When hammered with tasks early in the pandemic we felt somewhat overloaded in our Pastors and wive’s group. We then proceeded to divvy up tasks by expanding our leadership structure. We welcomed new leaders over all kinds of areas in the church and worked on training them individually. This month we did a training for all those who serve in ministries. Although our average main service attendance had been under 30 at the time, we had 31 take the course! It was a Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning event and we decided to do it up big for our people. They came, participated, learned and enjoyed. We hope this will give us a good excitement as we push past 2020 and try to leave it in the dust! Haha
One ministry that sprouted up this year was a social ministry. The church seeks to meet social needs to open a door for spiritual needs as well. One young lady in our church is a single mom and Sarah has been working hard counseling her as well as trying to set her up in a business that will provide for her needs. However, with this there are lots of different issues to work through. Please pray for wisdom in this situation!
Our discipleship groups are still going well. One of our men’s groups that had been slow to start back up is now getting some momentum. Sarah’s Sunday morning group has been starting to meet personally instead of online. Then our new study in Pesqueira had one week online and then another week together (it is an every other week study). The next time in Pesqueira our study group will start the book The Story of Hope.
Raphael started coming to our church a couple years ago. We had a membership interview with he and his wife. His wife said she would be involved with music and kids and was excited about her involvement. I looked at Raphael and asked him about his gifting and about any ministry he could be involved in. I kind of received a blank stare for an answer. We decided that we would see and something would come up. In the last year or so, I do not remember exactly when, Raphael came to me and said, “I am ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter, but whatever God wants me to do I will do.” Raphael has been in our pilot group for the systematic theology class as well as our homiletics class we started this year. This past month he helped teach our Theology and Practice of Servant Leaders module and then preached that very same Sunday night. Our worry now is that we are overloading him with tasks. His wife Viviane is the same way; she was one of two to leave Sarah’s discipleship group in order to start a new one. They are a huge blessing to us.
Their growth the last couple of years has been a testament of the power of the gospel transforming lives and it is these types of stories that make us think we have the best job in the world. We appreciate how God has touched your life to participate with us in His work!
All for HIS glory,
David, Sarah and our now 11 year old Evelyn that is in those not totally a kid, not yet a teen years, but she is doing great as she navigates this tricky road, and Anna Claire who is enjoying being able to play a lot more with her friends than the last few months.
