Our daily routine is to meet at TBCH campus chapel in the morning for some fun, songs and thoughtful devotionals led by Mark Gilliam.  What a great way to begin each day.  At 9:30 we break into age level groups with over 30 youth and a dozen or more in each of the 2 elementary groups.  This has been a great time to dig a little deeper into the characteristics and names of God as demonstrated through the life of Moses.  We see creative and loving teachers leading our kids and the residents at TBCH.  Our construction team braved the heat and problem solved to hoist the trusses and begin roofing the pavilion.  The S.O.S team are our Servants on Site.  This team tackles whatever job they are given.  Today they cleaned a closet, hung mini blinds, trimmed trees and moved brush, worked on computers, organized a kitchen, and more.  After a great lunch prepared by our kitchen crew, all the kids either attended a fun class of their choice or worked beside their parent in a servant project.  A brief afternoon thunderstorm moved our 2:00 pm recreation plans indoors.  No problem, our team rallied and came up with a new plan. Dodge ball, basketball, and free time arts & crafts kept adults and the kids happy for the next two hours.  We closed our day with a time together in the chapel.  We sat in teams as Bill Starr led us in sharing ways we saw God working, what touched us, what new things we learned, and how this experience is changing us.  Our team is made up of folks aged six to sixty-six so it is really wonderful to hear the insights that are shared.

When we arrived, Team Leader Cindy Starr welcomed each family with a gift bag that included family devotions, moon pies (originated in Chattanooga) and black wrist bands that say “Watch for God”.  We are being very intentional to teach our children and remind ourselves to do this.  Today, some of the ways we saw God at work follows…
*Bob Smith is in charge of painting the concrete wall and small building that surrounds the pool.  At the store this morning, a paint supplier overheard Bob talking about our work at the children’s home and gave us some paint at no charge.   God is at work.
*Premade trusses for the pavilion were a bit off but our skilled team took a problem and made it work.  Hot weather was a challenge to our men but a brief afternoon rain cooled them.  Thank you God for rain and skills that you have given us.  God is at work.
*Preconceived notions and fears of how to relate to kids who come from troubled backgrounds were quickly resolved as we shared together in the story of rescue for Moses and the people of God.  We have much more in common than not.  We learned to work and play together as one.  God is at work.
*Young children expressed their thankfulness for the new friends they have made…for the new things they have learned today.  God is at work in their hearts.
*When we visited the site earlier in the year, the tennis court was in rough but usable shape.  We scheduled afternoon tennis lessons for the residents.  When we arrived, the courts were refinished and newly striped but the old net was in disrepair and thrown away.  Without a net, we were not able to proceed.  Teacher Danny Darnell immediately began calling and networking with local and national friends who might be able to help us.  God provided a local company who gave us the net with a promise to send a check later for payment.  They did not know us, but they could see God at work and joined in.

Side by side, parents and children are working together to complete tasks big and small.  There is plenty to do for all ages and skills.  Children see other families working together nearby.  Single adults and older couples with grown children serve right beside the very young.  Praying…singing…teaching…playing…learning…serving.  God is at work in and through each team member this week at the Tennessee Baptist Children’s Home in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Praise be to God!

Shirley S. as she recovers from open heart surgery.

Brandt C. has a mass on his right arm.  The doctors are doing tests to determine what it is.

Cristan O., 37, has breast cancer.

Gary C is having surgery to remove a shunt in his arm in order to put another one in.

A family’s adult child is going through a difficult marriage separation.  It could lead to a move of the spouse and the children not seeing the other parent.  Pray that God can heal their relationship.

A member has a friend whose husband left her and took everything. Pray for Kristie to feel God’s love during this hard time and for the relationship to be healed.

From Emily

I am almost moved to tears about how wonderfully the Lord has heard and answered prayer! In the past week, He has given me confidence to speak Zarma (although it’s not exactly fluent or even understandable at times, and my dictionary is well-worn) and I have found myself resting in the knowledge that He is always, always in control.

