Dear Praying Friends,
Kris, Cassie and I had the opportunity to stay with the Pastor of Pedro Bay's family this last weekend, so ABM could take him and his dear wife to Anchorage to attend the Family Life Marriage Conference. Family Life Ministries has made the Registration Fee FREE for those who serve in Bush Alaska, thanks to some networking done by Vince and Marylil, two of our Associate Family Staff. The transportation, alone, IN to Anchorage costs $500 - $600! It was cool to provide a "full package" deal for this family.
ABM staff (the Harris clan) flew out to stay with their kids while they got away for some much needed time together. And ABM took care of the transportation side of things as well! What a blessing.
This family has 7 kids! So Kris and I being there while they were gone allowed them to "go to a whole different level" while away.
Kris carried the lion share of the work. But the kids themselves did an incredible job of caring for themselves, and helping Kris tackle the challenge of cooking for a family of 9, in a kitchen she was unfamiliar with, in a village with no store to run down to when she needed something.
I don’t know if they thought they would be eating just a bit slim while Mom was gone, or what, but they were impressed with how smoothly everything went. I'm so fortunate to have Kris!
Me? What did I do? Well, I had a 10 year old boy named Tim who just loved all my corny jokes. I just had fun! I also was able to preach the message in the small church there in Pedro Bay. This was a real blessing for me. I had been to Pedro Bay a few times before, but had never really been exposed to the full Body of Christ before. Now I believe I have a much better feel for what I call "the spiritual heartbeat" of the village.
I preached on Hebrews 10:10 and following. Emphasizing the awesome privilege we as believers have in that we can step into the presence of God any time because of Christ's work on the Cross. Then I tied in verse 24, "Think of ways to encourage one another, with outbursts of love and good deeds." (NLT) Back to ABM's theme verse in Romans 1:11-12. There, Paul wanted to come to Rome to give them a spiritual gift . . . . . But then says "that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. "
I have come to my own little realization about gifts and encouragement in the body of Christ. God has been hammering this in to me as Christian friends have helped us in some really incredible way. Let me give you a for-instance.
We put out a quarterly written newsletter (sometimes I tease that it’s a quarterly newsletter that goes out three times a year!"). Well, we had some friends in Wisconsin who have a printing business help us set it up so that we e-mail our newsletter down to him as an Adobe PDF, along with the labels in Word format, and he prints, labels and mails the newsletters, along with the help of other dear friends from WI. WOW! We have been struggling with printing our own newsletters on our inkjet that always seem to have problems (Not to mention how long it took).
Not to minimize his offer to help at all . . . But he's a printer. He owns his own printing business. Our job is one of many jobs he does every day, probably one of the smallest. To him, it's just a matter of adding our print job to his stack. No big deal. But to us? This is the biggest thing since sliced bread! We just can't believe it! How cool! What an incredible offer!
My point is this: Part of encouraging, part of the Body of Christ - - is me and you taking things that we are good at, so good at that they are part of our "routine", and using that to impact someone else's life. When I take something I am good at and focus it on others, it becomes an incredible blessing to them! When Mike said he would start printing our newsletters, it became an incredible blessing to us!
You know, Kris and I have been plugging along at ABM for over three years now. I am amazed at how "everything seems to fit" as far as ministry and our abilities. Everything Kris and I have been through before has been preparation for this. But we have been struggling with finances. We sold our store at a loss three years ago and are still paying off some debt there. Kris works part time at Alaska Christian College. I pick up jobs here and there. But the bottom line is this. We need to be fully funded in our ministry to be fully effective. Kris needs to focus on family and women's ministry of ABM, and just can’t go on working, even part time, otherwise.
Here's an interesting fact. If everyone who gets our e-mail updates would commit to partnering with us financially just $20 a month, we would be FULLY FUNDED. Yes, salary, health, retirement, ministry expenses, everything. I'm not trying to "count beans" and see who does and who doesn’t help us financially. I know that some who get our e-mail updates already do partner with us financially. But my point is simply that each of you have a unique opportunity to provide something very simple for us, that would make a world of difference for us in our ministry. For those of you who have been with us since we first started in February of 2001, we know that you know our hearts and our desire to be more effective in our ministry. And I trust that those of you who have come along side us in prayer more recently also are committed to us in prayer and assistance.
In a few years, our kids will all have "flown the coop" and we will be able to travel out more extensively, for longer durations of time, and do it TOGETHER! Right now, we have two wonderful daughters still at home. That's OK. It adds a whole different dynamic to what we do, especially when they can travel into the bush themselves. But I am seeing the need to focus more on Kris' role as a mother and as a mentor and friend. And it's just getting harder and harder to see her have to split herself.
Thanks for your love, prayers and partnering with us. We love and appreciate YOU!
