Much for Which to be Thankful

Sandy and I want to thank all of you for your continued prayer! Point for point God has met our desires and preempted our anxieties.

• Our days of travel were beautiful. And our children felt like the whole weekend was a vacation.

• Our children, and Elijah in particular, at times can find the prospect of change quite difficult. While we were visiting the ministry our children spent quite a bit of time with one family. Sandy and I were filled with both peace and joy to see our children playing and enjoying this family even to the point that they asked that if we moved could we just move in with them. Of course, they started the weekend asking if we could move into the hotel.

• Sandy and I both felt a freedom to speak honestly and with transparency about who we are, how we minister, and what our vision for ministry, discipleship, leadership, and family looks like.

• The first thing we did when we got back to Sheboygan Falls was make arrangements to spend time with Jason and Nikki Mills and their boys. We are so blessed by friends such as these in Sheboygan Falls who encourage us and bind our hearts all the more in love to the Sheboygan County.

• Even as I return to Sheboygan Falls I am greeted with a number of upcoming events and ministries that excite me and spur me on toward faithfulness in present ministry.

• I preached on Philippians 1:1-11 at First Reformed the previous Sunday where I got to encourage the congregation with my own pastor prayer for them, the reality that they are “partners and partakers” in the gospel as one body, and that they are to increase in knowledge in wisdom that they might stand grounded in the gospel even as they strive forward for the sake of the gospel’s advance.

• I then got to preach on John 15:8, 12 this past Sunday as I visited the ministry (John 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.) These two texts from Philippians and John so closely touch each other because the love with which we love each other is a “Jesus like love” that is grounded in the gospel of grace and strives to see it exhibited in the gospel community.

• My mom had a very good respite stay at the hospice.

We are so thankful to God that though at times it has been difficult to wait upon Him for His timing during the last two and a half years, He continues to provide for our every need and bless us with many good gifts. And so it is with our great Father in Heaven.

How to Pray

• Pray for discernment and a oneness of future direction among my family and the leaders of the ministry.

• Continue to pray for the ministry at First Reformed Church. Especially as we wrap up the end of the year in the High School Youth Group, many of the discipleship ministries, and the college-age ministry (Crowded House) begins to meet.

• Pray for our home as we seek to begin summer fellowship meals and reach out to our neighbors and others with gospel community.