We are the Emerts: Jeremy, Courtney, Lincoln, Jude, and Olivia.

And we are a family who seeks to live on mission, joining God in loving and serving His world. While we consider Florence, SC our stateside home, we have lived the last 10 years serving with the ministry of Poetice in Choma, Zambia. This pioneering ministry has had many expressions in its pursuit to proclaim and demonstrate the Gospel, primarily as a local church in Choma and training ground for multicultural missions and discipleship. Serving in various roles and carrying many different responsibilities, life in Zambia has allowed each member of our family to understand, to learn from, and to love God’s Church and his people more deeply.

One of the clearest and deepest Truths that we’ve received and treasured in these last 10 years is that where the Church is, the city should get better. It’s been an incredible privilege and blessing for our family to be a part of God’s mission in Choma and to see the city and so many of its citizens encounter Him and experience healing, restoration, salvation, and fullness. Over these 10 years, we’ve occasionally come back to the United States to visit family and friends, to fundraise, to celebrate holidays. Unexpectedly, over the course of the last two years, even as we’ve loved Choma, God has rekindled and deepened our heart for the North American Church. As we’ve witnessed Him move in power and love in southern Africa, it’s stirred in us a desire to see Him continue to move here, too. This stirring coincides with more personal transitions as our kids continue to grow, and as our firstborn returns stateside to attend college. We’ve weighed and prayed and asked the Lord to speak and to guide our steps and his response has been so gracious and kind.

In this next season, we will return to Florence, SC to serve alongside the ministry of Helping Florence Flourish. We love the city of Florence. We love the Church of Florence, and the people of Florence. We are members of First Presbyterian Church who both launched us to and have faithfully supported us in Zambia. We were members of the Church at Sandhurst our first three years in Florence and still maintain deep friendships from our time there. Additionally, Courtney taught in the multi-denominational ministry of Community Bible Study and our family all enjoyed serving with Charlie and Marilyn Key at East Florence Mission for a couple years before we left for Zambia. We share a passion to see the Church in Florence bring the Kingdom of God to the city of Florence, and we believe this is the heart of Helping Florence Flourish.

These last three months, while asking the Lord for his leadership and guidance into the next season, with growing children and clarified passions, we feel the Lord strongly leading us back to the States, specifically to Florence. We believe that the Lord is up to something big here and we want to participate with Him in it. We cannot think of a better place to jump in and help unite the Church than Helping Florence Flourish.

As missionaries to Florence, just as in Choma, we will continue to raise all of our support and funding. This has never been an easy part of the journey, yet we’ve always seen God’s hand in faithfully supplying our every need. Moving forward, our hope is to serve, to bless, and to join in what God is already doing. We desire to offer our giftings as a part of a team where God is on the move.

Learn More About