson hit up Athens Church and NewSpring Church. These churches are really doing some cool stuff. Especially Newspring. I was very impressed that a church that size can be so personal. Perry Noble is a man who has the hand of God on his ministry.

Thanks to Jamie and Speedy for stepping up in Pastor Dave’s and my absence. Hopefully many of you were at Aletheia to experience what happened on Sunday. Thanks to those of you who were here.

Pastor Dave and I will once again not be in Harrisonburg this week. We are leading a team of five to Puerto Rico for the next 6 days. We leave tomorrow morning early and get back the following Tuesday. Please pray for us as we do God’s work in a location that needs Him.