I’d love to share what the Lord has been doing here at Living Hope Baptist Church these past six months!
The Lord has graciously been adding a few new families. They have been searching for a spiritual home for some time, and the Lord, in His kindness, has directed them to our church. It is always encouraging seeing the Lord’s hand in such a visible way, answering both our prayers for more ministry opportunities and their prayers for a solid church. We have been handing out welcome cards to the community introducing our church to them. They have been very slow in coming, but the Lord has brought a handful of the community through our doors as a result. Please pray for our rather up-market suburb that they will see their need for a Savior.
One of the outreach opportunities that the Lord dropped in our lap, which I’m personally very excited about, is that two local pastors from Creighton (yes, not even I knew where that was – just over an hour’s drive from Pietermaritzburg in the middle of nowhere) asked us for help. At first I thought they’d be the typical rural church asking for money, which, for our little church is not exactly in abundance. But, instead, they asked if we could teach them to preach better. This open door was unanimously entered by us three elders at Living Hope Baptist, and for the past four months we have driven to Creighton one Sunday a month to teach on preaching. I’ve worked out a six-lesson syllabus to cover the basics, and they’ve been drinking it in. We have two more visits planned for 2016, and then see if perhaps there might be a longer-term mentorship need. Please pray that the Lord bless their preaching as they work hard on sticking better to the text.
Our family is doing well. Micah turned 4 at the end of November, and Asher is babbling away, slowing adding recognizable words to his vocabulary. Boy #3 is due in February, and except for the discomfort from the excessive heat we’ve been having, mother and baby are doing very well.
My main prayer concerns are always for a united and strong leadership, for clarity in my vision for the immediate and distant future, and for the Lord to provide just enough money, time, people, and opportunities to keep us within His plans for our ministry.
Thank you once again for your care.