Travels in Late January

On Saturday, January 17, as crowds were flooding into the nation's capital for the presidential inauguration, we were making our way to a former national capital. One that, for better or for worse, did not remain a capital for long because the nation it represented did not exist for long. However, Richmond, Virginia, still preserves the "White House of the Confederacy" where President Jefferson Davis lived with his family for nearly 5 years until Confederate forces evacuated Richmond on April 2, 1865.

While we enjoyed our private drive-through tour of historic Richmond, we weren't there to see the dead stones of history. We were there to visit with two local churches, "living stones" if you want a Biblical term for church members.

Sunday morning we spent with Calvary Baptist Church of Midlothian and Pastor and Mrs. Rick Phillips (top right). I was able to teach my Uncle Dave Gambrell's Sunday School class (though they were out of town). Following the service we were hosted for lunch by Jim and Mari Byerly (bottom left). What a pleasure and spiritual encouragement just to hear their personal testimonies. CBC gave us a very generous love offering and have already taken us on for support!

Sunday evening we shared our ministry to France with the people of Faith Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond. We were very impressed with the Word-centered ministry approach of Pastor Frank Jones (with wife and son, top left) and the spirit of the small congregation. It was also an unexpected treat to run into a mentor from my college days, Greg Hoffman (with family, bottom right). We were especially moved and uplifted by the special time of prayer that Pastor Jones led at the close of the service for us and our ministry.

Last Sunday, January 25, we spent with Cornerstone Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina. Pastor Jeff Kelly is the pastor of this small church plant, just over a year old, that is seeking to reach the south side of Asheville. We were with them for their morning services, fellowship meal, and early afternoon service. We greatly appreciated their interest in our ministry and likeminded fellowship of the faith. It was also fun to discover that we had many mutual friends and experiences, and once again Ruth was surprised by running into yet another friend, Michelle, from her summers at Forest Glen Bible Camp many years ago.

Remembering France's Heritage: Martyrs of the Great Expiation

January 21, 1535 was the day appointed by Francis I, King of France, for the “Great Expiation” in Paris. The King, under the influence of the Roman Church, desired to make expiation for the “sin” committed by the Reformed (Protestants) on the Nuit des Placards (night of pamphlets--October 23, 1534) two months previous. On that night the Protestant believers in France had scattered pamphlets in defense of their beliefs all over France— even leaving one on the King’s bedroom door!

Part of the King’s expiation included the burning of six Christian men. The first of these men, Nicholas Valeton, was led to the site of his doom on Rue St. Honore along with his books, in order that they might be burned with him. His hands were tied to a rope which was suspended to a long, horizontal beam, which had been constructed so that it could swing the body of its victim out over the fire.

The priest, urging him to recant, said to him, “We have the universal Church with us; out of it there is no salvation; return to it; your faith is destroying you.”

Valeton courageously replied, “I believe only what the prophets and apostles preached, and all the company of saints have believed.”

Upon his refusal to recant, the beam which held Valeton was raised into the air, forcing his arms to sustain the weight of his entire body. The beam was craned around until Valeton was positioned directly over the pile of timber, which was then set aflame, and the beam was dropped forcing his body directly into the flames. Almost immediately they raised him again into the air, and then again dropped the beam, causing the sufferer to crash once again into the fire. This terrible sport was renewed again and again, until finally the cord caught fire, and the knot was burned. When at last Valeton’s body found a resting place in the blaze, it was speedily consumed. The other five suffered in similar manner.

Where did all this persecution of law-abiding, God-fearing, Christ-loving citizens leave the country? It is not insignificant that it was on this very day (January 21) in 1793 that the last of the French kings, Louis XVI, was beheaded by an angry mob in this same city. These God-fearing Huguenot citizens had been the most loyal supporters of the Bourbon kings, but they had been systematically destroyed and expelled. During his greatest hour of need, Louis XVI discovered too late that he had obliterated his last remaining hope of aid. All sin has its consequences, even though they may seem slow in coming.

Travels in early January

The purpose of this post is to update you on some of the places we have visited in early January.

On the first Sunday of January, we spent the day in Brevard, NC, with the people of Bethany Baptist Church. I (Tim) was privileged to teach an adult Sunday School class and share our ministry during the evening service. In between those two responsibilities, we enjoyed attending the morning worship service and hearing Pastor Matt Collier preach from the Gospel of Mark. We then had a good time with the Colliers over lunch and a restful afternoon at the McKendrees before heading back to church for the evening service.

