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| Hi! |
Greetings Friends!
We hope this finds you all doing well and that you had a joyous time celebrating the 4th of July with your family and friends and remembering not only the privilege it is to have the freedom we do in this country but also the spiritual freedom we have through the blood of Christ shed on the cross!
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers over this past week! Daniel's first round of meetings with the team went well and there are more to come! The week for Daniel was spent first meeting with Charlie Cornett, our field director, and discussing the current status of our ministry here. The week rounded out with spending a day cleaning up the grounds and organizing our local storehouse where we give away clothes each week to those in need in the area. There are many changes on the horizon for our ministry so continue to pray for us!
We left Sunday for a brief trip to see Daniel's family near Dandridge, TN. It has become a Shrader family tradition that they vacation in the mountains on Douglass Lake around each 4th of July. It was nice to get to spend time with them, play on the lake, and for Lily to get to see her grandma, grandpa, cousins, and uncle Sam and aunt Alex. She did really well overall even though sleeping in her pack-n-play is not her favorite thing! As far as development, she has recently learned to wave and say "Hi!" when someone waves and says hi to her!
The week ahead is a busy one for us! Thursday the storehouse is hosting Second Harvest, a local food-bank ministry that we partner with. They are setting up at the storehouse Thursday morning to help distribute food to the needy in the area. Also on Thursday, a friend from Raleigh is coming to install a new air-conditioning unit for a needy lady in the area who has been without air-conditioning for over a year. We are so excited to have a friend coming to see first hand the benevolence side of our ministry and to partake in this with us. Friday we will spend another day doing clean up of the store house with the help of some members of U-Turn for Christ, a two-month minimum residential ministry of restoration, designated primarily for men and women struggling with the sin of addiction.
On a side note:
Over the past two weeks a big question that Daniel and I have been asking the team is, "Why are we HERE?" What we mean by this is why are we here in the Greeneville/Johnson City area specifically and not in another region as we seek to launch our pastor training ministry? That question has been answered by our team but it was also answered locally as I, Meredith, was driving home one day last week and saw the sign of a local Seventh Day Adventist church below:
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| Note that it's the Seventh-Day Adventist asking the question. Scary. |
How do you take away the message of what it says? For me, it hit me to read, "How important is doctrine really? You decide if it is". Doctrine is truth. How important is truth in our churches? As Christians? Paul talks over and over about the importance of holding to sound doctrine and not being swayed by the heresies of those false teachers who sought to destroy the people around them with lies and incorrect teachings. This is why we are here. Because this local church is not teaching what is true. They are questioning whether truth is even important. Many churches here are not teaching what is in accordance with sound doctrine. As we launch our pastor training ministry here our heart is that men and women can truly begin to take hold of sound doctrine and understand the importance of it as they share it with those around them and in their congregations. Hopefully, like a small flame, this region will begin to change because of it.
Things to pray for this week:
* Pray for our friend as he travels from Raleigh to install an air conditioner.
* Pray for the food distribution Thursday.
* Pray that God will open doors for the pastor training side of our ministry to begin in the near future.
We love you all!
Daniel, Meredith, and Lily Shrader
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| Cute ladies! |
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| Cousins! |
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| Headed down to the lake. |
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| Lily doesn't like the water yet! |
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| Hanging out on the dock with Hunter and Hayden. |
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| Checking out the water. |
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| Showing Granny around the dock! |
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| Walking around with cousin Cameryn. |
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| Checking out the puppies. :) |
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| Playing with Papa's hat! |
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| Wakeboarding on the 4th. |
You make a beautiful family!! I can't get over how much Lily has grown and she is beautiful!
ReplyDeletemy prayers are with all of you!
Jean
Hi Meredith--
ReplyDeleteLily is beautiful :) Sad I haven't had a chance to meet her, hopefully someday. I've been reading your blog regularly and it's been fun and encouraging partaking in your adventures. Tell Daniel I say hey and give Lily hugs and kisses.
Much love!