Pondering the year 

As we look toward the celebration of Jesus’ birth, I ponder over the year that is rapidly coming to an end. I think about the lessons learned, the progress made, the progress yet to be made. I think about God, eternity and His plans. I think about the desire that my plan be God’s plan, but also the fact that my plan has a much quicker time table than it seems God’s does! I think about how listening to others sharpens and sometimes adjusts my plan. I am humbled, I am grateful, I am refreshed. Why am I refreshed? Simply because it always takes a lot less effort to follow God’s plan.

It seems so often that God’s plan for us is that we learn patience, which involves that “waiting” thing, the thing we like to do least. Yet as time goes on, there is a point at which we begin to learn to wait, to listen, and to expect from Him the things we have been trying to do on our own. As I look back on this year, I see God working in people’s hearts to make trust in Him a living reality.

Seeing God at Work 

Last Sunday, we had a couple come to church that had been absent for over a month. We had been praying regularly for them and had asked you to pray as well. They came renewed, refreshed and ready to move forward. What a blessing after a period of concern and prayer. Not only did they come back, but they brought someone else with them. Their friend asked us to pray he would be set free from alcoholism. Hallelujah! God is faithful! Please thank God for and pray for this young man. Thank you.

The Kitwanga Bible Study 

I am so grateful for God’s faithfulness in the Kitwanga Bible Study. The people are eager to learn from the scriptures. They are grateful for the ministry they are receiving. We are growing deeper in relationship together. It is a marvel what God has done there since early May. One couple has walked through a very challenging time, but have come through with victory! Please continue to pray for this small group of God-followers.

Growing Partnerships 

From the very beginning, this ministry has required partnerships to survive. The partnership between LAMP and the Christian and Missionary Alliance gave birth to this ministry. The partnership with many of you, individuals and local churches who said, “We believe this is of God and we want to support you through prayer and giving”. The partnership with our home churches who have believed in us and supported us, because you believed God would honour our sharing the gospel. The partnership of Richmond Chinese Alliance Church, who formed teams to come four times a year ministering to the children and young people of our communities and engaging in heartfelt prayer and giving. And most recently, the partnership that has begun with the people of Mt. Rocher Church, where we are seeing a unity in fellowship and worship along with a burden for the people of our community. I am thankful to all of you and to God for this ongoing, dynamic and wonderful partnership HE has given us.

Pastor Matt Hill and I in Kitkatla

Visiting Kitkatla

This past year we were unable to put a team in Kitkatla, a community in which a team had ministered the past two years.Former team member Walt Hamilton and I went over to visit the community in mid-November to prepare for this coming summer, trusting God will give us a team to minister there. Would you join us in prayer asking God will provide a team?

Thank you for your support all year I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for supporting Korrin and I all year long. We are so grateful for your constant support in prayer. We are often aware of the impact of your intercession on our behalf. Thank you for supporting us in all the ways you do. Thank you for all the notes and cards. Thank you for the faithful support that you send each month. Thank you for praying regularly, asking God to bless and protect us, to further the work of the ministry, and to give us fruit for our labours. It is happening, slowly but surely. Thank you for doing your part to make God’s work possible!

Partners together for the cause of Christ;

Bart

Winter's in the Air

He's heading away from the house, thankfully!

It’s that time of year when the bears head for hibernation.  We had an early snow and thought it would be with us for the rest of the year, but it warmed and the snow has melted.  The mountains  have their velvety white coat of snow reminding us that before long it will be back to stay!

The RCAC Team

The Richmond Chinese Alliance Church team was here October 24-28. We spent three wonderful days in the community of Kispiox ministering to the children there.  We sang, did skits, told Bible Stories, and shared meals together. I am so thankful for God’s hand in it all, and the opportunity to share with Him in His work. Please join me in giving thanks and praying that these seeds will become young growing plants of God’s grace in the children’s hearts.

               

RCAC ministry October 2012

I spoke with the youth coordinator in Kispiox the other day, asking how many Christian groups come to minister each year.  She said only the Richmond Chinese Alliance and LAMP groups do Christian children’s ministry in their community.  The United and Pentecostal churches in the community also minister to the youth. We are so thankful God has given us the opportunity to participate with them in the gospel by sharing with and loving the children and youth of their community.