This week we began playing Gospel tapes for women around the village. We use The Good News for Women, which shares Bible stories about women Jesus encountered, plays a song or two, and shares testimonies from various African women who have become Christ followers. We ask women to listen to the tapes as they work, and most have graciously allowed us to play them! When they hear that the tape is more than just fun music, they often become disinterested, but we are praying that the Lord will bring us to the right compounds.

Love Him.

Ministry looks different every day. Although playing tapes is a huge part of our reason for being here, we are in this village to shine light in a dark, dark place. Whether I am playing with a precious kid, peeling garlic for a friend, or praying for a young bride, light is being spread when I do it all in Jesus’ name! It is incredible to me how even the smallest action here makes the largest difference- I sow a seed every time that I tell a child that Jesus loves them, even if they do not know who Jesus is. I was encouraged this week as I read 1 Corinthians 3:5-9:

“…the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, [another] watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, God’s building.”

Regardless of the fruit we see at the end of the summer, God is growing the seeds that we plant across our village. He is working on hearts in ways that we cannot even imagine, and He knows the names of each person He will call to Himself. I am so thankful to be a part of a ministry that will one day see many Songhai believers in our village! Thank the good Lord Jesus that salvation is not up to Erin and I- if that were the case, we would never see a single woman believe in Jesus. I’m so glad that God is in control of every single heart and situation!

Our family getting their hair done!

Please please pray for us as we spend 3 more weeks out in the village. Pray for endurance. Pray that we will have patience with the people. Pray that the Lord will give us strength, health, and motivation to live each day to its absolute fullest, nearly exhausting ourselves from ministry!

I promise, she begged us to hold our stuff!

Pray fervently for the hearts of the Songhai. Pray that we would be led to the right women, and that they will see more than just our white skin as we talk about our Savior. The Lord hears prayers and has answered them in miraculous ways this summer, so we are extremely grateful for your partnership with us in prayer!

War and peace, poverty and prosperity, closed minds and open hearts – emeritus IMB missionary Sam James has seen it all. Driven by a divine love for the Vietnamese people, James has dedicated his entire life to bringing Christ’s message of hope to the lost of Vietnam. A message, it seems, that is resounding in hearts across the country.

Thank you Lord for growing your church.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/24847314]

As missions pastor, I have traveled all over the world.  Out of all the countries I have been in, America is one of the greatest.  We have our issues, like any country, but we are free.  I say that in the context of worship of our God.  We are not persecuted for our love of our Lord.  This fourth, please pray for our country, that we can always have freedom to worship.  Also, pray for those countries were those who believe in Jesus are persecuted.  Pray that his witness lives strong and his church can grow.

As a veteran, I also realize what it cost for this country to be free.  There are brave men and women in various armed forces serving in other countries so that we and often people, of those countries, can be free. Take time to pray for the soldiers…that they are safe…that they are encouraged…and that they know the Father’s love.

Please be in prayer for Pastor Jason today as he brings the message to Living Hope Baptist Church.  Pray that he is sensitive to the Spirit and preaches boldly what the Lord has laid upon his heart.

Pastors Jon Akin, David Platt, Clint Pressley and Bryant Wright travel to Egypt in order to see and hear the needs of the Egyptian people.  Watch this video and spend some time in prayer for those that are lost in Egypt.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/25372230]

One of our college students, Leslee B., had her appendix removed today.  She was serving with the church planters in Fargo, ND.  (See yesterdays post for more info about Sojourn Church). She was rushed to the hospital with abdominal pains and learned that her appendix had to be removed.  The surgery was a success.  Pray for traveling mercies as her parents head up to Fargo.  Also, pray for a speedy recovery.

Sojourn Church is a church that we financially support.  The Fishers have ties to Living Hope.

Greetings from a beautiful Fargo-Moorhead!

To say that it is an exciting time in the Fisher house is the understatement of the century! We are 2 weeks away from welcoming our second little girl, Esther, into the world and right around the corner from planting yet another church, Sojourn Church Moorhead!

Spring has been a wonderful time in the life of Sojourn and the Fishers and we cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for the rest of the Summer.

Sojourn Church Fargo grows, grows, and grows. We are so excited to see the Lord work, grow, change, and deepen the people of Sojourn. We have been making great strides into impacting lostness in the area.

