Spark | [H2O] February Update 2025

Kyle Barta Kyle Barta

At the end of last semester we ordained Aaron as another pastor in our church! :) Spring is coming Hello! Now that we are in full swing for the semester (we're about 4 weeks deep at this point) I thou

Tom Hogsed

At the end of last semester we ordained Aaron as another pastor in our church! :)

Spring is coming

Hello! Now that we are in full swing for the semester (we're about 4 weeks deep at this point) I thought I would send an update!

The Spring/winter semester is one of my favorite times of year in our ministry calendar. In a lot of ways, the Fall is full of meeting new people and growth in terms of our "reach" on the campus. And the Spring is full of digging deeper into the lives of those people that have been coming around. I've noticed that students are way more comfortable in this community when the Spring Semester rolls around. As a result, they are more comfortable digging into one another's lives and growing together in their walks with Christ. In a lot of ways, the Spring is where we see a lot of what Proverbs 27:17 says:

As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.

So, here are some stories that have been happening that excite me. I hope they encourage you and inspire your prayers for our ministry.

I had the pleasure of baptizing Chelsea just after she gave her life to Christ at Fall Getaway! (this photo was in our last newsletter but it is relevant to the story below)

Chelsea's growth

In the Fall, I had the pleasure of Baptizing Chelsea at our Fall Retreat just after she gave her life to Christ. Chelsea has become very involved in our church, and there is a group of women that have been growing in their walks with Christ as they have been growing in their friendship together. I remember Chelsea telling me last semester about a night when her and some of the women in our church were in the Library until 2-3am talking about the Lord. These kinds of things excite me because, while that might have been a normal occurrence at our church in H2O Cincinnati... it has not been normal here in Buffalo (yet).

One other thing that encourages me about Chelsea is the picture below.

Chelsea, who is a relatively new believer, and her bible which is FULL of post-it notes and notes she has been taking. Chelsea is reading the Word a TON!

David's growth

David is a young student in our church that we met playing volleyball this year at the beginning of the year. He got pretty involved right away and his hunger for the Lord and for his own growth is something that inspires me. Every week at Life Group (our bible study) he is asking tons of questions. He's a learner!

This week at Life Group, David was sharing that he had met a guy at a Bible Study he went to that isn't a believer and started to ask him questions about his faith. "What did you think about what we read?" "What do you believe about God?" And then David did his best to share the message of Jesus with him. David is a freshman and this was his first time trying to share the gospel with someone that is lost. He just felt compelled by God to talk to this man.

Today, David and I are meeting up because he wants to know how to share his faith more effectively. I said "Great! I would love to talk about that!"

Seeing students in our church take bold steps of faith is so exciting to me and tells me that God is moving in their lives!

Lucas and Sarah

Lucas is a man that is on staff at H2O Church in Cincinnati who was mentored and discipled by Aaron (one of our other staff members here in Buffalo). Last year, he visited us with a team of people from Cincinnati for their Spring Break and they were sharing the gospel and doing evangelism on campus here in Buffalo.

Something that is very encouraging to me about this is that, since then, Lucas and his wife Sarah have been praying about moving here to Buffalo to join us in reaching this campus! We still do not know what will happen with that, but I am so encouraged that they are convicted and compelled by the mission field here in Buffalo. They are visiting us in March to continue to pray and discern what is right for them.

Would you pray for Lucas and Sarah as they discern where the Lord is leading them?

Lucas and I were catching up and talking/dreaming about the potential of him and Sarah joining us in Buffalo! (I actually took this photo by accident 😂)

Women's Weekend

Last weekend was our annual Women's Weekend retreat for the women in our church. It was so exciting that 15 people signed up for this retreat in Ohio to take some time away and grow in their walk with the Lord and connect with other women in our church! Lindsey came back so encouraged by what God is doing in the lives of the women in our church!

The Blueprint

Our first sermon series of the semester is called The Blueprint - where we are going over God's design for Singleness, Relationships, Marriage, and Sex. As our church has grown, we have (naturally) seen more people interested in dating and relationships. This is pretty normal. However, because our church is so young in their faith, without any examples of wise dating, we have noticed that they could maybe use some teaching in this area.

What's really fun about this series is that, ultimately, while the topic is related to relationships and marriage... ultimately it all comes back to honoring Jesus in every area of our lives. We are hopeful that people will learn wise practice, but do it out of a deep love for the Lord and a desire to put Him first in their lives.

After each service we've been having a Q/A panel where people can ask questions about the topic we talked about in the sermon. Last week we had 32 questions and were there answering questions for over an hour. I love that people are so excited to learn!

Lindsey is pregnant!

A Family Update

In our Christmas letter we sent out, we made sure to let people know that Lindsey is pregnant and we are due for our first child at the end of April! We are so excited to become parents to a baby boy. Something that excites us about becoming parents (in addition to all the normal reasons) is that we get to model this stage of life for many students that some day want to have a family of their own!

Would you pray for Lindsey and Baby Barta's health leading up to our due date (April 27th)?

We are so grateful for your support during this time! ❤️

In Christ,
Kyle & Lindsey

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Prayers for Lindsey and Baby Barta's health.
Prayers for The Blueprint sermon series. That God would use it to help people honor Him in every area of their lives.
Prayers for boldness, that our church members would grow in being light to the campus.

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Kyle Barta - H2O Buffalo

196 Koenig Rd.

Tonawanda, NY 14150

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