the latest news in our ministry …
November 30, 2011
It hardly seems possible that the end-of-the-year holidays are upon us already. It has been a busy year filled with ministry opportunities and many blessings. I don’t know if it is like this for anyone else, but we always seem to have a list of things we plan to do when “things slow down a little”. Do you think that next year we may catch up? We appreciate so much the partnership of those of you who support our ministry with prayers and financial gifts, making it possible for us to continue in this ministry. There are still several of you waiting for a visit and report on your missionary investment – that needs to happen this next year, for sure.
In September we spent two weeks visiting our ministries in South Texas. We were pleased to see some growth at the Spanish work in Donna. We spent a day across the border with our missionaries in Rio Bravo, where their community is under constant siege from the drug gangs. We had a good visit with Pastor Mack and his wife in the church in Brownsville, which graduated in 2008. His ministry has been a good fit and the work is doing well, but we are concerned that he still needs to work full time to support his family. This is why we work hard to see our church plants graduate as strong as possible.
We ended our trip at the Good News Baptist Church in Katy, TX – as a matter of fact, we just got back last week from another visit to this ministry as it has a great need right now. You may recall that this is the work where our daughter and son-in-law are headed, but their support level indicates their arrival won’t be real soon. Meanwhile our missionary pastor, who is in his 80’s, is seeing his health gradually deteriorate. We’ll be spending most of January, February & March there in Katy, assuming responsibility for the ministry on an interim basis. For now, we’ll be camping out in a couple of Sunday school rooms, and see how God leads from there. Long term, we are exploring this location as a permanent base of operations, with the goal of establishing a training center for church planters both in English and Spanish. We have put our home in Kansas City on the market to see what God may do in this regard.
Please continue to pray for us that God would give us physical and spiritual strength, and the wisdom to work on the priority tasks, leaving the rest until “things slow down a little”. Thank you for your vital participation with us in God’s harvest work.