One Year Down...

A little over one year ago today I was pulling into Bozeman ... man, does time fly! I was excited for the adventure God was about to send me on, not sure what was in store but trusting in His provision one day at a time.  One of my favorite names of God in the Bible is Jehovah Jireh - the Lord who provides - because He has faithfully done so in my life over and over and His plans are always far greater than my own.  He has grown me and challenged me and humbled me to the dust as I have seen Him work in the lives of so many as well as in my own.  I praise Him daily for the love of those back in Nashville and so many other places around the world who have prayed for and supported me on this crazy journey - that is definitely one of the greatest reminders of His faithfulness in my life.

I am also reminded daily that religion is not what saves; Jesus does.  He pursued me, loved me and saved me by His amazing grace and that is where HOPE is found.  I think of the song "The Stand" with the lyrics, "I stand with arms high and heart abandoned, in awe of the One who gave it all.  I stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered.  All I am in Yours..."  When we are taken out of our "comfort zone" and what is familiar and surrender our lives to Him,  everything He does becomes magnified and we come to know Him in a more intimate way - that has definitely been the case for me over the past year.  Through the great times and the very challenging ones alike, He has the ability to humble and teach us and make us even more in awe of Him.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." -John 15:5

We are gearing up for a busy summer here in Montana.  At Kirkwood, we have four mission teams coming in to help with summer activities including Block Parties, Parent's Day Out, Vacation Bible School and Sports Camp.  Some members of our church are also heading to Utah for a week in July to help First Baptist Provo with a Backyard Bible Club.  We are excited to see what God has in store.

The second week of May we were blessed to have Mike James, Minister to Adults and Assimilation at Judson Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee (along with his wife, Kathy) come out and lead a training session at Kirkwood on his book, Velcro Church.  It is always sweet having a slice of home come to visit.  Both Kirkwood and myself could not be doing what we are without God's provision through having Judson Baptist as a partner church.

Dr. Mike James leading a training session

With Mike James and his wife, Kathy

Mike and Kathy with Pastor James and family

Mike and Kathy with the Lane family

On Friday to kick off Memorial Day weekend we had a Mexican Fiesta Game Night at Kirkwood as a time of fellowship.  With about 40 people there, we all ate way too much food, played games, laughed so hard it hurt and really enjoyed time together.

This summer I also have the privilege of working on the side at Bridger Creek Golf Course, which sits right at the base of the Bridger Mountains.  The people I work for are incredible and it has been a great way to get to know more people in the community.  It is the first time God has opened the door to step back into the golf arena since the fall of 2008. After years of trying to get my back healthy and finally having four nerve endings burnt off in the lower part of my back last year, I have been able to play a little bit again and I just give God the glory now allowing me to share the passion I have for the game, and for Him, with others.  I wouldn't trade the perspective I have now for anything and the chance to use this gift for His glory in whatever way He leads.  God's plans are so much greater than our own.

Also, after much prayer and seeking the Lord, I will also be remaining in Bozeman past this summer.  I have recently accepted a position to serve as the Athletic Director and Kindergarten and 7th/8th grade P.E. teacher at Heritage Christian School in Bozeman.  I am extremely humbled and very excited to have the opportunity to assist the school in being a light for Jesus outside the classroom using sports as a platform to share the Gospel with everyone around in a city where many do not know Him.  This will allow me to continue working at the church as well this fall ... God is truly Jehovah Jireh - the God who provides in ways far beyond what we could ever ask or imagine.

Sending my love to everyone in Tennessee and elsewhere - your prayers and support mean so much and know I always love to hear from you and how I can be praying for you!

Please pray for:

- For the four mission teams that are coming to help us this summer at Kirkwood - that God would be glorified through all the activities and fellowship opportunities.

- That God would be at work now preparing the hearts of those here in Bozeman and that they will hear and respond to the Gospel.

- Pastor James and family while they are currently in Tennessee visiting family.

- For God to use me in the work at Kirkwood, the golf course and at Heritage Christian School, and that I would abide in Him and remain obedient one day at a time and be intentional each day representing Him.
- That I would be able to keep in touch with and continue to mutually encourage so many I care about that don't live nearby - so thankful that God's love bridges any distance and that He is faithful to provide for us when we walk with Him.

Honduras 2013

For the fourth year in a row I had the opportunity to serve alongside Sam and Peggy Feazel of Ignite Missions. They are missionaries in Honduras and have become like family over the years. Their passion for the Lord is contagious and every time I come and go from there, I feel like I leave a piece of my heart.

