In the midst of unrest in the Middle East, God has continued to give us joy and assurance that He is at work and will be with us to the end of the age. He has graciously provided and protected our community. There is always a tension when new people come. We often question their motivation and genuineness, but move forward knowing that God is in control and can break the hardest of hearts. This month I was contacted by a man who said he is looking for the truth and wanted to know if I had the power to make him a Christian. I told Him I didn’t, but that I would love to talk to him about the One who can. He has been involved in everything we do and now calls us family. Please pray for him to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
The church is continuing to mature and God is slowly granting us more health and unity. We are currently walking through the Bible with the question of how to follow Jesus in a broken and sinful world. Jesus tells us that there is both a narrow door to enter and a hard way to walk. We have been searching the scripture to see where alcohol, money, time, culture, sex, etc. stand in the life of the believer and how we can follow Jesus on the hard way. Please pray that God would give us all eyes and hears to see and listen, and a heart to follow Jesus no matter the cost.
Praise be to God because of the generosity of Jesus’ big Church we were able to raise finances in order for me to hire help part time. We are in the process of translating books, building an app, creating videos, networking with believers throughout the country, and designing websites that might serve as a tool for sharing the Gospel. Those things and more are a lot of work and I was overjoyed at the opportunity to pay those helping accomplish these tasks. We hired Jacob and Arzu, a couple from our church, and couldn’t be more thankful for such a dear brother and sister. Please pray that God would bless them, keep them, and cause His face to shine on them more and more.
We as a family are continuing to do well in the midst of being tired. We thankfully still love, like, and enjoy each other and are humbled that God allows us to serve Him and His church. We are continually honored to be a part of His great kingdom. Our language is continuing to be strengthened and our understanding of the culture grows day by day. Please pray for God’s grace, open doors for the Gospel, strength and boldness, clarity to do what God calls us to do, and most of all that in everything His kingdom would come and His will would be done for His glory and fame. Grace and peace, we love and miss you all.