Our New Church Home - McCarthy Baptist Church

Hello, everyone! This is my first post in over a month because Jimmy and I have been busy moving and getting settled in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

We have been in Saint Joseph, Missouri for almost exactly a month now. We love it! We like to say that it has many of the things that you like about the city--like things that stay open all night--but you still get the benefit of a small town feel. It's even beginning to feel like we actually live here and it's not just some long mission trip that we are on.

We are also excited that our church family that we have left behind are already moving on. They have recently hired a new full-time music and youth guy. We are praying for them as they step out in faith to make this position full-time. We are also praying that they will be able to re-connect with youth that have fallen out of church in the last few months and to reach new youth in the Hazelwood community. We wish the best for Villebrook Baptist Church and pray God's blessings be upon you.

Things here at our new church home are different than they have been for the past four years. First off, Jimmy is now in the church office on a daily basis! PTL! It's great to see him getting out of the house and being able to interact with the other staff memebers face to face on a daily basis. I am proud of what a great job he has been doing! Another change is that I am no longer able to work for Missouri Baptist Children's Home and have been on the job hunt for the last few weeks. It has been great to be at the church more without the stress of having my own full-time employment. Also, the school set-up is different here. We still are reaching many different schools but all but one of our youth are in the same school district rather than covering three school districts. This makes life and planning considerably easier.

Best of all...Now that we are settling into being mostly unpacked and getting into a routine, I should be able to get back into the habit of blogging more. So for better or worse you might see more of me on here than you have in the last few months. Until next time...

Grace and Peace,

Christiana

Moving to Saint Joseph, Missouri

It's official. Jimmy and I are moving to Saint Joseph, Missouri. Ok, let me back up a little and tell more of the story.

For a little while now, Jimmy and I have been praying about whether or not God was leading us to the Kansas City area. If you don't know that's where Jimmy's Grandfather who raised him lives. Grampy is well over 80 years old and his health has gradually been failing and Jimmy has really wanted to be close to him and have a chance to take advantage of the time that Grampy has left. So we prayed and prayed and prayed about what God was wanting us to do. A little over a year after we began praying His answer began to show itself.

A couple of months ago Jimmy got a call from his friend Mike. Mike wanted to know if he could send our resume to a church he used to work for in Saint Joseph, Missouri. We said "yes" so he contacted McCarthy and sent them our resume. We didn't really know what to expect.

In July, McCarthy contacted Jimmy and asked him for a phone interview. I thought that was pretty positive but Jimmy just shrugged his shoulders and told me "nothing ever comes from me doing phone interviews. I have never had one that resulted in anything." So we tried not to get our hopes up. Needless to say, something did come from this phone interview :)

No after another interview and a busy, long weekend of meeting people and answering a million questions Jimmy has officially been voted in to become the full-time Associate Pastor of Student Ministries for McCarthy Baptist Church! We are so excited! God has really been in this process and even though we didn't always see him at work--He totally was!

Please forgive me if I don't post regularly over the next month or so because I will be cleaning, packing, and moving. We plan to have our moving day on Friday, September 16th. If you are in Saint Joseph, you should come and see us on our first Sunday which will be September 25th.

Pray for us as we relocate and start a new ministry and a new chapter in our lives. It's very exciting and very scary all at the same time!

Grace and Peace,
Chrsitiana

Busy Week!

This morning when I opened my eyes I took a deep breath and prepared to plunge into one of my busiest weeks of my year. For me it's the week before leaving on mission trip. That means I have a ton of little things...like laundry and packing...that have to be done before we leave bright and early on Saturday morning.

This year I feel especially overwhelmed because of the car problems we are having. If you don't know, a little while back our car was vandalized when someone poured fabric softner into our gas tank. On the advise of the mechanics we talked to (all five of them) we waited it out to see what was going to happen because no one knew for sure. Needless to say about a month later, our car's fuel system is caput. So our car has been out of commission since Wednesday. So I have been at the mercy and grace of all those who have either given me a ride or allowed me to borrow their car to get to work and do my grocery shopping (thanks, Cindy & Dustin & Shaina!).

Still I am trying to maintain a good attitude and not get too stressed out while I wait for my car to be repaired and to depart on mission trip. So if you have a second to stop and think about me, say a prayer that everything will get worked out quickly so that I can finish all the little things that I have planned this week. Also pray that our car repairs will be covered by insurance and will be done for a reasonable price. But most of all pray for the five different youth teams that will be convergining on Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, July 16th for Mission Trip!

More Mission Trip Facts:

• 5 Mission Groups from 3 States (many led by former youth of my husband's)
• 90 youth, adults, and college students from age 11 to 62ish
• Working in 4 local Kansas City, MO ministries
• Partnering with 3 local churches
• For 8 days

It's going to be great!

Updates on Joplin, Missouri

Today the news continues to pour in from Joplin. The death toll is still on the rise with at least 116 confirmed dead and more than 500 injuires reported. Volunteers and rescue workers are still in the midst of conducting building to building searches for the missing, trapped, and injured. One of the women that I work with here at Missouri Baptist Children's Home has family in Joplin. She left this morning with supplies and prayers to help aid her family and friends in Joplin. Although her fmaily is safe, with only damages to their family homes, her teenage nieces are in prayer for their friends who are still missing.

If you haven't seen this footage yet, take a moment to watch a short film of the tornado that ravaged Joplin, Missouri, on Sunday night.


