Life has been full of some very welcomed (and out-of-the-“norm”) activities!
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings (April 20-22) I was at revival meetings at the Dakota Baptist Church in Fort Totten. It was such a blessing to have those evenings together, worshipping and soaking up some teaching and encouragement from visiting pastors (Pastor Kevin Anderson, Pastor Bruce Dick, and Pastor Larry Thiele). Paula and I led worship on Tuesday night and, as always, it was a privilege and a blessing to have a part in that. Another neat aspect of the revival meetings was seeing the different circles of life all come together in one place: school kids, youth group kids, ministry partners, supporters, and friends. I never cease to be amazed at how the Lord has so many different things connected and working together. One of the guys who recently got saved came to a couple of the meetings and it was so encouraging to see his hunger for the Lord. Keep him in your prayers and ask the Lord to protect him and to continue to provide an environment for him to grow spiritually.
Another interesting connection happened on the night that Paula and I led worship. After the service, I stopped to introduce myself and visit with a couple of people who were sitting alone. The lady sitting there remembered me, reminding me that I sang at her son’s funeral and expressing her gratitude again. Please keep her and her family in your prayers as they are still grieving. Speaking of grieving, Jami’s family also came to the revival meetings . . . continue to pray for them, too!
And as if that wasn’t enough excitement for one week(!), we had more fun on Friday and Saturday! Our very dear friend, Darcy Ready, has a wonderful children’s ministry and she came up to spend the weekend with us at Fahocha. My family has known Darcy for about 10 years and she has been a speaker at camp for the past 8 years, so Paula and I were especially excited to set up a couple of children’s programs while she was here–Friday night at the church in Tokio and Saturday night at the rec in Fort Totten. Darcy travels in a 15-passenger van and that’s what I used on Saturday to go and round up kids at the old housing unit (commonly referred to as “the ghetto”). As I drove through the housing and picked up kids, I realized that I already knew many of them from working at the school, that we already had a relationship, and that trust had already been established. I realized again how valuable the school connection has been for this ministry and was thankful again for how the Lord had that planned out. By the time we got back to the rec, I think about 20 kids piled out of the van!
Often times over the years, the Lord has used Darcy and her ministry to speak powerful truth not only to the kids, but to me personally. It was extra-special to watch as the Lord spoke through her again to the precious little ones who listened and watched as she shared Jesus. Seeing Darcy is also always a good reminder for me to never underestimate the power of God in a child’s life. As Darcy says, “I absolutely believe that God speaks to kids.” Please ask the Lord to do that! Ask Him to make Himself real to these kids and to bring about growth from the spiritual seeds that have been planted. Also, ask the Lord to bless Darcy really good for her willingness to come and share with us and the kids. 🙂
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings (April 20-22) I was at revival meetings at the Dakota Baptist Church in Fort Totten. It was such a blessing to have those evenings together, worshipping and soaking up some teaching and encouragement from visiting pastors (Pastor Kevin Anderson, Pastor Bruce Dick, and Pastor Larry Thiele). Paula and I led worship on Tuesday night and, as always, it was a privilege and a blessing to have a part in that. Another neat aspect of the revival meetings was seeing the different circles of life all come together in one place: school kids, youth group kids, ministry partners, supporters, and friends. I never cease to be amazed at how the Lord has so many different things connected and working together. One of the guys who recently got saved came to a couple of the meetings and it was so encouraging to see his hunger for the Lord. Keep him in your prayers and ask the Lord to protect him and to continue to provide an environment for him to grow spiritually.
Another interesting connection happened on the night that Paula and I led worship. After the service, I stopped to introduce myself and visit with a couple of people who were sitting alone. The lady sitting there remembered me, reminding me that I sang at her son’s funeral and expressing her gratitude again. Please keep her and her family in your prayers as they are still grieving. Speaking of grieving, Jami’s family also came to the revival meetings . . . continue to pray for them, too!
And as if that wasn’t enough excitement for one week(!), we had more fun on Friday and Saturday! Our very dear friend, Darcy Ready, has a wonderful children’s ministry and she came up to spend the weekend with us at Fahocha. My family has known Darcy for about 10 years and she has been a speaker at camp for the past 8 years, so Paula and I were especially excited to set up a couple of children’s programs while she was here–Friday night at the church in Tokio and Saturday night at the rec in Fort Totten. Darcy travels in a 15-passenger van and that’s what I used on Saturday to go and round up kids at the old housing unit (commonly referred to as “the ghetto”). As I drove through the housing and picked up kids, I realized that I already knew many of them from working at the school, that we already had a relationship, and that trust had already been established. I realized again how valuable the school connection has been for this ministry and was thankful again for how the Lord had that planned out. By the time we got back to the rec, I think about 20 kids piled out of the van!
Often times over the years, the Lord has used Darcy and her ministry to speak powerful truth not only to the kids, but to me personally. It was extra-special to watch as the Lord spoke through her again to the precious little ones who listened and watched as she shared Jesus. Seeing Darcy is also always a good reminder for me to never underestimate the power of God in a child’s life. As Darcy says, “I absolutely believe that God speaks to kids.” Please ask the Lord to do that! Ask Him to make Himself real to these kids and to bring about growth from the spiritual seeds that have been planted. Also, ask the Lord to bless Darcy really good for her willingness to come and share with us and the kids. 🙂
Darcy (and Nathan) at the Tokio churchSome of the kids listening to Darcy at TokioThe kids at Fort Totten, piled in the back of the van!
Icing: One of the youth group girls (see below) who has been gone for a couple of months moved back to the area! She joined us on Friday night in Tokio and stayed at camp with us for part of the weekend. I could write another whole blog about that alone, but I’ll just sum it up for now by saying that God is GOOD!
Joy and me on our way out to camp!
