I've moved the mathematics tutoring information off of the website.  This content is still available through a dedicated Discord server and my YouTube channel.  I was finding this content to be more of a distraction to me (and probably to you) in what I was actually trying to do here.  I've now also made a few large categories, and I hope this does not make any of the menus too large for those of you using mobile devices.  If so, contact me through Discord and let me know so that I can make the site friendly to both mobile and desktop users.

I have also added a link under the Links and Resources area to ChatAboutJesus.com for those that are looking to speak with someone about how to become a Christian.  I want to make it as easy as possible for someone to make this decision whenever they feel the Spirit calling them, and since I can't always be there to speak to them, I want to be able to connect them with someone who will be there in that moment and will share the true gospel with them.  I've also moved the Contact Us form to Links and Resources.  If you can't find something or have feedback on these changes, please let me know by using this Contact Form.

Thanks,
​Daniel Westfall

It's been a long-time coming, but Weebly has finally made it easy to change your theme to a Dark Mode with the simple flip of a switch.  This should be easier on everyone's eyes and provide more contrast as you read content on the site.  If I find a way to easily make the website responsive to whether you have Light Mode or Dark Mode as the default for your system, I'll look into that in the future, but this is better for me, and I hope better for you as we interact with the website.

​I've also changed the background color from blue to red.  Blue and red are two of my favorite colors, but I like blue and white for Light Mode themes and red and black for Dark Mode themes. If for any reason, you have trouble reading anything in the new theme, please let me know, and I'll try to make some changes to make it more readable and accessible.

Thanks,
Daniel Westfall

Enough has been said that I'm okay with posting this here now.  Please pray for me and family this week, specifically on Thursday 5/23 as my dad is going to have major surgery that day (no time scheduled yet).  I think most of you reading this have probably already seen some details online from my sister or my mom, but if you'd like to contact me directly to ask me what's going on, I'll be happy to fill you in so that you better know how to pray.  Pray for the opportunity that he has to be a witness to those attending to him in the hospital and those who will be caring for him in his post-op recovery and rehab.  He is at peace with everything that is happening, though that doesn't mean that it's not hard for him and members of the family.  Pray that we will experience the peace that surpasses all understanding that will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Pray that we keep our hearts and minds focused on our God who is our Healer and Great Physician.  Help us to have eyes to see and ears to hear even as we visit my dad to see what's going on around us.  We grieve because of pain and suffering, but we do not grieve as those who have no hope, for we look forward to a day when all things will be made new, and the curse of sin and death and the very existence of sin and death will be removed for those who are in Christ.  So, we also pray for those who are not in Christ to see this hope and ask why it is that we can have peace and joy in the midst of pain and suffering and that we would be ready to give an answer for the reason for the hope that we have.  In all things, we want to pray that God would be glorified.  Thank you for joining us in our prayers in these matters.

Update:  Thank you all for praying for my dad through this time.  In a way, he never really recovered from this surgery as he fell a few times during his recovery.  The last time he fell, he went into the hospital, then to rehab, then to a wing of the nursing home that was supposed to help prepare him to come home, but he deteriorated quickly and it was obvious to the family that he was not going to come home.  He was moved from the nursing home to hospice and was treated very well there.  His family and friends were able to visit him and he died quietly in his sleep.  He is now in heaven with His Lord and Savior, free from pain and sin and the effects of sin that caused this  brokenness that we see around us.

Not a lot to report right now other than I've reached the end of another semester (today is the last day of class and final exams start tomorrow and end on 5/6).  There haven't been nearly as many contacts this semester as previous semesters, but I've extended my reach a bit by building my YouTube channel with math tutorial videos that hopefully will get some people to subscribe, and hopefully those subscribers will then see The Gospel Project lessons that I publish on a weekly basis.  I also hope in some way that some of the viewers make their way to the website where they can find out more about the Bible, discipleship, apologetics and more.  While not necessarily something "new," it is a new way of using something old.  You can pray with me that I catch some fish.

