Encouraging Others in Ministry

One of the things that always amazes me about my weekly visits to Sebewaing is that God always seems to speak to me or use a different one of my encounters to accomplish something. This week it was my visit with Kevin. Kevin and I have known each other a long time. Fifteen years ago we were in a small group together that met for a couple of years. Since that time we have been there to help lift each other up and encourage each other during difficult times in our lives.

When Kevin and I started meeting last November, he was in the middle of one of those tough times in his spiritual walk. With all of his four sons now out of the house, the youngest went off to college this fall. Kevin was not sure what God wanted next from him. As we began to meet, we decided to do some reading in the Old Testament. The last couple of weeks have taken us through the book of Job and into Psalms. As we read through Job, Kevin was led to read through it again in another translation. So I did the same.

It was interesting that God seemed to be giving each of us a different understanding of Job than we have experienced in past readings. Through this process Kevin has gained some insight into a situation with another person in his life. He also feels like God is calling him to teach through some relationship materials that he has used in the past in his Sunday School class. There is a new excitement, a re- ignition, growing in his faith journey that I am pleased to see.

The other part of this is that Kevin is a member at my former church, and I am excited to hear the things that God is doing there. My prayer is that God will continue to work with Kevin to help people in his church refocus on Jesus. That is one of the great things about what the Thumb area LEAD Team is doing in Sebewaing is the fact that if the Kingdom is strengthened, then we are being faithful to the call.

Praises:
New opportunities in the schools
Life Transformation groups going well
Possible new people coming into groups


Concerns:
For a clear vision of purpose as a LEAD Team
That we would be as one
To bring together some opportunities in the community rather than everyone working in different directions