On the Road Again…

The last few months have been a whirlwind of travel and activity. Since mid-January, we have been to Atlanta (4 times for 5 events), Augusta, GA, Dothan, AL, and Washington, MO. Thank you, ChristChurch Presbyterian (Atlanta), Christ Community Church (Atlanta), First Presbyterian Church (Augusta), New Port Presbyterian Church (Washington, MO), and Westwood Presbyterian Church (Dothan, AL) for the opportunities to preach, to encourage, and to be encouraged by you. We are grateful to see how the Lord is working in your midst and how you are each seeking to live out Christ’s mission in your local communities.

All in all, our schedule has included a lot of driving and a lot of talking (we quickly get tired of talking about ourselves!), but mostly it has been a wonderful time of getting to connect with great churches and supporters. We are so thankful for all these churches and church members! Thank you for your hospitality, for your love, and for your partnership in the gospel!

The next few months bring more of the same. Lord willing, we’ll visit:

• April 1-3 Westminster Presbyterian in Huntsville, AL
• April 10 Christ Presbyterian in Nashville, TN
• April 10-15 Parakaleo training for Amy in Dickson, TN
• April 17 Steve will be preaching at Zion Presbyterian in Columbia, TN
• April 20-21 Zion Reformed in Winesburg, OH
• April 22-24 Harvest Presbyterian in Medina, OH
• April 25-May 2 Steve will be at a leadership retreat in Cusco, Peru
• May 3-6 Steve will be meeting with the MTW team in Bogota, Colombia
• May 11-18, California – we’ll head to Trinity Presbyterian in San Luis Obispo, CA and Redeemer Presbyterian in Santa Rosa, CA

If you will be in these areas and want to get together, please let us know!

In April, Amy has the opportunity to do training with a ministry called Parakaleo. She, along with several other women, will receive training to help them come alongside the wives of church planters. Missionary wives and church planter wives have to carry heavy loads. There is so much pressure on them to “have it all together,” and too often people’s displeasure with the church planters gets communicated to their wives.

In addition to travel and preaching, I have been working as the South American Regional Council Coordinator. This mainly involves Skype calls (we actually use “Zoom” more these days), phone calls, and emailing. In April, I’ll be flying down to Cusco, Peru and to Bogota, Colombia. In Peru, I’ll be meeting with our ministry leaders from around the continent for a time of prayer, reflection, and planning. In Bogota, I’ll be meeting with the team there to assess the different possibilities for future ministry activity.

In late May and early June we have a special blessing that we hope to enjoy. We plan to fly to Chile for a field visit – a chance for us to make contacts, to investigate schools and housing, and to begin to know and understand Chilean culture. This will be the first time in Chile for our children and is an important step towards helping them find their place in this future ministry. On the return trip, we will be able to spend some time in Guadalajara! I think I’ll never understand why airline prices work as they do, but it’s about $120 cheaper per person to add Guadalajara to our itinerary than to go just to Chile and back. So, we get to save some money while visiting a place and people that are dear to our hearts. Our hope is that we will be able to encourage the churches there and that we will also be encouraged as we reconnect with old friends and as we see what the Lord is doing there.

There are a couple of big factors affecting when we can move to Chile. First, moving to the southern hemisphere means moving to a place where the school year is the opposite of ours. The only time when both school systems have a natural break is at Christmas (semester break for the USA, summer break for Chile). Second, we still have a good bit of support to raise. We still need about $2,000 per month. With those things in mind, we plan to make our move in early January, if all the funds have come in.

That does not mean, however, that we’re on vacation until then or that we’re not engaged in ministry. On the contrary, with two trips to South America already on the books and with the likelihood of a couple more before the end of the year, I’ll be doing quite a bit on the ground there, in addition to the calling, planning, encouraging, and praying that we’re doing on a regular basis. Additionally, we’ll continue to visit churches (there are some that we haven’t been able to connect with yet), and we will be serving with MTW in training and assessment opportunities.

Please continue to pray for us as we seek to serve Christ and his kingdom!