The Birds of the Air

Matthew 6:26 New International Version (NIV)

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?

Outside our back porch we have a Redbud Tree that became the home of a family of Robins this year. The nest was carefully placed on a large branch of the tree and you can see the mama Robin bringing some food to the mouths of some hungry babies. We watched these baby birds being cared for day after day and saw their needs being methodically met by a caring mama and caring papa. Pretty soon we saw them stretch out their wings and begin to push themselves up and out of the nest when one day the nest was empty and to our amazement the mama Robin was leading her babies around on the ground helping them to take flight and launch out of their nest and out on their own. We were amazed at how much care and concern we observed as these birds matured and went out on their own. It brought to mind Matthew 6:26 and just how much God cares for the birds of the air and how He feeds them. Watching this scripture play out every morning was a blessing to us and then as you look at the question in this verse, "Are you not much more valuable than they?" We were reminded just how much our heavenly Father cares for us and we want to remind you just how much our heavenly Father cares for you!

Rowen, our granddaughter, came over for a long weekend stay to visit with "Papa and Ama." We made sure that we fed the birdies. We thought about how much God cares for the birds of the air for each one of us. We noticed as well that the overflow from the food spilling from the feeder to the ground allows the rabbits and squirrels and bigger birds to enjoy the food and have their needs cared for as well. Often times it is in these small ways that God reminds us just how much he does care for each one of us. Often we benefit from stopping and pausing to reflect on how much our Heavenly Father cares. I hope that Rowen's example is a reminder to you today that you are loved and how much God loves you. You are His priceless treasure and you are the object of His care. Often times we have the opportunity in our work of encouraging our missionaries to remind them of these truths and every once in awhile it is great to allow the truth to be refreshed in our own hearts as we share that with others. Rowen is a sweet little girl and she is learning how to care for the birdies, just like Jesus does.

We wanted to let you know what we are up to these days in our ministry. Just yesterday we printed off our list of people who stand with us month after month in financial and prayer support. We thank you each one for being on that list. We are amazed each time we see your name and we are so thankful because you are taking care of the Great Commission. You are investing in our ministry at World Gospel Mission and that allows us the opportunity to pastor our missionaries serving Christ around the world. Your gifts and your prayers are key to this work and it is so very valuable to the work. We are excited to see more missionaries being called into the harvest field. At WGM we pray each day the Luke 10:2 challenge of asking that the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest field. We just appointed five new missionaries to serve in spreading the Good News to the world. We are always wanting more workers and would love to have any persons you may know that would be interested in answering the call to serve Jesus to contact WGM. We would love to speak with them and help to steer them to allow their passion to be united with God's call to reach the world for him.

One of the greatest answers to the 10:2 prayer has been for Jordan to respond to God's call and direction in his life. Last October 2017, Jordan went to McAllen, Texas to serve on the Border with our WGM missionaries. He has had an active year of teaching Physical Education at Taylor Christian School and coaching soccer in a community soccer league. The opportunities he has had to unite his passion in ministry have lead him to accept God's call to continue to serve. Jordan has been appointed by WGM to go full-time as a missionary to the Border. He will complete his volunteer service July 15 and head back home for various trainings and to begin his support raising to return to the Border. He has a goal of being back on the field by January 2019 when the second semester of school will start. Pray for Jordan as he takes this major step in ministry and prepares to serve in answer to God's call.

 We will continue to keep you informed on his ministry and help you to know how you can connect with him in prayer and financial support. The school is expanding and opportunities for ministry among the children on the border is a tremendous opportunity for the team that God has in place in McAllen, TX.

The Taylor Community Center is a wonderful outreach as well as the gymnasium is used for  more than school activities. This outreach into the community has amazing potential to influence people and help build healthy lives and provide opportunities to share the Gospel among the people of this part of the world. We are excited for what God is doing on the border and we know that God is at work there. We are beyond excited that Jordan is going to serve during these next two years to help realize God's work on the border. Jordan will be available for services, small group meetings, as well as he enjoys a chat over a cup of coffee! You can email him at jordanmcgrady92@gmail.com or Jordan.mcgrady@wgm.org  if you'd like to schedule a meeting time with him.

We ask a continued interest in your prayers and we also would like to know how we can pray for you. Our partnership is made better as we pray for each other, so please email us and we'd love to connect with you. We also have some opportunities where we could come to speak in your church or small group. If you are interested in having us come and share an update with you in person, please let us know.

July will keep us here in Marion at WGM Headquarters. We have a very active month of ministry with our missionaries right after the July 4 holiday.

July 10 - 14 Orientation Camp - where we will train six new missionaries being sent out to the field. We have missionaries going to work among the Native Americans in Arizona, Tenwek Hospital in Kenya, Africa, and Heritage Christian School in Uganda, Africa.

July 18 - 20 Renewal - we have 15 missionaries and their children that will be coming in for a time of debriefing and renewal. Pray with us that we listen well to them and that God will help us to be ministers of encouragement to them.

July 23 -17 CMS - which is our strategy planning time that will assist missionaries in building their support teams and prayer teams through training in media, finances, and other coaching tools to help them get to the field. Jordan will be attending this training to launch his work as a missionary disciple.

August 5 - 8 - Travel out east to Pennsylvania and New Jersey/New York areas to meet with missionary contacts there.

August 13 - 26 - Travel to Tirana, Albania via Rome, Italy. We will stop off in Rome for a couple days and meet with two of our ministry partners and celebrate our 33rd Anniversary with them. We fly over to Tirana, Albania for our first WGM Europe Regional Retreat where we will be able to spend quality time with each of our missionaries serving in that region of the world.

Thank you again for standing with us. Your partnership is such a blessings. We hope to hear from you and cherish the blessing that each of you is our ministry and to our lives.

Sincerely,
Ned and Marlene McGrady
Directors of Member Health
World Gospel Mission
Box 948
Marion, IN 46952
727.459.2966