It seems that the last couple of months of ministry have moved at lightening speed. I will do what I can to update you on all that the Lord has been doing without writing a book.
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In May we had a family conference with Evangelist Jake D’Andrea. This was such a help and encouragement to the families in our church. My father in-law who is the assistant pastor of a supporting church came and preached for a couple of days on parenting in June. We are praying that the Lord would establish solid families in our church for His glory and that our church family can effectively reach the many broken families in our community. Please pray with us for the families in our church as they are under constant attack from this world’s culture and the god of this world that has blinded the eyes of so many.
It has been so exciting to watch the Lord build His church. I rarely know how many people are in the services. We want our focus to be on people and their spiritual needs rather than numbers. However, a couple of Sundays ago we had several families out, and the auditorium didn’t seem empty. After the service Lindsey and I were talking and determined that there were about 40 people in the service. This was exciting because we remember a time that if only one family was out of town, it felt like I was preaching to my family and only a couple of other people. For a long time 40 people seemed like an impossibility, yet the Lord has continued to be faithful to bring people to whom we can minister.
Please pray for a couple with whom Lindsey and I are doing evangelistic Bible studies. The four week studies we have been doing should wrap up in the next week or so. We are praying that they would depend on Christ for their salvation soon.
Please continue to pray for two other ladies with whom we have been able to have ongoing conversations about the gospel. I believe that they are both very close to trusting Christ.
We have several folks who have been consistently visiting our church for quite a while, who have not yet made the decision to join our church. This has meant that the members of our church have been very busy running ministries in a way that is unsustainable. For the spiritual well-being of the members of our church we have to make some difficult decisions about the children’s ministries of our church. We pray that these changes will allow us to have a greater focus in our ministry on the personal, spiritual growth of our members. Please pray for wisdom as we make these changes.
Please continue to pray for Lindsey and I as we work to learn Spanish. Last Wednesday, I was able to preach bilingually for the first time. The message was understood by both English and Spanish speakers, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Moving forward, the plan is for me to preach bilingually each Wednesday night. Please pray for me as this is way out of my comfort zone and will require a lot of work and practice.
The Lord has given me more and more opportunities to minister in the Word through evangelistic Bible studies, discipleship, and counseling. We praise the Lord for these opportunities and the growth that they represent. We know this is the primary ministry of a pastor and I am thankful for the opportunity to be more involved in the lives of the people to whom God has called us. However, these exciting opportunities have me busier than I have ever been before. I appreciate your prayers as I work to maintain the right family/ministry balance and juggle the spiritual and administrative aspects of ministry.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for our ministry!
We rejoice with you in the praise of all God is doing, & we pray with you for the updated prayer requests, especially salvation for those requested, as well as strength & biblical wisdom in ministry. Prayer letters are vital to help us pray effectively. Thank you!
Praise God for all of what God is doing there! I am glad you are busy with what all the ministry is about and I will pray that you can keep a right balance between ministry and family! I will pray that people will be saved and grow in the love and admonition of the Lord! Praying 🙏 until we all hear the SHOUT!!! Barton L Bedwell
Always blessed to hear of all that God is doing. And will be praying for salvations, strength , wisdom , perseverance and grace for each step of the way !
Bilingual!! Great job. Pastor J would be so proud! Keep it up!