You can pray for my friend Trey Gaines from Florida (a fellow Christian that I watch play some video games on Twitch and chat with and talk to through Discord).  His parents appear to be about ready to divorce one another and his mother is making statements like Trey being the only reason she has for living.  He said, "It makes me dread talking to them and I hate feeling like that, but they're both so incredibly miserable and only want to spread that misery.  I tolerate it due to being commanded to honor my father and mother, but wish it were a healthy relationship."

You can also be praying for my brother-in-law Frank as he does some work with Jim and Jennifer Snyder (the missionaries in Philadelphia that my sister Elizabeth used to work with).  Jim and Jennifer hope to have some chances to share the gospel with Frank without Elizabeth around as it looks like she is the one that is piloting things in their marriage.

You can also be praying for my dad's long-time friend and co-worker and current boss, Larry McGuffin.  Larry seems to have believed a form of cultural Christianity (he's from East Texas) that says that every who is a "good person" goes to heaven.  If you ask him what it means to be a "good person," he would start talking about good things that he's done (he's a salesman who thinks he can make a good enough pitch to God about why he should be allowed into heaven).  Larry will see things on the news (like what's happening in Israel) and ask what the Bible has to say about it.  He knows the Bible has something to say about it, but he doesn't read the Bible for himself, and has correctly said that when he does try to read it, it doesn't make sense to him.  Pray for him that he would have his heart softened and that he would be open to reading the Bible and that God would reveal His truth to Larry.  Also pray for my dad, as I think he's impatient wanting Larry to take initiative.  Only recently did my dad even think that Larry is acting in a way that is consistent with him not having the Holy Spirit and that it is unfair to expect him to act like a Christian and desire the things of God without God first doing the work in his heart.  This is as much about my dad as it is about Larry as my dad has been trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit and has made Larry a "project" of his for most of his life (most likely feeling like he would be able to take credit for all the hard work he put in if Larry does repent and believe).

You can also be in prayer for my parents.  My mom has had some issues with getting her diabetic medications (she just got it yesterday, but I think she had to miss one of her weekly injections because of issues with supply, and this seems like it's going to be on ongoing issue that may make it difficult for her and others on these medicines to get the medication they need).  My dad is having a couple of different issues--the first is headaches, tiredness, and a sore throat that he has several days most every week.  However, he's been unable to have a doctor's appointment while this was happening (and he's usually cancelled any doctor's appointments he's had when he felt like that because he didn't want to go out).  He's going today to get the other issue checked out which is that his heart will race, and he'll have shortness of breath and then get lightheaded and feel like he's going to pass out from even a little bit of exertion like walking from one end of the house (his bedroom) to the other end (the kitchen and living room).  That's been debilitating for him as he can't really get out and do anything now.  My mom is going to the doctor's appointment with him today so that she can hear everything and because he should no longer drive due to neuropathy in his feet.

Mike and Evan seem to be doing well and are enjoying our study of Acts (I'm not sure if I had given you an update after we finished Exodus, but they even ended up enjoying the second half of that, even though they didn't expect they would).  Evan is looking for a new job.

We have finished the book of Exodus in our Monday night Bible study and are just about to start the book of Acts.  We just finished the book of Acts in our Wednesday night group, we are going through a sermon series on the book of Acts Sunday mornings at church, and The Gospel Project has been in the book of Acts this quarter as well.  If you haven't ever studied the book of Acts, there is much to see there about how the work that Jesus began is continued through the work of the Holy Spirit through the apostles and the other members of the Church at large.  We see the Great Commission being fulfilled, but we also see a book of historical narrative that doesn't seem to have an ending like we'd expect (it's left very open-ended as we are still in the process of fulfilling The Great Commission as the Church today--it didn't get accomplished in a single generation).

On Wednesday nights, we're studying the book of James--a challenging book to say the least that sounds a lot like The Sermon on the Mount.  True disciples will not only believe a certain way but will behave in a certain way that makes it obvious to those around them that they the Spirit is living in and through them.  It's definitely timely as we want to know how we should live among the world--to be in the world, but not of the world as Paul put it.

