Over eight years ago a certain man/pastor played basketball with Seth on a Friday night at a local college. During one particular play, the man cut across the court towards the hoop and Seth passed the ball to him, but he was apparently unaware of the incoming ball. This led to the ball hitting the man in the face and putting him on the floor. The man smiled (as usual) and got up, affirming Seth that it was not Seth’s fault but that he should have been ready. This man consistently kept inviting Seth to a special event at his church, after the ball hit him in the face Seth felt bad and went to church with the man. This was the catalyst that led Seth to get involved with that church, our now home church, which God would eventually use to shape Seth and to get him devoted to full-time missions. It does not always have to be the big things that persuade the heart of men, sometimes a friend who is consistent and faithful is all God needs to use for His work.
We started with this story in Seth’s life to show how God works. We just finished participating with another church’s mission’s conference but this one was special for us. The man who Seth hit in the face with a basketball almost a decade ago is now the pastor of the church whose conference we participated in. This church was the first church that; we first gave our missionary presentation to back in January, and the first to set aside a time of corporate prayer for us and laid hands on us to send us away to finish our last semester of training. This time was refreshing and busy (in a good way); we were with people constantly and made life-long friends. We know God placed us in the right home with our host family and that was fun, we had opportunities to share with the church, Sunday school, yes, we dressed up for the kiddos 🙂 and afterwards went to ice cream with friends still dressed in our “get-ups”, spent quite a bit of time making new friends over meals, and even had an opportunity in a more intimate setting to share more in-depth of the “nuts and bolts” of tribal church planting. That was one of our highlights here in Indiana, regarding sharing opportunities. We will be here through Wednesday night (20th) only to drive through the night to get back to Pittsburgh by the 21st so Nicole can be back home for her event that she is hosting for some of her good friends.
Tribal With Part of Our Host Family
Pastor Leeman-The Guy Seth Hit W/ A Basketball
Stoking The Fires 