The Truth Project STL
Meet the Handysides – First of all, thank you for taking the time to look into The Truth Project STL and we trust that God will lead you to remember us in prayer. This endeavor of church planting in St. Louis is something that God placed on our hearts when we were in college over 10 years ago. It is so humbling to look back and see how God has orchestrated the whole thing.
My wife and I both grew up in homes where Christ was central and had parents who served in full-time ministry. God graciously called me into His family when I was young and did the same for Valarie when she was 15 years old. It was during our teen years when we both knew that God wanted us to give our lives in service to Him. So we went off to Bible college where we met each other and sensed God leading us together. During a chapel service God used a church planter from New York city to burden my heart for church planting, specifically in St. Louis. I couldn’t explain all the reasons why God was leading toward St. Louis at the time, but it was clear that He was leading. I didn’t know how or when it would all come about, but I knew that if God was truly in it, He would sovereignly bring it to pass.
After graduating from Bible college, Valarie and I were married (2001) and then moved to Kansas City where I began my seminary training. While in seminary we received an invitation from a new church in the area to come help them as they were starting up. We knew that God had called us to church plant and saw this as an opportunity to serve Him as well as gain some practical experience. As God would have it, we ended up serving there for almost eight years in various roles. We are thankful that this church, Liberty Hills Baptist Church, is now our sending church and completely behind the project in St. Louis. Because Liberty Hills was a newer church and unable to support us full-time, I have had a job in sales with Voss Lighting to help pay the bills.
Voss Lighting has become more than a way to pay the bills. God has used this company in a vital way to help fulfill His calling on our lives.
After being at the branch in Kansas City for over 8
years, God opened a door for us to move over to the new branch in St. Louis and
continue in sales. Because Voss Lighting is owned and operated by Christians, they are in full support of our desire to plant churches in St. Louis and have committed to work with us as we transition over time into full-time ministry. We praise God for His bountiful blessings in our lives, two of which are our beautiful daughters, Carly (5) and Molly (9 months). We enjoy traveling and spending time with friends and familiy and I’m especially excited to be in St. Louis where I can follow my life-long favorite team, the Cardinals. So here we are in St. Louis, excited about the future and what God has in store. We praise Him for how He has led us here and know that He will continue to lead as we daily submit ourselves to His will.
