At church…We have had a lot of firsts together in the past couple of weeks. We had an opportunity with a family at our church in Kansas to go inner-tubing, we now go to the same jail ministry, we had our first visitors while being down here in Missouri, the first time an inmate led part of the teaching, the first time we did not have to pay for a part (or the labor for installation) on our car and much more!!
As we are getting back into a routine, one particular Sunday when we were in Kansas, a family, Doug and Shelle Eden, thought it would be nice to treat us to some good ole’ time on the lake. Next thing we know, Doug was trying his best to knock Seth off the tube while pulling him behind on a Jet-Ski,; with a couple close calls, Seth managed to hold on! This is the same family that also introduced Nicole to her first time on a 4-wheeler. The Eden’s treated us like their own family, as so many other families have done as well at our church in Kansas.
Another first, Nicole is beginning to teach a ladies/girls Jewelry class in between the morning and afternoon services on Sunday’s once a month. The ladies seem really interested and about 20 ladies signed up! This will be an awesome time of fun, learning, and getting to know the ladies better.
In jail…In addition, we now go to the same county jail to minister. This is nice for many reasons; now we can talk together about the same ministry and strategize our focus on how to “best” to minister to the inmates. We also get to spend more time together and that is really nice. Nicole, Jinny, and Grace are the ladies that make up the female team. Seth, Dave, and Pastor Jim (he usually drives us to the prison) make up the male team. Both teams are starting from Genesis explaining through the scriptures. We are focusing on the beginning, foundational truths, and the lineage of the Promised Deliverer. The inmates are very receptive and they are seeing the Grace of God and His Provision for sinful mankind. I (Seth) have been teaching/discipling a man named Joel for 8 months now. A few weeks ago we had Joel teach part of the lesson. He taught on Genesis 19, focusing on the Holiness of God and how He demands punishment for wickedness. Joel used part of his testimony and the guys were really excited to see “one of their own” teaching. This is always the goal of ministers, to see the locals teach their own, that is the “end goal” of a missionary, it is nice to see it put into practice here and now.
I (Nicole), have been very encouraged by the excitement the ladies are showing each week as we teach. For the first time, some of these ladies are hearing the Creation story explained and connected with the rest of the Bible and to their personal lives as well. One key theme that has stuck out to the ladies and also to me personally is how God pursued Adam and Eve at the moment when they ran and hid from God. As humans, our natural default is to hide when we are ashamed. God didn’t let us go off on our own; He ran to us and pursued us, giving us an alternative. God gave Adam and Eve clothes (coverings) and gave them the sacrificial system of killing an animal as a temporary fix to their sins until one day Jesus came to once and for all pay for the penalty of sin. The penalty for sin is death and it was only through a perfect death that the wrath of our Righteous God could be appeased.
Stoking The Fires 