Family
We recently returned from a high school Conference BB tournament that was hosted in Arkansas. On our way we stopped and watched Kaz play at Oklahoma Wesleyan. I snapped a picture of Kaz and some of his friends after Chapel. While we were in Arkansas we were able to see Kileab and Amanda with Arabella as well as Kramer and Callie. Both families live near the basketball tournament host site. We took a picture at Church Sunday morning. Kip’s team played well and lost by three in the finals. We helped start the Defenders to boost our disciplemaking efforts. Sports exposes the heart of players, coaches, and parents. The exposed heart is the heart ripe for molding and shaping into Christlikeness. God has been gracious to us and has blessed as we have invested in youth and families.
Ministry
This week I led a two hour Younique Coaching Call for some old friends that are now pastors. It was so awesome to hear Marc ask Karl if he remembered who he was. While Karl was thinking about it, Marc held up a piece of paper that read “Jan. 10, 1999… Marc Riegel gave his life to Jesus forever! Amen." In high school, Karl was on the very first Ministry Team that I led back in the early 90’s. Karl got married and decided to become a youth pastor. He was asked to come back to Emmanuel and preach. That is when Marc came to Christ. After many years of youth ministry, Karl became the Sr. Pastor of that same church in St. Louis making disciples who make disciples. Not long after he became a Christian, Marc joined our Adult Leadership Team at Emmanuel. Marc moved from volunteer to Youth Pastor at the same church where he came to Christ. I have been blessed to come alongside these men and take the disciplemaking journey together.
This next Sunday I preach at a church nearby. After Church we will head home to host the last half of the 4 Chair Training for a group of teenagers in our home. Extreme Encounters has several interns that we invest in and Ben is pictured helping train the 4 Chair seminar.
We just got an official invitation to Japan for a short-term mission this next summer.
The invitation came from another Extreme Encounter’s intern, Mayuko Shono. Here is a link to an interview with Mayu just before we commissioned her back home to Tokyo. https://youtu.be/NjP3v3Gaiow
Our team will go to Japan to encourage and serve Mayuko. God is in the process of advancing the Gospel through art and English as a Second Language. While we are there we will be meeting young Japanese Christians who are considering coming to Kansas to serve at Extreme Kansas Camp in the summer of 2020.
Praises
Praise God for a great Sonlife D-Conference in January where we had 315 leaders from 30 states and 8 countries.
Praise God for growing prayer and financial partners.
Praise God for children and grandchildren both physically and spiritually.
Prayer Requests
Pray for wisdom as we finalize the 2019 ministry calendar. Pray for intentional family times to be preserved and for us to know when to spiritually harvest and when to say no.
Pray for an additional $1995 per month for our inFaith support.
Pray for us to be sensitive to the Spirit and walk in obedience.
