Looking forward to a new year with new opportunities and further growth! One of my favorite verses to remind the Lord of is from Proverbs 16.9 which says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” It is a great opportunity to brainstorm and think through all the ways to move forward in this kingdom work and at the same time stay in position before our King to see how He will truly lead in every step!
Here are some highlights of the plans in the works for this year:
- Local Ministry. Further steps are under way partnering with other local believers and ministries to create a deeper impact in the local neighborhood. Our community group is looking forward to taking steps to develop into a new healthy church plant. A new investigative bible study is being launched to learn language while learning to walk with Jesus. Exploratory steps have started to find a way to get into local juvenile detention centers to reach gang members. More workers locally means more opportunities to be engaged meeting new people.
- Sweden. This work continues to support local churches & networks in areas of bible studies and discipleship training. Thankful for a few trips planned to the north (where we started) to continue to bring support and encouragement to the groups that have started there.
- European Network. Thankful to continue to grow as a coach/supervisor to other workers on the field. Thankful for the opportunities to come alongside works that have already started to strengthen living on mission and expanding while also getting the opportunity to see where God is helping us start something new. We have five locations in Europe that have invited us to come and help their local vision while bringing discipleship training to help them engage with new people.
- Refugee Ministry. Everything that we do is with the purpose of seeing the hard-to-reach people groups have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. Thankful for the opportunity to continue studies which is opening the door to interview refugees, learn from their experiences so that best practices in cross-cultural discipleship and leadership development can be learned and practiced.
This work is made possible by the generosity of others. Thank you for continuing to partner with me in prayer support, notes of encouragement, and financial partners. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you and encourage you with what you are part of! Last month, there was an amazing response to the need totaling in a little over $6000 in one-time gifts and 2 new monthly supporters. There is still a need to cover the expenses of this year. If you would like to be part of the answer, click here. If you would like to talk more about this work and what the need is, please reply to this message with some dates and times that work for you!
Update on my mother. Thank you for the support and encouragement surrounding the news of my mother having a stroke in November. She continues to get stronger every week. We are incredibly thankful for the amount of function she has and she will be able to live life without restrictions as she continues to heal. Two big prayer requests. Her blood pressure is still scary high. The likelihood of having another stroke is still a great concern. Please pray for a solution and a breakthrough. We talk with doctors all the time! Secondly, the urban school district she works for does not participate in disability and therefore she will have to go without pay until the doctor clears to go back to work (which is dependent on her blood pressure). Praying for some miracles of financial provision for this month to help alleviate some stress. She has already started the paperwork to retire this June and desires to finish well. Thank you for the prayers and support!
I am state-side for two more weeks getting to help my mother. Would love to catch up with you if you have time while I’m in the eastern time zone. Just let me know what your availability is. Excited to see how the Lord will unfold our new year!
Following and Fishing 