I met up with a team from Judson (my home church in Nashville).  This week, the team flew into Tegucigalpa and then drove about four hours to La Esperanza, to the villages of Llanos Largo and Yashe.  While we were there we did children’s and women’s ministry. Some of the women walked as far as three hours to attend.  Definitely made us all reflect on the Sundays we don’t want to drive to church because the weather isn’t very good. How desperate are we for the Lord? The children are so humble and grateful and just excited to have people love on them. After the first day, they are always lined up by the road waiting for us to arrive, excited to help us carry supplies and of course play soccer as soon as we get off the bus. 

As we did last year, one afternoon we got to hike down to the Yashe village, which takes us gringos about 45 minutes to an hour. There are no passable roads to the village, or electricity or running water. God provides all the people need to survive straight off of the land. Justino, who is taking over as the Pastor at Llanos Largo and Yashe lives in the village and was so excited to show us his house. We walked across two swinging bridges and to the other side of the village to get there. His house is one room with dirt floors that has two beds, a crib for his baby and a fire stove they cook on. He is as content and joyful as can be and the experience definitely renewed the perspective for all of us of wants versus needs.

Throughout the week we had 48 children and 17 women accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and follow up discipleship will happen through the Ignite Missions staff since we have departed. At the end of our time there we fed the Yashe village and had a church service. The following morning we dedicated the land where ground has been broken and a church will be completed, Lord willing, this summer in Llanos Largo. We prayed over the land and Sam sang “Great is Thy Faithfulness.”  When we left the village in 2012 we had prayed God would provide this land and the funds to build a church - and He answered that prayer by the time we had driven through the next town! Amen! Sam also spoke about the fact that long after any of us are around that it will be a place where people come to worship the Lord. Some of the people in the village have been persecuted for their faith in Christ, with their water turned off and various other things happening, so please be in prayer for the people there.

We also had a chance to go back and visit the two villages near Tegucigalpa that we worked at in 2010 and 2011.  There were three members on the team in addition to myself this year that were on the first team into the villages in 2010 and what a blessing it is each year to go back and visit and see all that the Lord has done. We had a church service on Friday night in Coralitos that was packed out and so many were joyfully worshipping the Lord. Made me think about how many would show up in the states if we announced we were having a church service on a Friday evening. One of my favorite things is hearing people worship in another language. I cannot wait for the day where we will all stand before the throne of God and worship in our native tongues.  Here is a link to the Coralitos service where we sang Anciano de Dias (Ancient of Days):  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Hy6qWT6n_E ... The lyrics are so appropriate:

"Blessing and honor
Glory and power
Bow before the ancient of days
From every nation
All of creation
Bow before the ancient of days

Every tongue in heaven and earth
Shall declare your glory
Every knee shall bow at your throne
In worship
You will be exalted oh God
And your kingdom shall not pass away
Oh ancient of days

Your kingdom shall reign over all the earth
Sing to the ancient of days
None can compare to your matchless worth
Sing to the ancient of days"

At Coralitos I also got to see Leo and his brother Jeffrey, boys who I have gotten to know over the past four years. When I asked Leo what he wanted to do when he was finished with school, he said he wanted to be a missionary. Our God is amazing! Please be in prayer for Leo that God would work in his heart and continue to grow him in the time ahead. His mother also shared with me that he has been having some health problems so we prayed together over him – please be in pray that the doctors would have wisdom and that his health would be restored soon.

Yashe village

Llanos Largo village

Love this little dude!

Llanos Largo village

Women's Ministry

With missionaries Sam and Peggy Feazel

Showing off their crafts

Llanos Largo village

Yashe village

Ignite Missions bus outside the Yashe village

Yashe Church

Kids praying to receive Christ

Yashe Church Service

Yashe Church Service

Pastor Justino and family

Dedication of land where church is being built in
Llanos Largo. In 2012 we prayed God would provide this
land and the funds for a church to be built - God has provided.
As Sam sang, "Great is Thy Faithfulness!"

Dedication of land where church is being built in
Llanos Largo

Sharing the Gospel

"I want You Jesus"

Llanos Largo village

2013 Team

2013 Team

Coralitos village - with Jeffrey and Leo

2013 Team at Coralitos Church

Friday Night Coralitos Service

Friday night Coralitos Service

We ended with a day visiting the Christ statue that overlooks Tegucigalpa and a trip to the Valley of Angels. That evening we had a bonfire and reflected on our favorite moments of the trip and praising God for all He had done throughout the week.

