Dear Friends of Mission Surge,
I wanted to write you on this first day of December to wish you a happy holiday season. It is, in my opinion, indeed the most wonderful time of the year. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to look back and remember all the ways that God has blessed us. Christmas is the perfect time to look up and remember the gift of God in Christ that makes life worth living. New Years is the perfect time to look ahead and recalibrate our lives! I trust that your Thanksgiving was blessed, that you are getting in the Christmas spirit, and that your New Year will be better than the ones before.
I would like to ask you to pause during this busy season in order to pray for a few things if you would.
1. We are getting moved in and settled in Clinton. We are looking forward to investing more of our energy in leading Providence, reaching out to college students at Hinds, MC, and JSU, and we are excited about the relationships God has allowed to be formed with increasing numbers of internationals here that are from unreached, unengaged people groups. We are really anticipating being missionaries to the international community here in the spirit of J.D. Payne’s “Strangers Next Door.” If you haven’t read his perspective on missions at home you should do so. Check it out here: http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-
2. It has become evident that one of three things must take place in my life. I must either
A. Raise roughly $600 a month in support so that I can continue pastoring and
leading the growing ministry of Mission Surge in a full time basis.
B. Or I must find a job that will enable me to meet the needs of my family and
yet will be compatible with my ministry.
C. Or, I must increase in faith and trust the Lord to provide for us in
supernatural ways. God has been faithful to provide for us in
amazing ways again and again, especially since we started
Providence. I could literally write an unbelievable book.
So, I am in a position where I need guidance. Maybe God would have us to press on and trust Him to provide in supernatural ways. There is value in seeing God work in that way. There is also much in God’s Word about church planters, pastors, and missionaries being supported by multiple churches, friends, and fellow believers. At the same time there is value and honor in being a tentmaker. I am happy to take option A, B, or C. Please pray that God would lead, guide, and direct me! Please pray that if He would have me raise support that He would move people to give. Please pray that if God would have me be a tent-maker for the first time in my ministry, that He would open the doors for the right job (I have applied for about half a dozen over the past month and have not had any offers). Please pray!
3. Finally, I have been invited to travel to Haiti in January, North India in late March, China in the summer, and the Philippines in late summer. I also feel an urgency to visit all of our missionaries soon, which will be costly. Please pray that God would lead me to go when and only where HE wants me to go. Please pray that God would provide, as He always does, for the work.
Thank you for Your faithful prayers and support.
(SINCE ORIGINALLY POSTING THIS NEWSLETTER, I WANTED TO CLARIFY THAT OUR NEWS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A REQUEST FOR FUNDING, BUT RATHER SOLELY A REQUEST FOR PRAYER. PLEASE, AS YOU READ THE NEWS OF MISSION SURGE, PRAY FOR US AND THE WORK. GOD WILL BE FAITHFUL TO LEAD, GUIDE, DIRECT AND PROVIDE. THANK YOU)
Kevin
