July/August 2019 Update

Hey everyone, it’s always hard to believe that a month and a half has gone by, and I always wish I would have gotten to sending out an update sooner!  So much has been going on it’s hard to keep track of, and with a newborn in the house our brain capacity seems to be cut down quite a bit too.  Thanks for keeping us in your prayers and for your encouragement through this challenging time!  Please let us know if there is any way we can pray for you as well!

Michael & Raelyn: Wow is about all I can say to summarize this season!  Having a newborn come into our home on one day’s notice has been a huge blessing as well as a huge challenge.  We love Michael very much, and Raelyn continues to adore him.  Michael started off eating just fine but seemed to struggle with gas and digestion issues, which have seemed to get worse as time has gone on.  We suspect that he has developed an umbilical hernia as well which aren’t supposed to be painful or a big concern, just that when he’s straining his belly button inflates so big it looks like it will pop!  Also we’ve been starting to suspect that he has silent reflux, he doesn’t spit up nearly as much as Raelyn did but the rest of the symptoms are there.  This has made sleeping difficult, as he’s self regulated how much he eats so he doesn’t feel bad, but then he’s not eating enough to sleep for long periods.  We’ve been perplexed and dazed as our sleep has been so bad, and we’ll get to how Raelyn plays into it in a moment.  We are seeing a doctor tomorrow to talk about these issues, and we pray for wisdom and for healing.  We need prayers for rest, it just seems hopeless now but we are hoping for better soon.

We are praying for Michael's case as well, the case is staying on the other side of the state which is a bummer, and there will be a pretrial soon to determine the direction it goes.  Please pray for wisdom for all those involved and that this would go much faster and be much more straight forward than last time.

So Raelyn, as much as she’s had great love for Michael, has been having difficulties adjusting and they have manifested in difficult ways.  She can sense that she’s not getting our undivided attention, even as much as we like to, in caring for Michael and having him come so suddenly, it’s been hard for her.  During the day she can be a little naughtier than normal and we are sleep deprived so it probably seems worse than it is, but nap time and nights have been the hardest.  She’s not been napping very well, not every day but many times she’s resisted the nap which leads to being more difficult later.  At night she has been using every trick in the book to stall, and she particularly won’t let me leave.  We’ve been trying different things to various degrees of success, and we received prayer at church last week and have felt that it’s been going better this week, but we still need prayer for resolving this completely.  I won’t go into all the details of what we’ve done but if you can think of it or read about it on google chances are we’ve tried it :-)  What we really need is wisdom and discernment to get to the root of it, and for God to bring healing there.

Church Work:  Things have been busy at church too and I’ve been trying to balance all this out amidst the sleepless nights, continuing to transition roles, stepping into new teams and still trying to find people to help in most areas of ministry.  I am enjoying it but am realizing that I need to take it easy too to avoid burning out.  Many of the points from last time still apply, so I’ll include that here as well:

• My transition into my new position at church has been going well, just a lot of things that still need to happen for me to be able to transition fully
• Upward Challenge camp went really well, even though I wasn’t there, I got to hear stories from many of the kids and leaders that experienced God in new and fresh ways during that week.  One person who is a UC veteran said it was the best one yet.  I thank the Lord that my hard work of planning paid off and was helpful to those that had to step up into my place to help direct the camp.
• Prayer walking has been going wonderfully, we’ve had so many wonderful encounters and have been blessing the neighborhood with our prayers and love.  We will soon be discerning whether we will be continuing beyond the summer
• We are still in dire need of more children’s workers at church, can’t seem to get ahead on that one
• We are praying for what do do without a worship leader, things are going well though but the role of worship planning is just one more thing added to myself and the others helping with this
• Prayer Ministry is still full!
• We are pursuing a new ministry partnership with a church we’ve had a long relationship with, so prayers for that process requested.  We are hoping for a meeting with their missions team early this fall.

