Busy, Busy, Busy!

The last 6 weeks have been crazy! We started out in the middle of July with Ironman. We had several mission teams (including Rolling Hills) here and it was quite a job to juggle all of our duties. In the past when we have come up here, our total focus has been on the mission trip, but with our kids and church family here it was interesting.

After everyone left I had a surprise party for Jeff (40 years old) and began finishing up our plans for Vacation Bible Camp. We call it camp because it is more of a day camp as it runs from 9:00-3:00. It is a long day! The pastor's wife and I directed and we got a very late start. I told Kim that we needed to write a book. We had everything happen from people calling the week before to say that they couldn't do music to people calling the week of to say they couldn't come to lead their group to station leaders calling at 9:15 to say that they had overslept to helpers leaving because of back pain. It was quite a week! The cool thing about it is that every time we had a problem, God came through. He more than supplied our needs. I kept saying "Well, at least no one has gotten hurt". That was until Thursday afternoon. We were headed down the sidewalk on a hike when a Russian student here for the summer came flying down the sidewalk and hit one of our leaders and then one of our kids. The biker fell into the street. We had 2 ambulances there and it was quite a scene. All 3 people involved are fine- our worker didn't have to go to the hospital, our camper went and was quickly released (she was at VBC the next day) and miraculously, the biker survived. She was life flighted to Burlington, VT. in critical condition, but came home after 5 days. The doctor said she was lucky- we know prayer works.

Three days after VBC my parents came up for the first time. We had a great visit and got to do a lot of things that we haven't been able to do before. We did a lot of history things and Olympic sports things. The village that we live in has a neat history as it was a tuberculosis cure village in the early 1900's (lots of famous people came for "the cure")and of course Lake Placid has all of the Olympic things. In addition to that it is beautiful up here. Just riding around is enjoyable. They left on Wednesday and now we are getting the kids ready to start school this coming Wednesday.

It has been a great 6 weeks, but I am looking forward to a little down time.

The picture is a view of Saranac Lake from the top of Baker Mountain. It is hard to see- sorry.

It has been forever since I posted. If you are reading this, post a comment so that I know you are out there.

Since it is August I will give you a quick update. We did make it here at the end of February. It took a while to get settled in our new house, but here we are. The house is great (Jeff picked it out alone)! It is about 50 yards from the school that all 3 boys go to. They had a great, but long, finish to their year. They attended school for 10 and a half months. They adjusted well to their classes and no one stuck their tongue to a flag pole (we prepared by watching A Christmas Story). We enjoyed about a month of cold and snow and then it warmed up pretty quickly. We experienced some new bugs and lots of mud, but it is beautiful up here. Everywhere we go there are mountains and lakes and rivers. Jeff is fishing all the time. Today the temperatures were in the low 70's.

Jeff's ministries are going well and we are very busy. Last month we had Ironman and now are preparing for Vacation Bible Camp. God is good and has made our transition smooth.

We are Back!

Hi everyone, An update is long overdue. Our computer was broken for several weeks, so I couldn't access our blog. We have seen a lot of miracles since November. Jeff headed for LP on Dec. 31 and made it safely. Soon after he left, we got a contract on our house. He came home on Jan. 27 to close. We had a hard time finding a house in NY, but finally got a great deal. We close on that house Feb. 29, so Jeff will fly back to get us to leave Feb. 25. Our buyers are letting us rent back from them until then. God has made a way at every turn in our move.

Things are going great for Jeff in the North Country. The college and international ministries are going well and he is already seeing growth. He has had several opportunities to share the Gospel and we pray for a great harvest.

Please pray for our final arrangements with our house in LP, for our transition, and for the ministries at Lake Placid Baptist. Thank you for your prayers.

