Church planters are some of God's most amazing servants. They are, generally speaking, young men who love Jesus, love their wives and children, love the church, and love lost people. With their wives and children they step out in faith to plant a church that shares the love and truth of Jesus with lost people. Their family does so at great cost to their finances and health.

One of these risk-taking, hard-working church planters in our Acts 29 Network is Brad Hovis, who is planting High View Church in Denver. Every year the church planters and their wives from Acts 29 gather for a few-day retreat so that we can invest in them. At our retreat last summer, Brad informed me of a very difficult situation he and his lovely wife were facing. She was pregnant with their second child, a baby girl. Sadly, the baby was diagnosed with some severe medical troubles in the womb. Still, rather than aborting her, they rightly chose to pray for God's healing, accept God's will, and love their child for as many days as God would allow them if she were to die.

Molly was born with severe problems in her digestive system. Her daddy reports:

The only hope for survival was for Molly to receive a transplant of major organs in her digestive system. . . . We got put on a transplant list, and . . . got the call that a donor was available. They flew us up to Omaha where the transplant was to be done. However, there was a complication during the surgery and Molly did not make it. Haley has made a blog of her life, the address is www.littlemissmollyann.blogspot.com if you are interested. We are so incredibly blessed to have had almost 3 months with our little girl. God's grace has been clear to us and we are joyful for all His work in her life.

Brad and I spoke on the phone shortly after his daughter Molly died. He impressed me with his faith in God, love for his family, devotion to the gospel, and desire to lead others through this incredibly difficult loss. Our conversation took place shortly after I had dropped my kids off at school following our weekly daddy breakfast, and I choked back tears considering what it would be like to preach the funeral of one of my children.

With great love and courage, Brad preached the funeral of his beautiful daughter, Molly. Painfully, it was the first funeral he has ever preached. He was gracious enough to post the audio file of that funeral sermon online. I am honored to share it with you and ask that you pray for him, his family, and those young church planters like him who, with their families, show the depth of their devotion to Jesus when it counts most.

Also, the Colorado Baptist General Convention has set up a fund for Molly to help with funeral and medical costs. If you want to help the family, please make checks payable to the Colorado Baptist General Convention and note that they are for the Molly Hovis Fund. You can send checks to 7393 South Alton Way, Centennial, CO 80112-2302. They have also made giving available online. Just go to www.saturatecolorado.com and click on the e-giving button on the right side of the page.