Category: Missions

Grace Covenant Ministries – June 2021

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June 8, 2021

8:54 am

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Announcements, Missions

Update from Grace Covenant Ministries

June 2021

Blessed to be a blessing. Serving our risen Savior and Lord is a blessing. We were blessed to host a community Easter Egg Hunt. Some of the activities had to be held inside the gym because of rain.  However, the smiles of the children brightened our day. A local pastor shared the story of Easter and talked about the love of God, which is the best blessing of all.

Rain forced some activities inside.

 

Easter Egg Hunt

The meaning of Easter explained

Paul Smith, a retired professor from Auburn University, who has spent several years on the mission field, led some classes on bird identification. How blessed we are to be able to enjoy the work of our Creator, who has made a vast variety of creatures for us to enjoy.

Looking at the beauty of God’s creation

Learning to identify some of God’s creatures

 

Throughout our history, we have been blessed to receive financial gifts from churches and individuals.  Your support has helped us share the love of our Creator and Lord with those we have been called to serve in Appalachia. Some of you have asked how you can support our efforts through gifts of property, corporate shares, IRA distributions, and crop shares. We urge you to talk to your financial/tax advisor. If you have general questions, you can contact Jake Moss at 712-360-5249.  To those give online, you can use the link below.

Thank you!

 

RCA Global Mission does not receive denominational assessments or covenant shares. We depend on the faithful generosity of churches and individuals.

Copyright © 2021, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

Reformed Church in America
4500 60th Street SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49512

News from the Lenz Family – June 2021

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June 8, 2021

8:45 am

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We want to thank you for your prayers for our family, specifically regarding all our medical issues over the past few months. Here’s a quick update on all that and a note about what lies ahead.

In April, Krystiana broke her arm in 3 places and had to have pins put in it. She has made a good recovery. Her pins were removed the middle of May and her final cast/brace removed last week. She’s learned to write quite well with her left hand over the last month.

Robyn had a follow-up appointment with a doctor at the University of Michigan hospital regarding some nodules growing on her vocal cords which keep her in a constant state similar to that of laryngitis. The vocal cords have been stressed and are misshapen, which causes further stress. She has been assigned some vocal therapy to retrain the vocal cords and, eventually, as the vocal cords heal the nodules should go away.

I, Levi, had a cardiac ablation on May 18. Unfortunately, the doctor was unable to ablate the target area that is responsible for the tachycardia as it is close to other important structures of the heart; the AV node. If the AV node were damaged during the process of ablating, I could have come home with a pacemaker so the decision was made to leave well-enough alone. However, in the process of seeking out the area to be ablated, another issue did present itself and was able to be ablated. I will presumably be on medication for the tachycardia and arrhythmia until God gives me a new body. I hear there will likely be many other things that will break down on this body in the meantime as well.

The good news is that we have received the go-ahead from my cardiologist and our doctor in Papua New Guinea to return mid-July so preparations are being made for that. We cannot express enough our gratitude for Wakeshma Community Church providing us with a house for the last 5 months. We are working to pack up, again, for our return. Our mission is seeking the government’s approval for us to be able to re-enter PNG (a new requirement thanks to COVID) and once that is granted, we will begin looking for tickets. Your prayers are appreciated for all the details in this upcoming transition; paperwork, reasonable plane fares, negative covid tests, etc. This is a very hard transition for some of our kids, so be praying for them as well.

Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement, and support,

Levi & Robyn Lenz

Serving the North Wahgi people of Papua New Guinea

Ethnos360.org/levi-robyn-lenz

Facebook: Lenz’s View

Hautle Prayer Points – June 2021

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June 8, 2021

8:38 am

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June 1, 2021

Dear praying friend,

“And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life…“ Deuteronomy 17:9

It was great to teach once again! Thanks for your prayers as the InDesign course went on these past three weeks. Teaching via Zoom, while having several advantages, proved a little difficult at times, but we’re thankful for patient students! One of the difficulties was juggling five different time zones. For some of the students, the course interrupted their dinner. For others, they would normally be going to bed when the course started.
We’re hoping God will mightily use what was taught to bring the Gospel to many more children in Europe and Asia—that the children will take hold of the Word of God and read it all the days of their lives!
The office continues to take shape. We’re grateful for the mudding and taping, which was done by a gentleman we got in contact with through one of our supporting churches.

PRAISES

  • The InDesign course went very well, and for the nine students and an interpreter who took part.
  • Our office is nearly completed—thank God for the help we got mudding and taping!
  • Amy is really enjoying her job at Sweet Treats—a candy and ice cream parlor in town.

REQUESTS

  • For the students who took the InDesign course, that they will be able to effectively use what they’ve learned.
  • Pray we can finish the office soon!
  • Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 1), Brent is traveling to upstate NY to help with final packing and drive his parents down to central PA. Please pray for:
    • Safety traveling up June 1.
    • All the details of the sale of the house in NY and the purchase of the one in PA.
    • We’re having difficulty getting a U-haul truck. We’re specifically wanting to go with U-haul as there’s a drop-off location minutes away from here. Please pray we can get that nailed down by Thursday.
    • The loading of the truck on Thursday night.
    • The drive down to PA on Friday.
    • Closing on Monday, June 7
    • Safety unloading that afternoon/evening.
  • June 19–24 we are taking part in CEF of Pennsylvania’s Christian Youth in Action® training school. Please pray we will be a blessing to the teens and staff!

