Dear Friends,

We have breaking news here in Danville! Our group has approved our constitution and now plans are in motion for a church examination council. I had already alerted area pastors in SE Iowa about this progress and now we can move forward. We are all looking forward to the recognition process and organizational progress.

Our living nativity

 

Signs placed on tables

Each year Danville has a Christmas Walk and this time our group provided a living nativity using props from another church. It was great to have the true meaning of Christmas represented! The ladies also provided and served desserts for the supper. People are always surprised that we give without wanting anything in return. Our year ended with a special church Christmas celebration and  fellowship at our house. It was encouraging to see many of our church family get involved in the different aspects of the Christmas program. A pastor friend was very complimentary about the large percentage of participation of our group, both young and old.

 

The new year has begun with opportunities. We continue to have good attendance - in fact new faces - at our Good News Club on Tuesdays. It was encouraging to find out our average attendance is higher than some larger cities in Iowa with Good News Clubs. It is a challenge to keep children's attention right after school, but they still seem to soak it up and families are benefiting from the gospel.

 

Some of the children showing gifts they made for the nursing home residents.

We are still keeping the gospel doors open with neighbor families, especially Alex and Jessica, and ask your prayers that they be saved and become a part of our church. We also continue to communicate with families that have attended our community events, so a new year letter with a children's devotional book is being sent to promote the gospel and to attract attention to our church ministry.

 

Currently, I am having a Bible study with a couple. Please pray for their understanding and salvation. Our efforts continue with monthly men's and women's fellowships, a college student fellowship, and continued deputation meetings. Our support is moving closer to 85%. It is always alot of extra work to prepare to visit other churches, but also alot of satisfaction and blessing in visiting and sharing with them.

 

Many people are now aware that our grandson Michael has written a gospel tract about his leukemia and God's priority in his life. He is still confined to his home following the bone marrow transplant, but thanks to our great God he's also "beating the odds" and statistics for his improvement. The 100 days will soon be up, and on February 7 Michael will have another biopsy. Our daughter still keeps the www.vaughnpartyofseven.blogspot.com going with updates. Our son-in-law Mark said it quite well; he had to face the possibility that he might lose his young son to cancer, but God knew his Son would die and still gave him on our behalf. Let us never grow weary of the Good News we have in the gospel!

 

Thank you so much for your interest and prayerful support. This weekend I am speaking at a teen rally. I will use Psalm 8. Check it out and be amazed again at how great is our God!

Giving Thanks

Isn't this a wonderful time of year! Time can pass so quickly that we can become wrapped up in activities, and it's good to have this special time to remember God's goodness to us. Have you been challenged to name something each day this month that you're thankful for? We have so much to be thankful for that there aren't enough days! But we'd like to share some of our list with you.

*  We took our first ever 2-week vacation and traveled west to see our newest grandson in Phoenix, AZ. It was our first time in our son and daughter-in-law's home in several years. We had never been in that part of the country and loved it. What a wonderful time we enjoyed with all 3 of them!




*  We had a very successful activity one Saturday in October for families in the Danville area. Our teen guys helped plan the day and about 50 people came to enjoy a remote control car obstacle course, a pedal tractor race, a shooting range, and flight simulator. We will be keeping in touch with these families.

*  Each Tuesday after school we have had 15-18 elementary children at the Good News Club, and their hearts continue to respond to God's truth.

*  The local funeral chapel director asked me to conduct 2 funerals, and I was able to present the gospel to over 150 people. I have also been asked to be the speaker at a special service for families who have lost loved ones this past year. What an opportunity! This will be on December 3.


*  We have had several opportunities to witness to our neighbors.


*  We are helping to start a monthly Bible study for college students in our area with several attending the first meeting. We are praying that God's Word will become an important focus in the lives of these young adults.

*  A near-by supporting church (Calvary, Mt Pleasant) hosted a 3-weekend series of counseling seminars, and we and 3 of our church people were privileged to attend. It was tremendous!

*  We have had meetings in several churches where we were able to share our burden for Bible based churches to be started in the USA and present what the Lord is doing here in Danville. This is always a highlight for us!

*  Right after our last update we received news that our oldest grandson Michael, 12 years old, had a rare form of leukemia. Since then he's undergone many weeks in the hospital, chemo and radiation, and then a bone marrow transplant. He has done amazingly well because we have a great God. The Lord prepared the way for this difficult experience with a very wise pediatrician, a loving church family, a little brother who was a bone marrow match, first time ever for Cheryl to be free to go for several weeks to help, and hundreds of fellow-believers who prayed. Michael's side affects, while awful, were not severe and he responded rapidly to the transplant, being discharged before the minimum time! (That's several days' worth of thanks right there!!) There is still a lot ahead of him as he continues in isolation at home. We don't know what tomorrow holds, but the Lord has proven himself faithful many times over. Michael has written a tract that has already helped several people that we know of.