The second Sunday in January was divided between two different churches in North Carolina, one in Conover and one in Ramseur.

The morning and early afternoon were spent with Pastor and Mrs. Browning (bottom right in the collage below) and the congregation of Bethesda Baptist Church. Their regular Sunday schedule includes a morning Sunday school hour and worship service followed by a fellowship meal and an 1:30 afternoon service. We found the schedule to be very restful and conducive to fellowship and interaction. I was able to speak during the afternoon service. Ruth was surprised by running into some old friends she had known during two summers spent at Forest Glen Bible Camp in Brookfield, Nova Scotia. It was a special treat for her to visit with the Berkeys (bottom middle).

Sunday afternoon we drove two hours through beautiful North Carolinian countryside to Ramseur and Shiloh Baptist Church (founded in 1843!). Pastor Bruce and Leslie McClananan were very gracious to us, as were many others in the well-attended service. We also enjoyed visiting and discovering connections with the senior McClanahans who have served in mission work for many years.

Prayer Update: January/February 2009

Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,

Though Tim is normally the scribe for our family, this time he asked if I would write this special “Year-in-Review” update letter and give you some insight into what the Lord has been doing in the life of our family during our first year of deputation.

2008 in Review
It truly is hard to believe that an entire year has passed since we left our post at Cleveland Park Bible Church of Spartanburg and hit the road. I have reflected many times recently on how often it seemed the world was advancing and changing all around us during those first seven years of our married life while we sat stationary in our little house in Taylors, wondering what the world looked like outside of South Carolina. And, boy, have we gotten a crash course! Since we began traveling in January of last year, we have covered 33,311 miles of highway in 25 different states while ministering in a grand total of 70 churches so far. We are very grateful to the many churches and individuals who have opened their doors, prophets’ chambers and pocket books to help us along the way during 2008. The Lord has used you to sustain and encourage us in our beginning efforts to take the hope of the Gospel to France.

Family Life
Naturally, as the wife and mother of this missionary family, my greatest fear when beginning our fast-paced year of travel was how we would be able to function as a family and consistently train our children with such a varied “routine”. Though our changing circumstances have at times produced many new challenges in regard to our family, I can confidently state that God has also given additional grace (and many merciful and patient hosts!) to meet those challenges.

Last June, we began homeschooling Micaiah in K-5 through the use of BJU’s HomeSat DVDs. We’ve been very grateful for the excellent resource these DVDs have proven to be, and while we have had to be flexible, the daily class work has actually provided a good outlet for the kids’ time and energy as we have many days in prophets’ chambers and hosts’ homes in between our church-day meetings. Micaiah was a little overwhelmed when he realized that learning to read takes longer than a single class period, but the whole process has been a great tool for building endurance and character (in both him and his parents!). It has been so much fun to see him making progress.

Miriam, who will be turning 4 in February, often watches Micaiah’s school DVDs with him and is picking up some things here and there as well. She will get to spend yet another birthday in snowy New England, as we will be returning there for meetings next month. Her pleasant disposition and affectionate tenderness are a bright spot to us wherever we are. We long for your continued prayers for our family, that as a couple we would learn more and more how to defer to one another in love, that as parents we would be consistent and increasingly more Biblical in our child-rearing, and that our children would continue to grow in their understanding of and desire for spiritual things. Tim frequently reminds our children as we travel, that while we are going around to other churches telling you all about our desire to make disciples in France, we must first be diligent in making genuine disciples of them.

Support and Future Plans
We are happy to report that we now have eight churches and 10 families who have committed to supporting us on a regular basis, bringing our present support level to 35%. In addition, there are several others who have informed us that they are prayerfully considering what their role should be in our ministry for the coming year. Please pray with us that God would direct in each of these instances, and that He would give us the provision we need to be able to go to France in June of this year. We believe we ought to have at least 50% of our ultimate support goal in order to make that 6-month trip. We are even now beginning to wade through the various documents and applications we must complete in preparation for a trip to the French consulate in mid-March to apply for our visas.