Thank you! We greatly covet your prayers!

Copyright © 2021 Brent and Jen Hautle, All rights reserved.
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Our mailing address is:

Brent and Jen Hautle

136 West Main Street

Elizabethville, PA 17023

 

Dave and Kim Field News – May 2021

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May 20, 2021

8:16 pm

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May is a month here at Bible School where every single day has an event!

Everything is all leading up to today, which was graduation!
Here are a few snapshots…

We had a blast serving a pancake breakfast to a group of students

I am on the mobilization team, so we had the whole bunch over for a bonfire!

The mobilization team hosted a perspective student visit with a group of 15!

Our sons also had a transition…Clark finished his welding  year at community college, and Reece began at the same college for trucking.

And TODAY was graduation for our BIBLE SCHOOL SENIOR CLASS!
Nearly 100 students completed studying through the Bible in 2 years and are headed out ready to serve Him!

We thank the Lord for allowing us to be a part of these students’ lives!

We also thank you, our supporters and teammates, for partnering with us for another wonderful year!

Thankful for May, and  for all the Lord has done,
Dave, Kim, Reece & Clark Field

The Hautle’s – May 2021

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May 14, 2021

10:10 am

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May 2021
Dear praying friend,
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.“ Psalm 57:9
The Child Evangelism Fellowship® International Conference has just finished. It was a great time to connect with people digitally from around the world. One person wrote “I and my family are watching from a refugee camp in Uganda in the middle of the night.” Had we had a physical conference, they never would have been able to attend. Praise be to God for His provision!

We would appreciate your prayers during the next three weeks as Brent teaches an online course to students from nine different countries in five different time zones.

PRAISES

  • Praise God for an encouraging CEF International Conference, which took place digitally.
  • Praise God the new European promotional materials have been distributed.
  • Several men from church came to help with constructing an office in the basement. We are so very blessed by the work they did!

REQUESTS

  • For the course Brent is teaching May 10–28 via Zoom. Please pray for everyone’s internet connection, that it would be strong each day. Please pray too for all the equipment, that it will function well and not have any crashes or mishaps. Pray too for the interpreter, that she will not get weary interpreting for three hours each day. Finally, pray Brent will effectively equip these Multimedia students from around the world, that the ministry that have will result in many more children reading or hearing the Gospel in their heart language.
  • We are very close to finishing the construction of the office! Pray we can finish it quickly.
  • We are preparing for Brent’s parents’ move a few blocks from us either the end of May or beginning of June. Pray for all the preparations we have, for the sale of their house and loading of the truck, safety in their trip and a good closing and unloading.
  • June 19–24 we are taking part in CEF of Pennsylvania’s Christian Youth in Action® training school. Please pray we will be a blessing to the teens and staff!
Thank you! We greatly covet your prayers!

Brent, Jen, Amy & Christopher

Tom & Leslie Johnson News – May 2021

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May 13, 2021

8:28 am

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Refugee Special Request Update

Thank you to the many who responded so quickly to our request to help our refugee friends! The story is developing. I (Tom) had started the process of helping them move in two directions. One of those options has closed. The other has continued to move forward. A new Christian ministry in another country is managing much of the paperwork, and a church in another city of that country, one which has extensive experience receiving refugees, has agreed to host this family, if we can get them there and arrange the needed financial support.

Because we now know the destination city, we have a more accurate budget estimate. That is $27,000 (USD), a little more than our earlier number. Our church office reports they have already received $15,650 toward the budget, almost 60%. We are grateful for your wonderful response!

A big thank you to all who donated so far.

I am grieved that I cannot do anything to help the millions of Christians who are refugees, but maybe, with God’s grace, this family can get a new start.

Because this budget is not appropriate for Global Scholars, our church in North Carolina is overseeing donations. If you can send a donation within the US, please send a check to:

Cross Creek Presbyterian Church
430 S McPherson Church Rd,
Fayetteville, NC 28303

You should mention in a note “Refugee Ministry.”  If you feel comfortable doing so, please send an email to Tom, so he knows about funds coming. His email is johnson.thomas.k@gmail.com

If you cannot send a US check, write to Tom or Leslie to arrange donations. Several friends sent donations in other ways; we have transferred those funds to our church.

Please pray for the people doing the paperwork in the receiving country, that God give them endurance and precision. Pray for the refugee family; I know the dad gets overwhelmed when he thinks about getting sent home to a Muslim-extremist country to be executed because he believed in Christ.

First Joint Book

Our Humanitarian Islam/WEA religious freedom joint working group is in the final stages of our first joint book. The book should be published in Indonesia in a few weeks to celebrate some special events in Jakarta. I wrote two chapters of the book. This project is a demonstration that some Christians and some Muslims can work together to promote religious freedom. Our hope is that projects of this type can slowly convince more Muslims to embrace freedom of religion, since so much persecution of Christians originates in Muslim extremism.

