Okay. I know it’s already February, so this might seem a little late, but here goes anyway!
I have spent much time in prayer about the Lord’s direction for this year. In fact, when I came home from Kenya, I took an entire day to go out, hike along the river and find a quiet place just seeking Him. About three days later, I began to see Him answer.
One of the greatest burdens of my heart for nearly ten years has been the need to see churches equipped with the Biblical and practical knowledge to reach the fatherless both of their own communities and on the mission field. A year and a half ago, when God so beautifully allowed my car to die twice so that He could amazingly restore it (twice) and provide another, He also allowed me to spend time with some very precious friends in St. Louis. During that time, Pastor Ken Spilger and I talked a lot about the need to present God’s desire for us concerning the fatherless to other Christians in a way that will motivate and equip. Repeatedly, he mentioned the need to get the message into Christian colleges. I was overwhelmed at the idea. Where would you even start with such a project! But God seems to have the answer right back there in St. Louis – at least the starting point.
Pioneer Baptist Ministries (started by BIMI missionaries Burton (late) and Mildred Brush) seeks to support churches by training and equipping Christian leaders. It is also presently based out of Pastor Spilger’s Church in St. Louis. Since my return from Kenya, we have been discussing preparing a Bible Institute course dealing with reaching the fatherless as a philosophy of ministry to be taught in St. Louis during the 2013-2014 school year. I am very, very excited about this opportunity!
Lord willing, the course will be laid out in three sections dealing with the Old Testament and the Fatherless, the New Testament and the Fatherless and the Practical Side of Reaching the Fatherless. My prayer is that all of the materials will be laid out by August so we can have a trial run here in Billings. (If you are in the area and interested in attending please let me know and I will keep you updated with times, dates, etc.) At this point, we are still working on the teaching format, most likely a modular format, for teaching in St. Louis. Lord Willing, after we have completed the course in St. Louis I will be publishing “Asshur Shall Not Save Us” a book dealing with each of these three areas. We are also praying about holding conferences sometime in 2014 to present an abbreviated form of the material to pastors and church leaders.
As you can see there is still much planning and material development that needs to take place. For all of this, I would greatly appreciate prayer for wisdom, clarity of mind and strength. Three weeks ago, I put together a plan of weekly goals that would keep the material on track for timely completion. Yesterday, I discovered an enormous mistake in the schedule that knocks that plan off track by a full month. The Lord knows all about it, He knew the day I made the mistake, and I am trusting He will show how to revamp the schedule to fix the issue. Please pray that I will know how to balance all of this with other responsibilities.
Because of the amount of time this will require, I am not planning any international trips for 2013 until after the course has been taught in St. Louis, unless the Lord directs differently and clearly opens a door. I am, however, praying about one possibility for late fall.
When I returned from Kenya it was my desire to be back within 9 mos, but by the time I had been home six weeks I was beginning to see that God might be leading in a different direction. It is still my desire to send video Bible and sewing lessons back to the ladies there, but I have not had the opportunity and am not sure how to fit it in with everything else. If this is something you would be interested in helping with, please let me know! (Certain guidelines will have to be met.)
Also if you would be interested in helping with some of the course preparations, or other projects going on right now and have good grammar and Microsoft Word skills, don’t hesitate to contact me. My now-defunct schedule shows another 26 weeks worth of writing to be done – and it all has to be organized!
As I said, I am very, very excited about this opportunity. If you would like a sneak peak at some of the material you can check out the Old Testament and the Fatherless blogs, as well as, the New Testament and the Fatherless blogs (which we just started posting this past Monday) here.
Thank you to each of you who have prayed for and supported this ministry over the past three and a half years! Wow, has it only been three and a half years! We’ve packed a lot into those 42 months! It wouldn’t be possible without you!
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Also Check out Rachel Miller’s Book: The King’s Daughter: A Story of Redemption
