In the few short years of being in Fergus Falls, we have seen many hard things in our community. We have found first hand that ministry is messy. From the suicide of a city councilman in 2016, a homicide/suicide after a couple divorced leaving several children behind in 2017, to the most recent which was a six year old child being neglected and abused, which ended in his death. As a community we came together to grieve and to show that we care. Our prayer is for our community to find true comfort and real hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank Jesus that He is good at taking the mess and making something beautiful out of it.
To quote the famous philosopher Dr. Seuss, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." As Christ followers we care about every human being as we are all created in the image of God and desire to see people personally come to know Him. This is why our family moved to Fergus Falls to show the community here the love of Jesus Christ and help people come to know Him. And this also why we are personally becoming licensed foster-care providers for children of neglect. We have entered our foster-care journey before we thought we would (but not ahead of God's time table!) and ask you pray for our family as we ministry to the least, the lost and the last with abundant love and grace.
Recently as a community we came together for the National Day of Prayer and were able to show our town that as Christians we are united as one large church in the person of Jesus Christ. Nothing is impossible with our God and we are thankful for His faithfulness and love. We know God is at work and are seeing Him work on hearts one at a time as we pour out our lives serving Him. Many are starting to turn to Christ. Please join us in prayer as we desire to reach more people in this city of ours for Jesus Christ!
(Praying together at our City Hall Park on the National Day of Prayer)
With spring now here and summer around the corner we are excited for more conversations without snow on the ground and more time to get away and be refreshed. Recently, Anna was able to attend a Women's Retreat with several other Calvary Chapels in the Midwest and had a great time of encouragement and rest. Tim was able to attend a work related conference and share the Gospel with several co-workers and new colleagues he met while away from home. One of them was writing down his thoughts and Tim, prompted by the Holy Spirit, went over and asked him what he was working on. His response? Trying to figure out the meaning of life and what his purpose was. As one would expect Tim had a great conversation with Derek and gave him the Gospel message.
