Sunday, January 22, 2012

God Provides

Thursday night in small group we were talking about God and how He provides. I can tell you over and over that He provides or you can look at your own life and see that. The conversation went to the issue of tithing. For young Christians or for young adults (18-30ish) the issue of tithing is one that can be difficult. I’ve experienced the pain of tithing…or lack their of. When it comes down to it, we have to make the decision to tithe. We have to get out of the mindset that it is about us. I think for most of us…it comes down to priorities. The Bible is clear on this issue.


6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty.“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:6-12

Barna Research reports that only 7% of Christians "tithe” (give 10% or more of their income to God’s work. 90% of churches have no active plan to teach biblical financial or giving principles to their congregation. 85% of pastors feel unequipped, uncomfortable and untrained to teach biblical financial and giving principles.


Thursday, was a prime example of how God provides. As you know from reading this blog, Kristi and I are going to the most expensive city in the world (NYC) with no jobs in place. I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t cross my mind. In fact, I’m constantly reminded of this fact. The fact that the enemy is telling me how I’m going to fail. We know that God has called us. I recently read Perry Noble’s blog and he said, “if it’s God’s will, it’s His bill”. I believe this this! As I’m wondering how I’m going to take care of things, the Lord laid it on somebody’s heart to give and give generously. That’s what Christ calls us to do…Give and do so generously! After all…that’s exactly what He did for us. He gave and gave generously. You can NEVER out give God. I’d encourage you to bless somebody today. Be a blessing.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Here's How you Can Help...

We want to thank you guys for checking out our blog. We’ve been overwhelmed by the calls, texts, facebook messages, and comments regarding God’s call on our lives. We've had a LOT of visitors to the blog. We know that God is in this. He literally has opened every door along the way! We’re so thankful to know we have the support of our family, church family, and friends. We are so excited about getting on the ground and anticipating what God is going to do.


Many of you have asked what you could do to help us as we transition and then help sustain us once we get there. So, we have a few things we wanted to share with you how you can help.


1. Rummage Sale (we sellin’ our stuff) at Middlebrook Pike Baptist Church from 9-3pm on February 4th in Knoxville, TN. We have clothes, kitchen stuff, living room stuff, you name it, it’ll probably be there and for sale. We may even be selling some food. We’ll let you know. All of these funds will help us get there!

2. Pictures for Missions!!! Kristi is a great photographer and is offering her services to take pictures of you and/or your loved ones. If you currently live in or near Knoxville, send me an email to kabeman606@aol.com and we’ll set you up. We’re doing this for a donation to go towards our relocation. (It'll cost $600 alone to rent a Uhaul…not including gas)


3. Prayer Support. This is CRUCIAL. Prayer is essential to everything and we NEED your prayers. We’ll update our blog often to tell you how you can pray for us. We’re needing people that will commit to praying for us daily as we try to share the Gospel in a DARK city. We need the prayers of the saints to go before us.

4. Financial Support -

Church Partnerships-We want to form monthly, quarterly, and one-time partnerships with churches. With the partnerships we will be keeping you informed of the work via newsletters, blogs (like this one), videos, and making ourselves available to speak in your churches. In return, we also want partnering churches to begin assembling teams to send up on short-term mission trips. Once approved through the North American Mission Board, we'll give more information regarding individual giving.

These are just a few ways that you can help us make it to NYC. Thanks in advance for your support!!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

The Cabes are Moving!

We are excited to announce that the Cabes are moving!!!


The Lord has opened up an opportunity for us to move and help in the church planting efforts in New York City!!!!!!!


In July, Kristi and I had a conversation where we asked ourselves where we could go to plant ourselves and really invest in our community. We began to look at different cities around the United States. Our only criteria was to get outside of the Bible Belt. Please hear us, the Gospel is needed right here in the South but the statistics tell us that those that do not know about it, hear it, see it, experience it outside of the Bible Belt is staggering. So, we began to pray about where we could go.


