Shrader Snapshots 2014

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Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,
This year we’ve seen the Lord do some amazing things.  As we come to the end of the year, we’d like to share a few of them with you.
At the Storehouse, it seems that we’ve managed to run off a few of the “wolves”.  At the end of last year we began to implement some small changes in our screening process to try and filter out some of the “shoppers” (people who don’t actually need help but simply take advantage of us because we’re there).  Often, they take the items we give them and sell them at yard sales and thrift stores.  This year, because of those changes, the total number of clients we helped declined, as did the average number of times we helped each family.  The reason we see that as a blessing from the Lord is that it means we were able to help more families who had real needs, and had fewer people take advantage of us. Praise the Lord for his protection!

Families waiting for food boxes on First Thursday.

For many folks, like the family that received these beds, asking for help is hard.  Many of them prefer not to have their picture taken, which is totally understandable.  Sometimes that makes it difficult to "show" you the ministry here, so we try to use stories.

Lily helping pass out a gospel DVD with a Thanksgiving meal.

Johnny says "Thank you!" from Daniel Shrader on Vimeo.
One of our clients would like you to know the Lord is in this place! And "Youins are doing a good thing!"

Many of the people we’ve helped have stories similar to a young lady named Abby.  She had an injury that made her unable to physically do her job, so she lost her job, and then her home. Unemployed and out of money, she moved in with a man she was not in a relationship with, just until she could get back on her feet.  Eventually, he insisted that if she was living with him she share his bed.  Rather than do that, she moved out immediately and left all her belongings except a small bag of clothing.  When she came to us looking for clothing, she’d been living in her car for a week with her young daughter.  A girlfriend had just taken her in temporarily to get her off the street, but she couldn’t stay because the landlord wouldn’t allow it.  She desperately needed housing and a job.  Dennyr and I helped her find clothing for her daughter and herself, and we also prayed with her, and shared the gospel with her.  She said she knew that we loved her and wanted to help, and that she could always come here for help, but she didn’t pray to receive Christ.  She’s just not there yet.  We referred her to the local transitional housing ministry, made her aware of some immediate job openings, and assured her we’d always be here to help.  Your giving helps keep us here.  Your praying helps soften hard hearts to the gospel.

Jeremiah joined our family for Thanksgiving. I snapped this of him reading Lily one of her Bibles after we ate lunch.

The highlight of the year in our benevolence ministry has been the launching of JobsforLife.  The Lord heard your prayers, and he answered them.  When I first met Jeremiah in August, he was unemployed, out of money, and taking care of his girlfriend and their 7 week old son. He needed a job, badly.  Having a baby made him acutely aware of his need for a career path and stable, long-term employment. He needed JobsforLife.  He also needed the Gospel.  As we began to meet for class, the Lord began to work in his life.  In the second week of JfL, he prayed to receive Christ and follow him as Lord.  Over the course of the class, he developed a quality resume, improved his interview skills, learned the value of character at work, and put together a three year vocational plan.  He also got two jobs as a part of his plan.  He’s been regularly attending church and Sunday school, and though we formally ended class, we still talk almost every week.  He’s growing in his faith, despite life being difficult and messy (his girlfriend left him and took their son with her).  I know he would appreciate your continued prayers in the year ahead as he continues toward a more stable career and works toward becoming a godly dad for his son.

I'm currently teaching the book of James to this fantastic group of students in the Seminary Extension.

Our year in church leader training experienced an unexpected turn when the Lord led my mentor, John Brown, to a new position in ministry with a different organization.  Our plans to write an advanced preaching curriculum for laymen have been tabled until after the DBC Mission’s Conference in January when we hope to re-form a team of guys to collaborate on the project.  Teaching at the Seminary Extension continues to go well.  Brother Willie who leads the program is presently looking for opportunities to expand regionally.  There is an opportunity for us to participate in that expansion, so please pray the Lord would open the right doors and guide us in the process.

Our family has had an excellent year.  Our children are delightful little people who have a zeal for life and people.  Lily has an incredibly active imagination and loves to pretend.  Hosea is curious and into everything. They keep us on our toes!

As we come to the end of this year, the Lord has been incredibly faithful to take care of our family financially.  Due to changes in their lives’ circumstances, a number of our monthly supporters were unable to continue their monthly support of our ministry this year.  Would you prayerfully consider giving a one-time gift this year to help us cover that shortfall while we work to encourage some new families to join our team as monthly supporters?  If you feel like the Lord is leading you to join us as a monthly partner, would you call me, email me, or shoot me a message on facebook?  Thank you for all your prayers and support.

Merry Christmas from Daniel, Meredith, Lily and Hosea!

Join Us at the DBC Missions Conference

Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,


We wanted to personally invite you to join us (and dozens of other missionaries from around the world!)  at the Denton Bible Church Missions Conference.

The conference will be held January 16-17^th  

The elders, staff, and missionaries would like to invite you to celebrate what God is doing for His glory throughout the world. We will hear from the different fields, and have opportunities to attend breakout sessions hosted by our SERVE and affiliate missionaries. There is  also a program for children, ages 4 mo to 5^th grade. 

The conference is free but you do need to register.  For more information and to register go to: dbcm.org/conf2015.