Some updates for how you can pray for my church.  Keep praying for the new building opportunity.  God is working in ways that exceeded our expectations.  This seems to confirm to us that we're doing what He wants us to be doing when He wants us to be doing it.

You can also pray for the formation of our men's ministry.  We're looking to encourage men to be readers, hearers and doers of the Word--to have right belief and right living, and to be able to impart what they have learned to other generations in line with 2 Timothy 2:2, "The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful people who will be able to teach others also."

Please also pray for the men of our church that will be going on a missions trip in just a couple weeks.  Everything came together so quickly for us to return somewhere we've gone before, and the Lord allowed us to raise exactly the right amount of money to send the men who wanted to go.  Some of them have gone before, others have never gone before.   I'll probably say more about this after they get back so look for something about this next month.

Don't forget to Register on this site if you want access to the Members-Only Content.  There's no registration fee.  There's also some "new" content here (I've brought the math tutorial video information back to this website, though the videos are still hosted through YouTube).  You'll find more information about that under the "What We Do" option in the site navigation.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

As you may have noticed, I'm bringing something back to the site here--my math tutoring videos.  While they aren't specifically Bible-based, my love and study of mathematics and my desire to help others learn it is deeply rooted in my understanding about the nature and character of God who gave us all the mathematical laws and laws of logic.  You'll find more about my mission and vision for my math tutoring, some links to some "Math in Apologetics" topics (most of these topics are also covered in my Faith and Culture blogs) and links to my free playlists of YouTube videos for the courses I tutor at work.  You can find these same playlists on my YouTube channel that is also linked in the navigation.

I'll probably still keep the mathmandan.weebly.com website for a while, but eventually intend to integrate everything into this website as it's simply easier to point people to a website that is my name with a .com at the end of it.

Other updates:
We are just about to finish the book of Exodus in our Monday-night ZOOM Bible Study, and we'll be starting the book of Acts next.  Please contact me directly through Discord, Facebook, Twitch, YouTube, email or text message if we already know each other.  Otherwise, please use the Contact Us form to request access or to request more information.

So that everyone knows where I'm at with my Journal Entries, I'm going to complete the books of History (through Esther) and then probably complete the Wisdom literature (the rest of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon) before going back to the New Testament to finish the epistles of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus.  This will then leave major and minor prophets.  It's been slow-going but the goal was never to get done quickly, but to take our time so that we could appreciate it and mediate on it, digest everything the Lord was saying to us and think about how to apply it to our lives and let it change us and our behaviors.  It's exciting to see how far we've come together and how much God has used this to teach me, make me more mature in my faith, and to prepare me for conversations that he wants me to have with others.  It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made to do this in a way where there is public accountability but also there is transparency so that when I put my thoughts "to paper" and journal them and open my journal for others to read that those who disciple me can come alongside me and help better train and teach me.

I'll be giving more updates in the near future, but that's it for now.  Hope you all have a Happy New Year.  Please be praying for the students that I'll be working with this coming semester as well as my co-workers.

Merry Christmas to all of you. I hope that you all have received the most wonderful Gift that could have ever been given to you--the One which we all needed most even if we didn't know it, could never afford to buy and could never hope to repay (which is why it is a Gift).

Romans 3:21-25
English Standard Version
The Righteousness of God Through Faith
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Romans 4:3-8
English Standard Version
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Romans 5:14-16
English Standard Version
14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

Romans 6:22-23
English Standard Version
22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
​
This is just a sampling of some verses from one book of the Bible that tell us of the glorious Gift that can be yours today if you would receive it by faith. The songs posted below tells the story of why He was born and why He is the best Gift you could ever receive--the Gift you need, even if you don't know you need it. If you want to know more how to receive this free Gift, I would love to tell you more.

A few updates and prayer requests that I'd like to share publicly this month.

1) Please continue to pray for the HCF Future Facilities Team as we work with a new architect to get a new set of drawings.

2) Please pray for HCF as we seek guidance in hiring some new staff, and as we seek replacements for deacons and elders who are taking at least one year off after serving six years as a deacon or elder (the principle of the Sabbath year).