Jesus Christ, Our Greatest Treasure
As I reflect on the spiritual lessons we have learned during this year of travel, the one that stands out to me the most is from Romans 8:28-29. Many times now I have sat in a church service and heard Tim explain the process those verses describe: how God is giving glory to His Son Jesus Christ by making all of us to be His imitators, and how our efforts to imitate Him through the circumstances He arranges say to the world around us that Jesus Christ must really be a special treasure if so many Christians (a.k.a. “little Christs”) want so badly to be like Him! During these months of unsettled dwelling, being a constant guest, having those same introductory conversations with so many different people, longing for my own kitchen and dresser drawers instead of a suitcase, I have been learning that all of those things are secondary. That, while the ultimate goal of our travels is to get to France and sometimes it seems we are taking a circuitous route, even these days of a pilgrim existence are days that God has designed specifically for our family as an opportunity for us to learn to be like Him and to testify through those efforts that He is our greatest treasure. Would you pray that we would continue to grow in this perspective? And may He be your greatest treasure, too.

In Him,
Ruth for the family

___________________
Itinerary
January 4 — Brevard, NC
January 11 (am) — Ramseur, NC
January 11 (pm) — Conover, NC
January 18 (am) — Midlothian, VA
January 18 (pm) — Richmond, VA
January 25 — Asheville, NC
February 1-4 — West Chester, PA
February 8 — Grand Rapids ,OH
February 11 — Palmer, MA
February 15 — Concord, NH
February 19 — Manchester, NH
February 22 (am)— Colchester, CT
February 22 (pm)— Merrimack, NH
February 25 — Dublin, NH

Visiting with Friends

The holiday season is often a time to meet up with old friends. Here are some of our good friends with whom we have been able to fellowship over the Christmas holidays.

Nathan and Erin McKnight were in our church in Spartanburg before they moved to South Korea to teach English in a Christian school outreach ministry. Boy, did they have the experiences to share! Over the last few months, Ruth and Erin have read a book together and shared comments via email. Nathan and I are looking forward to doing the same this coming year. (I'm waiting for him to choose the book.)

On the Saturday after Christmas, we spent nearly the whole morning at IHOP! Shaun and Pam Christy along with Miriam (who also used to be in our church but have since moved to PA) were in town for a few days and met us and the Hursts (Robert, Judy, Hannah and Erin) for a great time of memories laughs and encouragement. We finally had pity on our waitress and got up from our table, only to continue the conversations out in the parking lot!

Jeremy and Rebecca Strickler invited us over to spend an evening with them at their home in Greenville. Ruth and Rebecca have been friends since childhood. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of grilled salmon and other fine fixins. Micaiah enjoyed riding the bar stool up and down while Jeremy regaled us all with an excellent rendition of Huckleberry Finn trying to teach Jim how to talk French at people while they was ridin' down the river on a raft. "S'pose a man was to come to you and say Polly-voo-franzy. What would you think?" As friends go, they're hard to beat!

On December 30 we were invited to the Dodds to celebrate Phillip's 53rd birthday (oops! That was supposed to be a secret). The Dodds have become like family to us. We had a great time around the table with Phillip and Deyna as well as Gran, Samantha and Anthony. Phillip got books, pistachios, and candy for his birthday. I think they are his three favorite things in the world.

We are so thankful to God for all the friends He has given us. And these are just a sampling!

New Year's Eve Celebration

I don't know how you traditionally see the old year out and the new year in. We were privileged to spend a good portion of New Year's eve with our church family. We had a delicious soup supper, then a rousing game of Bible gestures. Brian and Johanna Hanson (Tim's sister and brother-in-law) were back in town for a visit from Massachusetts. Brian shared a devotional from Colossians chapter 3. We also had a time of singing, testimonies and prayer. We ended the evening with more food and fellowship.

We give praise to God for bringing us safely through 2008 and are grateful for His promises which reassure us as we look to the new year.

Happy New Year!!

Christmas in Pennsylvania

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with my (Ruth's) family (the Pahnke clan) in Berwick, PA. All of the family (17 in all) gathered at the home of Buddy & Rebecca Thomas for several days of all-around Christmas cheer. Some highlights were the opportunities to experience a white Christmas (not a common experience for us Southern folk), plenty of good food, and the excitement of trying out our skill on the ever-popular Wii game. It was great to be together.