Continue to pray for the families that are searching the remains of their destroyed homes to see if their is anything they can salvage. Some of the families are searching for things like wallets and IDs that will help them secure the aide they are going to need in the future. Pray that they can find these items.

If you would like to donate to help the tornado victims in Joplin, Missouri, you can do so by donating through the Joplin branch of the Red Cross at http://www.redcross-ozarks.org/donate/. Please remember when donating for disaster relief that it is important that you choose well known and reliable sources to get your aide to the disaster victims.

Thank you for praying for Joplin!

Pray for Joplin, Missouri

You know it's bad when a smaller Missouri town like Joplin makes the national news. You hope that you are wrong and that it's actually something really good and awesome, but this weekend it was bad--very bad.

Many of you have probably already heard about the tonardos that ripped through Joplin this weekend. This is the second set of serious tornados to strike Missouri in the past two months. Saint Louis (withing a mile of where I live) was hit with what were dubbed "The Good Friday Tornados" now it seems that Joplin will suffer. Although the damage was severe in both places, Joplin has clearly suffered the worst.

As of this morning there are 89 confirmed deaths and the number is still expected to rise. They are estimating that 30% of the town of has been destroyed and that number may also increase to as much as 40%. The local hospital and high school were both destroyed along with at least 2,000 other structures.

Needless to say, please pray for Joplin. Pray for the families who have lost loved ones and friends. Pray for rebuilding and healing in the community. Please pray for Joplin, Missouri.

You Never Let Go

Yesterday I traveled to Fulton, Missouri, to help throw a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. I was supposed to come and be part of the distraction to get her away from the church and back again in time for the party. My youngest sister, Gretel, said that I should come down for Sunday morning worship at their church. I decided I would, and I never realized that God would speak to me when I thought I was only there to distract the birthday girl! Today, I want to share with you a little of what God shared with me yesterday at Union Hill Baptist Church.

I don't know about you but I have had a hard couple of weeks. Three weeks ago, I was sitting in the hospital with my mom waiting by my grandma's death bed. Two weeks ago, we were at Grandma's funeral. This week I was supposed to be away from my home church again but I was actually able to be in a worship service with God's people and it felt great! So I get to surprise my mom and tell her that I came to celebrate her birthday which made her happy. Then we went into church.

A young man named Scotty (who has an undetermined part to play in my family as he sent my sister Mary a rose for Valentine's Day...but I digress) gets up to sing special music. Before he sings, he shares a testimony about what has been going on in his life. Scotty has been going through a rough time. He is dealing with the fact that he is in a season of disappointment and that it has been hard to see God lately and that he is waiting for some of his hopes and dreams to be answered with no parent response from God. He tells how this continued inaction and disappointment has led him to continual sadness and even some depression. He is braver than I am. I would never get up in front of church and say those things. Still the tears come to my eyes quickly. But Scotty isn't finished. He then shares about how God has helped him to realize that sometimes God puts these times in our lives so that we will appreciate the outcome and that He is always there with us and He will never let us go. Then Scotty sang "You Never Let Go" by David Crowder Band.




I can't help it. The tears start falling silently but steadily. I understand what he is saying. I know how Scotty has been feeling. I have lived there lately. There are a couple of things that I would really like to see happen in my life--that I feel God has promised me WILL happen in my life--that haven't come. I have been dealing with disappointment and waiting. It has beaten me down again and again. The question is will I claim the same promise that Scotty did? Will I trust that God is using this so I will see and recognize and appreciate the good things that He brings out of it? Will I trust Him to never let me go?

Only time will tell.

I have SO much more to say about all the things that God said to me yesterday through Scotty and Brother Frank yesterday. Come back on Wednesday to find out more.

Dear God, Please be with all the people like me and like Scotty who are dealing with a season of disappointment in their lives. Help us to see Your hand holding us and guiding us. May we seek Your face and find You in the midst of it all. Give us the strength to rely solely on You. Give us the patience to wait for Your timing and give us the joy of Your fulfillment of Your promises. Thank you for being faithful to us even when we lose faith. Thank you for never letting go. Amen.

Missions & Ministry

This is our whole mission team. Villebrook Baptist Church & the Harrison Baptist Association.

Whew! Just got back from a week of ministry in inner-city Memphis, Tennessee. Jimmy and I took our youth group on their third mission trip this year. The previous two years we went to Springfield, Missouri, but this year we were allowed to take them a little farther out of their comfort zones.

We used the eight days that we were on mission trip to teach and reach. Our teens had classes in the mornings to challenge their brains and equip them mentally for life and missions work. In the afternoon, we took them to their ministry sites to get down and dirty with people who live in extreme poverty. One team was doing street witnessing. Whether they were feeding the homeless at Church Without Doors or handing our water bottles in the Memphis heat, their real purpose was to share the love of Jesus Christ. Our other team did a vacation Bible school for an inner-city church that couldn't afford to do one for themselves. They loved on kids, fed them snacks, taught them songs, and connected them to people in the church who would continue to help them long after we had gone.

The week was long and hot but much good was done. I saw our students gain a new appreciation for their physical possessions and for their families. I saw children who came broken hearted leave with a smile on their face because they had found a small piece of hope and happiness. I saw God move.

I would suffer all the heat and heartache in the world to have the joy of seeing people come to Jesus!