if My people...

If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:14

I can't begin to express the heaviness of my heart for the Church in Baltimore right now. I’m hesitant to write this because I know it could be read the wrong way or feelings of those working in the Church may be hurt, but I’m writing because the Church so desperately needs your prayer right now. It has been a full summer of ministry and outreach happening all over the city and county and mission teams have flooded our fields once again, but the work is far from completed, in fact, it feels the work has barely even begun. As you may know, I work mainly with our churches on outreach such as VBS and Bible Clubs - this season is always supposed to be the most exciting because of the fruit it yields with hundreds of unchurched children finding their way into our church sanctuaries and hearing the glorious Gospel of Jesus preached loud and clear, at their level of understanding. This summer we've not seen the fruit in these ministries that we’d expected or hoped for, and I know that's due in part to the fact that as a Church we expect big movements of God without a willingness to commit to the big work those results require. Perhaps it’s also due to a void of purity and holiness within the Church. Perhaps it’s due to Churches failing to produce disciples of converts. Perhaps we have truly hardened our hearts and blinded our eyes to the great need of this dark city. Perhaps it’s safer to stay inside, to build a holy community that cannot be sinfully tainted, or to shut out the needs of those around us in order to focus on meeting our own needs. Whatever the case, sin and evil are rampant as ever in this broken city (check out this link for recent news: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.ci.violence28jul28,0,6786209.story) and even the Church whose calling is to storm the gates of hell is silent in the chaos.
Please, brothers and sisters, pray with me for our Church in this city – for believers to humble themselves and pray and seek the face of our just and holy God. He desires to hear the cry of a broken heart offered in humility and repentance. Please pray with me for a passion for purity, a contrite and repentant spirit, disciples to be made intentionally, leaders to lead with wisdom and integrity, and a unified desire for our LORD to take His place as King in our hearts, our Church, and our city.

thank you for your continued faithful prayers....

love-m

SM photo shoot

photo of our Embrace office Summer Missionary team at the Inner Harbor

and another from Convoy of Hope - our Summer Missionary Crew and the lovely Mrs. Rose Dowell (wife of my wonderful boss Mitch)

two weeks in...

so our girls have been here two weeks now. it's been a fun ride thus far. our housing at Middle River Baptist Church has worked out well, but it also means our house also functions as a dining hall and hang-out. :) its been a bit of an adjustment, but the girls have brought a lot of life, fun, and fresh enthusiasm to our lives and workplace. i have one more missionary arriving this evening to join our evangelism team. please be praying for these three young women, Sara, Jeanna (pronounced Gina) and Elisabeth. i pray this summer will bring great spiritual growth for each of them as they seek to know God better and discern His will for their futures. i'm also praying they will provide a shot of encouragement and blessing as well as urgency and passion to the churches with whom they are serving over the next 6-8 weeks.

i had asked your prayers for the Convoy of Hope city outreach that happened in Baltimore a couple weeks ago. here are some stats:
* 1000 people served in Haircuts
* 375 families received portraits
* Over 200 people tested and screened for AIDS/HIV
* 80+ churches were involved
* 22 churches will be conducting follow up
* 70+ participating organizations
* 1101 volunteers
* 1100+ children heard the gospel and enjoyed the Kidz Zone
* 80,000lbs of groceries were given away
* 2600+ guests received personal prayer
* 110+ decisions for Christ
* 3052 Guests attended and witnessed first hand the love of Christ.

thanks for your prayers, and praise the LORD for His answers.

please continue to keep us in your prayers. summer is picking up speed and with crazy busy schedules its easy for attitudes to sour and make living and working together a trial. pray for extra grace for all of us to live with patience, a servant's spirit, humility, joy, and absolute dependence on His provision. and pray that Baltimore continues to see the love of God thru His children all summer long.

much love - m

a little updateage

i have been pretty good at inventing new words like "updateage" lately. apparently "prolongation" is not a word either....hmm.

so here's a photo of me and my "moms"....yes i have two. ;) john took us hiking at gunpowder falls.

just had a great week and a half visit with them. they were here for about 10 days so Mrs. Dixie could do some work for her doctorate that she's working on. i got to introduce mom to all the wonders of B'more like Patterson Park, Rita's Italian Ice, Trader Joe's, Pitango...i could go on. i'm pleased to report she really likes my wonderful city! they surprised John, he didn't know they were coming. :) i'm excited they both had a chance to meet him and get to know him a bit. for those of you AR folks still anxious to meet him, i think you'll have a chance in August. looks like we're planning a trip then to spend a little time with both our families. keep praying for this relationship as well, please. i can't tell you how full my heart is over how God is working in both our lives. He is a faithful God. pray we continue to trust His leading and wait patiently on His will for us.

so, i had requested prayer for summer missionary housing and you may disregard all i mentioned in the last post about the city dwelling. that all fell apart on us last week and we were back to square one clinging tightly to the belief that God really did have something better in store for our now homeless summer ms. at this point in time, the plan is to house all 5 girls (2 are with Brandy, 3 with me) in the church next door to our house. which works well for transportation, though not an ideal set-up for our girls. but God knows what He is doing and i have high hopes that it will all work out for the best. now, we have just a few days to get things set up and new sheets and towels washed and ready for their arrival. they all get in on the 3rd (next Wednesday!) and will be settling in on the 5th after a couple days at Orientation in Ocean City. i am still a bit anxious about how the summer will play out and would love your prayers for my ability to be a good supervisor for these 3 young women, to have wisdom in encouraging/mentoring them in ministry, and just knowing how to balance my own life over the next couple months. i have a feeling God has a lot to teach me this summer about leadership, balance, trust, and discipleship.

