March 2009 Ministry Update for Team Driskill
This has truly been a season of transition in weather, activities and schedules! We’ve had snow, sleet, freezing rain, rain, sun and lots of wind—all in the same few weeks. Despite cancelling several “regular” services, we continue to see God moving in our various ministry efforts.
Emmanuel Fellowship: it took more than six weeks this year to hit a Wednesday where we could have kids, adults and youth group all on the same week, thanks to some wild weather which seemed to land on the mid-week service days. We had some tree damage at our house and were without power for four full days Feb. 11-15 and had some debris hit the truck windshield on Mark’s way home from school. Many homes and businesses in the county were damaged, but no injuries reported—thank God! The church celebrated our birthday the second Sunday in February and observed Ash Wednesday the end of the month. Mary continues to work with the Youth Drama Team who performed for a recent Youth Rally. Mark continues to do the monthly radio broadcast and has had someone offer to cover the $50 per month ministry—PTL! In addition to weekly sermons, he continues to write a weekly newspaper column and daily internet devotions. He plans to compile some of these works into a book in the near future. Please pray for his continued creativity and inspiration as he also develops curriculum for his 6 classes at Oakdale. We continue to minister through a couple of home groups and the Owsley County group has had people accepting Christ at each monthly service!
Oakdale: We’ve had the opportunity to host several students during the Spring Break and Mark’s opportunities to share his faith continue with each class. Pray especially for his Introduction to Christianity and Introduction to the Bible classes as these provide the most direct witness opportunities. One student has made a profession of faith and several others are asking critical and probing questions. Mary continues to work with the co-op group and has big plans for the study on ancient Greece, including the construction of a Trojan horse!
Bethel Camp: Mark was the speaker for a youth rally sponsored by Bethel Camp and the Big Rock Players were one of two performing groups. About 60 youth attended, many who had never been to Bethel Camp. We left for the Christian Camp and Conference Association regional meeting March 2 and spent three days at Ridgecrest team building and being challenged and refreshed in camp ministry. We really enjoyed the chance to do some planning and dreaming about the summer—especially in the midst of snow and ice! We are beginning to develop materials for the summer camp season including devotional guides, Bible speaker outlines and staff enrichment.
Pray for these coming events and our strength as we minister through them:
Spring Youth Retreats starting March 27-29 and April 3-5 at Bethel Camp—events for 5th through 12th graders at Bethel Camp.
Easter & Holy Week services in our community April 5-12.
End of semester events at Oakdale, home school and Alice Lloyd College.
For Katie and the Voices of Appalachia as they go on tour in New York March 14-22.
