Merry Christmas!!

Here are some of the highlights of our year.

Cassia

We started the year off with a bang as God expanded our family to three. And what a bang it has been! Cassia has brought much joy and many changes to our household. This year has seen her develop from an “adorable lump” to a darling, curious, and above all active little girl. She is now knocking firmly on the door of toddler-hood as she grows ever closer to taking her first unassisted steps.

England

When we started the year, we had only the faintest inkling that God might be moving us overseas. This year we’ve visited the UK office, prayed over the decision, and felt God calling us to serve at least one term in England. Talk about changes! So now we’re in the process of raising the support that we’ll need in order to move and begin serving 1/7th of the way around the globe.

In our last letter, we asked you to pray for wisdom as we worked with the mission to figure out how much support we would need to raise to serve in England. Well, for those of you who don’t have email (or at least we don’t have your email address), we wanted to let you know that the numbers are in, and they’re big.

Serving in England will be much more expensive than serving in Elkhart has been. Furthermore, I will not have the option of consulting part-time as I have been. But God has already begun providing, and we currently have 45% of the support we need to raise before we can move.

Looking back at work

One of Josh’s projects this year has been researching, testing, and evaluating tools that would help protect our missionaries. Many of our missionaries travel in places where people are antagonistic to the gospel. Often, these missionaries need to carry a computer with them in order to minister effectively. Unfortunately, laptops are easy to steal, and they often contain information that could put both missionaries and national believers at risk. (just being associated with Jesus Christ is dangerous in some places.)

So, he finally found a tool that would do the job well at a price the mission could afford. Unfortunately, the price went up 75% during the time he was testing. But we serve a great God, and he intervened on our behalf. After some negotiation, the company was willing to honor the original price. This saved the mission over $4000!

Praise the Lord!

Looking Forward

2008 looks to be an extremely exciting year. In addition to raising the rest of our financial support, we’ll be sorting everything we own into four piles; ship, store, give away, and throw away. We’ll also be selling our car, and looking for renters for our house. Then will come the B I G M O V E and setting up our new lives and new ministry in the “Old World”.

But none of that can happen without the help of people like you. Last time, we asked you to begin praying about whether God wants you to financially support our ministry. This month, we know that we need to raise twice as much support as we currently have before we can leave.

Will you join us in this ministry?

So, where exactly are you going?

In May, we plan to move to the city of Bradford, in northern England. Bradford is an industrial city on the edge of the Pennines, a string of low mountains that run north and south through northern England and southern Scotland. This city was founded on the textile trade, specifically wool, and the signs are everywhere. Huge chimneys dot the skyline, and some of the apartments we looked at were in old mills that have been converted into housing.

The city has a population of about 300,000 which makes it roughly the size of Buffalo, NY, Newark, NJ, or Riverside, CA, and nearly 20% of the population are of Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi descent. In addition to being our home base as we minister throughout the region, Bradford is a mission field all it’s own. We look forward to plugging in to a local church and being a part of what God is doing in this busy city.

Who are you working with?

The HCJB-UK office in Bradford

Bradford is also home to the HCJB-UK office. For over forty years, HCJB-UK has been supporting the work of HCJB Global through both sending and supporting missionaries. In the 1990’s, they began a radio outreach focused on challenging mainstream British culture to consider spiritual things. Since running a radio station in England is cost-prohibitive, HCJB-UK produces radio pieces that are then aired on commercial radio stations. This also allows them to reach an audience that would never tune in to a “Christian” radio station.

What will you be doing?

Josh will be providing technical and computer support to HCJB Global ministries throughout much of the Euro-African hemisphere. This includes the offices in England, Scotland, Spain, and Ghana, as well as ministry partners throughout Europe, western Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Recently, one of these ministries was off the air for nearly two weeks because there was no one they could trust available to help them with their computers.

In addition, he will continue to serve the mission as the Director of Information Security. In this role, he researches tools and techniques that will protect the mission and individual missionaries from hackers, viruses, and data theft.

Kristen will be serving as Domestic Engineer, Personal Discipleship Director (to Cassia), and Better Half (to Joshua). She also looks forward to helping out with personnel issues at the HCJB-UK office.

How do I get involved?

You can be involved in our ministry in a variety of ways. We always need your prayers and your friendship, but right now we especially need people willing financially support our ministry as we prepare to move to England in May.

The story is told that at a meeting of a London missionary society, the question was asked, "Who will go?". To this William Carey responded, "I will go, but you, my brethren, must hold the ropes!" God has called the church to reach the lost as a team.

Would you be one of the people to "hold the rope" for us?

If the Lord is moving you to join our ministry financially, you can give in a variety of ways. To give a monthly, quarterly, annual, or special gift, you can donate online, give by phone at 800-336-2971, or you can send checks payable to HCJB Global at the address below, referencing our account number, 110504.

Gifts are tax deductible.