MAP Ministry March 2008 Newsletter

I would like to tell you about one of my February highlights. In early January, I stopped by to visit the Schrock family one evening and in a conversation with 15 yr old Emanuel, I found out that he was struggling to read his Bible every day. Before leaving for home we decided that if he was able to read all the way through the Gospel of John by the end of the month, I would take him out for breakfast. On the first day of February, I received a call that kind of went like this, "Joe, I read all the way through John and if it is ok, could we go out for breakfast tomorrow?" And then he said, and my bro Enos he also read through the book of John, can he come along too? And my bro Davie, he also read through John and he would like to come too, if it is ok". Needless to say, the next morning, we had one of the most powerful breakfast's anybody could ever have. All three boys had written down 5-8 scripture references that stood out to them and we covered each one-one at a time.

The Brown Family-Another Gift From God

During January we had families from PA, KY, IA, & WI, staying in our (basement) apartment. One of those families happened to be the Browns. Jon & Dusti are from KY and have felt a call from God to get involved in a ministry to Amish people. In January they stayed in our apartment for several days while Dusti helped me with the artwork/layout for the Amish Voice. She will continue to help me with the Amish Voice in the future, working from her home. Jon on the other hand has been volunteering lots of his time, buying and re-selling items on EBay for the profit of MAP. So far his main selling items have been Bibles and Esther's cookbook; he is getting ready to sell Amish rockers also. If things continue to work out, Jon, Dusti, and little Emma could eventually move to our area, where they will be closer to MAP. There is also a chance that they might work alongside MAP, out in the Indiana area. Please pray for them as they seek the Lord's will?

Wounded Heart Conference

All of us carry emotional pain because of things that happened in our lives. And more times then not, we carry anger and bitterness toward the ones who hurt us or we may even feel shame, rejection and insecurity. In our ministry we deal with a lot of adults who have had to let go of their families and friends, in order to serve Christ-this obviously causes many painful emotions that are often hard to explain. It is for this very reason that one of our men in the area (Sam Schwartz) felt led to put on a 3-night conference that would help people get started in a healing process. We mailed out thousands of invitations, spend a lot of time in prayer and on our best night had 120 people come out. We were very excited to see so many Amish & former Amish people show up for the meetings.

US Citizen Wanna-be's

Levi Yoder is a "jack of all trades" kind of guy. One day he might be helping out with an

office project and the next day he might be taxiing a person all over the country, trying to get them a birth certificate or a social security number. In this case, he has been working with attorneys and immigration laws, trying to transfer the citizenships of two sisters who moved from Canada to the US, when they were still young children.

Levi writes...The challenges come in all shapes and sizes but we are glad to announce that we believe the Shetler sisters are getting close to having documents in their hands that will officially make them US citizens. Born in Canada (Amish) they moved to the US as little girls, with their parents-their citizenships are still Canadian. Since 911 and homeland security, immigration laws have become much more complicated then what they were before. After quite a struggle I got connected with a lady from the International Institute in Akron OH. She was very helpful with the information we needed to bring the whole issue to a positive conclusion. For everyone involved, thank you for your patience and help.

Maryann and Mattie left an Amish community in New York and were living in our area for awhile before moving into our basement apartment in February. It has been great to see Maryann (left) going to GED classes and being part of our young lady's Bible study.

SonLight Club Students From PA

"I would rather see all of you die in an accident and get buried together then to see you leave the Amish church." Those were the heart wrenching words of a father to his married daughter, son-in-law, and grand children (right). -In January, Andy Geesey (our missionary from PA) brought the Kauffman family to see the MAP Ministry. The whole family had just recently left the Amish church because of their new found faith in Christ. And since three of the girls had been in the SonLight Club, they wanted to come to Savannah OH and see the teachers behind the Bible lessons. The left photo shows teachers and students meeting for the first time-words can't describe the inner emotions that take place when these kind of meetings come about-It is God allowing us to see the fruit of our/your labor. The right photo shows the Kauffman family ministering through testimony and song, in our home church.

In February, I had an awesome opportunity to spend some time in Lancaster, PA. where I met with more then a dozen members of the Amish church, including a lay minister and a bishop. All day long we ran into Amish families who had children in the SonLight Club-it was unbelievable-I didn't want to leave; I felt revival everywhere we went. As a matter of fact, 43 families left the Lancaster Amish church in 2008 because of the stand they have taken for salvation in Christ alone. Before leaving for home, I had the privilege of teaching a lesson on evangelism to 35-40 Amish and former Amish people.

