Sifting Through Stuff And More Calling

The last few weeks have been crammed with calls to pastors to set up meetings in churches. The calendar for the next year and half is beginning to fill up. Next week we are headed for our first trip to the Dallas region as we visit a fellow DBTS grad and the church he pastors in Paris, TX. From there we are visiting the folks at Community Baptist in Brighton, CO, again. We will be helping with a few practical needs and filling the pulpit while the pastor is on vacation. God is good to provide these opportunities to serve.

Those who follow us on Facebook or Twitter know that Jenny and I took a quick trip to Albuquerque recently to sift through storage. There's still lots of work to do before we've made all the necessary decisions on what comes with us to Kenya and what goes on sale. It's sad sometimes to part with items that often carry sentimental value, but we are excited to be making practical steps toward our departure to Kenya.

Speaking of departing to Kenya, my friends and coworkers, the Huffstutlers, will be leaving the country before my next update. They have finished raising support, and they are now completing the packing stages. It's so good to see them reach the end of their deputation trail and graduate to ministry overseas.

Please pray that we are able to continue to fill up our schedule and that our meetings result in more partners in our ministry to Kenyans.

Coming Around Again

Since we have been back from our tour of the West, we have been spending our time touching base with two churches where we made a few friends last year.

Two weeks ago, we returned to Northwest Baptist Church. If you have been following us for long, you'll know that Northwest Baptist became our home during the months leading up to Jonas's birth. We've seen much less of them since that time, so it was good to visit. We are so thankful for their partnership in the gospel!

Last Sunday, we visited Alameda Bible Church. This was the first church we visited when we moved to Albuquerque, and we have enjoyed continued contact with them since. It was good to see a number of familiar faces and a couple of new ones during our visit. Their friendly welcome and attentiveness to the word was encouraging to me.

I am currently filling my days with calls to pastors for more meetings. At any given time, I am working on a list of 50 churches. When I contact a church, I cross it off and add another to the top of list. It's exciting to see the Lord fill up the next year of meetings in the calendar and to anticipate the friendships he has in store for us in the near future.

Tour of the West

We just returned from our brief tour of the West. In the course of our journey we visited or traveled through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, California, and Arizona before finally returning to Texas.

First we went to Greeley, Colorado, for a missions conference at Westside Baptist Church. It was exciting to participate in the church's first mission conference and to watch as they planned their own outreach ministry to a local university. We had the privilege of sharing a number of meals with our fellow missionaries and a handful of the church members; it was encouraging to see their passion for Christ and for the nations.

After stopping overnight in Grand Junction, CO, we rolled into West Valley City, UT, where we stayed with Pastor Matt Johnson. It was neat to get to see Pastor Matt wisely build up the theological foundations of the church and unite them around the truth of the Scriptures. Jenny and I especially enjoyed the evening class he taught some of the members at Grace Baptist Church on Bible interpretation.

Next we stayed in San Leandro, CA, where we participated in the church-planters' conference of International Bible Baptist Church. The majority of the church members are of Filipino descent, so we had some delicious Filipino food while we were in attendance. It was so exciting to see the vision and passion of these men as they sought to fulfill the Great Commission by planting local churches that in turn plant local churches. Our shared commitment to the centrality of the local church was a recurring theme throughout the week. I was humbled to have the opportunity to preach and to present my ministry plans to these committed men and the church.


Finally we visited Hope Community Bible Church in North Hills, CA. We stayed with the pastor and his family while we were there. Pastor Leigh's commitment to understanding the Scriptures from the original languages spurred me on in my own studies. We were also thankful to get to know a family in the church who is preparing to go to Japan as missionaries. I was sad to have to leave these folks behind when Monday came around.

Please pray that we would be able to recover soon from the colds all of us caught on the road. We hit the road again 12-Jun. Continue also to pray for safety, more meetings, and more partners to help us to get to Kenya quickly.

Praise the Lord for safety and for bringing us into fellowship with his people all over the region.

2010 Spring Newsletter

Here's an overview of the last handful of months (February through April). Text version follows the link to the print version.

Click here for a printer friendly version.

Making New Friends
On 14 February we visited Grace Bible Fellowship in El Paso, TX, for the first time. We have done our best to get to know some of the folks here when we are not out of town, and the effort has been richly rewarded. Jenny and I have been drawn to the gospel through their ministry and our new friends there are already becoming dear to us.

Proclaiming the Gospel to Others—and Ourselves!
One of the highlights of the last few months in El Paso has been the time that artist and Christian apologist Jay Wegter came to teach and train the folks at Grace Bible Fellowship for a weekend. Members of the church went with him to a local outlet mall to reach out to the lost and to put into practice some of his evangelism training. I found his method of opening the conversation especially helpful. I am eager to find more opportunities to employ the tools he gave us.
But it wasn’t just presenting the gospel to the lost he talked about. He also spent some time teaching about preaching the gospel to ourselves. Why should we do that? Well, the human soul seems to always run after some sort of performance-based approach to God. Even as Christians we need to continually remember that it is the gospel that gives us permission and boldness to approach God. The gospel cuts the throat of our ingrained arrogance; it stops us from thinking that our own performance is good enough for God. The gospel also shakes us out of our tendency to withdraw from fellowship with God because of a lingering guilty conscience for past failure.
Whatever our self-centered tendency is, the gospel is the weapon we need to conquer it. And it is this powerful gospel that we have the privilege of proclaiming to the nations!

Meetings and Other News
• 3-Feb, Faith Baptist, Artesia, NM • We enjoyed our brief time with this visionary and growing church and have good hope of seeing more of them in the future.
• 6-Feb, Alameda Bible Church, ABQ • I was delighted to have the opportunity to see these folks again and to give a devotional at their Valentine’s Day Banquet.
• 28-Feb, Temple Baptist, Hobbs, NM • I was struck by the genuine care, trust, and fellowship shared by the pastor and flock here.
• 7-Mar, Manor Baptist, San Leandro, CA • I was encouraged to see how intentional this church is about making their missionaries part of their regular corporate prayer life.
• 10-Mar, First Baptist, Pinole, CA • I met a missionary to the deaf in the San Fran area during an update visit with this church. He was a memorable encouragement to me.
• 14-Mar, Community Bible Jackson, WY • It will be a long time before I forget the fraternity of spirit I enjoyed with the Edmondsons and the other members I was able to get to know from this church.
• 18-Apr, Grace Baptist, Farmington, NM • It's always good for us to see a church like this who knows and even visits their missionaries!
• 25-Apr, Western Avenue Baptist, Avondale, AZ • We love coming across churches like this who share our heart for both deep theology and deep fellowship within the body.

Kids’ Corner
While Jonas has been learning to crawl and cruise, Josiah has begun to explore music more and more. He loves to explore music websites like sfskids.org and has nearly memorized a number of songs that teach multiplication tables of all things!

The Pittsleys thank God for
• Opportunities to serve and to be encouraged at Grace Bible Fellowship.
• Safety over the thousands of miles travelled already this year.
• Good meetings and solid contacts.

Please pray with us for
• More meetings and partners for this year.
• Our ministry to be an encouragement to churches.
• Our health and safety for future travels.