Tooth Tales – October 2019 (Edited for Publication)
Ministry news!
We have exciting news to share with you concerning a change in our ministry. As you may know from following our newsletters that we have become increasingly burdened to reach the unreached and to try to access more restricted areas of the world with the gospel. We have been praying about how to best do this with the years of ministry that we have left. In 2016 (our 20th anniversary in missions) we began to pray that the Lord might grant us 20 more years, if He saw fit to do so. With 40% of the world still unreached, there is still so much to do.
With this in mind, we recently informed the Board of Directors of GDMMissions that we will be transitioning to GFA Missions in the coming weeks. We feel very confident that this is the direction the Lord would have us take and this is the time to do it. We feel that GFA, a larger mission with many contacts, will put us in a position to access more of these areas of the world. GFA also has a special program which makes it easier to enter countries closed to missionaries but open to professionals, such as doctors and dentists. We feel that GDMMissions is now in a position where it can function effectively without our daily involvement. Office responsibilities have restricted our ability to travel during certain parts of the month. Making this change will free us from these obligations.
So with a degree of sadness but an equal degree of excitement, we are moving forward with this new assignment from the Lord. We have been greatly blessed and enabled by your faithful prayer support which we have received in the past. We humbly ask that you might pray all the more for us as we will surely need it.
Lebanon Ministry!
We returned from Lebanon on September 15th, so encouraged by all the Lord did. We prayed daily for opportunities to share the gospel and He opened up almost unbelievable scenarios to do just that!
- an English speaking taxi driver explaining his religion to us, and hearing the gospel
- 3 speaking opportunities with 40-50 unsaved people in attendance
- a shopkeeper asking to meet so he could ask why Jack seemed to have peace
- our hotel owner pulling up in front of us (our ride being detained) and a gospel conversation ensuing
- a young refugee woman asking us to pray to the Lord that she could have a child (after 10 miscarriages) …
- a Lebanese dentist, serving us coffee, while he listened intently to Jack’s testimony of salvation
- a 2 hour conversation about Christianity with a young mom and her mother
These were just a few of the many sovereignly appointed openings to share of Christ’s sacrifice and offer of redemption. We were stunned by what God was doing! It confirmed in our hearts that this was the direction God was leading us into and it was our decision to take it.
So brethren, please pray for us! We know the need is great and the workers are few. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would make us fit for this new opportunity to serve Him. It is with fear and trembling that we launch out into these deep waters but also with great confidence in His faithfulness to do just that.
Sincerely in Christ,
Jack & Jennifer