In Revelation 1, the apostle John has a vision of the risen and glorified Jesus Christ. John, the beloved disciple, would probably have been most likely to give Jesus a hug, but when he saw Jesus as he is now, he was scared to death (v. 17). Jesus came to John, however, touched him, and reassured him, “Don’t be afraid.” What was Jesus doing when John saw him? He was walking among the lampstands and holding the stars in his hands (vv. 12, 20): Jesus was caring for his churches!

Which churches?

The churches Jesus was watching over, protecting, and loving are described in the following chapters (Rev 2–3). They weren’t megachurches. In fact, they had all sorts of problems and issues—just read Jesus’ letters to those churches! But Jesus loves those churches: he died for them.

If we love Jesus, we love his church.

We want God to give us a love for Jesus’ sheep wherever we go. We want to serve God by serving them. We want to point them to the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet 5:4), to know him as their only hope and to hear his Word and obey everything he has commanded us (Matt 28:20).

God has given us a busy month of deputation ministry, participating in missions conferences, traveling many miles, and presenting our burden for missions. He continues to bring in our support and we are looking forward to wrapping up the deputation phase of preparation to serve in northern Chile. The next month will find us ministering in New England, enjoying Thanksgiving with family, and visiting missionary friends in Italy. Pray for God’s continued grace in our lives, our marriage, and our ministry as we finish our deputation ministry.

• November 16: Crossroads Bible Church, Candia, NH
• November 20: Grace Bible Church, Dracut, MA
• November 27: Heritage Baptist Church, Windham, NH
• December 4: Church of the Open Bible, Burlington, MA
• December 11: Chiesa Evangelica Biblica, Deruta, Italy

We have had several opportunities to talk with young people about northern Chile, missionaries,
and spending our lives to serve Jesus Christ.

God continues to raise up teammates for us, partners in prayer and financial support. We are currently at 85% of our needed monthly support! We thank God for providing for all our needs and building such a great team of partners in just 15 months of deputation ministry.

 Thank God with us:

• for adding to our team of churches and individuals partnering with us. Our support total stands at 85%!
• for setting out our next step: moving to RGBI Missionary Language School the first week of January 2017.
• for the upcoming opportunities to spend time with family and visit missionary friends.

Pray to God with us:

• for God’s grace in traveling in New England and to Italy.
• for God’s continued provision of teammates in prayer and financial support.
• for God’s grace in making preparations to move to Texas the first week of January 2017.

This is our November 2016 email update. You can sign up to receive our updates in your inbox here. You can download a printable PDF here.