Dearest Friends and Prayer Warriors,
Greetings from rainy and snowy East Tennessee! We pray you are all doing well. The past two weeks have been busy for us here. Our teammates, Charlie and Earlene Cornett, left two weeks ago to travel to Denton, TX for a time of support raising and giving a ministry report to the Elders of Denton Bible Church, our sending church. With them gone, Daniel has been active helping to run the day to day operations of the Storehouse ministry, distributing clothing to individuals and families in need. This past January was our busiest January on record: we were so blessed to serve about 65 families! One of Daniel's projects this past two weeks at the Storehouse was getting the back door fixed on our box truck that was rotted out. This box truck is critical to our benevolence ministry here as it enables us to pick up furniture donations which is a critical need here. We are excited to say a new door is in place! The major focus of our benevolence ministry over this next week (outside of our day to day operations) will be preparing for possible missions trips that will be coming in March. We also have plans for an American Heritage girl's group to come and serve in two weekends. It is a joy having people to come and serve alongside us! Won't you consider coming at some point?
In our Pastor Training Ministry we are so excited to say that we have had good feedback from Pastor Willie Lunsford, who is the Director of Seminary Extension at the Holston Baptist Association (HBA). This is the largest association in East Tennessee and many of the smaller surrounding associations take their lead from the HBA. Daniel submitted a proprosal to him outlining the integration and start of Sermon Preparation groups as a launching pad for the BTCP pastor training program. Pastor Lunsford felt the proprosal looked great and they are planning to meet in a couple weeks to discuss the time frame for the launch of these Sermon Preparation groups. A large hurdle that we face with the ministry here in East Tennessee is the "Ya'll aren't from around here" mentality. A way that we have proposed to remedy this mentality is by gaining the support of the HBA to promote these Sermon Preparation groups. Daniel would then facilitate a group of pastors meeting together once weekly where they would plan their Sunday sermons as a group sharing insights and illustrations. This would be meeting a need that many of the pastors in the area have while at the same time, Daniel would be integrating himself in the culture and building relationships with these pastors in hopes that afterward, they would be receptive of the BTCP program and him relationally. We are excited about these Sermon Preparation groups and hoping they can launch this summer.
In our personal ministry we wanted to update you on a prayer request that we asked of you not long after we arrived here. We asked you to pray for us to find a good local church that we could join and serve at. We apologize for not updating you on this sooner. In early December we are happy to say we joined First Baptist Church here in Greeneville, TN under the leadership of Dr. David Green. We are actively involved in Sunday School and worship. Also, Daniel is serving by leading a group of 15 families through Financial Peace University which started in January and ends in April. He is really enjoying this time to help families in the church get on the road to financial health. We have also been asked recently to possibly offer some financial counseling to an individual. We are excited about this as we love to serve and believe there is true freedom in becoming debt free. Meredith is also actively involved in a Sunday night bible study with other ladies at the church. She is enjoying this study but also the opportunity to meet other ladies here.
In our family life we have battled the stomach bug and upper respiratory infections the past two weeks but seem to be on the road to recovery. Lily is such a joy in our lives! We aren't exactly sure but we think her word count is over 200 words now! She learns something new every day. She is also learning to play with puzzles. She really enjoys her time playing with her "friends" at the YMCA each day and in the nursery at church. If you ever want to see her just let us know! She loves Skyping and thinks it is so fun and you may even get a kiss through the webcam:)
Things you can be praying for for us:
1-For Daniel's meetings with Pastor Lunsford and others at the HBA. That they would be excited about the Sermon Preparation Groups and that these would be able to launch late Spring/Early Summer.
2-For our endurance through the rest of the winter here. We like to think of East Tennessee as a "mini-Seattle", it rains A LOT here. It makes it hard to get outside and as that is Lily's favorite place to be, Meredith is really longing for dryer and warmer days!
3-For discernment and wisdom to know whether or not to buy a house and where to buy in this region. We are considering home ownership and weighing this option for our family.
