• Dear family and friends,

    It’s a beautiful morning in rural Pennsylvania. Karen, our daughter Lyndsey, and our grandkids Kyla and Quinn are heading to HersheyPark for a day of water rides. I’ll join them later for a bit of splashing around.

    But first, this:

    √ It would be tough to find words for how great it’s been to re-root in Millersburg, Pennsylvania and at David’s Community Bible Church. To be here for and with family, to revel in and contribute to the rich life of our home church, to go farm-hopping with the grandkids and watch in awe as incredibly self-assured 11-year old Lorraine takes us with her around the farm as she feeds her Amish family’s cows, pigs, chickens, and horses … All I can say is, it’s a profoundly rich pre-launch gift.

    √ Our support level is now at 71% of where it needs to be in order for us to move to our awaiting work in Colombia. We’re very encouraged by this. If you’ve been considering joining our financial support team but have not yet committed, this would be a great time for you to do that. Write or call us, or simply go to http://uwm.us14.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d51738c53f3016d069e94ccb0&id=532f44df86&e=3550f97595. And thank you!

    √ We’re close enough to our target that we’ve begun to firm up our calendar. Here’s what we think will happen and when:

    *Reach 100% of support requirement by December 31, 2017

    ** Take 7 weeks of pre-field training at the Center for Intercultural Training in North Carolina (January-February, 2018)

    *** Move to Medellín, Colombia! (March-April, 2018)

    **** Begin our first six-month annual stint of working out of Connecticut (January, 2019)

    ***** Return to Colombia for second half-year stint working out of Colombia Biblical Seminary (July, 2019).

    ****** Thereafter, continue 6-North, 6-South rhythm of work (Colombia and Connecticut)

    √ If we were going by the book, we’d be holding off on starting our ministry commitments until we’re fully funded and fielded. But some things can’t wait:

    * I’m making steady, if painstaking, progress on my English/Spanish/Hebrew-translation role in making the high-quality online Hebrew classes available to Spanish speakers as part of a team assembled for this project (and its Biblical Greek counterpart) by our Biblical Seminary of Colombia.

    ** The Theological Education Initiative is blooming under our feet. Surprising numbers of prospective missionary-scholars are knocking on our door for orientation, counsel, mentoring, and pathways forward. Good grief this seems to be an idea for this moment. How to keep up?

    *** In theory, we’re doing ‘full-time support raising’. And, in a way, we are. But it’s been, well, umm, a little unconventional.

    **** I’m taking an online course called ‘Nonprofit Management for the 21st Century’ to complete my certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership at Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy.

    ***** I’ve registered to take an online version of the stupendous course called ‘Perspectives on the World Christian Movement’ so that we can thereafter offer ‘official’ versions of this phenomenal learning experience at David’s Community Bible Church and elsewhere.

    ****** David’s Community Bible Church has embraced Karen and me in ways that include opportunities to serve concretely. Lots of teaching, preaching (Gospel of John), some mentoring, etc. We’re loving it!

    √ Coming up, I’ll teach the book of Isaiah at beloved Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, Lebanon; deliver a three-part lecture series at an annual ‘intellectual conference’ that’s being revived at Christ Church Cape Cod (Massachusetts); etc.

    √ Karen is beavering away at Spanish, with Colombian friend/teacher Magdalena on her Skyped-up laptop screen for encouragement and orientation.

    √ Karen is also turning over the soil on the spiritual formation training that will equip her for a critical slice of her eventual contribution within our United World Mission and also within our seminary community at the Biblical Seminary of Colombia. Lots of planting, watering, and sunshine to follow.

    √ It occurred to me recently, as I was watching Karen bravely find her space in and around small-town Pennsylvania and its surrounding country roads, that this woman is a born missionary. She is interested, she engages, she plunges in, she makes eye contact. Where did I *find* this woman?

    √ I’ve been invited to *fish* in Michigan and on Long Island Sound! Somebody’s got to do it …

    √ Yes, this feels a little vulnerable, mightily dependent, occasionally lunatic, and recurrently exhilarating. We’re in very good cheer, encouraged, hopeful, determined. All that stuff.

    Thanks for walking with us!

    Much love,

    David and Karen