Redirection: Ministry Update

As most of you know, Stephanie had a heart attack on December 11 that also caused her significant heart damage. She is currently considered to be in “heart failure” with her EF (ejection fraction) at 35%. (The normal range is 55-70%.) 

While in the hospital, we were taking our cues and future direction from Steph’s doctors on what we should do regarding our traveling schedule and her medical care.  Because her heart is not functioning completely and correctly, she has to wear a personal defibrillator (Life Vest) as a precaution from irregular heart rhythms that could cause sudden cardiac arrest. We are told that after three months of medication and monitoring, they should be able to see if it has helped strengthen her heart. She also is having to attend cardiac rehab for the next three months as another attempt to treat her weakened heart. In three months, the doctors will do another ultrasound to see if time, medication, and therapy (and lots of prayer!) have helped to get her heart function up and working properly. The doctors also have advised us to take any stressful scheduled obligations or pressures off of Steph’s plate during those three months to give her optimal time to recuperate. 
 
All of these factors have caused us to see God’s evident and obvious redirecting of our ministry for this coming spring. We’ve made the difficult decision to cancel our spring itinerary, partner on staff at Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, MI (where we minister in the summers with the Spread the Word internship), put our kids in the school associated with the church, and help Stephanie regain strength. This has been a hard decision on one hand, but God has also made it easy in that—the doors have been clearly opened for the next steps we were to take. We simply walked through with confidence in God’s provision and direction. 
 
Here are a few things that you can rejoice in as well as pray for:
 
PRAISES: 

1. This all happened while we were at our home in Michigan for the holidays. God allowed this health issue to happen while we were close to our doctors and off the road.
2. God has provided food, money, help, clarity, encouragement, support, love, and prayers through the kindness of people all over the place. We are humbled by His love shown through the love of His people. Thank you for your part in loving our family/ministry. 
3. God has shown us tangible and specific ways that He is actively working in and growing our family. We are processing this in front of our children, and we believe and pray that He is using this for good in our lives as well as our teams. 
4. God is providing new evangelistic opportunities to share the hope of the Gospel with medical personnel, neighbors, cardiac rehab patients, and other relationships around us.
5. God has opened up a new ministry opportunity for us to partner with a local church that we have an already close relationship with. We are in awe of God's sovereign working and excited about how we can serve at Inter-City. 

 
PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Please pray that Steph’s heart function would improve. 
2. Please pray for our team members. They are very suddenly without a job. Please pray for the Lord to give clarity for the next step, provision in the waiting, and spiritual growth through this situation.
3. Please pray for grace as we transition into a new season of ministry for this spring and summer. Our kids are heading to a traditional school for the first time, and there are a lot of new things coming at them all at once.
4. We don’t know if this is a short season (the plan to be here in MI until August), or if God is wanting us to stop traveling for the foreseeable future. There are still a lot of question marks, and we are praying for wisdom as we try to decide what to do with our inventory, vehicles, equipment, and future schedule. God has led us very specifically so far, and we are confident that He will continue leading us in the next steps. 

 
We have resources available here on our website. We have physical recordings available for purchase along with sheet music! We will be trying to liquidate some of our book inventory to help us financially. We will also be releasing a new EP recording this month! Stay tuned!

Thank you for praying for our family and team. This has been a unique season full of new things. Hard doesn’t mean the same thing as bad, so we are resting in God’s perfect “Plan A” for our family and team. God is good and does good. We are choosing to trust Him.