Love in Christ,
Daniel, Meredith, and Lily Shrader
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| CHEESE! Lily playing outside at the Storehouse on 1st Thursday. |
Greetings from rainy and snowy East Tennessee! We pray you are all doing well. The past two weeks have been busy for us here. Our teammates, Charlie and Earlene Cornett, left two weeks ago to travel to Denton, TX for a time of support raising and giving a ministry report to the Elders of Denton Bible Church, our sending church. With them gone, Daniel has been active helping to run the day to day operations of the Storehouse ministry, distributing clothing to individuals and families in need. This past January was our busiest January on record: we were so blessed to serve about 65 families! One of Daniel's projects this past two weeks at the Storehouse was getting the back door fixed on our box truck that was rotted out. This box truck is critical to our benevolence ministry here as it enables us to pick up furniture donations which is a critical need here. We are excited to say a new door is in place! The major focus of our benevolence ministry over this next week (outside of our day to day operations) will be preparing for possible missions trips that will be coming in March. We also have plans for an American Heritage girl's group to come and serve in two weekends. It is a joy having people to come and serve alongside us! Won't you consider coming at some point?
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| Folks lining up for food on first Thursday. |
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| This month we provided food for 68 families. |
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| Pastor Luis and Pastor Gary, two of our local partners, serving on first Thursday. |
In our Pastor Training Ministry we are so excited to say that we have had good feedback from Pastor Willie Lunsford, who is the Director of Seminary Extension at the Holston Baptist Association (HBA). This is the largest association in East Tennessee and many of the smaller surrounding associations take their lead from the HBA. Daniel submitted a proprosal to him outlining the integration and start of Sermon Preparation groups as a launching pad for the BTCP pastor training program. Pastor Lunsford felt the proprosal looked great and they are planning to meet in a couple weeks to discuss the time frame for the launch of these Sermon Preparation groups. A large hurdle that we face with the ministry here in East Tennessee is the "Ya'll aren't from around here" mentality. A way that we have proposed to remedy this mentality is by gaining the support of the HBA to promote these Sermon Preparation groups. Daniel would then facilitate a group of pastors meeting together once weekly where they would plan their Sunday sermons as a group sharing insights and illustrations. This would be meeting a need that many of the pastors in the area have while at the same time, Daniel would be integrating himself in the culture and building relationships with these pastors in hopes that afterward, they would be receptive of the BTCP program and him relationally. We are excited about these Sermon Preparation groups and hoping they can launch this summer.
In our personal ministry we wanted to update you on a prayer request that we asked of you not long after we arrived here. We asked you to pray for us to find a good local church that we could join and serve at. We apologize for not updating you on this sooner. In early December we are happy to say we joined First Baptist Church here in Greeneville, TN under the leadership of Dr. David Green. We are actively involved in Sunday School and worship. Also, Daniel is serving by leading a group of 15 families through Financial Peace University which started in January and ends in April. He is really enjoying this time to help families in the church get on the road to financial health. We have also been asked recently to possibly offer some financial counseling to an individual. We are excited about this as we love to serve and believe there is true freedom in becoming debt free. Meredith is also actively involved in a Sunday night bible study with other ladies at the church. She is enjoying this study but also the opportunity to meet other ladies here.
In our family life we have battled the stomach bug and upper respiratory infections the past two weeks but seem to be on the road to recovery. Lily is such a joy in our lives! We aren't exactly sure but we think her word count is over 200 words now! She learns something new every day. She is also learning to play with puzzles. She really enjoys her time playing with her "friends" at the YMCA each day and in the nursery at church. If you ever want to see her just let us know! She loves Skyping and thinks it is so fun and you may even get a kiss through the webcam:)
Things you can be praying for for us:
1-For Daniel's meetings with Pastor Lunsford and others at the HBA. That they would be excited about the Sermon Preparation Groups and that these would be able to launch late Spring/Early Summer.
2-For our endurance through the rest of the winter here. We like to think of East Tennessee as a "mini-Seattle", it rains A LOT here. It makes it hard to get outside and as that is Lily's favorite place to be, Meredith is really longing for dryer and warmer days!
3-For discernment and wisdom to know whether or not to buy a house and where to buy in this region. We are considering home ownership and weighing this option for our family.
Love in Christ,
Daniel, Meredith, and Lily Shrader
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| Lily is in a "helping" stage. Here, she's helping mommy dust the bedroom. When you're doing something, she runs up and says "help" and then trys to copy you. |
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| And helping mommy load the dryer. Notice the teamwork! |
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| She's actually not bad help for an 18 month old. |
