Over but not complete

Dear Prayer warriors.

The past three weeks flew buy at a frantic pace and I realize that an update is way overdue.

I am in the process of gathering my thoughts and trying to take in all that happened over the last three months, and even this last year. As we are a week away from the one year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina many people are looking back at what happened, but also realizing that there is a very long road ahead for the local people.

Our final two mission trips went exceptionally well; we had 171 people on the last trip which was one of our smallest weeks. Our leadership team finished strong and served with excellence, even though they were so very tired. I saw our leaders give more than they had to give, and walking in the strength that only comes from complete reliance on God. We had to constantly keep in mind that even though this was our last mission trip of the ten this summer, it was the very first for our participants.

Isaiah 40 v 31

But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew
their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.

Personally it was a very tiring week. There was a lot to undo and pack away. I had to say goodbye to a lot of wonderful people we had worked alongside in the city. I was really blessed to have Mike Anderson come back to the city for a few days to help pack and get a lot of our supplies back to Gainesville. And I know that the hardest part of his trip to New Orleans was the nine hours spent in the same vehicle as a staunch UGA supporter. But I know he will be particularly blessed for enduring such suffering. Seriously though, we had an enormous amount of logistics to undo and things to close out, before I could come home. We saw Gods hand at work in this process as well, and He allowed the entire process to go extremely well.

One of my biggest concerns was the return of the rental vehicles we had been using in the city; we had two trucks and two minivans. We averaged five thousand miles on each vehicle over eleven weeks and the vehicles were driven on some of the roughest roads you can find. I ran each of the vehicles through a carwash before handing them in and then prayed. The rental company representative went over the vehicles and declared that there was no need to charge us for any repairs. This was a miracle. But looking back on the summer we had so many miraculous events, we came to expect it and simply smile at each other knowingly. Some of the obvious miracles we tend to overlook were the ones of protection for all the people working in the city.

• We drove a total of 100 000 miles in 15 vehicles without a single accident.
• Our participants probably drove more than that with their traveling from all parts of the country, and also no accidents.
• We had people from cooler northern states working in 100+ degree heat indices, and we only had two minor cases of heat exhaustion.
• We had 12 year olds and older gutting houses every day, with hand tools and a lot of enthusiasm, and we had no injuries.
• We prayer walked in some of the most infamous areas of the country, places where the National Guard was being shot at, and we had absolutely no hint of trouble.

We serve a mighty and an awesome God, every one of our prayers was answered.

On the final Thursday night we had our cookout at Ray Avenue Baptist church. It was well attended and including most of our teams we must have had close to 300 people there. It was an evening of joy and celebration. There was hope in the community, where previously there had been despair. We had a time of worship and then we prayed for the church members. Pastor Brown was struggling with the fact that we were leaving, he was understandably apprehensive about the future. But he understood that now it was his time and the community needed him to continue the work and to continue to walk the streets of his neighborhood in prayer.

I talked to him yesterday, and he told me that they are going to keep on having the Thursday night outreach, and that he was committed to walking the streets around the church in prayer. He was and still is a tremendous symbol of strength and courage. He is giving the people hope, he is walking with them and through his testimony many people in the previously drug ridden area, are coming to know the Lord. I pray that we will see other pastors, and church members, all over the world, understand that the streets around our own churches are the mission field we are called to serve in.

I came home last week and went straight into our annual staff conference. It was a time of spiritual refreshment and prayer. It was great to reconnect with staff from all over the world, and to hear there stories. At the conference it was announced that the Director of Project Management will be stepping down, and that I would be taking his place. That would mean that I would be responsible for the setup of all the short term missions across the globe. I am currently too tired to even think about the new responsibility, and will have a few months of training and restructuring ahead of me. At the staff conference Debbie and I were recognized, for our hard work and sacrifices over the past year. I was given the MVP award for the year, and we were blessed with a three day and four night vacation to Mexico. And to tag onto that, one of our friends and supporters has arranged a house on the beach for us to use for a week in Florida.

We have been blessed.

I have so much to say, and so much to still process, but suffice to say that this past year has been the most incredible experience of my life. To see God working every day in ordinary and extraordinary ways has increased my faith tenfold. We are by no means finished with the mission field of New Orleans; there are still many years of ministry there. I am planning a large vision trip for the fall, and we are having people sign up for the next year already.

Please keep praying for us as we look to the next mountain. I don’t know what the Lord has in store for us in the coming year, but if this past year was a training ground, (and I believe it was) then we are in for some exciting times.

Thank you for your prayers

God bless you

Athol, Debbie and Christie