Itineraries:
Jon Jenks – April 30 – Unity Baptist Church in Wayland, MI
May 19-20 – Revitalization weekend in MI
May 23-26 – Church Revitalization Seminar at Faith Baptist Bible College – teaching 5 sessions
Chip Wood – Chip: 3 TJT sessions with Temple in Lincoln, NE
April 30 – Grace Baptist Church in Geneva, NY
May 14 Calvary Baptist Oberlin Ohio
May 21 first Baptist Church in Belmont NY
June 11 Calvary Baptist Oberlin Ohio
Scott Owen –
April 30 and May 7 – Preaching at First Baptist Monroe, Iowa
May 23-26 – Church Revitalization Seminar at Faith Baptist Bible College – teaching 3 sessions
LJ studies: Austin, MN; St. Ansgar, IA; Charles City, IA; Chisago Lakes; Des Moines, IA; Leading LJ for Prairie Flower
Tim Weeks – staying near home to be available when daughter Esther delivers her first baby
May 7 – Teaching Connection Hour at Kossuth Street Baptist
May 8-10 – Tim is heading to Basics conf in Cleveland, OH
May 14, 21, 28 – Teaching Connection Hour at Kossuth Street Baptist
June 4 – Teaching Connection Hour at Kossuth Street Baptist
June 11 – July 9 – Interim pastor at Trinity Baptist – Muncie, IN
Miguel and Annie Quintana – Hispanic church plant under Starkey Road Baptist Church in Seminole, FL
Prayer requests:
Recovery surgery: Brain – nephew of Ester Cornell & Knees, daughter of Lissette López.
Health: Varinia Martínez, Santiago & Graciela Cruz, Norma Salas, Fidel Alberto Ferro, Eugenio Rojas’s niece.
Spiritual strength: Roberto Porras, Diaz Torres Family & Rosa M. Durán.
Work & Study Masters: Deborah Cornell (Georgia) & Jonathan Quintana (South Korea).
Immigration Status: Valeska, Pavel and sons & Santos & Rodriguez.
Spanish Sunday services and prayer on Wednesdays.
Provision of God for the change of the roof of the house of the Quintana family.
Tim and Marsha Weeks – Church Facilitation Director with a Missionary Care emphasis
1.Praising God for His understanding, Who does great and marvelous things and Whose greatness is unsearchable.
2. We praise God for surrounding the Worthington’s with a caring body of believers while they journey through Rob’s current health challenges.
3. We continue to adore Our Lord for His saving grace as the Mitchell’s in ID reported of 3 former LDS individuals who were transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light and demonstrated their commitment to follow Christ as they were baptized on Resurrection Day Sunday.
4. We are gratefully and humbly praising the Lord for the blessings of celebrating His Resurrection power with family last weekend.
5. Praise God for rest and work! Spring cleaning and planting projects have begun. Resting and sleeping in our own bed has restored us for some of these more physically demanding jobs.
Jim and Janice Mitchell – Church Planters serving Grace Fellowship Church in Preston, ID
Recently, one of the ladies that comes every two or three weeks to church, came to the realization that she needs to get baptized. This is a huge step for her because she is ex-LDS and has been very fearful of getting trapped in another organization. Also, another young man recently saved out of LDS talked to me about baptism. It is very exciting to watch God moving his people down the path of discipleship.
Chip and Karen Wood – Church Facilitation Director with an Educational emphasis
We are so very thankful for your continued prayers as we continue to help churches grow in health and vibrancy. God has truly been answering your prayers for us. In Philippians 4:17 Paul expresses the fact that the blessings that resulted from his ministry efforts were added to the account of those who enabled him to minister in that way. We not only desire that but we actively pray for blessing upon your daily life as well.
In February we both went to Cedarville University to meet up with students that we have mutual church connections with. We discussed the possibilities of a short-term church internship where they could be discipled in the practical lessons of serving and working in the church. Chip had the opportunity to attend the Men’s Adventure in Binghamton NY and make many connections with partners and friends. That same weekend Karen joined Chip at Central Baptist where we gave a ministry update and then Chip gave the morning message. We finished up our travels at the end of the month in North Chili NY.
