The Appian Way
Our ministry is named after the Appian Way for several reasons. The road was used to transport military supplies and soldiers to various outposts throughout Romes occupied territories and this ministry is called to equip, strengthen and build up the body of Christ (Eph 4:11-13). This road was the place where 6000 ex-Roman slaves were crucified along a 120 mile stretch for a revolt against Rome and for us this spiritually represents all those for whom the world has been crucified (Galatians 6:14). Finally this is the road where the apostle Paul was taken to Rome to have his case heard and eventually be put to death. Along the way, some of the brethren came out to meet Paul where he was encouraged and thanked God (Acts 28:13-15).
Brother and Sister in Christ
About Us
Josh met and began to walk with the Lord in the spring of 2003 at the age of 30. He never knew his biological father and that spring God revealed Himself as just that, his Father. Up to that point Josh had pilfered his early adult life on drug and alcohol abuse. In the fall of 2002 some acquaintances of his shared the gospel with him but he didn’t want to hear it. By January of 2003 desperate to be free from the drugs and alcohol he called one of those acquaintances and asked if he could go to church with them. Josh sat in church for 3 months with drugs coursing through his veins while listening to the gospel. March 21, 2003 on his way home he yelled to Jesus to save him. He continued to go to church and was water baptized on April 23, 2003. During the last week of May, 2003, after 3 days of excruciating heroin withdrawal, and pleading with God to take the pain away, the Lord filled him with the power of the Holy Spirit and a peace he had never known. He has been on fire for the Lord ever since.
Fall of 2000
Christi met the Lord in the fall of 2000 at the age 24. She didn’t grow up in church and her parents divorced when she was 5 years old. She began a life of promiscuity combined with drug and alcohol abuse in her teenage years while searching for acceptance. In July of 2000, she found her way into a gospel church and went to the altar shaking to receive Jesus. She left the altar that day and within a couple weeks found herself in bondage to the same drugs, places and faces once again. In October of 2000 after waking up one morning in a drug house she heard a voice tell her she didn’t belong there and she fled out into the street and ran to Jesus. The Lord filled her with the power of His Holy Spirit and gave her the ability to never return to a life of drugs and abuse. She had finally found the acceptance she longed for her entire life in Jesus Christ.
Summer of 2000
Josh and Christi met in the fall of 2005 at a gathering of local churches. Josh had received a prophetic word from a brother in the Lord 2 years prior to meeting that God had a “Rebekah” for him. Having no desire to be married, but wanting the will of God for his life, Josh made a list of 10 qualities he would like in a wife, the first being that she was faithful to God. He also learned that Rebekah meant “fettered by beauty.” That fall day of 2005, God brought Christi across Josh’s path and she had the brightest smile he had ever seen. Their meeting that day resulted in many fellow believers in Christ confirming the Lord was bringing them together, some of whom they knew, and some they did not. Josh and Christi were married in the spring of 2006, and currently live in Ronda, NC, with their two sons, Isaiah and Jeremiah. They are a testimony that God can give beauty for ashes and that the name of the Lord is Faithful and True.