Development Ministries

I continue to meet weekly with young prospective leaders, trusting God will open their minds to understand and their hearts to receive the things of God so that they themselves can become teachers. I pray also that others would follow in their footsteps. Please pray they will grow strong and be encouraged in their walk with God.

Challenges    

We all remember when we were young in our walk with God how even the little things "trip us up."  As we have grown through the years we still get tripped up sometimes, but there is a stability that was absent in the beginning.  The same is true with many of the young people I am working with these days.  They go along quite well growing and making progress, then something comes along that "trips them up." They get discouraged and think about giving up.  We know the enemy would love for them to quit.  May I ask you to be especially prayerful for these ones? Pray as they go through trials that their faith would grow, enabling them to stand strong in their relationship with Christ.

New Horizons

Last month in my newsletter, I mentioned the possibility of conducting VBS in communities in the northern Nass Valley and in the western coastal areas.  Please continue to pray about these locations. We are targeting the communities of Port Simpson and Kincolith, asking God to allow us to send a VBS team there this coming summer.  Our great desire is that there would be a couple people from the Hazelton area joining with the teams. I long to see young people share the love of Christ with others so that they, too, will begin experiencing a relationship with God. Please join me in prayer that these things would be possible.

Prayer Partners

Newly carved totem pole in Kispiox

What would I do without prayer partners like you praying for me on a regular basis? I need your prayers every day!  Please pray that I will listen to the small inner promptings from the Lord.  Pray I will know what to say when I am dealing with people in desperate need. Pray I will know when just to listen quietly without a need for words and when to speak. Pray I will be used by God in helping others to have a relationship with Him through Jesus. It means the world to me to know you are praying, asking God to help me and be with me every moment. 

My prayer for you is that God will bless you and help you.  My prayer is that your need, whatever it might be, would be met.  I pray for those with family, health and relationship crises.  I pray for those who long for a deeper relationship with God, but feel it is a constant struggle.  I ask for your blessings Lord; I ask You to meet each one.  I ask that Your grace will be evident to them and that You would work through their situations to bring glory to Your Name alone. Amen!

Partner together for the cause of Christ,

                                                                                                                                                       

Bart

October 2012

Thriving in Unusual Places  

It always amazes me the unusual places that trees will choose to grow.  But what amazes me even more is that they can actually thrive in those places.  It reminds me what God can do for us in the dry and challenging times of our lives. Ministry has to do with people, and all of us happen to be just that-- “human.”  All of us by virtue of our “humanness” have good times and bad times, times when we are full of energy, times when we lack energy, times when we’re passionate, and times when we really lack passion.  The wonderful thing is that no matter what, God is always the same and is always there for us. Because of that fact we can be like these trees that thrive even in the most difficult of circumstances. 

I repeatedly go back to the thing I felt God asked of me...that is to be a reflection to the people living here in BC of what He is like.  I, of course, cannot possibly do that in my own strength.  I can only do it with the power of Christ living in and through me. The good news is.... HE CAN DO IT!  That makes all of this possible, and leaves me with hope in the midst of the challenges.

Challenges!  Yes, there are challenges.  Oh, how we wish there were no challenges.  How we wish things would just go along smoothly.  Sometimes they do. One thing I notice is that when things go along well I don’t seek God as intensely as I do when life is challenging.  In these times, I see God’s love drawing me to depend on Him and experience who He is in a greater way.  It also equips me to help those I minister to, because they often face overwhelming challenges.  God’s grace is enough for each of us and, when you really ponder it, since He longs for us to be near to Him, these challenges can teach us to depend on Him.  The very challenges we face can become God’s amazing gift of grace to us.

Great Advances

We have been making progress lately.  The Bible Study in Kitwanga has been going very well.  We have been sharing deeply together.  Hearts have been touched.  Growth and ministry have been happening.  Deeper discipleship with couples has been taking place as we lay the foundations of biblical truth.  It has been a time of unparalleled growth and rejoicing.

