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NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM THE ISEMINGER FAMILY SERVING AMERICA'S SMALL AND STRUGGLING CHURCHES SENT BY: Lincoln Ave. Baptist Church, Ionia Michigan, Darren M. Tharp, Pastor SERVING THROUGH: Shepherd's Staff World Baptist Mission, Chillicothe OH, Dr. Jerry Chaney, President
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| July 2003 |
Phone: 574-596-7574 |
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Dear Praying Friends & Supporters, Greetings from the North East US. From June 1 to August 1 we will be in PA, NY, NJ, MD, ME, MA & DE. There is a tremendous need here for new churches to be started and existing churches to be helped. The meetings have been good and the miles uneventful, praise the Lord. We did loose the A/C compressor in our van in June and we are praying about this very costly repair. News From The Road The first half of the year is gone already and what a busy year it has been. We have been in 32 different churches in 14 states. The Lord has given us safe travel and good meetings. We are praying that this will remain the case for the rest of the year. The month of May kept us in MI in its entirety. We had wonderful meetings in all of the churches there, and enjoyed meeting some new folks. June was PA, NY, NJ & DE with everything going well. On June 8th I was at first Baptist in Springfield Center, NY shortly before their new pastor arrived. We had good morning services, then in the afternoon I toured the Baseball Hall of Fame in near by Cooperstown, then in the evening they had combined services with another nearby church and baptized 3 folks. It was an exciting day all around. We finished the month in Ocean View, DE in a church with no pastor, a great group of folks that I am sure would covet your prayers. “But My God Shall Supply… all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19. I am continually amazed at how God continues to meet our needs and the various ways he chooses to do so. In the last couple of months we have seen God work in various ways to take care of us. His primary way is by keeping us busy, for which we have always been very thankful. Another way the Lord meets our needs is through our supporters. We thank God for all of them, many of which have been with us since the beginning.
Since our last letter the following folks have come aboard:
Pewee Valley Baptist Church, Pewee Valley, KY Elza Lamb, Pastor Grace Baptist, Warner Robins, GA Floyd McKeel, Pastor Matthew and Trena Bauer - Elkhart, IN
If we are going to effectively be a service to small churches this matter of monthly support is a must. Please continue to pray with us that it will continue to come in.
In addition to these God also steps in from time to time and helps us out with special needs. While we were in Michigan we had a good friend put 4 new tires on our van which we needed badly. Also before our last letter hit the mail (the E-mail version goes out first) another friend e-mailed wanting to help with a tape duplicator whether it is new or used. Praise the Lord for His goodness to us.
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Family News
At the present time all is well with the family. Since Emilee’s trip to the ER in Michigan for Hypoglycemia we have discovered that I have the same problem. We are monitoring our blood sugar on a regular basis and learning what we can and can’t eat to try to keep things at the proper level.
All three kids are done with school and enjoying a summer off. They all did well last year (A’s & B’s) and learned a great deal.
Carmen is still hanging in there, the muscles in her neck have been causing her problems but it seems to be letting up. Her main trouble now is dealing with the heat and there seems to be stairs everywhere we go.
Web Site
Thanks to our friends in Michigan we now have a web site up and running. If you have not already seen it, go to www.isemingerfamily.org and check it out. The schedule will be updated on a regular basis, There will be a new article every month and the book store will be updated as needed. It is our hope that this will help increase the awareness of what we are trying to do in America's small churches.
Truck and Trailer Fund
We hope you have been praying with us about this matter. I am convinced that your prayers will make all the difference in the world. We have not yet received our first update from our home church on the status of things, so I can’t report on where we are. We did have $800.00 given directly to us towards this need so we have raised at least that much. There is a page on our web site for the truck and trailer fund, we will be updating that as soon as we get the information and will have an update in our next prayer letter as well.
Sense of Urgency
We continue to see and hear of situations where help is needed. We recently met a family driving over 50 miles each way to church (they are driving to the closest Ind. Baptist Church to where they live) They are burdened about getting a church started in their town and the church they are attending wants to help. This is a situation where, if there were a pastor lined up, we could go and spend a couple of months helping to get a church off the ground. We were just in another church with no pastor that seriously wants our help. This is another situation where we can help. But both of these situations and others like them would be much easier on the church and us if we had our trailer and our support raised. Please pray with us that these things would fall into place quickly.
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Revival of the Home
All of the various things that we are involved in, including the various types of meetings we hold, have all been born out of necessity. We held our first VBS, bus clinic, teacher training and so on because a church needed it and asked us to do it. At the end of June we were with Pastor Matt Swaitkowski and Gospel Light Baptist Church in Kearny, NJ from a Sunday to Wednesday. About 6 weeks before we got there he had told me that he felt lead to have the meeting on the home. This was another new thing to us so I began to pray, study and outline messages on the home. In the beginning I wondered how in the world I could preach 7 messages on the home and family. After the meeting started I had to decide what would not get said in order to keep the preaching to 50 minutes or so and we could close on Wednesday. The pastor was pleased with the results and it seemed to go well so I guess we can add yet another weapon to our arsenal, a Family Meeting or Revival of the Home. If this sort of thing might be a help to your church please let us know.
Prayer Requests
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
God’s Power in the Meetings
God’s provision concerning the truck and trailer
Safety as we travel
Our Schedule 2003 & 2004
Our Monthly Support
Carmen’s Health
Churches without pastors : Needmore Ind. Baptist Charlotte, MI Beacon Baptist Ocean view, DE Others
The kids schooling expenses for 2003/2004
The situation with our air conditioner in our van
God’s wisdom in all of our decisions
Our Itinerary
We are working on filling the open dates we have for this year and scheduling 2004 as well. As always, if you are coming to see us when we are near you, call first to confirm the dates and times. To see our latest schedule click here.
Again, Thanks for your continued prayer and support, We are so grateful for each of you and your part in this ministry. We will look forward to writing to update you again in September.
Because Of Calvary, The Iseminger Family David & Carmen Lena, Dylan & Emilee
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