2000 June

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We have been blessed with the many words of encouragement that individuals and churches have given us over the past few month. It is a real joy for us to be able to share our burden with you and feel the desire you have in learning more about the Amish and your interest in becoming involved through prayer, outreach, and financial support. Paul says in Galatians 4:4, But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son… We believe that the fullness of God’s time has come for Amish to be reached for the Lord Jesus Christ even more then ever before. What a joy it is to be part of His great plan. We are a part of a former Amish group who continues to meet every other week to pray for the Amish people and for God to do a great work in the midst of a people that has been overlooked for so long.

Some examples we would like to share with you…

• As we have shared M.A.P. and opened for questions it seems the number one question has been, how can we reach these people?
• At one church we had a lady come up and say, “You have been on our prayer list for 12-yrs.” She explained to us that back in 1987 she had heard that a young Amish couple had left the Amish because of their faith in Christ and she said we put you on our prayer list. She said, when I found out that Joe and Esther were coming to our church to share their burden in reaching the Amish people, I knew right away that it was the same names we had been praying for, all these years. When we think of this lady and the many prayers she must have offered up to God on our behalf it brings tears to our eyes. How powerful!

• We have had some more individuals and churches make commitments to help support the M.A.P. ministry financially.

We have shared M.A.P. with the following churches:
April 5—New Life Church of Christ in Bellville, Ohio
April 26—Community Bible Baptist Church in Mansfield, Ohio
April 30—Rome Community Church in Shiloh, Ohio
May 6—Nazarene Church in Ashland, Ohio

We have also been handing out M.A.P. information packets to area churches that have an interest in M.A.P. and are eagerly waiting to hear from them. You may be interested in receiving an introductory packet of the M.A.P. ministry and if so please let us know, we would be glad to share this info with you or your church.

• Source of Light, a ministry out of Georgia who has printed bible study material made up for all ages, have a program set up where you can send out a bible study to any name and address, and then that person completes the simple but powerful bible study and then returns it back to the sender which would be us. We then send them the second study and so on. We are very excited about this program and think this may be our greatest tool in getting the Gospel inside their homes—this will allow for follow up as time goes on. Sturgis Baptist Church out in Michigan shared with us that they have seen over 100 decisions for Christ through this type of ministry and have been very helpful in getting us started.
• We are looking forward to this year’s F.A.R. (Former Amish Reunion) to be held at the Ashland Conservation Farm on July 29. Tom and Ada Lendon, founders of F.A.R. have been organizing this event by inviting some people to share their testimony this year. They have also asked the Lighthouse Quartet, a Southern Gospel Group to come in and minister through song. We are expecting approximately 150 Amish and former Amish this year.

We have been working on putting together an Advisory Team that will meet several times a year to help make decisions concerning the M.A.P. ministry. We have invited several Pastors from the area, as well as some former Amish people to prayerfully consider joining the M.A.P. Team. We have been very encouraged by the responses we have gotten back from these people who we believe to be very Godly people. We are looking forward to meeting as a team for the first time in August, if all works out.

Our Goal is to leave the factory work behind and go full time into the ministry by the first of next year. Our pastor has allowed us to use office space at the church when that time comes. We are very thankful for a church that stands behind us and believes in this ministry.

The level of our financial support has reached the 10% mark. We praise the Lord for all those of you that have become a part of the ministry in this way.

When the Lord brings M.A.P. to your mind, would you pray for us. Some specific areas are that we would use time and finances wisely. Also pray for personal development and ministry opportunities.

We are continuing our studies with Liberty Home Bible Institute. At this time we are studying “Doctrine of the Bible.” Dr. Wilmington is our instructor, and what a wonderful teacher he is!

• We would like to say thank you Sturgis Baptist Church of Michigan for your help in getting us started with the Bible-study Club through the mail. We have received so much encouragement and help from Pastor Paul Delmark and members from the church.
• We appreciate Pastor Randall Collins from Community Baptist Bible of Mansfield for his desire to become involved with the M.A.P. ministry. Pastor Randall and the folks from his church will be a great asset to the ministry.
• Thank you so much to everyone that has contributed financially to the M.A.P. ministry. We have been using some of these funds for Source of Light bible study material, postage, and printing resources. We are still looking for a nice ministry display table and if anyone could help us out with this project, please let us know.
• Some of you folks have told us that you are praying for the ministry on a daily basis and we would just like to say how much we appreciate this commitment.