Leslie’s Update

ACSI
My ACSI Europe colleagues and I have started looking forward to the Student Leadership Conference held in September each year. We are praying it can be face-to-face this year and are planning accordingly. Last year’s was online. Europe is starting to open up now, so we are hopeful. Please pray for wisdom as we work out the details.

I have started work on revamping my series of workshops on “Teaching with Cultural Intelligence.” Pray for me to have wisdom to make this helpful for teachers so that children grow in their cultural sensitivity.

ICCM Cohort
I continue to grow and learn as I study and meet with my cohort, sub-cohort, and mentor. Pray for me to manage time well so I can continue to delve into books and webinars about topics of cultural sensitivity. (I am sure you can see the connection between my cohort and ACSI work right now.  🙂

An Undefined Process (by Tom)

For the last few months I have been participating in Zoom meetings with an informal group of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant leaders and scholars to talk about the genocide unrolling in the western Sahel. Many of the victims are Christians in Nigeria and neighboring countries. The participants in this group agree that any real solutions will have to be partly independent of governments. Please pray that God would give this group good ideas. Many of these people met at US State Department meetings on religious freedom; now we meet both with and without the State Dept. Our hope is that leaders of ISIS and Boko Haram would meet with Muslim leaders from other countries to be held accountable according to Muslim teachings. This might stop the bloodshed, and we cannot be sure it is impossible until we try.

Praises:
We thank the Lord for:

  • Fantastic progress in helping the refugee family!
  • Tom’s opportunity to coordinate a team of Evangelicals and Indonesian Muslims.
  • Opportunities for Tom to advise the State Department.
  • Leslie’s opportunity to continue working with her ACSI EU and Global colleagues to strengthen Christian teachers, administrators, and schools.
  • Leslie’s opportunity to study theology and intercultural competence to contextualize her training and experience to the US setting.

Prayers:

Please join us in praying for:

  • For the Lord’s purposes for COVID-19 to be accomplished around the world and that he would end it. Soon. Lord willing, by the end of 2021.
  • Creative ideas to help persecuted Christians around the world and safe places for them to go.
  • Leslie’s work with ACSI Europe as the team plans the Student Leadership Conference for September 2021.
  • Continued wisdom for Tom as he (on behalf of the WEA) engages the world’s largest Muslim group about religious freedom. They are working on a jointly authored book.
  • Wise next steps for WEA-Vatican relations.
  • Tom as he considers which books to write next.
  • Wisdom for Leslie as she develops her series of workshops on “Teaching with Cultural Intelligence.”
  • For Christians around the world to be strengthened to serve God and others in their communities, whether those “others” are different in beliefs, color of skin, nationalities, etc.
  • The refugee family who will need tremendous courage to face huge challenges in their up-coming transition. Pray for protection from discouragement.

Thank you for your faithful prayer for us as well as your financial gifts that allow us to do the work He has called us to.

 

News from the Lenz Family – May 2021

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May 4, 2021

1:52 pm

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Have you ever realized how Waiting on the Lord actually involves waiting. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been known make some kind of statement to the effect that I’m waiting on God, meanwhile, I try to run ahead of him. My kind of waiting on God can like when we walk with our dog Socks back in Papua New Guinea. Socks will run ahead quite a ways and then turn and look back at us as if to say hurry and catch up with me so I know I’m headed the right direction. Sometimes we will go down a different pathway off the main road and Socks will come tearing back down the road, turn down the path we took, and blast ahead of us. If I’m honest, I’m guilty of waiting on God like this at times.

We’re a year overdue to return to Papua New Guinea and be boots on the ground in the ministry there. We haven’t seen our co-workers in 2 years and they’ll be headed back to their home country for home assignment later this month (Lord willing). One or two of their kids will be left home this time around and we’ll not see them again for quite some time—if ever. We desire to see our friends in the Wahgi church.

As our tentative departure time draws nearer, we are brought to a point where we have to wait on the Lord…and I mean actually wait. I, Levi, have recently been diagnosed with a type of supraventricular tachycardia which also brings along with it its friend atrial fibrillation. The good news is that they found out I do have a heart! On Tuesday, May 18, I will be having a cardiac ablation to try and correct the problem that is causing this. Our doctors in PNG want me to wait until two months after this procedure before attempting to return to PNG. We are praying and hoping that we can get back at the end of July so that our kids can start the school year there with their classmates.

On top of my heart issue, Robyn just recently saw an Ear Nose Throat doctor and found out that she has growths on her vocal cords which leaves her with a weak voice and constant feeling of laryngitis. This has been going on for a couple years and, until recently, we thought it was just allergies. Robyn will be going to a specialist on Wednesday to see what the next steps are for her.

We would appreciate your prayers for these health concerns and that we’d wait on the Lord the way he wants us to, not like Socks.

At His Service and For His Glory,

Levi & Robyn Lenz

Serving the North Wahgi people

of Papua New Guinea

Ethnos360.org/levi-robyn-lenz

Facebook: Lenz’s View