Ministry Update
Steve and Kristen Wynn
Constantia Center Baptist Church, Bernhard’s Bay, NY
February 2024
Hello Partners!
Even with the extra day this year, February is going by in a blur! A lot has happened since our last newsletter. We have experienced God moving in many incredible ways and are excited to share some of the highlights below.
- On February 18, the church of Constantia Center voted unanimously to accept our transition plan. Our last week as their missionary pastor and family will be March 31, Resurrection Day. We began serving in August of 2022 and have grown to love the church family. They are our people! Isn’t it remarkable how the Lord knits our hearts together? It has been a tremendous honor serving the Lord with them!
- While the church is continuing to search for their next pastor, Steve will be transitioning his responsibilities to the deacons, along with some tasks to other church members. This handoff will officially take place April 1. Until then, Steve is working with the church leaders and committee chairpersons to set up goals.
- We have guest speakers lined up from now until the end of June for CCBC.
- An advisory committee, consisting of the church deacons, Jon Jenks (BCP), J. Fischer (FBT), and Steve, will continue meeting monthly. The advisory committee will provide encouragement, counsel, and ministry review for the church.
- This means our family is moving out of the CCBC parsonage in March! We’re already underway in packing everything up.
- Pastor J. presented details concerning Faith Baptist Tabernacle’s 100 Year Plan on February 24. Our sending church family will vote on the plan in March. If approved, a “Timothy Committee” will be formed to move forward with finding FBT’s next associate pastor who will be equipped to one day serve in a rural church. You can view the recording on our website: faithbaptistsherburne.com/100plan
What will be our next steps once we’re done at CCBC?
- Our family will continue serving at FBT. Steve will conclude being their Associate Pastor on August 1. If the Lord wills it, the church may have their next Associate Pastor lined up before then so Steve can be a part of transitioning his FBT responsibilities to our “Timothy.”
- From now until August 1, we will be working diligently to get to 100% partner funded. As you may remember, our family stepped out in faith almost two years ago to begin serving in ministry when we were not fully funded. All praise to God, between our current partners and the two churches supporting us partially, we have stored up enough where our needs are met for many months as we get to 100%.
- This is where we need your help: if you know of churches or families that would be interested in learning more about our revitalization ministry, please connect them with us! We would love to meet with them, share our burden for the churches of New York, and see if they would be interested in partnering with us in this mighty harvest!
- If our timeline is on target, we will begin serving in our next revitalization church in fall of 2024. Baptist Church Planters’ leaders are already in the beginning stages of helping churches in Central New York that may be a good fit for us and us for them. God will provide clarity in the months ahead as to our next opportunity to serve.
Much more has occurred over the last month and a half. You can view the pictures below to see the other things going on in our lives and ministry.Thank you for your continued prayers! As we shared last time, 2024 will have a lot of transitions – sweet goodbyes and new hellos. An added prayer request is for comfort and trust in all the Lord has for us. We are grateful that He is strong in our weakness and that His grace is sufficient for all our needs!
- At Constantia Center Baptist Church, our teens have been thoroughly blessed by our Sunday School teachers Corey Shaw and Dave Currey (two men who took Leadership Journey last year). Pictured is Corey showing Steve Little and I a portion of the probability that creation could have occurred without our Creator. That is a lot of zeroes!
- We invited the deacons and their families to the parsonage in January to express out sincere thanks for their partnership in the gospel. It was a beautiful evening and they intend to continue this gathering on a regular basis.
- We said goodbye to our deacon, Jesse Wallace, and his family (Liz (wife), and two boys – Mark and Luke). They have been a huge blessing over the course of our ministry at CCBC. However, living in Cicero, they desired to join in membership at a local church in their community – praise the Lord!
- We welcomed our new deacon, Matt Hatch, to the team in January. He now joins existing deacons Steve Little and David Roeder.
- The Wallaces and Wynns have continued meeting on Fridays as we work through Tripp’s “What Did You Expect?” video series. This has provided continued support for them as they transition to their new church. We will conclude our study in March!
- We began our new monthly prayer meeting, called “Coffee & Conversations.” Once a month, all of the small groups combine to pray together and encourage one another.
- Our youth group at FBT had a blast at Circle C Ranch’s Snow Camp! We had 21 teens attend, plus 7 chaperones. The teaching was excellent and the activities were fun and memorable!
- Steve meets on a weekly basis, via video conferencing software, with a group of pastors and BCP missionaries. We collaborate, pray together, and adore God from His word. It is a sweet time of fellowship!
- Steve was able to attend Men’s Adventure (a Northeast Fellowship event). It was great to worship with men from sister churches, learn from the workshops, reconnect with partnering churches and their pastors/members, and make new connections.
