You have had to put up with long letters and updates from us this past year so I am trying to keep this one short and to the point.
Girls….
They are all well. Emma is enjoying Kindergarten and is starting to use Spanish around the house. Saiyeh and Melanie participated in the Puerto Rican Day Parade with their school, and took first place for their dance performance.
Joyce…
Continues to stay very involved with the school, reaching out to other mothers (one has began coming to church, another has committed to coming). Joyce is continuing to work with women in the community and trying to discern where God wants her to focus.
CityNet…
Things are going well. Perhaps it is the honeymoon period or perhaps I haven’t fully figured out what I am doing, but I am feeling relaxed and confident in how things are developing. I spend most of my day talking to people in ministry, encouraging and challenging them with what God is doing. We are seeing connections made, relationships formed and resources being shared. There are many challenges in convincing churches that we need to work together, to stop being “tribal” and begin being “Kingdom”, but at the end of the day, most people want to work together, they just don’t know how. I spend quite a bit of time helping ministries think through local community ministry, understanding their neighborhoods, strategic planning etc.
Schooling…I (Coz) was accepted into Bakke Graduate University (BGU) to study in the Masters of Theological Studies (Thanks to Kris Rocke, Joel VanDyke, Bill Krispin and Mark Saracino). As I don’t have an undergraduate degree, I was accepted under special student status based upon my ministry experience and ministry development.
Travel…I just returned from a study trip to Guatemala. I had wanted to see what the VanDykes and Strategies for Transformation/Center for Transforming Missions were doing in Latin America, especially the work of the gang chaplains in the Guatemalan prisons. I could write about this for many pages, and hopefully will post something in the next few months, especially dealing with the issue of local (indigenous) leadership and outside leadership, my primary focus of study both in Guatemala and with BGU. The issue of leadership development is a key point to what I do for CityNet also, so hopefully it all ties together. I am expecting that we will help to develop further partnerships between ministries in Latin America and Philadelphia, for mutual encouraging, teaching and resourcing.
Coz with members of 18th St. gang in prison
Australia…We were blessed this summer to have two staff from Young Life Australia live with us. The goal was to expose them to a diverse cross section of ministries with an emphasis on working in poor communities. Bronny Logan runs a youth center in my home town of Armidale, working primarily with Aboriginal youth, whilst Sly (Anthony Sligar) now works outside Brisbane with multi-ethnic youth. We would like to continue having Australians who are in ministry come and stay with us, providing training and support services for them.
Finances…We always seem to put this last, perhaps because it is the last thing we want to deal with. I think, after all these years that I would be happy not to have to worry about support raising and our financial position ever again. It would seem that God is not on the same page with me at this point so we need to update you on our financial support. During the summer months we received some extra one time gifts and our paycheck was the same amount for about 3 months in a row, which was refreshing. Added to this was the blessing of a new roof (courtesy of Jeff Boeve and the Watermark men) and our adoption fees being completely paid off.
Since the summer our support has dropped considerably and at this point we are looking at raising only 50% of our target for the year. This target does not include any benefits (medical, retirement) and we do not have a separate expense account, so all ministry expenses come out of our personal pay. I struggle with the fact that those of you reading this have done so much for us in so many ways and you have deeply blessed us. Perhaps some of you may feel led to introduce us to your churches, friends, or family (rich Aunt’s?). Maybe you could host a dinner and invite some people who may be interested in hearing what we do and how God is moving in Philadelphia. We are open to suggestions in this area. Of course I wish I could write that if people don’t send in support we will have to sell the house and move out, or that our kids will go hungry or our heat shut off. However, you and I both know that our God is faithful and that His promises never change.
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