In March We both were involved in a full day teacher seminar with Steve and Kristen Wynn. (Chip has been mentoring them since they came on as missionaries under our ministry). That Sunday we went to Chips childhood church in Constantia NY where we presented an update on our ministry and Chip spoke on greeting one another with a holy kiss as part of their on going “one anothers” series. Chip helped Jon Jenks conduct two leadership retreats at the end of the month. One at Skyview Ranch in OH and the other at Camp Lamoka in NY. These retreats were very profitable for all who attended, and we continue to have weekly meetings with several groups. God continues to bless these efforts to help churches grow strong and healthy.
Chip continues to meet weekly with 11 church groups. These are online meetings that work through the practical applications of biblical discipleship. We were both able to take a few days for a break as a couple as well. We finish April speaking at two churches, one in Ohio and the other in upstate NY.
Elizabeth and Josh are doing well. Josh is recovering from successful back surgery. Elizabeth is applying to teach in Cleveland OH area public school’s next fall. Katherine is juggling Army National Guard and college at Cedarville while planning her wedding in July. She continues to excel in school and all the Guard training. Johnathon is encountering some health problems. Gabby continues to care for her mother.
Praises:
1. God continues to bless our home and ministry
2. Continually hearing how God is growing lives in our classes
3. Praise the Lord that Two Churches have recently increased their support level raising our over all support to 94%
Prayer requests:
1. Wisdom to help churches in their efforts to lead and disciple.
2. Stamina for traveling the many ministry miles this year by car. Last year it was 25,000 ministry
miles by car alone.
3. Health as we greet so many people each month.
4. Katherine and Micah’s wedding plans and details along with marital counseling.
5. Katherine will be in Guard training at Fort Benning, Georgia for the month of June.
6. Wisdom as to when we can move back to NY to help our parents.
7. Please pray for Johnathon and Gabby as they desire to move back to NY in the fall.
Ulysses and Augustine Bestey – church planters serving Faith Fellowship Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO
I pray all is well with you and your families. Our family is doing well. My oldest son, Ulysses Jr. and his wife Cathy, have added a new addition to our family, Baby Aaliyah. They are in the process of adopting her. We are seeing a fantastic transformation in the three siblings they adopted last year after his decision to homeschool. Little Ulysses III (Zander) is still doing well. Mary is doing good but still awaiting a kidney transplant. She is currently working and going back to school to become a CNA. Our youngest son, Demetrius and his wife Danielle and family are doing great. His twins, Ethan and Maddison, are meeting all their IEP goals at school, and his two boys have taken an interest in music, with Benjamin learning the violin and Ethan learning the piano.
The church is doing well. We have started all of our ministries back this month: Sunday school, Faith Kids, Small Group for all ages, and Faith Cafe all revamped. We haven’t had them since the height of the pandemic. We have been having a group of men coming from City Union Mission. Our prayer is that we can build them up, see them saved, and disciple them.
SALT – Senior Adults Living Triumphantly!
John and Willie Mae Williams – retired, living in Elyria, OH
Willie Mae writes, Please continue to pray for us. John fell and broke his hip toward the end of last year. He had surgery, and it went well. He is recovering and doing therapy. He is walking some but is mostly in a wheelchair. He is still in long-term care due to his lack of mobility and memory. I go eat with him every day. He still has his sense of humor some days and tells his jokes. He enjoys talking with the Lord and the devotional time when we sing hymns. The singing seems to lift his spirit. We both enjoy it when visitors come. We are thankful for all of the calls and for the care we receive here at Wesleyan Village each day.
I am still attending First Baptist Church in Elyria and still check in with a shut-in by phone. I am looking forward to seeing some family at a family reunion later this summer. We are thankful for our Christian family and for faithful Christians everywhere. We celebrated our 70th anniversary on April 2. God is good! We had family and friends come in and celebrate with us. We have an awesome God who promised to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5b). God’s Word is true and is what we live by.