Ministry Challenges

We should not wonder why, when these great things are happening, we are suddenly hit with many challenges.  The enemy of our souls does not want us to grow in Christ, and he certainly doesn’t want others to do the same as a result of our encouragement.  Opposition comes from different sources, be it friends or family who object to the new lifestyle that is starting to emerge, or a consternation that these believers no longer wish to join with their family and acquaintances in the things they used to do together.  Young believers faced with the pressure sometimes cave to the temptation; then feel overwhelmed with guilt and remorse.  They feel they might as well give up and quit.  They feel they will not be able to live for God. AGAINST THIS BACKGROUND WE MUST STAND IN PRAYER AND ENCOURAGEMENT, TELLING THEM THE TRUTH OF GOD’S LOVING MERCY AND FORGIVENESS.  WE MUST ENCOURAGE THEM TO STAND UP, DUST THEMSELVES OFF AND WALK AGAIN IN THE GRACE THAT GOD HAS GIVEN THEM.  Would you pray together with me? Would you stand with me to resist the enemy’s lies and discouragement so these young people will stand up and trust the gracious love and mercy of their Lord?  Thank you!

Looking to the Future

Instead of backing down, I believe we should be more determined than ever to press forward to do the things we have been doing. We need to continue believing God will show up in marvelous ways in the lives of these new followers of Jesus.  They are longing for Him; they are looking for Jesus to make a difference in their lives. He longs to meet them in their circumstances. He longs to use them to encourage others as His presence shines through their lives. God’s desire has not changed.  I continue to sense God’s burden for the people of the Nass.  I continue to sense God’s desire that some of these young people will play a role in reaching out to others in these more northern communities.  Would you join me in praying that God will strengthen them and place His burden on their hearts for their neighbours to the north? 

God's Mercy and  Goodness 

Old Hazelton Sunday School

I just talked again this past week with the young gal who is teaching the new Sunday School class along with her friend in Old Hazelton.  She tells me the Sunday School is continuing to run and five young kids are regularly coming to be part of the Sunday School there.  What a blessing it is to see them continuing to teach these children.  Please join me in praying that God will bless these young Sunday School teachers and the children that are gathering weekly in Old Hazelton.

Faith Challenge

I told you last month about a faith challenge we are facing due to the reduction in subsidy provided to us.  We have been approached by two individuals who are feeling led to help us fill that gap. Praise the Lord!  Their support gives us a twenty percent step forward in the goal of replacing those funds.  Please continue to pray that God will meet us in filling this gap.  If you feel God leading you to help, we would deeply appreciate your support to help us in furthering what God is doing here in the Hazelton area.

Things on the Horizon

LAMP Board and Staff Meetings Oct. 17 – 21
Please pray for LAMP staff and board meetings during this week. They will take place in Wisconsin.

RCAC Team October 24-28

The Richmond Chinese Alliance Church Team will be ministering in the community of Kispiox.  Please pray that many hearts will be touched with the gospel message.

My Dear Friends 

Thank you so much for continuing to pray.  I know that it is your faithful prayer that allows me to continue to share Christ with the young people in this area.  Thank you for partnering with us in this way.  May you be blessed and encouraged in your walk with God.  May you experience God’s grace in the challenges you are facing in your life right now.  I will be praying God will help you meet the challenges of life and grow closer to Him as you do.  God bless!

Partners together for the cause of Christ,

Bart

  

September 2012

Whale watching

Time for R & R

It was great to get away the first week of this month and spend some time together as a couple. Korrin and I spent Labour day whale watching.  Unfortunately, our week was interrupted by a health crisis with one of our dogs.  We ended up having to put her to sleep, which was really hard for both of us. They really do become part of the family! 

Nass Valley

In addition to whale watching, we drove up into the Nass Valley. (It's in the northwest region of BC.)  I wanted to travel to the villages on the Nass and see what potential there might be for ministry up there.  I was heartened to be able to meet with a clergy person from the community of Gingolx.  Perhaps it will be possible to have a ministry team come for a week next summer. It would be really exciting if some of the young people we have been reaching in our area here would be a part of reaching out to the people in Nass Valley.  Would you ask God to give us the joy of taking some of the people we work with to minister to those in Nass Valley this coming summer?

