Why so many pictures of Lily?

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She's getting SO big!

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

It's a blessing to have you following along with our lives and ministry here in East Tennessee, and to have you praying for us.  Last weekend we were blessed to have John and Ngoc Brown fly out from Texas for a visit.  John is one of the pastors in the missions office at Denton Bible Church, our employer.  John was one of the pastors who married us, and it was a real blessing to have them in our home.  We talked nearly the entire weekend about everything from marriage and parenting to life and ministry.  There is something uniquely special when a couple a few years farther along in life and marriage invites you into their lives and shares their wisdom, and we're thankful for the time we were able to spend with the Browns. 

We had a wonderful weekend with John and Ngoc.

We love you, and view you as partners in our ministry.  So one of the things I asked John about was what he thought we could do to improve the blog.  We've got a faithful readership, and we're constantly looking for ways to make it more beneficial for you the reader.  One of his suggestions was that we consider spending some time answering the questions we get asked the most.  Chances are, for every one person that asked the question, ten more people thought it.  So, over the coming months we're going to devote a section of the blog to just answering peoples frequently asked questions.

As you may have surmised from the title of this email, one of the questions we get asked regularly is why the blog has so many pictures of Lily.  The answer is simple.  More people read the posts that have pictures of Lily than the posts that don't.  More people respond to, share, and comment on posts that have a picture of Lily at the beginning than they do on any other post.  So, she's the lure we use to get you to open the blog and read our prayer requests.

In our effort to glorify the Lord in all we do, we try to do everything on purpose and not haphazardly.  We fail a lot, but it's something we're focused on allowing the Lord to improve in us.  I hope the blogs in the coming months will not only answer questions you may have lingering about our ministry, but also encourage you to live with the glory of the Lord in mind.

As an update to the last blog post, my meeting with the local baptist leaders that was scheduled for last Thursday got postponed until this Thursday, the 8th.  I've revised, rewritten, and expanded my proposal for the launch of Sermon Prep groups,  so please pray that I'll find favor in the sight of these local leaders, and the Lord will open doors for serving and training the under-served pastors in our region.

We want to praise the Lord for the new supporters he has raised up to join our team.  We still have some funds to raise, but the Lord has been graciously hearing your prayers and ours and blessing us with new support.

We helped a lot of people this month, including this cute little girl who was fascinated with the camera!

A local troupe of American Heritage Girls came out to serve on 1st Thursday and also on Saturday!

The girls did a great job helping load the food boxes.

Papa brought Lily a new ride!  Praise God for Papa's love of flea markets!

She loves doing whatever Papa is doing, even if it's just rocking in a chair...

or sitting in the swing.