*  Our list would never be complete without including you wonderful, faithful supporters.  We could not be here and none of the things above could be accomplished without the prayers of God's people, and we deeply appreciate your partnership in this work.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Dear Friends,

Taking time for testimonies

             We just arrived home from a celebration! Five years ago, a group of people that became Faith Baptist Church met for the first time at Geode State Park just outside Danville. Today 40 people joined together to celebrate that beginning as we enjoyed holding our service in the beautiful outdoors. Afterward we shared a wonderful meal and had some fun together. We wish you, who have been such a big part of this church plant, could have been here with us. If you'd like to see pictures of the day, check out the picture gallery on our web site (link is on this page to the left - For More Information). We have been here 2 years now, and are anticipating more of God’s blessings as we begin a new year together with these folks. We’ll be starting it with a free movie night next Sunday giving an opportunity to bring in people who might not come to a regular service.

There is good news to share! A couple of weeks ago, Ed was privileged to lead a man through the Roman’s Road plan of salvation, and a lady in our church was thrilled to lead her out-of-town granddaughter to the Lord. We have been praying for these people as this older man is in poor health and the girl is from a non-Christian home.

The men have enjoyed meeting one Saturday a month for breakfast at our house followed by a Bible study. This past Saturday 9 men came and a 10th had a work emergency or he would have attended. We have seen the Lord really working in the hearts of some of these guys. It is exciting to see them choose to put the Lord first.

We are still meeting at the school, a situation with pros and cons. As time passes, we more and more want/need our own place, but there is nothing available. One man who owns farm land in a great location would trade some acres but doesn’t want income from a sale. A realtor is looking. We’re advertising for land. People are asking others for leads. But so far nothing. There are no buildings to rent, either. We know the Lord will provide just the right place when the time comes, and hopefully that will be soon. Will you please pray with us about this need?

A couple of weeks ago we had a tremendous time at the GARB camp in Minnesota for a week of family camp. Ed was the main speaker and Cheryl told a missionary story to the children each day. They’re a great group of people. As Cheryl is not much of a camper, she was relieved to know there was a nice bathroom in the speakers cabin; she dreads having to cross the grounds to use the “public” showers. But wouldn’t you know? On Tuesday, repair work began on the cabin shower stall and lasted the rest of the week! Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor? She survived quite nicely in spite of it, and what a time of blessing—and fun—that week was!

Great catch! (In Daddy's ball glove)

 In our last update we introduced you to our new little grandson Reed. Now, please meet Jagger Deign Bunt who lives in Phoenix. He was not due until August but arrived in June weighing in at 4 lb 14 oz. God truly blessed; the baby was able to go home right away and is doing very well. We can’t wait to get our hands on him! Hopefully we’ll be going out that way soon.

3 weeks old

Tomorrow we'll be heading out for the CBM Family Conference. Ed will be preaching at one of the sessions and we will be doing another session called "CBM LIVE." Please pray that God will use us to be an encouragement to all those attending.

And that’s the news from southeast Iowa!

Joyfully serving,

Ed & Cheryl

Dear Friends,

Greetings from SE Iowa again where the rains keep coming! They remind us of the showers of blessings in our lives because of your faithful prayers and financial gifts. Thank you all for helping us continue to witness to neighbors, hurting people and people without the knowledge of God. We believe our church family also deeply appreciates having a missionary couple here.

We have been challenging the church family to memorize verses for evangelism and will soon be making special tracts available to encourage them to witness this summer. We have had some church guests return from time to time and want to have spiritual influence in their lives while reaching new people. A new family with 4 children has been attending and are very eager to become involved. They have been part of another church plant and have already been a great encouragement. They are quite musical, too! The teen boy we have mentioned before continues to come although he's gone to be with his father for a month. He has some difficult things in his life to deal with.

Faith Baptist Church is experiencing some growing pains, and each Sunday we wish a little more for our own building! Our car is filled with equipment we lug in each week, set up, tear down, and lug back out. But this is a good thing because we now have need of a nursery. Because we want it to be clean and safe, we set up a floor (rubber linked tiles), a gated fence, table, chairs, toys, bulletin board, supplies, etc. each week. It's a lot of work and takes time, but last week we had 3 little ones to teach and begin to build a spiritual foundation. So it's worth it!