Richmond Chinese Alliance Church August Visit

Thank you so much for your prayer for the RCAC team in August.  We had a wonderful time in Kitwanga.  RCAC was the first to use the new campfire gazebo built for the youth of Kitwanga at their drop-in centre.  It was great not to have to worry about the rain that fell that evening. We were really cozy as we sat around the fire singing and listening to skits and the Bible message. Hearts were touched with the message of the gospel. On Saturday we spent the day at Ross Lake.  We passed the evening around the campfire again, singing and talking about the good things of God.  What a wonderful time it was as people were encouraged and strengthened in their faith!

Prayer Updates

We have seen some progress in relating to some of the couples we are working with.  Keep praying that God would be with these couples and continue to work in their relationships.  Many of you will remember my telling you about the two teenage girls who wanted to help provide a Sunday School for children in the community of Old Hazelton.  Thank you for your prayer!  That Sunday School has started and is now ongoing. Their first Sunday they welcomed five children.  Please pray that the Old Hazelton Sunday School would continue to grow and be a real blessing to the community. Thank God for these girls who heard and answered God's call.

Faith Challenge

We are facing a new faith challenge in our ministry.  The district has stepped down it’s support of our ministry.  We are grateful for their support over the last six years and their ongoing reduced support. However, as a result of this decision, we will see a $500 per month reduction in subsidy from the district. We are trusting God will meet us in this new challenge.  We are looking at this as an opportunity to grow new relationships with people who have a burden for our ministry and sense God is leading them to share with us in meeting that financial need.  Becoming more fully self-supporting will make the ministry  stronger. Please join us in praying that God would provide for us financially. If the Lord prompts you to help meet that need, thank you for your obedience to Him.

Resilient Faith
It is true that at times life is a challenge.  But I want to encourage you to think about the fact that even in all the ups and downs, all the ebbs and flows of life, there is a resilient faith that God has planted in the hearts of His children; the likes of which will never be stemmed by the test and trials that come no matter how severe they may be.  I have young couples who are dealing with a lot of things, but as I talk with them, even in the midst of all their trials, they share their love for God and their commitment to continue in a growing relationship with Him.  This is a blessed testimony to the power of God’s presence in their lives. God's power gives them stability even in the midst of hard times. God be praised for the abiding faith that He has placed in all our hearts!

My prayer for you who so faithfully uphold our ministry in prayer is that God will be with you as you return to the busyness of the fall. I pray that you may sense His guidance and direction in every sphere of your life.  Thank you for joining with us in this ministry.  Your partnership is so greatly appreciated.  It is my desire that we minister to you in prayer and love as you are ministering to us. Please feel free to share your prayer requests, we would love to join with you in prayer!

Partners together for the cause of Christ,

Bart

It's August already!

It's been a busy, busy summer, as usual!  

What a wonderful month and a half.  It’s always a fresh breath of air as over the month of July 150+ LAMP missionary volunteers come to our area for a week of ministry in each of the surrounding communities.  As always, many hearts were deeply touched with the message of the gospel.  The curriculum clearly explained God’s gift of salvation through Christ and invited them to respond to His love and mercy toward them. 


God calls teens to teach Sunday School in Old Hazelton
Probably the most exciting thing that happened was when a sixteen year old came up to me with a friend and said, “We have been touched over the last eight years with the ministry of LAMP Vacation Bible Schools and were thinking about the kids younger than us who need to have this kind of ministry on a weekly basis.  Would you work with us on beginning a Sunday School here in Old Hazelton?  First I linked them with the pastor of that congregation and then got some Sunday School material for them.  I will be continuing to connect with them and their pastor to encourage them in this journey.  Would you join me in praying that this desire would become a reality and that this ministry would be used of God to touch the hearts of many children in that community?  

