Important Update

Wednesday January 7, 2004

Greetings Friends!

I trust you have all had a good Christmas break.  Mine has been rather different than normal, with lots to share.

Many of you have been praying for the next Encounter Teams program – that God would raise up participants for that program, so we’d be able to have a team this summer.  Well, it seems that God has other plans, and we are again faced with not having any participants.  As a result of this, and other things we are working through as an organization, the leadership here at International Teams Canada (ITC) has decided to bring Encounter Teams to a close.  I’ve included a letter from Neil Ostrander, the President of ITC, which will give you some more info on this.

As a result of this change, I find myself in a position where I am still excited about missions and International Teams (IT), but needing to work through where I can fit now.

At the same time, there are other developments in my own life.  This past fall, I've been getting to know a nice girl at the church I'm attending here in Waterloo.   Grace and I started dating in mid-December.  This has actually been quite a surprise to me – the whole thing has been very unlike anything I had expected, or sought after, but instead something that God seems to have orchestrated.  One of many surprises for me is that she’s a single mom.  A while back, through a series of bad situations and choices, she ended up getting pregnant.  Her pregnancy and subsequent birth of Aris (her daughter) has given Grace the drive to get her life back on track with God, and she is becoming a great woman of God.

Obviously things are still fairly new, so we'll see where God takes this relationship, but it is beginning to look like another development in my life that's likely to have an impact on the process of reshaping my role in the coming months and years.

I recall a year and a half ago when I was working through where God was calling me, it became clear that He was pointing me in the direction I ended up heading this past year.  But the destination was never clear.  It was more like God was saying, “start walking in that direction.  I’ll tell you what you need to know as you go along.”  It seems Encounter Teams was not the final destination, but simply something He placed in the path for a time to help prepare me for whatever He has in store.  It will be exciting to see what He continues to do along the way.

Would you pray for all of us (leaders at ITC, Grace, myself, church leaders, etc.) as we seek God’s direction in the coming months?  We are considering several possibilities in the area of mobilization, short-term teams, local ministries, and perhaps other things as well. Please be praying that it would become clear where God would have me serve next, and that we would all get excited about it.

Long before the decision to close down Encounter Teams, I was planning to join our Athens Refugee Team for a month.  I’ll be leaving this Saturday.  Among many other things, this should be a great time to think through and even explore various possibilities for future ministry, and to learn more about myself as well.  Please be praying that I would be a real blessing to the team there, and that I would be open to all God has to teach me while I’m away.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers, especially during this time.

For His Glory,

Steve.