Ministry Update
Steve and Kristen Wynn
Associate Church Revitalizers, Sherburne, NY
June 2024
Hello Prayer Partners!
I have been thinking a lot about how we practice hospitality in our churches. Of course, the word “hospitality” in the original Greek (philoxenos) means to “love strangers.” We see in 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:8 that one of a pastor’s qualifications is being hospitable, so we know this is important to God. Additionally, during the final judgment described by Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46, God’s people, the righteous sheep, are commended for welcoming Jesus when He was a stranger. Of course, the righteous are perplexed and ask when they did this for Him. The King responds, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” How we treat the least of our brothers and sisters in Christ is equated to how we treat Christ and will be commended as such!
Which brings me back to the topic of hospitality – how do we welcome strangers when they step into our church buildings? How do we, with intentionality, ensure first time visitors come a second time? A third? As we’re sharing the gospel in our communities and folks visit us, what do they experience? Of course, our aim is for them to be discipled, baptized, and join our churches! But how does that process start with their first interaction with the church? Do they feel welcomed and loved? Do they leave the worship service feeling like family?
It is good to look around with fresh eyes and consider how a first time visitor is greeted and welcomed when they pull into our parking lots and open our doors. We want to love strangers because we, too, were once strangers to God. Worse than that, we were enemies of God. “But God showed His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Now that’s love!
Pictured above: our newly furnished foyer at Faith Baptist Tabernacle (FBT) in Sherburne, including our new resource center.
A lot of what we’re currently working on hasn’t been photographed, so here’s a list of some things that didn’t make the photo highlights below:
- Steve has been reaching out to churches and families to see if they will consider partnership. Praise the Lord for His generous provision! We’re so close to our goal (90%) and are praying for the Lord to provide the final 10% by August 1.
- Steve is working on transitioning his pastoral duties, including his long-time position as Christian Education Coordinator (oversight of our children’s and adult teaching ministries). As a reminder, Steve will complete his temporary pastoral position on July 31, although he will continue to serve in the church.
- We are praying for the Lord’s wisdom and guidance for our next ministry/revitalization assignment.
- J. and Steve are working on an assimilation plan for FBT, organizing/implementing discipleship opportunities for the summer and fall, preparing for the 4th of July (a big outreach event as our church is positioned in a great spot for the town’s firework display), and more.
- Our Timothy Committee has finished our portfolio and created a website to publicly display information concerning our pastoral residency program. We have four young men we are connecting with who may be interested in this opportunity! You can learn more about our Timothy Initiative (and share!) by visiting FBT’s website: faithbaptistsherburne.com
- Steve & Kristen had their final marriage counseling session with Ryan & Sarah. Praying for them to put Jesus first in their lives as they prepare for their wedding day.
That’s a wrap! The Wynn family academic calendar is finalized and the books are closed! London and Calvin enjoyed their last music lessons and celebrated with a big end-of-the-year party! And, let’s be frank – Kristen and Steve also celebrated!
Things are busy at FBT! Our teachers meet for our quarterly meeting – featuring a Hawaiian theme. We are incredibly grateful for all of our church members that are actively involved in discipleship. We had our annual “Battle of the BBQ” on Father’s Day. Mike won for the second year in a row! J. and Steve did a little impromptu shopping at Walmart, getting ready for our Wednesday night outdoor prayer meetings and getting some welcoming scents for the church building (we ended up not choosing frankincense and myrrh). The big hit for the children of FBT is a game called “nine square.” They love it! We celebrated with Ryan and Sarah for their Jack & Jill wedding shower. The wedding is getting close!
We wrapped up a number of our academic-year ministries this past month. We had our last small group meeting and celebrated with snacks and card games. Our teens had their final event – a combined teen event with the youth group of Faith Bible Church in Oxford where we played archery tag, video games, and more!
We also wrapped up our Sunday Night Kids ministries with a big splash party! Playing slip-n-slide kickball, having a massive water balloon and squirt gun right, and other activities. Our family held a combined garage sale and we had a little too much fun promoting it (see the giant T-rex and frog costumes). We also went out to the movies with friends.
On May 29 we celebrated Kristen’s birthday! She wanted a trip to the Zoo, so we headed to Syracuse! The weather was perfect for our adventure. We concluded our day with dinner at Olive Garden. We also celebrated our end-of-the-year homeschool bookclub, our 17th wedding anniversary, and hosted a fun “murder mystery” with a group of friends.
A definite highlight for Steve was marching with his alma mater’s alumni marching band! Sherburne’s 75th Pageant of the Bands brought thousands to the area on the first Saturday of June to hear the best high school marching bands perform. It was a great trip down memory lane for Steve and he’s looking forward to the next alumni performance in five years!
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 90% of our long-term goal! This is a growth of 6% 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 55 partnering families and one partnering business!
- Praise God for our eight partnering churches – Central Baptist Church, 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 – Grace Baptist Church in Cedarville, OH, The Christian Church of Rural Grove in Sprakers, NY, and Faith Baptist Church in Oxford, MI.
- Praise God that we completed year one of homeschooling!
Prayer Requests
- Wynn Family
- Pray for our family as we enjoy the summer.
- Pray for us as we prepare for our pastoral ministry to end at Faith Baptist Tabernacle in August.
- 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.
- Constantia Center Baptist Church
- We continue to pray for God to provide their next pastor and wait in eager anticipation for our prayers to be answered! If you know of a potential pastor, I encourage you to view and share CCBC’s pastoral portfolio (click here to view a PDF copy).
- Pray for the church leaders to serve the church well and for the advisory committee to be an encouragement to them.
- Pray for the members to be bold in proclaiming Christ and for their faith in Christ to produce good works.
- Pray for the church to be intentional in their discipleship.
- Pray for their upcoming guest speakers over the next few months (many of whom are FBT members!).
- Faith Baptist Tabernacle
- Pray for The Timothy Initiative as we seek our next candidate for our pastoral residency. You can learn more about this new initiative on FBT’s website: faithbaptistsherburne.com/resources/timothy
- Pray for our summer ministries (discipleship groups, Wednesday prayer and teaching meetings, etc).
- Pray for J. and Steve to have wisdom as they partner together to minister at FBT.
- Pray for the leadership and members of the church as they seek to boldly proclaim Christ, live out the “one another” commands, and be intentional in discipling disciplers.
- Pray for Ryan and Sarah as they prepare for their wedding in August.
Schedule
- June 30: Guest Speaking at Constantia Center Baptist Church
- July 4: Independence Day celebration/cookout at Faith Baptist Tabernacle
- July 7: Guest Speaking at First Baptist Church of Earlville
- July 14: Preaching at FBT
- July 14-19: Calvin at Camp Bayouca
- July 21: Preaching during Park Service in Sherburne
- July 21-26: London at Camp Bayouca
- July 29-August 2: Family Vacation
- August 4: Guest Speaking at Smyrna Baptist Church
- August 10: FBT Wedding – Ryan & Sarah
- August 11: Preaching at FBT
- August 18: Baptism Service at Lake Moraine, Hamilton
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
