Nancy and I have so much for which to praise the Lord as we begin this new phase of our life and ministry. It has been with mixed emotion, yet great confidence in the Lord and His leading that I resigned the pastorate of nine years at Marquette Manor Baptist Church to accept God’s call to serve with Baptist World Mission.
I assumed duties of Deputation Director on June 1st on a part-time basis, while I continued to serve as Senior Pastor at Marquette until September 30th, then fulltime on October 1st. This was a busy yet amazing time as the Lord carried us along and allowed us to sell our home in the midst of this challenging housing market. After three months with no lookers, the first one to look placed an offer and purchased our home. The Lord also graciously provided us with another beautiful home in Alabama situated between the mission and church. The month of August and first half of September were exhausting as we tried to keep up with both ministries while we packed our belongings, loaded trucks, closed on both homes, traveled, unloaded, unpacked and re-settled into our new home. We praise the Lord for His help and the many of His children who came along side to help His servants make this difficult move possible. Somehow, in the midst of all this, the Lord enabled us to schedule six deputation meetings and has already graciously provided 35% of the support needed for our ministry at Baptist World Mission. He has also begun to fill our schedule with many meetings in October and November 2009, as well as January, February, and November 2010.
Special Prayer Requests:
1) Please pray for me as I “learn the ropes” and seek to honorably represent our Lord and Baptist World Mission.
2) Pray that the Lord will quickly and miraculously provide the remainder of the personal support we need to carry out our ministry at BWM.
3) Pray that the Lord will provide all the expenses from the move and for a vehicle for our missions travels.
4) Pray for my meeting schedule to continue to fill and for the Lord to use me to be a challenge for the cause of missions.
5) Pray the Lord of the Harvest to call forth laborers into His harvest.
6) Pray for our deputation missionaries who face the challenges of the economy and discouragement from lengthy deputation ministries.
7) Pray the Lord will give a sense of blessing in the new ministry He has led us to pursue. My burden and desire is to “serve missionaries, pastors, and churches for the cause of worldwide missions.” I especially hope to encourage and help the missionary appointees prepare for their field ministry as they raise their needed prayer and financial support.
The Lord has done so much to prove His greatness to us! He is certainly worthy of all our praise! Nancy and I are blessed and honred to serve Him!