Health: I’m still struggling with my stuffy sinuses, it’s now been almost 10 years since it started and I’d like it gone (without paying an arm and a leg or being on medicine the rest of my life) ie I need a healing miracle.  I’ve been trying Flonase which seems to help temporarily.  Also Raelyn came down with a cold this week which always makes things harder for sleeping.  Please pray for protection for our health and for healing of these and some other aches and pains that seem to crop up.

Thanks so much again for your prayers and support!  We can’t do this alone and are so thankful to have such a wonderful group that is lifting us up in their prayers.  

With much love,

Mark, Rebecca, Raelyn & Michael

June/July Update - Huge!!!

Hi everyone, thanks for all of your prayers and support!  You must have all been praying a lot because wow, what a crazy past couple of months!  I’ll start off with our international adoption process… we got started on our paperwork, we had 8 classes to take online, and had to jump through lots of hoops.  We were getting close to having all of the paperwork done, we took a whole weekend away to finish our classes, and… This Monday we got the surprise phone-call of a lifetime!  Turns out that Raelyn’s birth mom just had a baby boy on July 4, and since we have his sibling we are the first ones who they asked to take him (also there is no one else in either family who is able).  We turned to the Lord for guidance and for what steps of faith he was calling us to take, and felt that it would be right to take him, so Tuesday evening we went to get him on the other side of the state this time.  He is a little peanut of a guy, we’re calling him Michael, he’s beautiful and healthy and transitioning well to our home.  I’m writing this as he’s napping on me :-) Even though we didn’t feel like we could do this Foster Care journey again we are all of a sudden embarking on it once more, and we know it will be worth it just like it was for Raelyn.  

Speaking of Raelyn, she is just over the moon with excitement, when we asked her if she wanted a baby brother she said "YES, and I want to hold him!”  And indeed she has been loving having a baby brother… she is a great big sister.  However we didn’t get back from the hospital until after 11pm when we picked him up, so that combined with the excitement, plus we moved Raelyn to another room and bed so we could use hers for the new baby, she has been off on her sleeping and has been a little difficult.  This is a huge transition for her so she needs prayers to be able to wind down and go to sleep without a big ordeal, to listen better, and to be a great big sis.  Also, today is her Gotcha day, one year ago today her adoption was finalized!  We are so blessed to have her as our daughter, and are praying that the process goes even faster with her brother, who we would love to adopt also.

Upward Challenge:  This new change has also presented a huge dilemma for me, as I have been working really hard to prepare to direct the Upward Challenge camp in North Carolina.  That is just over a week away.  We have 7 youth and 4 other leaders going, and I have been looking forward to it for a long time.  Now though, with a new little baby and getting everything reset in foster care, it just seems like the best thing to do is to stay home and to let the other capable people who I was going to co-direct the camp with take it over.  It has been a hard decision and I will miss it a lot but I am trusting that the Lord has it in his hands.  The other leaders need special prayers for wisdom and leading as they direct without me, I am sure they will do great.

Other updates: 

• Raelyn’s eye has healed wonderfully from her run in with the couch arm
• My transition into my new position at church has been going well, just a lot of things that still need to happen for me to be able to transition fully
• I’m still struggling with my stuffy sinuses, it’s now been almost 10 years since it started and I’d like it gone (without paying an arm and a leg or being on medicine the rest of my life) ie I need a healing miracle
• We had a wonderful vacation up north last month, the weather was great and the place we stayed was beautiful, right on Cathead bay in Leelanau Peninsula
• My playing the hammered dulcimer has progressed, though has been slowed by the adoption process and now having a new baby means I am already behind on sleep, so it’ll be hard to find time to play.  Also I was going to meet my HD role model Joshua Messick at camp but now will miss that too
• Prayer walking has been going wonderfully, we’ve had so many wonderful encounters and have been blessing the neighborhood with our prayers and love.  We’ve had up to 21 people go out one night!
• We’ve had more youth come into youth group, one returned from being gone over a year, and he recently accepted Jesus!
• We are still in dire need of more children’s workers at church, can’t seem to get ahead on that one
• We are praying for what do do without a worship leader, things are going well though
• Prayer Ministry is still full!

