How Can You Join Us?

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Please don't take my picture Daddy!  Too late.

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,

The Lord continues to show himself faithful in East Tennessee.  Last week we served a number of families, and I'd like to tell you the story of them.  On Tuesday, a husband and wife came in looking for some furniture.  He recently got laid off after 15 years on the job at a local factory because he was the EPA certified person and asking questions about some of the things the factory is doing.  Unfortunately, he and his wife had gotten most of their furniture at one of the local "rent-to-own" places.  After he got laid off, most of their furniture, including their beds, got repo-ed.  As you might imagine, their circumstances are putting stress on their marriage.  He's looking for work, but hasn't found it yet.  We were able to provide beds for them and their son, as well as a number of household items.  We were also able to share with them that the Lord has a purpose in this, and maybe that purpose is so that they can experience the love of God through us and see Him providing in their time of need.  We got to encourage their marriage and challenge them to seek the Lord.  We're blessed to be a blessing to others, and you enable that.

The couple mentioned above left us loaded down with a queen bed on top, a twin bed in the back, and as many household items as we could wedge in.  They also heard clearly that it is the Lord who provides!

We are incredibly blessed to have a wonderful group of ministry partners who enable us to fulfill the Lord's call on our lives by giving faithfully to support our ministry.  If you've followed the blog the last couple of months, perhaps the Lord is leading you to consider partnering with our ministry financially as well as prayerfully.  Every dollar counts, and we appreciate your sacrifice.  All of our funding is handled through Denton Bible Church.  If you would like more information on how to give, simply reply to this email and I'll be glad to send you the details.

This week you can be praying for...

On Wednesday and Thursday, a number of high school students from First Baptist Greeneville will be coming to serve with us.  These students went with the church on a mission trip about a month ago, and this week they are serving locally to help them retain and implement the things the Lord taught them on their trip.  By Gos' grace, the Greeneville Housing Authority has donated a bunch of used stoves and refrigerators to our ministry that we need to pick up, sort, and prepare to give away.  The students will be helping with that process, as well as helping us sort clothes and clean up around the Storehouse.  Please pray for these young people, that through their service the Lord would open their eyes to the physical and spiritual needs of others all around them.
 

Helping mommy with the sheets.

Lily "gives the bear hugs".

"And gives the bear kisses".

She's a beautiful little person who is growing too fast and absolutely full of life!

How do Benevolence Ministry and Leadership Training Fit Together?

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Lily giving the little boy kisses.  It's not looking good folks!

Hi Friends and Prayer Warriors!

Unless someone emails me another question, this will probably wrap up our series of FAQ about our ministry here in East TN.  Our prayer is that this series has been informative as well as uplifting.  We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful base of friends and partners who encourage us and pray for the Lord's work here in our little corner of the globe.

Okay, the last question is a biggie.  How do benevolence ministry and leadership training fit together?  To be honest, in Meredith and I's first few months on the field our team had more conversations about this than just about anything else.  On the surface, they seem like vastly different emphases in ministry, but we believe they complement one another nicely. 

In addition to meeting individual's needs through our benevolence ministry, we are providing a resource to local churches that is helping us develop relationships with churches and their pastors, with the hope that in time we'll be able to train and invest in their church leaders.  After five years, Mountain Vision has developed a credible presence in the local community.  We've developed a reputation for helping people and serving churches.  Presently, we're talking with those churches with whom we have healthy, working relationships about starting a program to train some of their leaders.  Without the foundation laid by years of serving people and churches in the community, we wouldn't have the credibility necessary for churches to even consider letting us help train their leaders.  Right now, we're in the consideration stage.  Our prayer is that by this fall we'll see some movement towards establishing a program for training and equipping church leaders.

Things you can pray for this week.

1.  Please continue to pray for our relationships with local pastors and church leaders, that the Lord would allow us to work together to further His kingdom in East Tennessee.

2. Please pray that the Lord would continue to provide, particularly furniture, for our benevolence ministry.  The demand is so high, we aren't able to provide for all of those who come to us.  We were blessed with a large load of things last Saturday, and they were basically all gone by the end of the day today. 

3.  Praise the Lord for his provision, and for those we were able to bless this week!

My friend Mark and his sons, Tanner and Taylor, helped me pick up furniture donations on Saturday.

Lily came along to help too.  She's checking out the goods.

Mrs. Deanna was the source of much of Saturday's donations. Thank you!

This little boy was on the front step of the house, and Lily walked right up and gave him hugs and kisses.

Our total donations for Saturday included two queen bed sets, a full mattress, a complete twin trundle bed, some book cases, a coffee table, microwave, linens, and other miscellaneous items.

On July 4th, we drove over toward Pigeon Forge to spend the holiday with Daniel's family on the lake.  Lily loves the water!

Watching her cousins splash in the lake.

Sitting with mommy and eating a cracker on the dock.

Giving baby Joanna, her newest cousin (6 weeks), kisses.