3) Pray for our sister church in Belarus.  There's still a lot going on in that part of the world even if it's not making the news.

4) Join me in praying for friends and family members who are unsaved--some need to hear the gospel for the first time, others have heard it and are yet to understand it, and still others have heard it, understood and rejected it.  There are many people in all of our families that fall into the different types of soil in the Parable of the Sower and the Soils.  The harvest is still plentiful, and the laborers are still few.  We are seeing now more than ever that there are unreached people groups in our own "backyards."  How do we plan to reach them?  As we study the book of Acts together at HCF, I think we would appreciate your prayers that the Holy Spirit would help us to have a passion for fulfilling the Great Commission and that God would give us a vision for how to reach our local communities and our region and even the uttermost parts of the earth.

5) There are members of my family with health concerns--I won't name them for privacy reasons, but God knows who they are.  Please pray for healing for them.

6) Please continue to pray for those who are a part of the discipleship community here--whether they come to read the blog posts, watch the videos, or join us for our weekly ZOOM Bible Study sessions.  Pray for God to prepare their hearts to hear the gospel and be receptive to it so that it will take root and produce fruit.

A few public updates for everyone.  We're now officially in "Back to School" season as summer vacations are over for most of you.  I hope you were able to make the most of the time that you had together as a family and that lots of discipleship happened as you had some extra time together.  Be sure that children are being discipled one way or another by influences like the education they receive in school from a particular worldview, the worldview of the programs they stream and watch on TV, the videos they watch on YouTube and TikTok and Snapchat, and the influence of their peers and their families that they probably spend lots of time with (I remember spending as much or more time at my best friend's house than at my house growing up).  We need to be intentional about making time and space for discipleship to occur--both planned time and unplanned time as you can't always expect when the questions will come, but it's a good idea to schedule some time so that kids know they can bring their questions at that time and find biblical answers (note that I'm not talking about dropping the kids off at church for youth group or some other activity--the Church is not primarily responsible for discipling our children, or adults for that matter, though the mission of the Church is to go and make disciples, that responsibility belongs to the individual church members as they engage in their day-to-day activities).

With that said, I want to encourage all of you who belong to local churches near an elementary school, middle school or high school to "adopt a school."  Hold events for the teachers and staff and let them know that you are in the neighborhood and are there to support them.  Pack backpacks of school supplies for the children and invite the kids to things like Trunk or Treat and Easter Egg Hunts or other events that you are holding.  Pray for the teachers, the staff, and the students, and welcome them to Sunday School and church services.  Encourage the children in your church to invite their friends to church (maybe even make it easy for them by printing some "invitations" that they can give out to their friends that have the name of the church, the church's address and phone number, and the service times, and maybe the church website if you have one).  Don't forget to encourage your students to start and join student Bible studies, missions groups, and other Christian clubs at school (but check out these organizations that call themselves "Christian" and make sure their mission and values align with the Bible).  Don't forget that you can also start your own "Backyard Bible Clubs" and after-school programs at home or at church to have a safe environment for the kids that have working parents and need somewhere safe to go after school where they can get help with their homework, but also learn about the Word of God.  

Some of the same things can be said if you live near a college or university and have a college-aged ministry in your church.  You may not be inviting them to Trunk or Treat and Easter Egg Hunts, but you can plan retreats and conferences for them to hear about things like what the Bible has to say about marriage, sexuality, purity, integrity, work ethic, and living as a godly man or woman in a culture of ungodliness.  Hopefully the students have some background to the gospel already, but if not, you can take advantage of curriculum like The Gospel Foundations material that's here on this website.  Encourage the Christian college students from your church to be regular church attenders and to become members of their local churches and to use the gifts that God has given them to serve.  "Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity."

Now for a few things that we can thank the Lord for and pray for together.  First, I may have mentioned in another recent newsletter that we had some termite damage to our house.  The Lord has provided for all those needs.  There's still some work to be done, but the major issues with the foundation have been taken care of.

