The Christmas Store video

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Ready for church in my cute purple pea-coat.

Thank you to all of you who wrote encouraging notes and emails after our last blog post.  We really do appreciate all of your prayers and all the words of encouragement.  We know the Lord is going to provide and take care of us, and we're thankful to have you interceding on our behalf.


The Christmas Store 2011 from Daniel Shrader on Vimeo.

At long last, here is the video with highlights from the 2011 Christmas Store ministry.  This is a ministry organized by First Baptist Church of Greeneville, TN, where Meredith and I are members.  Mountain Vision collecting items for the Christmas Store was one of our first steps towards developing a long term partnership with First Baptist, so thank you again to everyone who sent items to help out.  It was a huge blessing to us personally, to our ministry, and to those in the community.



Things you can pray for this week.
1. We've been working on restructuring our local ministry this year because of some tax changes, so please be in prayer for a smooth transition.  It shouldn't affect our day to day operations beyond the added planning time.
2. Charlie and Earlene are leaving this weekend to spend a couple of weeks in Texas visiting and raising support.  Please pray for their safe travel, as well as for a productive time meeting with supporters.  

3. In our pastor training ministry, I've submitted a proposal to our local baptist association, so please pray that it will find favor in the eyes of these potential partners and we're able to begin to move forward.

Lily started cutting her canine teeth this week and though she's still her super pleasant self, mealtime is a bit more of an adventure because she doesn't want to chew anything!  She's doing great overall and continues to be a delight to parent.

Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Lily prancing around the kitchen in her princess dress.

One of Lily's new words this week was "dishes".

She likes to help mommy wash the dishes.

This mesh bag has become a favorite "hat".

A Heart for the Forgotten

This post is a bit longer than normal, but I hope it's worth the read.  So when you've got a minute, please read this note from Meredith!  If you're having trouble viewing this email, please click here.

Sometimes life requires a little strong coffee!

I have to be honest.  Sometimes I get discouraged.  Sometimes I wonder if God really wants us here.  Sometimes I worry about our ministry funding.  Sometimes I question everything.  Sometimes I am afraid.  Sometimes I doubt God.  Don’t we all feel this way at times, but we are often too afraid to share it with anyone?

It has been a while since I, Meredith, personally wrote our blog post, but I felt led to do so this week to share some of what has been on my heart about our ministry here in Appalachia, East Tennessee. 

The past 2 months have been very challenging for us here, and on several occasions, our family has battled deep discouragement.  In May of 2010 we firmly believed (and still do) that God was closing the door to Russia and leading us to East Tennessee to train pastors.  I remember thinking, “Oh Lord, will we ever be able to raise our support?  I mean, God, who wants to support stateside missionaries, don’t most people only want to send mission funds to missionaries overseas?”  The Lord answered with, “Trust me.”  We did and He provided for us in exceeding and abundant ways (just like He always has) and He confirmed that this was where we needed to be. 

We are missionaries.  We left our home, our families, our friends, and everything that was familiar, and came to a place where people talk funny, drive 10 miles an hour UNDER the speed limit, are not very open to outsiders, distill urine to make Crystal meth, and live in a degree of poverty that I personally have never seen. 

The past two months, things did not seem to be going as quickly as we wanted with the ministry here.  We wanted a pastor training class like, yesterday.  It was slow for Daniel to have the meetings that he needed to have, and some of the benevolence ministry, we simply did not understand the purpose of.  Then, a major supporter questioned the need for us here, and lowered our support substantially, and I began to doubt.  “God, do you still want us here?”  “I mean, do we need to be somewhere else?”

The other night, I lay in bed with Daniel and unloaded my fears and questions.  I asked him, “Why do you feel God has led you here?  I mean, can’t you train pastors in another place.  This just seems too hard.” 

His answer warmed my heart and challenged me and I wanted to share it with you.  If you too have had any doubts about how God could send a missionary to Tennessee, or anywhere in the US for that matter, hopefully this will encourage you as it did me. 

He responded, “I have a heart for church revitalization, to see the church changed from the inside out.  The focus of many ministries today, including the Southern Baptist Convention is on Church planting, going into places that have no church or many unhealthy ones, and planting a new church.  I believe that is definitely needed, but I also believe that God wants to revitalize what is already here.  Meredith, do you know why many older people do not like contemporary music?  It is not the music but it is the fact that they do not know the words.  Have you ever been in a service where they played a new song you did not know the words too?  How did you feel?  It really affects that worship experience.  However, instead of listening to many older people and trying to understand them, too often we have just said, ‘they need to get with the times’ and moved on past them.  I think in ministry at large we have done that too.  Society is becoming more urban, people are moving out of the country into the cities and so the focus of ministry today is largely on cities and urban areas.  I am not saying that is a bad thing, it is needed.  But what about the small country churches?  Are we just supposed to leave them to die?  Are we supposed to just let them remain in errant or even heretical teachings?  Look at Jesus.  He went to all the towns preaching and teaching, but also the villages, the small country areas.  His heart was for ALL people, and truth needs to be shared with all, even the small country churches that no one seems to care about today.” 