Being There For Those In Need

The following testimony was written by my brother John in response to a recent "Prayer Update" that we sent out to our online subscribers. John has been laid off from his job and being the handy man that he is, he had a desire to help those in need. We put the word out and within hours he had emails and phone calls pouring in, asking for a hand. It was unbelievable!

John writes... I would like to give you an update on the email that Joe sent out a couple weeks ago about me donating my time. First I'd like to tell you about my family and I, and why I felt God calling me to do this. My wife Miriam is a homemaker, we have 2 children; John William is 2 years 4 months and LoriAnn is 4 months old. They seem to keep Mom very busy among other things she takes care of around the house (shopping, baking, cleaning, paying bills, etc).

For myself, I've been working 8-yrs for a company called Tri-Mor, located in Cleveland. Every year, we get laid off during the winter, which is nice since we put in so many hours during the summer months. It also gives me quality time with the family. Normally I either work for my brother who has a construction business or I find my own work. However, this year was different: God blessed me with the understanding of 2 words-Eros and Agape love. It felt like I had so much Eros in my life (how I loved other people so they loved me back, doing things in my time not theirs, or what do I get out of it). There seems to be an "I" in every sentence and I soon realized it isn't about me; that it means to be available for God to work through me 24/7. God laid it on my heart to donate my time to those who either can't do the work themselves or can't afford to hire someone to do it for them.

So far God has blessed me with the opportunity to help out quite a few families. Plus I still have 8 jobs to do! I try to only put in 2 days at each place so I can help out as many people as possible. I don't go back to work until the end of April so I could take a couple more jobs and if none come up then I would just go back to the places that needed more than 2 days work if I had time. I thank God for putting all of those in need in my path. It has truly been a blessing to serve God in this way. Thanks to all those who have been praying for me. In Him, ~ John Keim

Extra, Extra - Read All About It!!!

Some of our readers will recognize Bill Dunn, shown in the photo below. He is married to Debbie; they both go to the same church that we do. When Bill and I first met in 2006 we both felt that God was going to use him in the MAP ministry somehow, but at the time, we didn't know where.

After a full year of praying and waiting on God to give us direction, the board approved Bill Dunn as the Director of Development. In May of 2007, Bill started working for MAP two days a week. In that time he has made hundreds of phone calls to pastors and traveled all over the country with me. This month, Bill will quit his secular job and start working for MAP three days a week. We are in the process of setting up a nice little office area inside the main office building. His job consists of building the donor base, scheduling churches and helping me out with ministry presentations.

One of the great blessings about Bill (and so many, many others who work for MAP), is the fact that he has thus far been able to volunteer all his time.

Bill Writes... Hello to all our readers, I would like to express how privileged I feel being able to work for the MAP Ministry. I have been deeply involved with MAP for about 10 months now and have a keen sense of how important a ministry it is. Many souls have been saved as a result of this ministry. In 2007 alone there were 153 salvation testimonies from the SonLight Club members who are Amish.

The MAP Ministry operates solely on the donation of individuals and churches; without these supporters the ministry would come to a halt. It will be my responsibility to reach individuals and churches and make them aware of the MAP Ministry's importance in spreading the gospel message among the Amish. Currently we are underfunded and I'm searching for individuals and churches that would come along side us in doing God's work.

Joe and I have prayed about where the financial support should come from and God laid it on our hearts that God's people would be the ones to support MAP Ministry.

Right now we have over 2,000 new names of Amish children who we should be sending SonLight Club Bible lessons to, but we lack the financial means to pay for lessons and postage.

It is very clear to me that God has His hand on this Ministry and I'm very excited to see what He is going to do this year. If there are any churches or individuals who would like to get involved in a mission, which happens to not be in a foreign country, but in our own back yards, please contact me at 419-961-8609 or 419-962-1515.

Please Pray

The MAP Ministry has really taken a hit in the area of finances this year. Compared to last year's giving in
January and February, we are about $4,600 behind. Here are some bills that are not yet paid.

Propane Gas: $492

Postage Bill (SonLight Club): $1,284

Heritage Press (Printing): $1,407

Office Supplies (labels, paper, tape, CD's): $490

MT Business (Copier and Printing): $237

QuickBooks (Annual Tax Table Update): $212

AEP Ohio (Electric bill): $95

Source of Light (Bible lessons): 1st bill $221 | 2nd bill $291 | 3rd bill $476