All Kinds of Stories

I decided we needed to change our schedule at TFC this January. Last semester, we had been starting at 6 o'clock. This had been perfect for eating supper before starting the night. But at the end of the semester, a high school girl approached me and asked if I'd consider doing high school TFC at a different time from the junior high, so that they can focus better on the lesson without the distractions. So after praying and wrestling with scheduling ideas, we decided to shift junior high TFC to start at 5:00 and start high school TFC at 7:00.

It has taken some adjusting for sure, and it’s a bit exhausting to have two lessons in one night, but honestly, the outcome has been very encouraging! We've had some high schoolers coming that haven't been there regularly at all, and it's been easier to make the lessons tailored for each group. Last week we talked about the Passover. With our JH kids, we did a small bit of the meal and learned how it fit in with Communion. With the HS, we more slowly walked through the emotion and fears the Israelites would have felt that first Passover in Egypt. Then we saw how Jesus took that meal and tweaked it as a picture of Him becoming the sacrificed lamb's blood that marks us as God passes over us for judgment. It was really cool!!

Please keep praying for us as this new schedule and some new rules are a bit tricky to handle, but pray we start to have a solid group of HS students and our JH group continues to learn the core concepts of Jesus this year.

I haven't shared this in my newsletters because I didn't want to spoil anything for anyone who may have been connected, but I was approached by some TFC alumni at the beginning of the fall, Cameron Hendryx and Haylee Tien (teens who've been through TFC and each had a chance to intern with us as well!!) They got engaged this summer/fall and asked if I'd do premarital counseling with them and officiate their wedding! I was completely caught off guard when they asked and wasn't sure how to answer at the time! I prayed about it and talked to Abbie asking if God thought I was the right person for this, and felt God nudging me to do it. So, after many hours of meeting with Cameron and Haylee, and praying for them constantly, they are now Cameron and Haylee Hendryx!!! It was such a fun experience to walk through all kinds of material for Cameron and Haylee about marriage and even felt God working on my heart in our marriage too.

Cameron and Haylee are such a cool couple whose story is a great example of how God can use His mission and kingdom to bring such joy and love together in two people. I'd like to share with you what Cameron said to me one night in our counseling session when I asked what he and Haylee would like folks to know about them at their wedding.

It's only through the grace and mercy of God and Jesus that we are even here to have this wedding. Through Jesus's blood that I am able to be there, that Haylee is able to be there. A marriage without Christ is without purpose. There is a greater purpose to being married in Christ than just being married, that God can use your marriage to do more. Serving and glorifying God rather than just seeking our own happiness.

What a cool picture!! Please pray for Cameron and Haylee and the journey they are now on. For those of you married, you know that marriage can be hard and incredibly rewarding, so please pray for them!!

For the entire fall semester, Abbie and I have been in the process of finding and purchasing a home of our own. It's honestly been a very long, slow process. mostly lots of waiting, but as of January 26, 2024, we are now the proud owners of 371 Cooper St. Long Island, KS!!!! We are thrilled, and a little scared! We do have a lot of work ahead of us as we need to remodel the kitchen and bathroom to make it work for our family, but we hope to figure out what is required for us to be able to make it home quickly, take care of that first, and then finish the rest after we move in.

Thank you all so much for praying with us in our journey to find a home of our own. As many of you may remember, we have been from place to place quite a bit over our less than a decade of marriage, and have yearned for our own house for a long while. Well now that that's over, we are so grateful for the many of you who have been prayer warriors in that! And for the many of you who have been our financial supporters to take care of our family as we work so hard to share the gospel with the teenagers of the Northern Valley community!! Please keep praying as there will be lots of work ahead of us, but we are eternally grateful for you all!!

Our boys are so excited for our new house! It is right next door to Abbie’s sister’s house, and our boys 3 cousins! The library and a nice play ground are right behind our new house, and as we’ve been working at renovating, it has been so fun to watch all of our kids run around and play in our yards and on the playground.

We have already spent a lot of time this past fall painting our new house, and are thrilled to have that project mostly done before even purchasing the house!

Remember that you can help by donating here! We love how God provides so we can serve this community!!