As Sam spoke, he talked about the times in our life where it is like the Lord is drawing a line in the sand before us. We have the choice to stay where it is comfortable or we can lay down our lives to Him and step across the obedience line to what He is calling us to and to where all of the blessings lie. That doesn't mean life is easy on that side, but it does mean that it is oh so very worth it because we serve a God who provides for our needs and whose plan is far greater than our own.  God's will for each of us is to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples... until He returns. And we are all either obedient or disobedient to that call; there is no middle ground.  A man I heard speak a couple months ago said that instead of praying whether it is God's will for us to go, we should pray whether He is giving us permission to stay home.  And as Pastor Francis Chan says, "Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter."

What has God asked you to do? GO DO IT. NOW.

Please pray for:
-Sam and Peggy Feazel and all that God is doing through Ignite Missions in Honduras - they have many teams coming this summer so please pray for them and their team of pastors and translators to have strength and endurance and for God to be glorified through each of them!
-For God to continue to direct my path and that I would walk in obedience to Him at one step at a time.
-For everything going on in Bozeman, Montana as we prepare for a busy summer here. 

Of First Importance

"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." Acts 6:4

Here in the states we so often get caught up in feeling we need the best sound system, biggest screen and perfectly manicured building in order to get people to come to worship Him. Most of you have heard by now about the vandalism that occurred at Kirkwood Baptist a couple weekends ago. Through that, our sound system was destroyed, big screen and walls of the church graffitied, and even pages of a Bible burned by vandals. However, none of that stopped the ability of the body of Christ to come together and worship Him. Check the picture from worship service the day after we discovered the break in... Incredible time in the Word and praying together before closing with Amazing Grace and Give Me Jesus... We serve an awesome God. To Him be the glory through all of this...

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

The past couple weeks insurance adjusters have been in and the painters and cleaners have begun the process of putting everything back together. Everything is coming together nicely and God has truly received the glory. The prayers that have been lifted up by literally thousands across the country and our partner churches who have shown support has been such a huge blessing. The church is not a building but the body of Christ and that has been exemplified in such a clear way through this time.

In everything, through seasons of prosperity as well as through trials, we have such an opportunity to show how awesome God is... People can try to fight God with weapons of this world, but we have already been assured of victory in the end because of what He has done for us through Jesus Christ.

"On this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it."

-Matthew 16:18

I was in Utah for a few days last week taking care of some family business there.  It was a very productive time and I also had the chance to see some family friends, who I have known for most of my life.  We got to catch a few runs together at Deer Valley which was a great time.

Deer Valley Ski Resort

Nikki, Anne, Blake, Bobby and I

Nikki, Uncle Bill, myself, Blake and Anne

With the deer outside of Stein's Lodge :)

Snowman!

Blake's first snowman!

Spring is coming just around the corner, but it is absolutely beautiful here in Bozeman as well and we still have snow.  Here are a few pictures from Bridger Bowl Ski Resort.

Life is good!

Powder day at Bridger

View from Bridger Bowl

View from Bridger Bowl

In addition to the clean up going on at Kirkwood, we have been preparing for Easter here in Bozeman.  We are hosting an egg hunt this Sunday for children of the community, and then Good Friday and Easter services the following week.  The lyrics from Christ is Risen help point us to what this time is all about:

"Oh death! Where is your sting?
Oh hell! Where is your victory?
Oh Church! Come stand in the light.
Our God is not dead! He's alive! He's alive!"
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake, come awake!
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with him again..."

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..." 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

"He is not here; he has risen, just as he said." Matthew 28:6

Praises/Prayer requests:
- Praise for all God has done through the situation at church.  Prayers as the clean up process continues and for the leaders at Kirkwood and church body to continue to be united.  May He continue to get all the glory.
- Praise for the chance Pastor and his family, our youth pastor Andrew and his family and myself had to attend the M-Pact Conference in Great Falls, Montana a couple weeks ago - it was a great time of worship,  teaching and being refreshed.
- For the Kirkwood community egg hunt Sunday.
- For Good Friday and Easter services - for people to understand the truth of the Gospel.
- Mentoring/discipleship opportunities.
- I leave for Honduras, April 7 (through the 15th).  Please pray for the team's preparation and for the hearts of those there that we will be working with, and for missionaries Sam and Peggy Feazel of Ignite Missions.

As always, please let me know if there are ways I can be praying for you!