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Mommy's taking this pic. We lasted about 8 minutes out in the snow!
Dear Friends and Prayer Warriors,
There's no question that the story of the latter half of February was snow, snow, and snow. However, the Lord has done lots of things this month beyond just giving us tons of the white stuff to keep us inside.
Early in the month Lily and I went on a date to the annual Daddy/Daughter dance held here in Greeneville.
She loves the time we get to spend together, and I want her to grow up knowing how a man should treat a woman. Daddy collected his best manners, and we got dressed up and went to a nice dinner at the local Italian place (she spilled pizza sauce down the front of her dress). After dinner, within the first two minutes of our arrival at the dance, she was crying her eyes out. After calming her down enough to ask what was wrong, I was reminded that fashion is pain, even for little girls. Her pretty shoes were pinching her feet. Off came the shoes and away she went, dancing like a princess.
Dennis and Allison, Anjela and BJ stopped through for a visit!
Dennis and Allison Omondi blessed us with a visit on their road trip from Texas to NC. Dennis is the Field Director for SERVE, Kenya. I love Dennis because he lives out his faith in a BIG God. The mission of SERVE is to cultivate, equip, and mobilize Christian leaders worldwide. Dennis says this means we need to go wide, go deep, and go viral! You can find out more about their team at www.servekenya.org.
As faith-based missionaries, we depend on the monthly contributions of our ministry partners to continue in ministry. Many of our supporters had been giving using automatic draft, until Denton Bible Church's bank accidentally deleted everyone's information during a software upgrade last month. After a moment of panic when I realized that half of our monthly support had just stopped, God took the opportunity to remind me of his incredible faithfulness. The vast majority of our supporters have already made the transition to the new online giving system via theCity. Several of our supporters increased their monthly gifts. God is so good, even when technology doesn't work! If you've been prayerfully supporting our ministry and would like to financially support us, giving has never been easier. Just reply to this email and I'll send you the how-to info.
Men from FBC Greeneville replaced the skids that had rotted under our little chapel this month.
This little chapel is a donation center for Mountain Vision. The new concrete foundation looks great!
Last month's update told you about the Storehouse move. This month I met with a local plumber who is going to do the rough plumbing work. He has graciously agreed to donate the permit, tools, materials, and contractor fees. He's only going to charge us for his crew's actual labor cost, which for this project is about 20% of the retail cost. A local concrete finisher has agreed to refinish the section of the floor that the plumber removes for just $100. Yesterday, Calvary Chapel took up a love offering to help fund this project, and they collected more than enough money to pay for the rough plumbing and the concrete work. Praise the Lord! By God's grace, the plumbing should get done this month, and the team from Denton Bible will be here in April!
We played the Newlywed Game with the RMBC couples! We had such a blessed time with these families!
This month I had the privilege of being the keynote speaker at a Marriage Enrichment Weekend with our good friends from Rocky Mount Bible Church. We spent a Friday and Saturday together walking through a practical exposition of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Are we patient with our spouse when they're not acting in a manner consistent with the gospel? When they're having a bad day and treating us badly, do we respond with patience? Are we more patient with our spouse today than we were when were dating? If not, why not? Are we practicing intentional acts of kindness without expecting them to be reciprocated? Are we not taking into account a wrong suffered? Are we truly forgiving our spouse as Christ has forgiven us? We finished up the weekend on Sunday morning examining Philippians 1:27-2:5 together. True love is always self-less. Every married believer is called to put their spouse's needs in front of their own, all-the-time. That was Jesus attitude toward us. Jesus was revolutionary.
This month we have JobsforLife starting up again. (New to JobsforLife? click here.) We will have interviews on Thursday at the Storehouse after our food distribution, and again next Tuesday, March 10th. Classes will be on Tuesday and Thursday evenings March 17 through May 7. Please pray that the Lord would bring students with hearts soft to the gospel and a willingness to change. Please pray that the Lord would give us enough volunteers to match each student with a Champion (mentor).
I had a great meeting with Pastor Willie about expanding seminary extension this Fall, and that process is moving forward. We are meeting with additional potential partners on March 23rd, so please pray the Lord would continue to open doors for equipping men and women for gospel ministry.
The big news in our family this month is that Meredith's dad, Dannie (DR) Richardson, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of bladder cancer. He has appointments next week and the following week to discuss treatment options, so we should know a lot more in a couple of weeks. Presently, there's a lot of uncertainty. We appreciate your prayers for him, as well as for our family as we try to be supportive while living 300 miles away.
Things you can be praying for...
1. Please pray for DR, that the Lord would give him peace and the doctors wisdom in the weeks ahead.
2. Please pray for the Lord's blessing on our new JobsforLife class
3. Please pray for the Lord's continued blessing on the Storehouse transition as construction begins this month.
4. Please pray the Lord would guide our plans to expand seminary extension in the Fall.
Chris Abner is the pastor at Rocky Mount Bible Church. Laura has been Meredith's best friend since college. The weekend was filled with real talk and real grace for real marriage.
The roads when we left for the Marriage Enrichment Weekend were a little suspect. Praise the Lord we made it safely!
We discovered the free Build and Grow workshops at Lowes this month!
Mommy and Lily made rainbow cupcakes for Valentine's Day! Ask Mommy to tell you this story!
This is where we really spend most of the snow days. They like the idea of snow, but don't like the cold :)
The snow was pretty, but we are ready for spring!
Lily making a snow angel after our one sled ride down the hill.
He kept wanting to sit down and grab the snow, and then crying because his hands were cold.
Lily finally got to make her "Olaf", in about the same amount of time it took Elsa.
Lily helping daddy make a double batch of waffles!
Our little ham says "Thank you for your prayers! We love you!"
