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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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| May 2003 |
Phone: 574-596-7574 |
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Dear Praying Friends & Supporters,
Greetings from the state of Michigan, where we will be spending the bulk of the month of May. All is well with us as we trust it is with each of you. We had a full March & April with a lot of Good meetings so we have much to report on.
News From The Road
When we wrote our last letter we were in Texas and heading west. Since then we have been in churches in 5 states and covered several thousand miles. In the first 4 months of the year God has allowed us to be in 22 different churches in 10 states. He has given us safe travel and good meetings. We are praying that this will remain to be the case for the rest of the year.
Our trip to New Mexico was great. We found the scenery breathtaking, the people friendly and the churches good. We greatly enjoyed being in the churches and we look forward to spending more time in that area next year.
So far this year we have been into 3 new states (NM, OK & FL) and had Good meetings in all of those places.
It is hard to point out any highlights as all of the services seemed to go well but if I had to single out a few, the services at Aztec Baptist in Aztec, NM, Calvary Baptist in Avon Park, FL and Grace Baptist in Warner Robins, GA seem to stand out in my mind.
New Support
As you know from our last letter, we are trying to spend much time this year in new churches raising additional support. We have planted and watered and are trusting God to give the increase. We have heard from some churches about this matter and it is our understanding that some new support is on the way. In our next letter we hope to be able to give a run down on some new supporting churches. We have also had an increase in our monthly support from Liberty Ind. Baptist in Warner Robins, GA for which we are very thankful.
Please pray with us regarding this, that God would have his will and way concerning our monthly support.
Needed: Tape Duplicator
One of the things we have a hard time keeping up with is tapes for the book table. Several years ago Dr. Jerry Chaney gave me a used 3 to 1 duplicator that served us well for a time and then began to fail, one well at a time. Since the time that it gave up the ghost we have been running tapes on a double cassette with high speed dubbing which, at times, seems to be a slow, never ending process. We have been praying for some time about exactly what to do about this. A new 3 to 1 duplicator is over $1,000 and totally out of the question but I can get a new telex replica 1 to 1 (which copies both sides at the same time at 16 times the normal speed, copying a 60 minute tape in less than 2 minutes) for $278.00 plus shipping.
I have not yet spent this money and have decided to try to find a used machine before buying a new one. So if you know of a used machine in good working order that is for sale, please let us know.
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Family News
At the present time all is well with the family, they all greatly enjoyed the trip west. We gave the kids some time off of school and took in as many sights as we could. They took advantage of the Junior Ranger program in several national parks and learned many new and interesting things. I mentioned earlier that we were awed by the scenery, so much so that we shot 14 rolls of film while we were out in that part of the country.
All three kids are wrapping up their year of school and looking forward to a summer break. When they start back in the fall they will be in 6th, 4th and 2nd grade. It is amazing how they are all growing up.
Carmen is still plugging along. We were unable to take her to Mexico this year because of reasons on the Doctors end, and hopefully God will work all that out till we are in that area next year.
Pondering an RV
We have begun to look around and see what is available as far as RV’s are concerned. We have been gathering information on floor plans, weights and costs involved. There are basically 3 options available (Motor home, 5th Wheel & truck or a travel trailer with a van or large SUV). As you can Imagine there is give and take, advantages and disadvantages. To each of these options. And we have been weighing each of them and tracking the pros and cons and asking God to show us His will in this matter.
As you know, we are praying that God would allow us to make a move in this direction soon. We are also planning & preparing to this end. Someone commented once that we should “Work like everything depends on us and pray like everything depends on God.” I believe that is good advice and something we have been trying to practice. Please pray with us about all of these things, that God would lead us and work all of these things out.
Coming Soon: New CD
It looks like in mid June Carmen will be recording a new music CD. She has enlisted four prayer partners to pray for every aspect of this project. We have some one lined up to do the recording and he has a contact for the production of the CD. She has selected the songs and has been practicing them. The music has been sent to the lady who is going to play piano for the project. They will be practicing together the second week in June and Lord willing they will be recording the next week. I would guess that we should have the CD by mid July.
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Prayer Requests “And when
thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to
pray
standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they
may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut
thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” God’s Power in the Meetings Last Minute Prayer Request Emilee had a bout with 11 days of on and off vomiting, never seemed real serious because she felt fine except for stomach aches when she would eat. The 11th day we called her Dr. and he said to take her to an ER. We were on our way to Ionia, MI so while in route we stopped at one. They discovered that she was very dehydrated and that her blood sugar was very low. They re-hydrated her and told us that she was Hypoglycemic and to be checking her sugar on a daily basis. Our heads are still spinning over the whole thing, and we are trying to make sense of it all. God once again stepped in and took care of us by supplying immediate access to a blood tester and putting us in contact with lots of people who could help us understand it all just a little bit better. We would covet your prayers for her and for us as we try to learn how to deal with all of this Again, Thank you for your continued prayer and support, We are so grateful for each of you and your part in this ministry. Our ministry runs as well as it does because of you who pray so much for us. We will look forward to writing and updating you again in July. Because Of Calvary,
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