Thanks so much again for your prayers and support, we really covet them right now as we’re in yet another transition time.  We are feeling so blessed and so thankful, we give all praise to God for how he’s orchestrated everything!

Love,

Mark, Rebecca, Raelyn, & Michael

April & May Prayer Update

Hey everyone, I am really sorry that we totally missed sending out an April update.  So many fun and new things are going on, and we are excited to share with you!  We are so thankful for all of you and your prayers, and also for your support in other ways.

Health Update:  We have been pretty healthy of late, and have been sleeping much better in general.  We are so thankful for this, it is amazing what a great night sleep will do!  I had a check up recently (Mark) and I decided that I should address my breathing issue that I believe started while staying in moldy places in Romania.  My doctor has me on some allergy medicine to see if that takes care of it, since it seems to be an ongoing reaction.  But since starting that I’ve felt more congested, it seems to be doing the opposite of what it is supposed to.  I am going to talk to the doctor about it to see if a different medicine would be better, and I am also seeking prayer and asking for the Lord to heal this.  Please pray for clarity (pun intended) and healing.

Last week Raelyn and I were playing on the couch, tickling, and she launched herself into the arm of the couch, which gave her a big gash above her eye.  It was very deep so we took her to the ED at the children’s hospital where her doctor is also.  She ended up with 3 stitches, she did really great through the whole thing, which took 3.5 hours because at one point a major trauma patient came in which required the attention of all of the doctors.  We prayed from our room for the people affected.  By now she is healing well and the stitches are supposed to be coming out on their own.  We are thankful that nothing worse happened, and are asking for the Lord to minimize the financial impact this visit may have.

Church Position Transition: I am preparing for my transition to be the Director of Outreach and Enfolding.  I and the other two people who are coming on staff will be commissioned into our new roles on May 19 during our worship service at 10:00.  There are many exciting things happening, and lots of prayer to discern where the Lord is leading.  I am forming a team to lead our summer outreach activities, which we usually call prayer walking or listening evangelism.  We will go out each week in teams of two and talk with and pray with our neighbors.  I am also giving leadership to another different neighborhood outreach ministry.  We are following our approach to ministry in which we sense Jesus leading, pray for discernment, ask Him to show us steps we can take, then take steps in faith, and continue to pray as something new is birthed.

Our worship leader/coordinator has also recently stepped down so we are each pitching in to help fill that void, namely in the coordinating part.  We are praying for God to show us how he will fill that spot for our congregation.

CYM:  As I make this transition I am praying for more help with our children and youth ministries, ideally there would be a volunteer coordinator that would be able to help with the running of these ministries.  There will be a lot on my plate through this transition so praying for  God to send/call people to help with these two areas!

In our youth group we have had some disrespect and teasing crop up recently so we’ve met as a leadership team and have a plan to address it.  Unfortunately many of the kids who we’ve been having problems with are very inconsistent so it’s hard to make any headway.  Please pray that Jesus works in their hearts to make them more like him, to give them love for others and respect for the leaders.

Also, we are gearing up to go to camp in North Carolina again with some of our youth group.  I will be co-directing again, and we have a couple apprentice directors who will be working with us to spread the load around a little.  We have a great team forming and are praying for the God to call the youth that need to come.  The topic is the Gifts of the Spirit.

Prayer Ministry:  Prayer ministry is still really busy, we’re seeing many people experiencing healing at emotional, physical and spiritual levels.  It is really exciting to see the Lord work, and also really busy scheduling for Rebecca.

Family: For many many years we’ve had adoption on our hearts.  We were tremendously blessed last year when we were able to adopt Raelyn.  We’ve been wondering about God’s timing for next steps and on Easter our pastor played a video of a family who were adopting a boy from Columbia.  We both felt moved and sensed that it’s time to start.  We had a call today with an adoption agency, we are looking at international and are exploring the options.  Would you please pray for God’s leading and blessings, on us and the to be adopted child, and for his provision of the finances that we’ll need to do that.

