2016 has proven to be an emotional year for our family.
Things such as my mom passing away in January (and subsequently my dad fighting
depression/psychosis) led to many trip to Indiana… and I got the honor of
preaching my mom’s funeral and seeing multiple professions of faith in Christ!
That was mixed in with our family vehicle blowing its transmission, only to
then have the engine blow 2 weeks after we fixed the transmission. The vehicle
problems through Elisha behind on getting his license, and once we got it fixed
Elisha broke his arm and was again put out of driving… (he just got his license
this week.) Caleb graduated high school and within a few days was off to a
summer job in West Virginia and will leave straight from that job to a
year-long internship in Alabama. Christa will be in high school in the fall and
Faith will be in middle school… This past week alone Lisa drove me to the
airport in Raleigh, drove Caleb to his job in WV, drove to pick up Christa from
a friend’s house in SC, drove back to Raleigh to get me at the airport, and
then drove to Alabama where the girls are helping with a VBS. (God’s hand of
protection has been on her in the travels… she even got run off the road into
the median at over 70MPH and was able to drive through the grass and back onto
the hwy. to keep on trucking.) This is only an overview of how busy it has been
for Team Burden this year…
Being back at the school serving as the Director of
Discipleship (campus pastor) has allowed for a lot of incredible ministry
opportunities and to supplement our income in a way that has helped us make it
through a lot of the unforeseen expenses (i.e. car troubles, medical expenses,
trips to IN) The school allows me opportunities to teach the Word; counsel
students, families, staff; plan and implement missions on the local and
international front; plan chapels (which includes getting great teachers and
missionaries in, such as Freddie Coile from Focus Evangelistic Ministries and
Quinton Williams from LifePoint Church [AL]); etc. And it brought me back around some dear
friends that have proved incredibly valuable to help me through a rough start
to the year. In the last few weeks alone I have chaperoned a group of 8th
graders in Gettysburg, Philly, Baltimore, and D.C.; I also just spent 6 days in
the Dominican Republic with the graduates of 2016 serving in sports outreach,
VBS, and also preaching in churches. (This week I am running a bit slower than
my normal pace…)
Now on to InBounds… I thank God for the opportunities
InBounds provides via the athletic platform. I continue to be amazed at all God
is doing through our MAD Hoops outreach here in NC. We are seeing incredible
growth spiritually in guys that have plugged into this. The leadership of guys
like Jon, Stew, David, Caleb, Mitch, Time, Colby, etc. keeps everything rolling
and is spawning even more outreach. We have been blessed on the local front to
not only see the basketball platform grow, but also (thanks to an incredible
donation we received while in Alabama) we are getting a lot of individual time
with youth through our Vertimax training. And on top of it all Jon and I got to
coach a middle school girls’ team and pour into those gals. I have also
continued to travel to speak at various churches (and am currently booking singing/speaking gigs for the fall)
One of the most exciting local outreaches is now our
Sunday evening fellowship, The Arena: Today We LIVE! (Love Intentionally Value
Everyone) This group is such a blessing as I get to pastor them and we have
truly developed a missional group that is committed to one another and to
making a difference in our world!
This most recent trip to the DR was in conjunction with
the school but I was able to build on some things for our InBounds outreach
there. I picked up a few partnering pastors that have asked me to come back to
preach/train. I also met an American church planter that has moved there and he
is right on doctrinally and practically in building sustained ministry. We are
also maintaining our connection in Pedernales Dominican Republic with our dear
pastor/friend Eliezer Caraballo. We have partnered specifically with him in
trying to help get the medical needs met of a little girl named Carolina. There
have been some obstacles but progress is being made.
This summer and fall: All of our local outreach is
continuing; on top of that I will attempt to get a few more bookings for speaking/singing;
the travel schedule will again include Alabama (where Lisa currently is and
where Caleb is moving in August – to include more plans for our outdoors
outreach); Georgia (where Lisa will be working at Camp Grace); Indiana as we
will do out typical trips there (including a fall engagement to teach at the
Youth Evangelism Association national conference); Florida (to see Clay and
Sarah and look at some future plans for our outdoors outreach); and we would
like to at least send a couple guys over to Pedernales DR to check in on
Carolina (yet need the finances to roll in for that.) On top of that I need to
head back to the DR for the preaching/training opportunities that were
presented last week. I will also host coaches retreats and our first ever InBoundsOut
adventure weekends…
My international travel is not going to be as much as
typical in a summer due to a couple reasons.
1.
Simply the finances… Right now InBounds is
simply making it through month to month yet outreach is increasing. Please,
please pray for God to touch the hearts of the “senders” to see the need to
help us Go MAD!
2.
I am tired physically and needing to work in
some rest time for not only recovery but also to key on more writing. This
August will mark the beginning of my 30th year of ministry (and also
I will celebrate 50 years of life…)
We need help! Our ministry van has right at 300000 miles
on it and we just dropped over $800 more into it. We are in great need of
storage for InBounds equipment, preferably that can double as a location for
some of our local outreach (and have even considered just setting up more area
at our house.) Caleb is working his tail off to get funds for his internship,
yet could use a lot of help on that end. (He is living in another state with no
vehicle to get around; and once he arrives at the internship will have
opportunity for foreign outreach in Lebanon and Madagascar.) We are completely
out of devotional books and tracts that need to be printed. We have ideas for
selling some ministry t-shirts to help supplement the ministry but need
inventory and/or equipment to print. And the list could go on and on…
Bottom line is this: Rest assured that InBounds in Going
MAD locally, nationally, and internationally! We are not slowing down and will
continue in ministry even if the financial well runs dry. But you have an
opportunity to Go MAD by being a sender… by helping to fund the outreaches. I
guarantee that every penny is properly accounted for and we take our
stewardship seriously! With finances we
can:
·
go more places and share a clear Gospel message
·
go more places and teach how to study the Word
of God
·
go more places and train
pastors/missionaries/leaders/coaches
·
print more materials that clearly teach the Word
I would take time to write a better newsletter… but as I
stated before I am tired this week! Please pray for us; and pray for the
Chapman family… my dear friend and colleague Stephanie Chapman went home to be
with the Lord last night and left behind her husband and 2 girls (1 in college
and 1 a rising senior.) Friday will be the funeral and there are a lot of
current and former students and their families affected by this!
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