Thursday, January 23, 2020

New Beginnings

Welcome to January 2020, a year of new beginnings. I recalled preaching one of my favorite sermons this time of year, entitled, "A New You for a New Year!" Marlene and I pray that you will have a blessed New Year, full of the newness of Christ,  and His presence in this new year. May you be made new in His love.

Speaking of new things, I want to ask you our loyal supporters and prayer partners to join us in praying for a very special week for us during January 27 - Feb. 1. We believe we have some new plans for ministry and new direction from the Lord that we will be seeking during our Member Health Team's Strategic Planning Retreat. God has doubled the size of our team of workers and has strategically placed us together for this time, to make even a greater impact of our missionary workers serving around the world.  

Would you prayer for our retreat? We will be together for this week, seeking God's direction as we plan, strategize and wait on the Lord for His direction for our team. We have grown from five workers on our team to 10 and this will be our first time together as a full team. We are meeting in Sarasota, FL and have invited Dr. Daniel Tolan, a WGM missionary to serve as our facilitator of our retreat. Please join us in praying for our team as we begin this journey together. Our team will be traveling from IN, OH, and Bolivia to join our team together.

Marlene and I will be staying on in Florida for a time to connect with supporters and to speak at Presbyterian Village Chapel in Largo. We will also have time to go to Avon Park Camp and meet up with missionaries in the Florida area. We look forward to this time and what God has for us.

Looking ahead we will be speaking at our home church, Encounter Church (Trinity Wesleyan Church) in Jackson, MI on Feb. 23 and at Christian Fellowship Church in Jackson, MI on Mar. 1. Then we will be ministering in Kenya, Africa from March 8 - 25. So please continue to pray for our travels, our ministry and all that God is doing in us and through us.

Thank you for those that have inquired about Ned's mom. She was hospitalized twice in the month of December for pneumonia and was recently released from rehab to her home where we are continuing to support her needs for recovery. On Dec. 28 we had a 95th Birthday celebration for mom. This picture is our daughter Jessica, who served as the MC for mom's party, and Rowen, her daughter that sang "Jesus Loves Me" and "Happy Birthday" to great grandma McGrady. We had a wonderful time celebration with over 125 people.