Vacation: Soon we’ll head up north to the Leelanau area for a week long vacation!  We are really excited, and have some planning left to do, even as it is coming up so quickly.  Please pray for time to prepare and for a wonderfully restful time.

Music:  I’ve been really enamored by the music of the hammered dulcimer, and have recently purchased one so that we can learn to play it.  I’ve been praying for a special gift to play this so that it can be a blessing to us and others.  Thanks for praying along with us about that!

Thanks again for praying!  Please let us know if there are ways we can pray for you!
Mark, Rebecca & Raelyn

PS, enjoy some pictures!

March 2019 Prayer Update

Hey everyone, happy spring!  Well I know I shouldn’t be too optimistic but with all the sunshine we’ve had and nicer temps it sure is nice to know that the worst of the winter is behind us.  We are so thankful for all of you and your prayers, and also for your support in other ways.  We hope that this update finds you well and remember that if there is anything that you need prayer for please let us know, we’d love to reciprocate.

Health Update:  Raelyn’s teeth seem to finally be in!  She slept well for a few nights before she caught a cold and then wasn’t sleeping again because of that.  Rebecca caught it at the same time.  I thought I’d escaped it but came down with it about a week and a half ago, right after they were done with it.  It’s still hanging on to me but I’m feeling better each day.  We’ve enjoyed some full nights of sleep and WOW, what a difference that makes!  Praise Jesus!  Raelyn seems now to be struggling with another cold or allergies, we’re not sure which, but it’s not too bad thankfully.  Thanks for all of your prayers, we are hoping that this continues now for a long time.

Church Position Transition:  I’ve always had a heart for outreach and when we came to Gold Ave Church we knew that the harvest was ripe here in this neighborhood.  We started off working mainly with the children and youth, hence my title of Director of Children and Youth Ministries.  These ministries have been very fruitful and blessed over the years.  I have enjoyed also doing some neighborhood outreach and prayer for the neighbors, and over the last year have been feeling a shift in my calling more towards this.  I also have been feeling drawn to improve how we connect with visitors and how we help people become a part of our church family, from serving to finding opportunities to grow spiritually.  I’ve been discerning this with the pastors and we have really sensed the Lord leading.  Therefore I will soon be transitioning to be the Director of Outreach and Enfolding.  We have two others who have been in a similar discernment process, and they will both also be coming on as Urban Missionaries, one as Pastor of Care and Connection and the other as Director of Spiritual Growth and Communication.  Together we three will form the Worship and Care Team, under which the children and youth ministries will be.  We are laying the foundations for being an equipping church and we feel like we are on the verge of an amazing harvest, so we want to be ready!  I am excited for this shift and where the Lord is leading, and ask for your prayers for continued wisdom and discernment as we go in this direction.  (we are working on our job descriptions, already discerning new ministries, etc so we do need lots of wisdom!)

CYM:  As I make this transition I am praying for more help with our children and youth ministries, they need some administrative leadership so that I can focus on my new initiatives.  I have been working with the teams for a while now to empower them to function without much intervention from myself, so that is great.  I also plan to continue in our Middle/High School youth group as it still encompasses both areas of my ministry of outreach and enfolding.  Would you please continue to pray for more workers in these ministries, and specifically a few people who would like to and are able to help administratively?

Youth group continues to go well, we have seen the youth open up so much lately, we’re going through the book of Mark and asking some very deep questions.  We’ve prayed for healing and for their spiritual growth in the last few weeks and they’ve been experiencing answered prayers!  We continue to face difficulties too with their schedules and with different challenges, including clear enemy interference, so we ask that you pray for protection, wisdom and love in this ministry.

Leadership Development Retreat:  We had asked for prayers for this special weekend that took place about a month ago.  Raelyn had a great time with grandparents and slept well, praise Jesus.  We enjoyed the retreat, we were also very challenged to grow by what we learned.  The topic was the Eneagram, which is a “personality type” tool which focuses on how we are each created in the image of God and how we can invite him to work in our areas of brokenness.  It was very helpful to identify and understand why we act and react how we do, what areas we need healing, and how to invite the Lord into that.  We have both been growing much since then, we are thankful that Jesus continues his healing work to this day!  We pray for more healing to happen, as we move towards wholeness in our relationship as a married couple, our relationships with Jesus, and with others.

