Happy January to all of you,
Today we are having our first snowfall of the year in our region of Maryland and West Virginia. As you might imagine, our Tennessee-raised girls were excited to get out in it as early as possible.
Now that we are a few weeks into our transition here, I wanted to outline for you what is new about our lives and what has stayed the same.
-We are, of course, in a new place. We are getting familiar with our surroundings, learning how to get around, and enjoying our new house.
-We have been welcomed into a new church. The members of Evangel Baptist have been gracious, kind, and generous to us in these first few weeks. Even though I have preached for three Sundays now, tomorrow is the official “installation service.” Fellow ABWE missionary and close friend/mentor Steve Winget will be coming down from Harrisburg, PA to preach in the service, for which I am grateful.
-We have found new activities, or at least, new places for some of our favorite activities. The boys and I have gotten involved in a weekly “open gym” to play basketball with some other guys. The girls enjoyed visiting an indoor trampoline park earlier this week.
-The kids are starting into new schools. The girls started this past week at two different schools. The boys will be doing an online school this semester through the county, which starts on the 16th.
-We are connecting with some new ministries. Two nights ago I was asked to speak at a local rescue mission. And I have been asked to speak at a youth event (with several churches participating) at the end of this month and at a regional conference of area churches in May.
But not everything has been new!
-We still have the same role within our ABWE Live Global team, working with national partners in strategic places and utilizing online platforms for teaching, discipleship, mentoring, training, and consulting with partners and teammates around the world.
-We are working to produce the same resources such as articles, videos, podcasts, teaching/preaching outlines, course notes, and more that can be made available and translated as needed for use in churches and schools.
-We will participate in the same events such as trainings, conferences, and presentations both on-site at the ABWE headquarters in Harrisburg and at churches elsewhere in the US. I plan to return to the ITE (International Theological Education) Summit in May.
-We expect to have the same opportunities for travel to work on the ground with Live Global partners especially in Europe and Asia.
This is where your ongoing prayers and financial support are so critical. Ours is now a bi-vocational role, but in a lot of ways, it always has been. We had already been supplementing our support with other tasks such as coaching, substitute teaching, maintenance jobs, and nursing roles (Brandi). Now we are simply supplementing our support with this position at Evangel, because we believe that the two roles go hand-in-hand and give us a “home-base” for ministry in a local church that can then extend into what we have already been involved in around the globe.
Thanks so much for reading these updates. Please continue to pray and give as the Lord allows. And I am always happy to talk through any of these details with anyone who has questions or concerns.
-David, for Brandi, Judah, Asher, Eva, and Tori
New home address:
89 Tremont Terrace
Falling Waters, WV 25419
New church address:
Evangel Baptist Church
17922 Broadfording Road
Hagerstown, MD 21740
Prairie Quests 