July 4, 2014

May Newsletter


May 2014
May went by incredibly fast, which I am sure is just an indication of how fast this summer is going to come and go.
We had the pleasure of hosting a group from Lipscomb University for the second year in a row. They provided much physical and spiritual support in the time they were here. The most obvious benefit is the actual physical work that was accomplished. We are able to have a very large community garden because of the work this group put in. (Do things actually have to grow before you can call it a garden? If so, we might be building the communities largest sandbox) They worked for an entire week preparing the garden in the sandy, windy weather. To describe it as simply “windy weather” is certainly an understatement. We would not be able to do this on our own because of limited time and resources. Every year the garden project has gotten a little bit better and this year we have high hopes, especially because we have two interns helping with it. The Lipscomb group also put together a clothing drive and “Kid’s carnival.” It really puts a positive face on our church and draws in a lot of people. The children absolutely loved all the games and activities. The group also brought a basketball hoop for us and they installed it permanently on the property. It’s very popular. Also, my interns are terrible at basketball. ☺
Mission trips benefit the members of the congregation greatly because of the encouragement they receive. When members of the mission team talk to our members and show the warmth and love of Christ, the church can feel it. Groups bring a source of energy and rejuvenation to the congregation. The Lipscomb group was no different and many of our members enjoyed talking with them.

Heidi and I also personally benefit from short-term mission trips. For the second year now we have really enjoyed fellowship with the Lipscomb group in particular. It is a time of encouragement to be with Christians that have a heart to serve. Also, our social life is limited so it is a source of rejuvenation for us to have groups come and spend time with us, personally. We played games almost every night and had a fun day of sight-seeing as well. In addition to all that, this group had the great idea of babysitting Julia while we went on a date. This date was long overdue, as many of you with small children I am sure are familiar with.
We had another really great time of fellowship over Memorial Day with a cookout and some outdoor games. The new basketball hoop was a hit. Thankfully the wind held out enough for us to eat outside and really enjoy the sunshine. We even had a few of our visitors from the day before come by and eat with us. This is the type of fellowship that brings the church together and it’s the sort of stuff I love the most.
While in the midst of getting ready to leave this fall, we have done a lot of work over the past month to prepare the men of the congregation to take on more responsibilities. We are now having men’s meetings every other Sunday to talk about these responsibilities. Every Monday night, we are going to meet to train the men how to prepare for teaching and preaching, kind of an informal training workshop. I am also working on getting materials together for the men to use for Bible Classes. One thing I am trying to gather is live video recordings of great Bible teachers and their lessons. The church here can watch the video and then have a facilitator answer questions and have discussions. If there is any way you think you can help with this, please contact me.

February 15, 2014

January 2014 Newsletter

Our work here got off to a late start in January due to a much delayed flight coming back from Christmas break. The weather was so bad back east at the beginning of January, not one but two consecutive flights we had were cancelled and we ended up back in Kayenta 5 days later than anticipated. I almost started to look for a job in Pittsburgh. Nonetheless, we had a very blessed Holiday season with our family and friends in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I also got to officiate my first wedding for a good friend in Ohio. Although it was a vacation, I did my fair share of work. I did a wedding, then preached and taught a class at one of our supporting congregations and also our home congregation.
Speaking of weddings, I will be officiating my second wedding in a couple of weeks and I started pre-marital counseling with this young couple in January. They are related to one of our members and they live in Flagstaff. They are not members of the church and this is a great opportunity to reach out to them and teach them some of what the Bible says about marriage.
While we didn’t have any huge events occur this month, it’s that time of year that we start planning for all of our groups to come in the spring and summer. We have at least seven different groups coming to do a number of things including work projects, VBS, gospel meetings, workshops, and outreach activities. The sojourners are coming again on two separate trips. One is for manual labor and the other is a workshop called “The Listening Lab” which is designed to teach church members skills in visiting and winning back those that have fallen away.
It takes a lot of time to get all these groups in order. I spend a lot of time communicating with the group leaders, figuring out what they will do, and helping them get their arrangements in order like lodging, food and travel. This is especially true for those groups that have never been to Kayenta. Other than the sojourners, we have three church groups that have come in the past and liked it so much they are coming again. There are two church groups coming that have never been here before and very interested in the reservation work. We think it’s very important to allow many groups the chance to come here and work. These work groups always build up our congregation by encouraging our members and reaching out to potential new members. There is always more excitement and energy when groups are here. Not only that but the more people that visit the reservation, the more exposure we have in the church and opportunities for new workers and resources. We are also trying to make plans to have interns come out this summer to work with us. This is another large task because there are almost no options for housing and so if we can convince people to come work with us, there is a huge hurdle to jump in finding them a place to stay. Right now, we are looking at the possibility of buying a single-wide trailer to put on the church property for more workers. If you are interested in donating to this cause, please talk to me as soon as possible.
Our first reservation-wide monthly Bible study of 2014 was in Fort Defiance. I had the opportunity to travel down on a Friday night and spend the night. We are continuing our study on resurrection and end times. As much as anything, this study is a great chance for me to fellowship with the other preachers on the reservation. It is always encouraging to spend time with other preachers and share in our struggles and our victories.
As always, many of our members have been struggling in their faith, so we have spent some time visiting with them and trying to build them up so they come to services consistently and lean on the Bible and the church for support. A young couple in the church just had a baby. Outside of us, this is the first baby we have seen here born i1nside of marriage and there have been at least 8 babies that I can remember born into families in the church. Regardless, this young man has struggled with many issues over the years and he is finally at a point where he is ready to make a change. He is strongly considering going to preaching school and I have spent some time trying to guide him in the right direction. Please pray for Ryan as he is looking for his next phase in life.