Prayer Ministry:  Things have been going well with prayer ministry, but it seems like since the Polar Vortex, things have really picked up!  Rebecca has been scheduling all of our healing prayer appointments and our prayer partners, and it is a lot!  There are lots of moving pieces with so many people’s schedules and challenges of finding the time.  We are thankful that we have a great prayer team and that they are excited to see more people receive healing and deliverance.  Please pray for wisdom and perseverance for Rebecca as she continues to be busy doing this, and also for all those who are waiting a while for their appointments because we have so many in waiting.

Thank you so much for praying.  We desperately need prayer coverage and as we continue to step out onto the front lines we need the armor and protection from the enemy’s attacks.  Our church seeks this too as many area churches are looking to us as an example of how the Lord can and does work today.  Thank you for being a part of this awesome work!

February Prayer Update

Hi All, coming at you with another prayer update… we survived the polar vortex and have been enjoying temps that aren’t dangerous to go outside.  It’s been an interesting few weeks, with having to cancel youth group a couple times due to weather and trying to work out who goes out when because one of our cars has winter tires and the other one has not great all seasons.  

Besides the weather our main battle has been one of fatigue due to continued bad sleeping for us all.  Rebecca bears the brunt of this though because when Raelyn wakes up in the middle of the night (medicine or not, even with lots of prayers) she only will go back to sleep if Rebecca takes her into another room to sleep on a different bed.  Her last tooth is coming in but it’s been moving so slow I think that glaciers move faster!  Also some of the time Raelyn is refusing to nap, we’ve had to remove all of the furniture from her room so she doesn’t climb on things and take everything out of her dressers.  The situation is stressful for us, we know we’re not the only ones who have gone through this, it’s just really difficult!  We desire prayers for rest, peace and unity, and for good sleep to finally come!

Speaking of sleep, we are going on a retreat soon for a leadership development class that we’ve been taking at our church.  Raelyn will be staying with Grandparents for the weekend, so we ask for prayer for her sleeping at their house without us.  Please Lord!  We’d also love great sleep, even in a different place which usually makes it harder.  Please pray for a nice time as we deepen relationships and Raelyn enjoys staying with Meme and Grandpa.

Going back a bit, my preaching went really well a couple weeks ago.  The night before we had a big leak in our roof as snow was melting, thankfully we were able to get into the attic and remove the icicles and clear out soaked insulation, so that the damage to our living room ceiling wasn’t too bad.  We felt it was a distraction from what I was doing the next day so we tried to not make too big of a deal of it.  I think that the Lord did wonderful things through the sermon and am glad he gave me the words.  One person afterwards told me that the sermon and some scriptures read by others during prayer time wove together a theme that she had been sensing from the Lord that week.  She said she could see that I had a bright light shining through me while I was preaching, and thats really awesome.  A few others were challenged to make some changes in order to deepen their relationship with Jesus.  If you didn’t get a chance to hear it, you can listen to it here: Acts 19:8-20  Thanks so much for praying!

After that we went to Great Wolf Lodge for a couple days to try to relax after a busy start to the year.  We really enjoyed it, it was our first time and Raelyn loved it a lot.  I’ve attached some pictures at the end.  It was relaxing except for bedtime and no naps of course, but it was fun enough to distract from that.  

Looking ahead, not much is different from last time, it seems like a season of catching up and resting is needed though.  Still trying to discern things for summer ministry and ministry direction in general, as well as if/when we might want to adopt another child, spring house projects, etc… lots on our minds.  We’d appreciate prayer for all this, as well as for protection from the enemy’s attacks, for unity and the joy and peace of the Lord to reign in our hearts.  Thanks so much!