His answer knocked me off my feet.  I had never even thought of it that way.  We began to pray for the ministry here, for God to make it clear if this was where we needed to be, and for the support of it in ways that we had not done previously. It has been amazing over the past 2 weeks to see how God has answered and confirmed the need for us to be here.  A couple of our financial partners increased their gifts without us asking.  We’ve added a new monthly partner.  Some of our partners gave one time gifts that we hadn’t asked for.  All reminding us that the Lord is in control, and this is where He wants us to be.

I am not saying everyone needs to be here.  People need to be in China, Russia, Argentina, France, Mexico, India, Iran, and every country in between.  Other missionaries need to be other places in the US.  But God has called US here for now.  And we are excited to serve the Lord in a place that has been forgotten by many, but not by the Lord. 

We pray that all of our supporters would have a heart for Appalachia, in many ways, the place of the forgotten.  Thank you for our prayers and support of our ministry, we truly could not be here without you and we are so thankful. 

We are currently in need of $500 in monthly support to sustain the ministry here.  Please be praying with us that the Lord would raise up those partners that would have a heart for what we are doing and would be excited about coming alongside us. 

Snow Bunny!  My nose matches my outfit!

Our first real snow.

Cheese!  Everybody wears pj's on snow days!

She had a little trouble learning to walk in her new boots.

Dog!  Dog!  I see a dog!

Lily loves our neighbor's dog.  He's a sweet fella, and he loves her too!

She was determined to try and get another drink of mommy's coffee, but mommy wasn't going to let her have too much.

  

Happy New Year!

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Lily is watching the snow falling.  We got a dusting last Tuesday.

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a wonderful, blessed, Christ-centered holiday.  Ours was delightful.  It was great to visit with family and friends at home for a bit, but we're glad to be back in action in East Tennessee and excited about what the Lord has in store for us in the new year. 

On New Year's Day, I had the privilege of preaching at Central Baptist Church in Wendell, NC. The central theme of that sermon is something we've been reflecting on in our home for some time.  The longer I'm alive, the more convinced I am the almost all of our problems in life arise from a misunderstanding of who God is and what He is like.  That's why the Lord gave us a Bible, to intentionally reveal Himself to us.  This year in our home, we're trying to read through the Bible every day asking just one simple question:  What does this passage tell me about who God is and what he is like?  And then, we're writing down our responses in a simple notebook.  My hope is that be the end of this year, we'll have a notebook full of our own observations of what our glorious Lord has to say about himself.  Would you consider doing something similar?  We'd love to hear what you're learning as you join us in this.

As an example, what does Genesis 1 tell us about who God is and what he is like?
1. He is creator of heaven and earth.
2. He is all powerful.
3. He speaks, so he has the ability to communicate.
4. Everything he does is good and very good.
There are lots more things you could write down here, these are simply intended for illustrative purposes.  I hope you'll enjoy your reading this year!

In our home life, Lily is a delight.  She's growing fast and learning new words every day.  She's become a little chatterbox, and she has a wonderfully sweet disposition.  We're thankful for this time with her!

Meredith and I are doing quite well, though we have been struggling with some illness the last couple of weeks.  To this point, Lily has been spared.  Please pray she doesn't get it!

In our ministry, the Storehouse continues to be busy, serving many in the community.  As for pastor training, we made some good inroads in December.  I've enlisted the help of a number of key local leaders who are as excited about this ministry as I am!  Please be in prayer for us over the next two months as we flesh out our plan to launch sermon prep groups by the summer.

Thanks for all your prayers and support!

I left the pantry door cracked on accident.  The house got suddenly quiet for too long, and I soon discovered why.  She really likes crackers!

Pastor Luis is a friend who pastors a local hispanic congregation.  This week we were able to provide cribs for their church nursery among other things!  He was very excited, and very thankful to the Lord!

Our 1st Thursday food distribution went great.  Our local Second Harvest received a new truck for their mobile food pantry this month, courtesy of American Idol Gives Back. 

Volunteers sorting for broken eggs as we prep the food to give out.

Lily is starting to outgrow her wagon, so for Christmas her Mema and Papa got her a new ride.  She also got a folding slide and and outdoor table play set from her other grandparents,  perfect for our little one who loves to be outside.  We're blessed to have such wonderful parents!

This is Daniel's whole family.  Mom and Dad, 5 kids, 5 spouses, 9 grandkids, and there are two more babies due this year!

She was tired in the midst of all the present opening :)

Me and my four siblings at Christmas.