LAMP soccer team

The soccer team only spent a week in Kitwanga this year. They spent more time in Saskatchewan, as their mission has evolved to working with existing VBS teams, helping them develop a sports ministry to teens.    Offering soccer is a non-threatening way to establish rapport with the youth, opening up opportunities to share the gospel.  Our week of soccer camp at Kitwanga was fabulous.  This year we were able to invite them to join the Tuesday night Bible Study that has been meeting.  Oh, that there would be many more Bible studies and opportunities in communities all across the country so that VBS teams could say, “There’s a great place for you to go if you want to learn more and grow in your relationship with God. Let me introduce you to the leader.” Please pray for stable, godly fellowships.  Pray that existing fellowships would be strengthened and where there are none, that God would stir hearts to start a group.  Is God calling you to be a part of helping community people develop a ministry where there is none? I would be happy to talk with you about communities that don`t have a VBS and are looking for help.

Richmond Chinese Alliance Church (RCAC) team Aug. 22-26

Just a week from now the next RCAC team will be arriving here in Hazelton.  They will be ministering in the community of Kitwanga.  Please pray for us as we join at a community event on Wednesday Aug. 22nd to pass out invitations and conduct youth nights Thursday (Junior High) and Friday (High School). On Saturday, weather permitting, we will be at Ross Lake Park with a group of the young people I regularly visit.  We are trusting God will meet us in these days and that new seeds will be planted. We pray that other seed that have already been planted will be drenched with God’s love and presence leading to further growth and maturing.

In the midst of crisis, God is faithful

Over the month of June there were a number of people with whom I regularly minister who were experiencing crises in their lives.  Some of these situations have been resolved while others continue to be a great challenge.  God has promised He will never leave us or forsake us, but in the midst of these times it is easy to struggle with that concept.  Would you pray with me that God will strengthen the hearts of these ones?  Would you ask God to touch their hearts and birth new faith toward Him in the midst of these crises? I think of the verse in Genesis where Joseph spoke of the evil intentions of his brothers and said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” (Gen. 50:20)  Would you pray with me that these ones would come to know the sovereign grace of God bringing good out of things others intend for evil in their lives? God is faithful, and He is worthy of our trust.  He will never deny His character.  Even when we fall down and need forgiveness, He will always do the things that are consistent with His character.  Because of this, we can  expect good things from God as we humble ourselves and look to Him for His help in all of life's difficult situations.

Pray for God's continued intervention in these people's lives

Just this past week I was helping a young man and his partner. The conflict between them had resulted in her filing for custody of their son. After the court session and encouragement by the judge to seek reconciliation, they spent 45 minutes talking together.  During this time, I was talking to her family in the hopes of establishing a rapport to be able to liaise between them. As the couple joined us again, there was the beginning of a reconciliation.  Please pray that God will continue this work and that the things that separate them would be dealt with so that lasting peace can result.  Please pray for God`s hand to be on their lives, leading to a deeper work of his grace in their hearts. 

Is God leading you to support Misty River Ministries?

This fall we must address our need to increase ministry funding to offset the coming reduction in subsidy by the C&MA District office. We are so grateful for their support, yet we realize the need for some of these funds to shift to supporting other new works as they have ours in the early stages.  This does, however, leave a need in our financial picture.  If God would lead you to support this ministry, we would appreciate that deeply.  Please continue to pray for God`s provision.  I will be contacting some churches about the possibility of partnering with us in ministry by sending teams and joining with us in financial support. We also need individuals to share the financial responsibility for this work.  Thank you for praying and for giving if God is leading you to do that.

So thankful for prayer support!

I am so thankful God has put it on your heart to pray for us.  You are so necessary to the ongoing function of this ministry.  Prayer is the engine room for this work.  In my day to day ministry, I've noticed that when I pray with greater discipline, God`s hand is there in a way that it`s not when I allow myself to get too busy.  You are the backbone of this ministry.  Your prayer sustains me as I encounter darkness, and it helps me to be aware of your support when I see God move miraculously in people`s lives.  Thank you so much for standing in the gap for me.  In olden times, when a city was attacked the enemy would try to break through the walls surrounding it.  If they were able to knock down the wall in a certain spot, they could enter and conquer the city.  But if there were a few brave soldiers who would stand in that gap and prevent them from entering, the city would be saved.  Thank you for being those soldiers standing in the gap for the sake of God`s work here in the Hazelton area.

Partners together for the cause of Christ;

Bart