Love,

Mark, Rebecca & Raelyn

January Prayer Update

Hi all, it’s barely January anymore, but I’ll still call this the January prayer update!  As I write this we’re finally experiencing winter in all it’s glory, all I see is white out of every window, and still negative temps!  January has flown by at what feels like a breakneck pace, which has probably been exaggerated by a constant lack of sleep!  Yes, Raelyn has been having trouble sleeping all month save for a few days here and there, she has been getting her 2 year old molars, one at a time and each seems to take about a month to come in!  So we’ve felt like we’re in a fog quite often, yet still having to live life and work and serve the Lord.  

Not only have we have had our ups and downs throughout the month, last week felt like we were under spiritual attack, which was pretty cleverly disguised so we only discern it after it’s been going on for a while.  I’ve been working on writing a sermon and we’ve been continuing to try to listen to the next steps that God has for us in many areas.  We’ve also seen the Lord working in amazing ways, like healing my back and blessing conversations with people who need to hear the good news.  So it makes sense that the enemy wants to take us out and bring us down.  Most of our church staff have been experiencing this to some extent or another, so I ask for prayer for protection and relief, and for the Holy Spirit to empower us to stand firm.

We have continued to enjoy watching Raelyn grow though, so it’s not all bad!  She is really funny and likes to goof around and roughhouse, she like so ride horsey and play hide and seek.  We’ve enjoyed going to the public museum although the Dinosaurs moved and roared so they were scary, but she loves the carousel.  Raelyn is really into counting: 1, 7, 8, 5, 9… she has the numbers but just needs to get the order down.  She also loves to repeat things and sing too, she’s learned songs that we sing before bed and the other night I taught her to say “Jesus is Lord.”  It is a really fun time and minus the sleep deprivation, things are going really well.

I will be preaching this week Sunday so I’d like to ask for prayer coverage for that also.  I am preaching on Acts 19:8-20 and focusing on remaining in Jesus as the source of life and the power of the Holy Spirit.  I am contrasting that to those who were not connected to Jesus and had bad results.  I will be giving a challenge to commit or recommit lives to the Lord, and this is coming on the heels of last week’s sermon where we were encouraged to be prayed over to receive the empowering of the Spirit, as did the believers in Ephesus.  I am excited about the sermon, and am still working on it after having given it to the pastors and staff yesterday as practice.  Anyone who wants to come is invited as well, church starts at 10am on Sunday at 49 Gold Avenue NW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504.  Pray also for the weather to cooperate!

Ministry here at Gold continues to go well and as I mentioned we are seeing great fruit as we pray for revival in our church, neighborhood and world.  This month Rebecca is working on scheduling a record number of Healing Prayer Appointments, I’ve been involved in some recently where we saw Jesus bring healing and freedom to deep inner wounds.  It is so exciting to see Him set captives free, bind up broken hearts, and bring the kingdom to earth.  Our Prayer Partner ministry has been busy lately as well, praying for people after the church services.  In addition to praying for strengthening and encouragement we’ve seen healings and freedom com in those short times as well.

The Children’s Worship team has also met a few times to work on improving our ministry to the 3-5 year olds, even as we still need more people to help so that we can re-open our 1-4th grade class.  We’ve had some newcomers in our GoldRush middle/high school youth group and have seen amazing fruit as leaders are learning to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and students are meeting the Lord and confessing sins.  We’ve had a couple older students express interest in continuing to help after they graduate so we are encouraging them to attend church more regularly and focus on their relationships with Jesus.  

With all that is going on we are still fervently praying for more workers, as there is a huge harvest here but we need more workers!  We already have many people who are very involved but we don’t want to burn people out so we need more help.  As we continue to seek the Lord’s will and try to keep up with where he is bringing us, we continue to invite more people to support us in prayer and join us in ministry.  If you know of anyone who might be interested, would you please let us know?

Thanks so much for standing with us in prayer and for lifting us up to the Father, in Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  We really appreciate you and all that you do for us!

Love,

Mark, Rebecca & Raelyn