Broadening Perspectives

It's been so long since we've written on here - I guess time has just gotten away from us!

Cottonwood Church: Brown County, IN

Last Wednesday we had the opportunity to go with our mentors, Allen and Diane, to visit the Village Missions church that is closest to us (and the only other VM location in Indiana): Cottonwood Church in Brown County (about 2 hours away). 

Allen wants us to be able to experience some other VM church dynamics since Liberty Chapel isn't a typical VM church (pretty close to a city, also much larger/healthier than any church we would likely be placed in), so we decided to take the day to visit Darrel and Cathy Miller, the Village Missionaries at Cottonwood.

33 years ago, Darrel and Cathy were sent as Village Missionaries to Brown County - which, at the time, was the least-churched county in the state of Indiana. When they arrived, the church had 12-15 regular attenders. Now, Cottonwood averages around 120 on Sundays. 

The view of the road from the church: Trees growing in the cornfield, and more trees behind that.
If you look to the right and to the left: More trees.

To reach the community per their assignment, Darrel and Cathy had no choice but to leave the parsonage. No one was going to just wander through the church doors; to get to this rural church, you must take many winding roads through the woods... But then, that's about how everything is in that area! If you have ever been to Brown County, you have seen the rolling hills covered with countless trees. It looks like every road built had to be cut out of the woods.

Darrel and Cathy became very involved in the schools and were able to witness to many people in the community as they raised their 5 boys there. They have now been there for 33 years and have a very fruitful ministry. We appreciated them taking the time out of their day to show us around their community and talk about what ministry looks like in a very different location!

Preaching Opportunities

Chris preached at Liberty Chapel on September 7th and 14th. 

Allen has been preaching through Romans for...I don't know how long, but quite awhile :) ...So Chris was assigned those weeks to preach over Romans 10:1-13 ("Freed unto Christ's Righteousness") and Romans 10:14-21 ("The Orchestration of Our Calling"), respectively. Our wonderful sound technicians have been working at recording the sermons and posting them online, so we have a link for Chris' first sermon:

http://libchapel.sermon.net/main/main/20179833

He really struggled in writing it and felt that the passage was one of the more difficult ones he has preached...so there's our disclaimer. ;)

The second week he preached, the woman who takes these recordings wasn't there, so we don't have audio for that one. (Maybe I'll be able to convince him to post the sermon notes that he handed out...We'll see!)

Visitors Welcome

I have joked with Chris that everyone from Liberty Chapel is going to think we're super popular or something due to the flow of out-of-town visitors we have had since moving here. 

In July Chris' mom and siblings (Josh and Anna) visited for a couple days; 

in August my mom, sister Rachel, and foster sisters Faith and Chrystal came for a weekend; 

                 my roommate from Grace College and dear friend Abigail spent a weekend with us;

                 my dad and stepmom came down for a day;

and this past weekend two of our Bible Quizzing leaders from high school, John and Debby, stopped by on their way home from celebrating their wedding anniversary nearby. 

We have so loved being able to have visitors in our home - both from the church here and our family/friends from out of town. It is so fun to be able to serve and share with others in this way! Thank you to all who have visited... and if anyone else wants to visit or will be passing through the area, we would be more than happy to have you as well! :)

Update on Charis

For those who are on Facebook (which takes a lot less time/effort to write on than the blog), you may have seen that somewhere Charis contracted Hand, Foot, & Mouth disease and was diagnosed on Monday. She is doing much better and is no longer contagious. We're praying that no one else in our family caught it (I think we still have a couple more days until we'll know for sure if we're out of the woods)... So far, no one has shown any signs of it. Thanks to all who prayed for her! She handled it like a trooper and is just about back to normal.

Preach the Word, Love the People

Some of you may remember Village Missions' motto: Preach the Word, Love the People. This is our responsibility as Village Missionaries (in fact, is it not truly the responsibility of every disciple of Christ?). We appreciate your prayers as we continue growing in these roles. 

Preaching the Word, of course, does not refer solely to Chris' occasional responsibility to exhort believers from the pulpit, but also speaks of our responsibility as followers of Christ and as assigned missionaries to share His Word, the reason for the hope that we have, with others.

One cannot expect to reach his hearers with Christ's message, however, if it is not based in love. Is that not how God reached us? 

"For God so LOVED the World that He gave His one and only Son [the WORD]..." (John 3:16; John 1:1) We, too, must love people enough to be able to preach the Word to them. 

Please pray that we will continue seeking out opportunities (and having eyes to see the opportunities God brings to us) to share Christ with others. We will pray the same for you. :)