We were driving in the rain last month and I said out loud "April showers bring May flowers". Gracie replied in her quick witted Gracie sort of way "Yeah, but, May flowers bring June bugs". She is correct! With the next season of mosquito's and ticks looming around the corner we are thankful for the great weather of warmth, sun and very little bugs we have had. Well, except for the 45 degree days we had for about two weeks. It's Minnesota what do you expect!!!
I really can't complain because Eric and I were actually gone for most of those cold days to a conference in Ohio. Amish country to be exact, and it was very warm there for the 4 days we visited. I have to admit I did not have high expectations of that part of our country being very interesting but when we arrived, we loved it. The hilly countryside, green grass, slow paced life style was relaxing and we so enjoyed that. Our view out of our hotel window was of a quaint white church with a steeple, cemetery, and rolling green hills for as far as we could see. The clothes lines at every Amish house, horse and buggies, and simple living made me a little jealous of the Amish way of life.
Along with the area we were in the conference itself was very life giving to both Eric and I. This was our first FIRE (Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals) conference since becoming a member church this last year. For those of you who knew about us leaving the Free Church denomination and joining with a different association, FIRE is that association. They are not considered a denomination, but an association. Eric had attended a regional conference last Fall to check them out and the one we attended last week was their international one. After the week was done Eric and I would say they far exceeded our expectations as an organization. They don't have any authority over local churches but they are there for accountability and support of the local church. They are very orderly and well run. We were able to fellowship with many like minded people and were encouraged in our Christian faith and ministry. We have been feeling the strain of this being long term ministry with very few tangible results. There has been many times of feeling very alone and hopeless in it. Some of that it is the reality of rural church planting and the unique hardships that come with it.
One of the characteristics about FIRE that stands out to us (it's not charismatic in case you are wondering!) was the preaching of the Word. In the past we have attended conferences that put most of the emphasis on church growth. How many people were attending our worship services and what is your personality type? Lion, Tiger, or bear (oh my)? Instead this time, we were taught and fed out of Colossians 1. The theme of the conference was about being biblically balanced in ministry. The primary teaching was aimed at the pastors in the room but it could apply to us all who are in Christ. The balancing act is lived out by 1) faithfully proclaiming the full counsel of God, 2) biblically counseling the full council of God's word and 3) teaching God's word.
Two of the mornings were dedicated to hearing reports form the churches and prayer requests. Eric shared our report on who we are as a church, what we have gone through, some of the opposition we have faced and also his areas needed for personal growth. He also shared that our request would be for our teenage girls in the area of healing and encouragement.
The other aspect of FIRE we were very impressed with was their emphasis on biblical counseling. Eric and I have been taking courses through IBCD (Institue for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship) and the courses have been life giving to me personally and are hopefully giving us the tools we need to be faithful counselors of God's word. The founder IBCD was also one of the starters of FIRE years ago when it was in the infant stages. He also taught us one night on how to handle God's word as a biblical counselor instead of using human psychology (which is actually a competing world view with Christianity). We are excited to see how this will all play out and the life changing fruit that will come from it in the future. It is a lot of work, but edifying at the same time.
We enjoyed all the people we met at this conference. There was a perfect balance of laughter and seriousness. There were pastors who went through hard church divisions, some went through coups and survived (similar to our experience). They continued to stay in the churches they were serving for the last 20, 30, and 40 years even when it was hard. The longevity of their ministry was encouraging to us as so many times it seems to us that it would feel much easier to quit and find something more satisfying. Some of those pastors reminded us that some seasons in ministry you have green grass and it is very fruitful. Other times the grass is brown and dry. It was good to have that reminder from people who had seen seasons come and seasons go and to be told not one season lasts forever.
I have a quick story to share of one answer to prayer that was a very specific prayer request from our worship team. The worship team was seeing the need for new hymnals so that everyone could be on the same page for worship. A couple from our church had gone to the Ligonier conference and saw the new Hymnals from John McArthur's Master's seminary. They came back to Minnesota with the request that we get them since they would fit in very well with the vision of the church. As the Elders looked at finances they realized we just could not pull that off right now. So, they put it to prayer. A few days later a gal who attended our church (at times) came in and let Eric know that she did not believe the same way as our church, but that she loved our church and what we stood for in the community. She said she wouldn't be coming back for worship (she came from a very different world view) but that she wanted to support us by giving us a thousand dollars. And just like that we had our hymn books! They are rich Hymns of the faith and they are songs that any one can sing.
Aside from ministry the family is busy planning for Jordan's grad party in June. We are trying to get a few house projects accomplished that have been on the horizon for some time. The younger kids are pretty much done with school with a few tests that still need to be taken. Taylor will get her license here shortly and Paisley is taking her sweet time growing up. In other words, she has yet to take her first step at 16 months. We went through a two month time period where we had the stomach flu and strep throat continuously. We would get rid of it and it would cycle back though. I thought it was never going away but thankfully it did.
This picture is not great quality but the story behind it is so cute. Every year we do a combined service with several other churches in the area for the Good Friday. Most of the other churches raise their hands during the singing. The culture of Lifespring is not one that people outwardly express emotion very often, if at all. During one of the songs all the other churches began raising their hands and Simeon started looking around and figured he should do the same. He didn't sing a word but he stood with his arms raised high and Eric quickly snapped a picture of it.
Thank you to all who have supported us through prayer and financial support. We are continuing to seek the Lord and fundraise to generate finances for the church. Your support has been helpful in tangible ways and also in the area of encouragement. So far we have been provided for and are continuing to look to the future here at Lifespring.
With Love,
Miriam
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