August 2022 Update

Sorry that it's been so long since I have provided an update here.  I will give a short update here to let you know that Summer Session finished well and Fall Semester is just around the corner for me.  I had contact with many more students over the summer than I expected and got to have some good gospel-centered conversations with several students and co-workers.  I'd say that nearly all my co-workers have something going on in their lives right now that we could be praying about whether it is the health of one of their parents, a marriage that is in trouble, going away to college and being away from home for the first time, or new job opportunities as one person that I worked with previously has transferred from our division to another division of the school (though I may actually see more of this coworker now).  Many of these co-workers are also trying to figure out how to be fulltime students in the midst of everything else going on in their lives.  Please pray for all of them that they will have their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs met by the Lord first and foremost.

Please continue to pray for Harvest Christian Fellowship as we continue to search for a full-time pastor.  We have good news when it comes to buying the land that I mentioned in a previous newsletter.  We are officially land owners now as of the beginning of this week (that's one of the reasons I delayed in writing this update, as I wanted to be able to share this good news with you) and we are now looking at how we should best care for and maintain that land until we are ready to build on it.

We also want to ask for prayer as we are also keeping an eye out for who the Lord wants to have serve as deacons and elders.  Our deacons and elders serve three-year terms and some of them are close to the end of their terms (I know many of them will continue to help out as they are able even after their terms are up, but we desire for others in the congregation to get involved and have their spiritual gifts recognized and put to use as well).  Pray for the Lord to make it clear to those whom He wants to have serve and to those who are looking to make nominations.  We find that often the ones that He brings to our minds to speak to are the ones He is already speaking to Himself, but somehow they are waiting or looking for some kind of confirmation that comes in the way of someone asking them about if they had considered serving in that particular role.

My online ministry is going well as we continue to study the book of Revelation on Monday nights.  The Wednesday night Bible study that I was a part of decided to take a break for the month of August as many were going on vacation this month.  We'll be speaking again soon about whether we want to continue to meet online or want to go back to in-person meetings at a local church that hosted us in the past.  We'll also discuss what book of the Bible we want to study next.

Last, but not least, please continue to be in prayer for the members of my family that I have mentioned previously.  My sister and her family from Philadelphia and my aunt in Ohio and their family members.  The needs are different for each, but there are needs for both families to see members of the family be born again and to see the power of the gospel at work in their lives.  Please also pray for my father's friend and co-worker from Texas as he seeks to understand the Bible and what it truly means to be a Christian as he has had many people close to him sharing a false gospel with him, and he wants to understand what the Bible says so that he not only can believe it for himself, but so that he can teach it to his grandchildren while he still has some time to do so.  He is in poor health and may not have many more years of life left (my dad's friend and co-worker).  All these items are in the hands of the Lord, but I pray that God will not only use us, but other Christians in the lives of these that live far away from us as it is often times challenging for us to witness to and disciple those who live far away.