We can relate to Paul’s encouraging words to the churches in Thessonalica…
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1: 2 -3 NIV).
As we contemplate the memories of spending Thanksgiving with our grown children and begin to focus on the celebration of Advent and the eventual birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, it is humbling to reflect on how our ministry was blessed by your presence. Some of you we have known for just a brief time, but others have been long-time, steadfast friends and supporters and for that we want to say “THANKS”!
- Without you, our desire to serve our Living Lord would just not be where it is right now – the mystery of how God uses each one of us to encourage one another is so inspiring!
- We pray that we can be an encouragement to you, too! May God use our ministry to add blessings to your lives and draw you closer to Him!
To recognize God’s greatness, here are some recent ministry highlights and what He has planned for us…
- Recently, I met with two Campus Ambassador Groups to discuss our upcoming Summer 2009 Internship program – an 8 week adventure to experience first-hand the people and cultures of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Applications are being requested and sent out and we expect to have a team forming soon. Internship dates are June 13 – August 8, 2009!
- We want to welcome McLean Bible Church (Vienna, VA) to our “family”! Team leadership has been established and applications for members are being processed – we look forward to our first project with them in Honduras over June 29 – July 10, 2009!
- In October, we changed our ministry name to Beyond Partnership – our leadership team will be meeting December 11-14 to finalize our website and promotional materials, so stay tuned!
- Our leadership team will also review the scope of our ministry for 2008 and look forward to what God has in store for us in 2009. We have an exciting action-packed team schedule planned for next year – a combination of many returning teams along with a few that are new to Beyond Partnership – PRAISE GOD!
- We look forward to leading a team from our home church, Main Street Baptist to Bluefields, Nicaragua. It is exciting to see the growth going on there – we will be building a sanctuary for the sister church that was formed out of the main church we helped build last year!!
- Prayer Request - In order to make me more effective in ministry in Central America, we have finalized plans for me to attend intensive language school in Guatemala – I will begin sometime in mid April and stay until my first summertime team project begins in mid June! Please remember to keep us in prayer as we will be living apart from each other until the summer teams begin – then we look forward to serving together on projects!
What can you do to help us… and how can we help you?
- Your prayers are the foundation from which we function best – this bears repeating - without folks like you praying and advocating for our ministry, this all would be an uphill battle!
- If you desire to have us present the vision and focus of our ministry at your church or with your small group, we would love to hear from you!
We thank you and ask for your continued prayers as we offer ourselves in service to our Living Lord!
Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann
What can you do to help us… and how can we help you?