Jeff's Headed to LP

Hi everyone! Well, it is official- Jeff is headed to Lake Placid on January 1! At this point we have 85% of our money (what a miracle!) and over the next month we should be close to 100%. We are still having no traffic with the house, so the boys and I will stay here until it sells. If it hasn't sold by June, we will rent it and go. Please pray for the following:

1. Jeff, as he goes and starts his ministry.
2. me, as I stay here and try to keep my sanity.
3. the boys.
4. the sale of our house.
5. Lake Placid Baptist Church as Jeff transitions in.
6. Rolling Hills Baptist Church as Jeff transitions out.
7. the final 15% that we need.

Thank you so much for praying. I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving.

God is great!

What an amazing journey this is! God has been with us every step of the way and it has been so much fun to watch Him. After 7 weeks of raising support we have 76% of the money that we need. To put this in perspective, the average time that it takes to raise full support is 2 years. Amazing!

Please pray for the following:
1. that the last 24% will come in.
2. for our house to sell for enough- we still haven't had one looker.
3. we are to the point where we are praying about Jeff going in January whether the house has sold or not (for church financial reasons he will not have a job at our church after 12/31/07). Please pray for wisdom in this. As you know, this would be very difficult for all of us if the house doesn't sell quickly.

Have an awesome Thanksgiving!

When and How?

Many people have asked us when we are going to Lake Placid, so I wanted to give you some more details. God has been speaking to us about this for a while, but to keep from making this too long I will start with this summer (if you want to know more, email me and I will make a short story long). In June we finally realized that God was calling us to LP and we began the process. Jeff talked to 2 search teams and then at the beginning of September our whole family went up there and the church voted to call Jeff as the associate pastor for 20/30's. In the meantime, we were going through the process of becoming Mission Corps Volunteers through the North American Mission Board. Let me answer the question "How?" first: as Mission Corps Volunteers, we must raise %100 of our living expenses. At this point Jeff is beginning to talk to people about partnering with God in His work in LP. That also answers the question of "When?". We will go when we have raised enough money for 1 year and have sold our house. The reason that I wanted to let you know this is because I wanted to give you more details for our prayer requests. Please pray for:
1)many people to partner with us in prayer (our most important need).
2)God to lead us to people who will partner with Him financially.
3)the sale of our house.
4)vision for Jeff for the ministry as we prepare to go.
5)us to be able to stay focused on our present ministry.
Thank you so much for your prayers!

Do you believe in miracles?

The rhetorical question “Do you believe in miracles?!” was asked by announcer Al Michaels as the USA hockey team defeated the powerhouse Russians in Lake Placid, NY in the 1980 Winter Olympics.
I’m asking the same question of you today. Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe the miracle of a changed life brought about by faith in Christ? Would you believe that two Alabama raised Christians would take their family from: the warmth of the south? A job with a guaranteed income? Family and friends? Sweet tea? Fried chicken? Grits?
Our family is living the miracle! After serving in several churches and teaching in public schools in Alabama and Georgia, we sense God’s call to an area where winters reach minus 35 degrees and snow measures as deep as cars. We sense God’s call to be North American Missionaries to Lake Placid, NY.
We are burdened by the statistics of New York. We see a desperate need to reach out to those who do not know Christ. Only 2% of New Yorkers claim to be evangelical Christians. In fact, New York has the lowest percentage of Christians of any of the 50 states! In addition, we see God doing a miracle through Lake Placid Baptist Church (LPBC) and the leadership of NAMB Pastor Derek Spain. Many are coming to Christ and becoming disciples of Jesus! Henry Blackaby says, “See where God is moving and join Him in His work.” After five mission trips to the Adirondacks, Susan and I desire to be a part of His work in this area.
As a North American Missionary, my primary responsibility will be two fold: 1) be the Pastor of 20’s and 30’s who are part of LPBC.
2) to build relationships with 20’s and 30’s outside of LPBC for the purpose of leading them to Christ and seeing that they become discipled and plugged into the church.
I have another question to ask you. Would you be willing to partner in prayer with me and my family as missionaries in Lake Placid, NY? I encourage you to be a part of the greatest miracle that’s ever happened in Lake Placid -- changed lives through Christ. Do you believe in miracles?