thanks for your prayers for John and Gracelife church in Peru last week. they had a tremendous week of ministry and saw God move in some exciting ways. i still need to be caught up on all the stories. the 2nd group from Gracelife will be leaving before too long for another week long trip. i'll keep you posted.

like i said above, summer missionaries arrive on Wednesday and all of us 604 girls and the summer Ms will head to Ocean City til friday for Orientation. should be a fun time. i'm excited to meet them all and see them get busy in their respective ministries. please be praying for them, their safe travel, their relationships with their local supervisors, and their time here in Baltimore. i really pray God lays a passion and burden on their heart for our city and shows them the potential for Kingdom impact that lies within them.

summer's just about here! thanks for your love and prayers! enjoy this last May weekend and happy June!

love -m

may day...

its a beautiful sun-shiny may afternoon in the city. summer is fast approaching yet again. we just got a handful of MayMester missionaries in from Hannibal La Grange College in Hannibal, MO. HLG is a great partner of ours who sent us MayMesters last year as well. these are college students who come and serve with our churches for the month of May. when they fly back home in June we will be getting our next set of missionaries who will be coming from all over the States and serving with our churches and in our office through the first of August. they bring a lot of freshness and excitement to our association and to our staff so we are all excited about what God has in store there. i will have three girls (from AL, FL, and MO) serving on my VBS/Bible Club team this summer who will also be staying with me in my new city home. yep, i said it. city home. one big area of prayer for me....there is an opportunity for me to live very inexpensively in the city in an area near the harbor called Canton. the house is a small rowhouse belonging to one of our associational churches. they wish to use the home for missionaries and as a ministry to families in the area for Hopkins treatment. i would basically be the "house manager" making sure things stay in order there. the downstairs has a private suite that would be my space with a common area in front and a common kitchen space. upstairs will be dorm-style living with enough bedding for 15-20 people. it could be an interesting experience, but may be worth it for the opportunity to be in the city until a better housing option is available. we will see how God provides. in the meantime, it looks like it will definitely be my summer home and that of my summer missionaries as well. i'd love to have your prayers that all of that works out smoothly and also that God would just bless me and these girls with a great summer serving alongside each other to be a blessing to our churches. i am pretty thrilled with the "shepherding" role i will get to have with them. mentoring/discipling college students has become a big passion of my heart in recent years.

i'll be home this weekend for a short trip to see little brother get his bachelors degree at AR Tech. pretty exciting, i am proud of him and Jered (who just got his Masters from UA). i'm eager to see what God has in store for them next. hope to see a few of you at church on Sunday. and so excited to know i will see some of you here in my city come August!

john and i went to our first "prom" this weekend. :) it was actually a party hosted by our friends from church (they advertised the party as a 2nd chance at prom- though 1st chance for me and john who had never attended one!). the girls have a big apartment in mt. vernon and love hosting parties for all their friends (a very unique group of people since there are 5 unique girls who live there!). so, john and i made a thrift store run saturday morning and spent about 25 dollars between the two of us for our prom attire. :) it was a fun evening and a fabulous first prom experience. i included a photo for y'all to enjoy!



please keep us in your prayer as things start getting busier with summer plans. pray especially for wise and diligent planning and investment on the part of our local churches in regards to their community outreach and also for our May missionaries to have a great month of ministry and for their overall time here to be smooth and positive - as always there have been a few kinks to work out, but we know God is in control of all the details. also, you can be praying for John and a group of Hopkins students and some of our Gracelife staff who will be traveling to Huaycan, Peru on Thursday. They will be there till May 22nd doing street evangelism, ministry in local orphanages and schools, and working with a local church there. Please pray for their safe travel, protection, good health, and God's hand on all they do while they're there.

thanks as always for your faithful prayers and support. love you guys so much! -m

we did it!

10 Miles! Who would have thought? So, after three months of training and lots of anticipation, we finally ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run in D.C. this past Sunday. God blessed with a glorious, sun-shiny day and the trees and flowers were blooming in radiant splendor. God's creation really does sing His praise and it made for a fabulous environment in which to run. Our little five-person running crew ran the miles together and had such a blast doing it that I think we may recruit some new runners for next year's event. Thanks for your prayers and for cheering me on.

Please be praying for focus and intentionality for me this week in my work. We are in something of an in-between time now where all the events are on the calendar and mission team matches have been made and its now up to the churches to get busy with planning, so my job has come to a bit of a slow-down for a while. I want to make the most of my time and be fruitful in these office hours. It will just take a little creativity and initiative perhaps! Not to mention, spring fever is putting me in the mood to throw on play-clothes and run around outside for a while. :)

The newness and freshness of the season seems to inspire a fresh spirit of hope and joy and excitement for things to come. What fun to be in Kingdom work at a time like this! As we approach Good Friday and Easter Sunday, I am overwhelmed to think of the HUGE love of our LORD for His people, and I pray that each of you can grasp that love in a brand new way this week.

Thank you for your faithful prayers. Love you all so much! -m

praises :)

just wanted to share a praise with you all:

little kaia-lyn that we have been praying for since late last year (my roommate and co-worker's niece) is finally at home. she weighs a healthy 5 pounds and is breathing on her own and should come off the feeding tube soon. praise God for keeping His hand on her little body as she grows stronger.

and if you remember, pray for me this sunday as my friends and i make an EARLY morning trek to D.C. to run the Cherry Blossom Ten-Mile Run. i am battling an allergy attack that has my head feeling rather foggy right now so i'm hoping that clears up some over the next couple days. we're all excited tho, and the weather (and trees!) should be perfect. i'll let you know how it goes! thanks in advance for your prayers.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us RUN with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1-2