- We gathered with other homeschooling families at the FBT church building for our bookclub! The different families agreed upon the next book and we’ll meet again in March for more discourse!
- London was laughing at her new “Kitten Nuggets” shirt – compliments of her aunt/grandparents!
- Calvin has found an innovative way to focus during homeschool – sitting between two storage tubs!
- We attended a Colgate Women’s Hockey game with friends from FBT!
- Goodbye purple, hello “white sage”! London is excited about her new room color! She’s getting ready for a new bed and furniture as we combine CCBC parsonage furniture with ours. Of course, not everything will go into London’s room! We’ve been preparing our basement to store our parsonage items as we await our next assignment in the fall (Lord willing).
- Calvin loves serving whenever we’re at FBT. He often serves alongside other boys/teens to pass the plate for the church’s offering.
- Kristen is serving during our FBT Sunday Night Kids ministry! Here she is pictured with a fun Jeopardy-style Bible game.
- Kristen and I began counseling the young couple, Ryan and Sarah, as they prepare for their wedding in August! Pray for Ryan – he was recently in a car crash and broke his leg! Praise the Lord that he is doing well and recovering on schedule!
Thank you again to all who have joined us in our ministry by supporting us financially and in prayer. We rejoice that we have reached 66% of our long-term goal! This is a growth of 9% from our last newsletter!If you are interested in partnering with us, or you know of a church or family who may desire to, you can check out our website for more information or reach out to schedule a meeting with us to learn more.
Praise & Prayer Request List
Praises
- Join us in praising God for our 47 partnering families.
- Praise God for our seven partnering churches – Constantia Center Baptist Church, Cornerstone Baptist Church, Faith Baptist Church, Faith Baptist Tabernacle, Faith Bible Church, Smyrna Baptist Church, and West Smyrna Baptist Church.
- Praise God for four churches considering partnership with us – Walnut Street Baptist Church in Avis, PA, First Baptist Church in Earlville, NY, The Christian Church of Rural Grove in Sprakers, NY, and Central Baptist Church in Binghamton, NY.
- Praise God for the church families of CCBC and FBT.
Prayer Requests
- Wynn Family
- Pray for our family as we homeschool.
- Pray for us to have wisdom and strength as we seek the Lord’s leading in ministry at Constantia Center Baptist Church, Faith Baptist Tabernacle, and more.
- Pray for new families and churches to join our ministry team in partnership. Pray for Steve to connect and schedule church and family presentations in the months ahead.
- Pray for us as we prepare for transitions in ministry.
- Constantia Center Baptist Church
- Pray for wisdom and trust in the Lord as they search for their next pastor.
- Pray for the church leaders to have wisdom as we finalize the transition plans and for the advisory committee to encourage them.
- Pray for the members to be bold in proclaiming Christ and for their faith in Christ to produce good works.
- Pray for our small groups and Sunday School classes to grow spiritually and numerically. Our adult Sunday School class is teaching on outreach.
- Pray for the sermon series, “Lessons from Corinth.”
- Faith Baptist Tabernacle
- Pray for wisdom as our church leaders develop the 100-year plan pastoral residency and for the upcoming church vote.
- Pray for Kristen and the group of women at FBT going through the Grove Study.
- Pray for our small groups, discipleship groups, and children’s ministries, and that more families will participate in them.
- Pray for J. and Steve as they partner together to minister at FBT.
- Pray for the leadership and members of the church as they seek to boldly proclaim Christ and live out the “one another” commands.
Schedule
- March 3: CCBC
- March 10: Present ministry at Christian Church of Rural Grove
- March 15 – FBT Deacons & Wives Dinner
- March 17: Present ministry at Central Baptist, Binghamton
- March 18 – CCBC Advisory Committee Zoom Meeting
- March 22-23: Leadership Journey Retreat at Camp Bayouca
- March 24: FBT
- March 29 – FBT Good Friday Service
- March 31: CCBC – Resurrection Sunday
- April 12-13: Leadership Journey Retreat at Camp Lamoka
- April 14: FBT
- April 21: FBT
- April 28: Ministry Update at Faith Bible Church, Oxford
- May 3-4: Camp ReCharge at Camp Bayouca
- May 6-8: Basics Conference with Faith Baptist Church, Dundee
- August 10: FBT Wedding – Ryan & Sarah
Our mission statement: Through the grace of God and His word, the redemptive works of Christ, and the sanctifying efforts of the Holy Spirit, we encourage and equip the body of Christ in order to ensure its members, both near and far, are enduring in the lifelong work of glorifying God and discipling faithful men and women who will be entrusted to continue this work until our Lord and Savior returns.We are passionate for the local church. We desire to see churches disciple their members to grow in adoring Him, loving one another, sharing the hope of the gospel, and living transformed lives. You can learn more about partnering with us on our website: wynnmissions.com/partner