We see such a mammoth need for more Bible believing, culturally-sensitive, mission-minded churches. This brings us to Moorhead, Minnesota, the sister city of Fargo, right over the Red River.  We have lived in Moorhead for 2 years now and are passionate about reaching people for the Gospel.  We have begun the process of laying the ground work to plant Sojourn Church in Moorhead.

This Summer we are doing a lot of different projects to get the word out about the new church and pursue the lost people in this area.

Please pray for our first event, yesterday.   This will be the first of four outreach and preview events to reach the lost people in the area and start a church. This first one is just for our street.   We had a great response and had some wonderful conversations witht hose that came it was awesome. Our next one will be on July the 7th and we will be inviting a lot more people to let them know about what the Lord is doing. We are expecting God to do great things!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Esther Ann-Marie Fisher!  Abby is in full-on nesting mode!  We are due July 10th and so far everything looks good.  We feel so blessed.

Miss Julia marched confidently into her second birthday and hasn’t looked back!  We are able to have understandable conversations with her now and that is so much fun!  Her favorite things to do these days are: jumping, taking care of her babies and puppies, playing in her playhouse in our backyard, and being a daredevil on the playground!

As far as the parents of these little girls go – we just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary (with a real date even!).  We are so thankful for your support and encouragement of our family and our ministry in Fargo-Moorhead.  Please continue to pray for wisdom as we now parent 2 children and that our marriage will continue to grow stronger each day.

Listen in: You can join in with us weekly on ustream.tv.  Search for Sojourn Fargo and be part of our weekly gathering.   Our gatherings begin at 4:30 each Sunday night.

From Erin B.

I’ve learned something in our time in “B”.
(Wow, if that’s not the understatement of the century, I don’t know what is!)
I’ve learned that we are missionaries, not superheroes.

A big struggle for both Emily and myself is that we live in the middle of poverty and really can’t do anything about it. We technically HAVE things–like medicines and extra granola bars and money–but if we were to give one thing to one person, we’d have the whole village at our front door demanding we give them something too! Everything we own would run out in a matter of hours and when there would be nothing left, the people would still demand MORE…

Something one of our translators said at the beginning of this trip is that the Songhai people live in a very moment-by-moment mentality. They just want something to keep them going to the next moment because “they know they are already dead.” What a state to be constantly living in! It breaks my heart! But that’s really how it is here. They ask for a gift–any gift–because it is just one more thing to have and use up before the moment is over.

Honestly, it makes me kind of depressed. How are we supposed to help people without feeding into this corrupt mindset of theirs??? How do we help them understand that the best gift we can give them is knowledge of Jesus, not just another material object???

Honestly, since it was so hard for me to draw the line on this issue, I kind of shut down and said, ok NO gifts of any kind! I just didn’t know what would be wise and what would be unwise and I really didn’t want to mess things up. But! I was given a glimmer of hope the other day. Something that made me realize that we CAN do a little bit more for these people…

There is a little boy that lives close by (we’ll call him *Billy.) Billy comes to our compound almost every day with the same group of children that just LOVE to play with us! He is such a little sweetheart–probably not more than 2 and 1/2 years old, maybe 3. Anyways, he has this sore on his nose and Emily noticed it the other day while the kids were playing. Since there were no parents around to harass us for medicine and since the other kids really weren’t paying attention, Emily was able to give him a little bit of Neosporin and a tissue to help heal it in a small way. Even though he was only a couple of years old, he knew that she was helping him and his face just SHONE with happiness! Later on, when I was sitting outside, taking a little break from playing with the kids, he came over and sat on my lap and just snuggled so close against me. He just sat there like that for a long time–so content to snuggle instead of playing with the others. There were a couple of times when I would look down at him and he would look back up at me with this big smile, and oh my goodness my heart was just OVERFLOWING!!! In the middle of all of this, I realized I WAS helping him! I was making a difference in this boy’s life just by taking a little extra time to wrap him up in a hug.

We can’t save the world. We can’t save “B”. But we can make these people aware about Jesus and His Saving Grace! And along the way, maybe we can add a tissue or a hug or a smile.

We’re missionaries, not superheroes. And I like it that way. 🙂