Teaching Through Doing

Well, it finally feels like Kansas. Near-100 degree weather most days and lots of humidity. As usual, God can work in any setting, in any climate, to impact people for His name.

This week Shepherd's Staff is hosting 23 missionary families (about 85 people) from a five-state area. It's been fun to see familiar faces, learn new names, and discover connections. Tonight we took part in the worship. I (Gwen) stood in the back so I could be available to answer questions or help if needed, and it was so wonderful to hear so many voices blend together in praise of our Lord. Later I helped with the children's program and was again impressed by the way 20 or so missionary kids took part. They prayed, learned about the beginnings of Hudson Taylor's call to China, and sang songs. They are so young, but they are already learning how to reach others with the call of Christ.

I'm also noticing how my children learn to serve Christ by serving with me. Tonight they helped put glasses on the dinner table; last week the girls helped me vacuum the stairs. They are so eager to help and to serve, and it is my desire that we will be able to continue to foster that attitude within each one.

Spring Cleaning...in Summer

Wow! We spent all of last week preparing one of our facilities, Hiram Hall, for the upcoming Village Missions conference. We swept and mopped, painted and organized, even made minor repairs. This building will be used quite a lot next week, so it was important that it be sparkling clean. We're looking forward to the conference and sharing about Shepherd's Staff with the many missionary pastors who will attend. Part of the mission of Shepherd's Staff is to minister to the rural church: its pastor, and its congregation, and these missionary pastors are definitely rural!

One neat thing about this mini-makeover was how much our children were involved. Tyson and Jesalynn both helped with painting, and Natasha and Jesalynn worked very hard one afternoon to vacuum the stairs. Sometimes the kids were just around, hanging out in the basement or watching a movie on the big theatre screen, but often they were chatting with us and learning about service. What a joy to see them continuing to develop a heart of service!

On another note, Gwen has started work on a relaunch of the Shepherd's Staff website. As part of this work, she's reading a book on designing with web standards and another on designing graphics. Sometimes she feels like she's gone back to college! She's looking forward to putting some of this new knowledge into practice very soon!

We so appreciate your prayers for us. There's a lot of work yet to be done here in Kansas, and challenges to face each day. We are learning to lean on God all the more, to align our hearts with His over and over again.

July 2, 2010

You know it's been a busy week when you struggle to even come up with a decent title for a blog post! We headed back to western Nebraska last weekend and spent five busy days connecting with family, friends and supporters in various ways.

Thursday we stopped in Sidney to share watermelon at the park. The group was small, but we got to share about our new ministry to people that we hadn't had the chance to do that with before. On Friday we attended the memorial service for a friend; it was sad to think of his passing, but so good to visit with his wife and hear how God is working there.

Saturday found Tim out on the golf course early in the morning while Gwen met an old school friend for breakfast. Both of us were encouraged by these meetings and enjoyed catching up. That afternoon we headed out to the lake with Tim's family and relaxed for a couple of hours while enjoying God's creation.

On Sunday we attended church at Calvary Memorial in Gering and then held a spaghetti feed to let people know more about our work in Kansas. What a blessing to sit and chat with friends and family!

Monday found us throwing a surprise birthday party for Tyson. We met some of his friends and their families at Vedawoo for cake and climbing.

We finally headed home on Tuesday. Now we're trying to catch up...planning for a big conference mid-July, getting the word out about fall events, and doing our best to promote this ministry. Pray for us as we seek to follow God's guidance and to serve the people who come to Shepherd's Staff in the best way possible.