Please join me in praying for our Future Facilities Team at Harvest Christian Fellowship.  We know we are moving with the Lord's blessing in looking to build in local community, but the project has stalled a bit, and the team members are praying for wisdom in how to proceed.  They also have asked for prayer in God laying it on people's hearts (specifically our church members) to be cheerful givers during this time above and beyond their regular contributions so that we can establish a "building fund" and still meet our regular expenses.  We see this pattern in the Bible that when the LORD wanted the people to build the Tabernacle, Moses had to command the people to stop because they were being so generous that they had more than enough for everything that was required.

Lastly, please join me in praying for God to raise up men and women (but specifically men) to serve in our church.  There are all kinds of ministry opportunities.  We've set up a system in our bylaws where deacons and elders are required to work no more than six years before taking a year of "rest" (a biblical principle) and we are trusting the Lord that if we obey that principle that He will raise up other men to be leaders.  I see this not just for our church but for so many other churches as well, so prayerfully consider how you may come alongside your pastor, deacons, and elders and serve in your local church, even if you don't have a title or role to go with your duties.

A few updates from church first:
1) We debriefed with the messengers who went to the Southern Baptist Convention to represent us yesterday (one of the reasons that I wanted to wait until now to write this update).  Despite what you may have heard on the national news, the convention was unified on many important issues (every decision I'm aware of was made with more than 70% support, most of them with 90% or more of the messengers).

2) Things are going well with our building plan.  We're at the point of getting our drawings sent off to the architect and then we will be able to come up with some kind of budget for the building project.  It's very exciting to see how God is allowing everything to move forward and blessing us as we move through the approval process and as we have opened up a dedicated building fund.  I think it's fair to say that we've seen God do "exceedingly, abundantly above all we could ask or imagine" at this point.

3) We continue to grow having both a couple of child dedications and a baptism recently, and we have also welcomed several new members into our fellowship who have transferred their membership from other churches.  We're not really about counting heads, but all these things are an encouragement to our elders, and we rejoice along with them that we are seeing parents who are bringing their children to church and want to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the LORD, children, teens, and adults who are giving their lives to Christ and signifying that through believer's baptism, and people of like mind covenanting with us (see the What We Believe section of this website for some information about what I mean by this).

Now for a couple of things that you can pray for:
1) We still want to ask for prayer for the process of our building project.  No matter who you are or where you are, you can join us in prayer that God will show us how to best use this property and the building that we believe we are to build there.  Specifically pray as we reach out to our immediate neighbors and those in the housing development right behind this land.

2) For my family you can pray for us as we need to make some major house repairs over the next month.  I won't give details here as I'm not sure my parents want me to share that, but I think it's fair to say that God is giving us a chance to fully rely on Him to provide for us in this situation.  Specifically, these are two passages that are on our minds right now as we want to remember to have faith and not to worry.


Philippians 4:6
New International Version
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Matthew 6:25-34
New International Version

Do Not Worry
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

​28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.


2) I have a couple of relatives that are going through some medical procedures (again, I don't want to give too many details here).  Please pray for the doctors that are running the tests and treating them and for their families who are taking care of them and for their recoveries.

3) Please continue to pray for the men that I disciple online.  Whether it's that they are in a new position at work, or that there are not enough employees at work for the job that needs done, or if they are struggling with how to be a Chrisitan in their workplace, all of them have requests about being good ambassadors for Christ in their workplace, so this is a good way to pray for all of them.  Pray for their churches that they are members of (or seeking to become members of in some cases) that the leaders there would hold fast to biblical truth where we see that many churches are looking to culture and not the Word of God to define what they believe and how they should live out their faith.  Pray for their families as I believe all of them have family members who are not saved, and pray for them as they study the Word of God together that they will see clearly what God is trying to teach them and that they will receive the Word and put it into practice (we don't want to only be "hearers" of the Word, but also "doers" of the Word).

Those are my "big three" things you can pray for right now.  I look forward to updating you in future newsletters on how the Lord has worked in these situations.