At the same time we were having this conversation, the North American Mission Board began to roll out a new method of reaching North America…church plants. Not just church plants specifically but targeting 25 major cities in the US and Canada. The first target city to receive national attention was: New York City. We also began a dialogue with Steve Allen. Steve is the church planting catalyst for the North American Mission Board serving New York City. His job is to help people start churches.


In October of this year, we made the trip up to New York City to see the area and see if God in fact was leading us to New York City. While we were there Steve took us on a driving tour of Jersey City and Hoboken in New Jersey; Staten Island, Lower Manhattan, and many parts of Brooklyn. We fell in love with it and the area. Ultimately we learned of the great need there. More than 8 million people call this place home. Literally, the world is coming to New York City. There are over 170 languages spoken there. There are more Jewish people in New York City than in Jerusalem and New York City has the largest Chinese population outside of China!


We are currently in the process and hope to be accepted by the board of trustees of the North American Mission Board to be missionaries to New York City in February! Specifically, we’ll be working in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This small community is only 2 square miles…it consist of over 70,000 people. Currently, there is only one Southern Baptist Church in the community. We have been partnered with Cornerstone Church at Bay Ridge that launched September 11, 2011. I will be helping with the music ministry, outreach, and discipleship. Kristi will be helping with the children’s ministry and an outreach to single women. I'm sure we'll be doing a lot more as well.


We will be quitting our jobs and relocating in February. We're sad to leave our friends and family, but we know this is where God is leading us. So, when He calls…we must GO!


We will be posting more about how you and others can help us as we hope to share the Gospel in New York City. In the meantime, check out the church we'll be working with and a video on New York City.



http://www.cornerstonebayridge.org/blog1/ ; (church we're working with)


http://vimeo.com/30848940

above is a video of NYC that really speaks to us.



Sunday, January 1, 2012

Goodbye 2011!!!

Wow, what a year! 2011 was an incredible year for both of us. We started the year as a newly engaged couple. Kristi was hard at work with the planning. (I was able to coast through this process!) Kristi continued with her photography by taking family photos, weddings, parties. She also worked with Resolve Ministries this year helping counsel young teenage girls. This year brought a lot of ministry opportunities for both of us. Through our church we both taught in varying degrees through Bible Fellowship, small groups, and student ministry. Kevin also led worship not only at our church but was very involved in the band LIFE WIDE OPEN. The band played in front of thousands of people this year. A highlight in early 2011 was playing at Ridgecrest Conference Center. That was a moment we will never forget.

The best part of 2011 happened on May 21st! That was the day that Kristi and I were married! What a sweet day that was! The day was mostly a blur. It happened so FAST!! We were able to catch our breath in Cancun Mexico for our Honeymoon! If you've never been.....GO! What a beautiful place! We're still learning each other day-by-day. It's a process that will continue till we die.

In July, Kevin went on a mission trip with our church to Iowa. I unfortunately had to stay back and work. I really wanted to be there with him and our church but the Lord needed me here. God did some incredible things on that trip which we'll talk about in another post.

September, we had the privilege of taking a long weekend trip to North Myrtle Beach, SC. Actually, it's Little River, SC. Kristi's parents bought a place there and so we spent the holiday weekend (Labor Day) with them.

In October, for Kristi's birthday, we headed on a long weekend trip to NEW YORK CITY!!!!! We had such a blast getting to explore this city. NYC is HUGE. It's literally like another world. In one minute it's like your in America and the next minute you are in China, and then Russia. Its amazing how the World is literally coming to New York City.

We closed out 2011 celebrating our first Christmas as husband and wife. We had a blast spending time with both sets of family. It's a shame it couldn't have lasted longer! We love our family, we love our church, and we love serving the Lord together. 2012 will be a major change for us. MAJOR CHANGE..and that's an understatement. More on that soon...Here's some pictures to leave you with that happened during 2011. Stay tuned for some major news...