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Our New Direction
In our last update, we asked you to pray that God would provide further
clarity about our future ministry in our home town, Concord, California.
He has answered your prayers in a big way, and we are very excited about
where God is leading us.
We have formed a ministry team with three other families to serve in the
Monument Corridor, one of the lowest income and most ethnically diverse
parts of Concord. One of the couples is also full-time
missionaries, and formerly served with Young Life in Concord. They are
well-connected with many in the community. The other two families
are Hispanic, the largest ethnic group in our ministry area. Our
team will be meeting regularly to pray, plan and deepen relationship
with each other.
The vision for our new transformational community development ministry
is based on the core values of the Christian Community Development
Association (CCDA),
which was founded by John Perkins. These values are:
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Relocation – although not all of us on the team will be living in
the Monument Corridor area, we will be very present in the community
and will be focusing our time and energy there.
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Reconciliation – our ministry will aim to help reconcile people to
God and to each other. This will include discipleship/mentoring and
forming ministry partnerships among churches of various
denominations.
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Redistribution – mutual sharing of resources among our team, those
in our ministry area, and the surrounding community - including
faith, knowledge, hospitality, and material resources.
We are in the formative stages of this ministry, and our individual
roles are being developed. We can see that our experience in and passion
for transformational community development fit well in this ministry.
We also know that we will be serving in our areas of gifting and
experience, Tom with finance and Kay Lynn with women and children.
Our children will also be involved in their areas of gifting and
interest.
During this stage of developing our ministry, in addition to developing
as a team, we are attending meetings and building relationships in the
community, and learning more about community development and the
Hispanic culture. Tom is also diving in to language lessons to
become conversationally fluent in Spanish (Kay Lynn and the kids will
begin this in August when school starts).
As we continue to seek God for more details about our future ministry,
we still very much need your prayers. Please see our answers to
prayer and prayer requests in the right column.
Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or would like more
information about our ministry. Thank you for walking with us on
this next stage of our journey.
Tom, Kay Lynn, Christopher, Kelsey and Stephanie.
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Tom with Pat Noonan, new teammate and former Young Life missionary in
Concord
Kay Lynn has begun building friendships with community volunteers and
children in Concord apartment complexes.
Answers to Prayer:
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God’s provision of our amazing ministry opportunity in Concord
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The other 3 families on our new team
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A clear vision of how our passion for transformational community
development will be a huge asset in our ministry in Concord
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Christopher’s acceptance into a local Christian high school with a
good scholarship
Prayer Requests:
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Continued leading from God as we flesh out our vision
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Unity and wholeness on our team
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Wisdom for time priorities as school begins on August 8
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Sensitivity to God’s Spirit
A note to our donors: Although our ministry location is changing, we
continue to serve with New Mission Systems International. Please
continue to donate through NMSI as in the past – there is no change
related to donations.
"NMSI honors preference of gifts solicited and, in accordance with IRS
regulations, retains discretion and control over their use."
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