Another family movie night is planned for July 17. The last one was very successful, and we're praying this will be a tool to attract unchurched people.

During the last week of June, we will be in Minnesota where Ed has the opportunity to be the speaker for a family camp. We'll be doing music, children's stories, and workshops, in addition to his preaching. Then a couple of weeks later we head off to the CBM Family Conference where we will not only enjoy seeing friends and being encouraged by the messages, but we'll be involved in a couple of services.

We'd like to introduce the newest member or our own family - Reed William Rider! He was born to Elizabeth (daughter) and Troy on May 23. That makes 3 boys for them! As you can see, he's beautiful and - you'll have to take our word for it - just about perfect!

When Reed was born, we had a family reunion with all 4 of our children and their families there. What a special time that was!







We're now awaiting word for another little grandson to arrive. Jonathan (son) and Josalyn were expecting a baby in August, but he has decided to come early. She's in the hospital where they're trying to hold things off as long as possible. Today is the goal date the doctors set as a safe point for him to be born. So maybe today!

Once again, thank you for your interest in what God is doing here. Your faithful support has a large part in that; you are truly our coworkers. Please pray for a good summer and for increased support through deputation opportunities. We have gained new support, but are still about 81% and hope to be scheduling meetings in some new churches in the near future. We are praying that you, too, will find ways this summer to share the good news of life in Christ!

Greetings from southeast Iowa where the action never ends! We have been meeting ourselves coming and going! One break we really enjoyed was to have the Den Boers (CBM Prefield Director) stay with us overnight a couple of weeks ago. It was great to see them and wonderful to hear about things God is doing in others’ lives and ministries.

We know that things can happen only when God is at work, and have we ever seen answers! Since the beginning of the year we have had special times of prayer Sunday afternoon once a month specifically for church related requests and have had 5 couples attend. Here are just some of the things that have happened:

• Ed has been asked to officiate at 2 funerals.
• Our church was asked to serve a funeral dinner for a 3^rd
• Several counseling opportunities and one of the couples visited our church
• A new teenage boy has been attending
• Ladies provided meals to a non-churched woman following surgery who promised to come to church when she is able
• Ladies have also begun a “Welcome Baby” plan to reach families
• Men are excited about using radio controlled airplanes to reach men and kids

In February, we had a Valentine Hobby Night and got to know each other a little better. Some pretty gifted folks attend our church! Lots of fun!

Ed has been looking for ways to get to know men in the Danville area and has approached the volunteer fire department about being their chaplain. They’ve never had one before but liked the idea and have agreed for him to serve in this way. What an opportunity to help people in their difficult times! And as the men get to know Ed and gain confidence in him, he will have an open door with them. We are excited about what God will do!

Danville is an amazing town! Our basketball team started out the season very well, went on to win district finals, and went to the state championship game with a 28-0 record before losing the final game. The media was amazed at the number of enthusiastic fans coming from little Danville – the most of any team in our division.  Danville was a ghost town for the week, but the stands were a “sea of blue”! To show our church support of the team, we gave complimentary water bottles to everyone riding the buses to the games – a great tool to create awareness of and to promote our church.

A Christian family has contacted us because they are moving to our area. He already has a job in Burlington, but the family cannot join him until they find a house to rent. That will take a miracle; everyone we have talked to tells us the same thing – there are NO rentals available. (We found the same thing when we moved here!) Will you pray with us for this family? We’d love to have them join us.

So, what else are we working on now?  One thing is the radio controlled airplane day which we hope will be our next Community Connection event this spring. Another is a church nursery. On Sunday, March 27, we will be having a free movie night including free popcorn and soda for everyone. This will launch our next series of small group gatherings as we study the family. We are very concerned to reach young families, see them saved and brought into our church.

"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good"!

Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for, both personally and as a new church! This Sunday we, like many others during this season, will be enjoying a church dinner dedicated to praising the Lord, concluding our celebration with a special time observing communion. 

As we review our blessings, we see the Lord working in a number of ways, and we'd like to share them with you.

• We are thankful for the growing unity and the beginnings of openness to changing seen in individuals and our church family to do God's work. 

• The men's prayer breakfasts have been well attended and a source of encouragement to those who have come, including 1 man who doesn't attend church anywhere.

• The Sunday evening gatherings were a great success for our people who are not used to Sunday evening meetings. They loved the creation series we used and wanted more! We plan to begin again at the first of the year with a series on marriage and family with the purpose of attracting unchurched people.

