Suppose you were to walk into the Pierce family home on a given evening to share a meal with Maddie, myself, and the rest of our lively family of three (almost four in May!). Aside from the smell of my mom’s legendary cookies warming in the oven, worship music playing in the background, and my grandmother's piano nestled in the corner, you would notice a large feature hanging from the wall next to our dining room table. On it, you would see one of our favorite scriptures from the Prophet Jeremiah.
His words were to the people of Israel, living in exile within Babylon. Amazingly enough, through the power of Scripture, they are just as relevant to us today as they were thousands of years ago.
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce…Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.
Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” - Jeremiah 29
As we gather around our table, this is meant to be a reminder to our family, friends, and neighbors; that while this city we live our life in is not our eternal home, God has a plan for it.
Not only does he have a plan for it, but we are a key part of the plan. Our families, their growth and roots in our cities, seem to be the catalyst for the “peace and prosperity” mentioned later in the verse.
It is actually from this verse that Maddie and I caught the vision to head back to the place where I grew up—Irving, Texas—to serve and love this community through the opening of a new campus of The Pierce Academy at Irving Bible Church. (Opening May 28th for summer, if you’re interested by the way!)
As you read this now, my prayer is that you would ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you where he’s “carried you into exile:” the local coffee shops, the businesses, the neighborhoods. Where might he be leading you to seek the peace and prosperity for those places? Is it your consistent presence? Your financial support? Your prayers? Whatever it is, we hope you would join us as an Irving Bible Church and Pierce Academy family to dive in and look for ways to come alongside our respective community of Irving, and usher in the Kingdom of Heaven in our area code!
Corbin & Maddie Pierce have been married for almost 10 years and will soon have four amazing children, all under the age of 5 (pray for us—we are pumped!).
Maddie is a registered nurse, working at Children’s Dallas before taking on the challenge of full-time motherhood.
Corbin has spent half of his career in vocational ministry, building a non-profit youth organization with 100+ weekly children in attendance, and the other half in the corporate world, leading Strategy and Investor Relations at 7-Eleven while recently building start-ups. He holds his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.
More than anything, Maddie and Corbin live to see the Kingdom of God be made reality on earth through relationship with Jesus, daily submission to the Holy Spirit’s voice, and living in the love of the Father.
