Bay Area Friend-Raising

Having a Blast

Jenny and I have been enjoying our time alone out here in the San Francisco Bay area, while the boys are having a blast back with Jen's family. We're looking forward to getting our boys back this coming Tuesday!

Canvassing for Crossway
Baptist, VBS

Three times during the last several weeks, I've planned to visit a church without being publicly recognized. Our job right now is strongly connected to developing relationships with people, and an unofficial visit to a church can sometimes be as effective as an official church presentation for developing those relationships. Each of those three times however, the pastor has given me an opportunity to share publicly our fundraising status and what we plan to be doing in the near future. We look forward to seeing how the Lord directs our relationship with these churches in the coming years. Thank you for your attention and care for our ministry, Grace Life Baptist, Fairway Park Baptist, and First Baptist of Pinole!

Grace Baptist, Fremont

Missionary deputation can be a slow process. Relationships of trust and partnership in the progress of the gospel are not to be rushed or taken lightly. Early in 2012, one of our friends from Grace Bible Fellowship in El Paso, TX, heard that we were going to be traveling to the Bay Area that spring and suggested I looked up one of his pastor friends. I did, and Michael Philipps and I met with the elders of Grace Baptist Church, Fremont, CA, for the first time in March 2012. A year later we met again while we were in the area, and this last Sunday we were able to present our ministry to the church as a whole. Rather than going to meet strangers, I was presenting the work for someone I've talked with, whose company I enjoy, someone I pray regularly for. While fundraising is a kind of work to which I do not feel particularly suited, friend-raising has been a treasured experience for me. God has been good to grant partners in the gospel whom we know and care for and who know and pray for us.

Please continue to pray for us that the final support amount will come in. We're at 82% of our support level and praying that the Lord Jesus will grant us to depart for Kenya at the approved 90% level. We're also praying for another $6600 outfit and passage funding to help us get our feet under us in Kenya.

Thank you for praying!