• Everyone enjoyed a "Tacky Party" a couple of weeks ago. Who knew we had such "tacky" dressers in our group? The entertainment was a big hit and the "tacky" menu had everyone talking. We were pleased to have some guests come, too.



Pretty tacky - even for missionaries!

• We have a couple of children attending our Good News Club whose families do not attend church and we are working on reaching them. Although our numbers aren't high (we average about 12), we're having a great year.

• The church constitution is completed! We hope to have a supporting church review it for us to make sure we didn't miss anything, and then we'll be going to the next step of adopting it and becoming recognized.

• A few of us attended the second Intentional Discipleship workshop. This is a huge new idea to our people who are interested, but full of questions. The deacons want to know that more will commit to the program before approving the financial investment it will take. Several people are interested and we are thankful they're beginning to see the need for this type of training.

• You probably already know that our house in Michigan has finally been sold, but we just have to include it here in our list of blessings. We're still celebrating!

• We look forward to a lot of fun with our younger daughter and son and their families coming here for Thanksgiving.

• Cheryl has successfully survived a second concert as accompanist for the Danville high school choir! The next ones will be December 14 and 16, and then she can breathe again for a while. Ed fills the important role of official page turner. These opportunities for community involvement are helping also to create more awareness of the church.

• We could never end the list without including you! We run on the power of your prayers and faithful support. None of this would be possible without a great team behind us, and as you can see, the Lord is working here in Danville because of your efforts as well as ours.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day reviewing all the Lord has done for you!

Joyfully serving,

Ed & Cheryl

September, 2010

It's fall! Where did the summer go? We were too busy to notice! But here is some great news - we have a good offer on our Michigan house!! We are waiting eagerly for a response from the bank as it's all in their hands now. Please continue to pray with us that everything will go through. We'll keep you posted. And now to catch up. . . .

We really enjoyed having a mission team from our sending church, Berean Baptist in Bunker Hill, IL, come for a week. They were able to get so many things done that would have been impossible for us otherwise. The week ended with our second Community Outreach event. (You can see pictures, if you'd like.) We considered it very successful with several families to follow up with.

Another very big project that took lots of time was a web site for our church. A man in our group did all the technical, behind the scenes work to set it up, then we did all the work of designing and publishing it. Now all we have to do is maintain it (all we have to do???) The final step still to be done is getting it listed in searches. Feel free to check it out (link at right) and then give suggestions for improvement. We want it to be a good reflection of God's work here.

The Good News Club is underway again for the school year. The lady heading it up and Cheryl were able to attend a workshop and came back with some ideas for better organization for our club. We have fewer children than last year so far, but it should grow. We are very thankful for the cooperation and even encouagement of the school administration. Our game time is much better because of a different room, and the kids are loving it!

Now that schedules have become somewhat more predictable, we have started a new men's group called Men of Integrity. Seven men came, including a guest we've been praying for, for breakfast and Bible study on Saturday morning. This will be a monthly event with the purpose of building spiritually strong leaders for our church and our families.

Sunday evening, Sept 26, was the first of our small group gatherings. Fourteen people came. We are using a DVD series on creation/evolution and will meet for 4 weeks. After a break we plan to begin again with a new topic for study. The purpose is not only for teaching our church group, but to give them a non-threatening setting to bring unsaved or unchurched friends to.

We are looking forward to attending a seminar from Sept 30 - Oct 2, called "Intentional Discipleship." We have already been to the introductory session held during the summer, and the material is excellent. It should be an invaluable tool for starting a church out doing things the best way possible



Ryan - 2



Seth - almost 2



On a personal note - we're going to be grandparents again! Elizabeth and Troy, who have 2 little boys

will be adding a 3rd little one to their family in the spring. We're hoping for a girl, but another boy would be just fine with all of us, too.

      

Cheryl was offered the job of accompanying the junior and senior high choirs of the Danville school. She had just been praying that if the Lord wanted her to work, she'd be willing, but a job would have to come to her as she had no idea where to look. About 2 days later, she received a call, and now she's spending much needed time practicing and running back and forth to the school - choir is right in the middle of the day! It's pretty stressful for her, but she's really enjoying it.

We cannot end this without once again saying how much we appreciate and are thankful for our wonderful supporters. You have been so faithful even during financially difficult times. We are often amazed at the way the Lord has provided for you and for us. Thank you so much for giving and for praying. We could not do this work alone!

Joyfully serving,

Ed and Cheryl