Rudolphs January 2019 Update

The beginning of the New Year has brought one be change in our lives. We have moved…just down the street. The home we were living is being sold, which meant we had to find something.  We were able to find an apartment in the city and we are so thankful for it. You can imagine the stress we had after Christmas in terms of finding the apartment and packing. Now we can catch our breath a little bit. We are still trying to find everything that was packed, but the next couple of weeks we should be finished and settled in. If you need our new address please email me. 

We had a great Christmas Eve service. Many visitors came and heard the Gospel and we are praying that some will end up coming back in the future. All of the unbelieving spouses who are married to members in our church, came to the service. What a praise! Keep praying for them and their salvation.

In 2019 we are beginning to take the next steps to help our women’s and men’s groups in our church. We are doing two bible studies that will focus on biblical manhood and womanhood. There are some people who are interested in the courses and even two men who are unbelievers. Pray as we challenge our people to take the next steps in their walk with Christ.

We have a couple of people that come to our church who are interested in Jesus, but have never made a decision to places their faith in Him. I have asked one those people, if they would like to do a Bible study about the basic core beliefs of Jesus and the Bible. This has been a good resource in order to reach people and see them come to faith. Not everyone desires to do it, but those who have, have come to Christ. This man, who has been coming regularly took the book and is looking it over. Pray that he will take that next step and begin the Bible study.

A more positive twist to our new ministry slogan (just among Rich and I), is “The exciting new opportunities or people we meet today, will be what draws us to our knees tomorrow.” In other words, we are excited for the new people God adds to the church, and yet he keeps us clinging to him as we seek for his wisdom in how to love them and guide them through their trials. We all are like sheep who desperately need a shepherd. Thankful that God came as the good shepherd who continually and gently guides us back to his side! A recent new Christian said They’d rather be on Satans side because it is easier and they’re very discouraged. The fight is real. It is not easy to go the narrow road. But we know it is worth it.

On a side note, we are also going to be hosting a “Missions Academy” in our church planting center. It will be from May 14-24, 2019. If your church has anyone interested in missions or ministry this would be a great missions trip for them to come on. Please contact me as the spots are filling up! 

Please pray that we can get a new van for our refugee ministry and other network ministries. At the moment the old van continues to break down and they are heavily used during the week. At the moment they are using the van to pick up 20 or more refugees for their Bible studies. You can imagine how many times and miles they have to drive for one Bible study. These are people who do not know Christ who want to know more about him. Please pray for the Bible study and the means to pick them up! 

Prayer Request

- Please pray for the unbelievers to begin the Bible study. 
- Please pray for our Men's and Women's Bible studies.
- Please pray for our church as we a developing and electing leaders.
- Please pray that our network of churches can get a new van. 

Praise

- We praise God for new apartment
- We praise God for the people who heard the Gospel on Christmas Eve.
- We praise God for the men who are taking leadership roles in the church.