NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

Thankful (Not Just for the Pilgrims)

Regarding the year with eyes of thankfulness yields a bountiful harvest of praise to our God. Wisdom provided, needs met, health regained, patience and endurance supplied, encouragement given. We are so thankful for God’s faithfulness and for all of you who faithfully pray for us!

Sniffles, Coughs, and Hives

As the year turns colder, our family fights the normal onslaught of disease experienced by those with small children. We are thankful that these all seem to pass (for the most part) rather quickly! Recently Emma had a couple outbreaks of hives—nothing serious, although it was a bit scary till we figured out what they were. Pray that they don’t return, or that we can figure out what caused them.

Plans for the Future

Continue to pray with us for the Lord’s provision of support and partnership. We are still planning on starting French Study in Senegal early next year, and there are many details to be worked out. Pray for wisdom for us!

Prayer Requests

• Praise for God’s goodness and faithfulness.
• Praise that Emma’s hives were not serious.
• Praise that we have continued to see our support level increase!
• Pray for wisdom in our many decisions and plans.

Psalm 106:1 “Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!”

Looking Ahead

Well, our summer has been packed so far with no end in sight! We have been able to speak in several churches so far this summer. We have also spent time sorting through our ‘stuff’ trying to decide what will go to Africa, stay in storage for the future or get sold in a yard sale. That is quite the process, since it is very hard to know what we will need now or in the future!

Recharged

We also had the chance to head to the Enrichment Seminar at the MTC campus (where we lived in MO). This is a time of relaxation and refreshing that NTM puts on for its members. What a wonderful time! In the morning Michael and Nancy had the chance to sit under some wonderful teaching. Nancy had a morning to sit and listen to Gracia Burnham; it was awesome to see how God has brought good out of her time in captivity! (If you have not read her book, In The Presence Of Mine Enemies, DO SO!)

Our main speaker, Pastor Harry Walls, spent time encouraging us and challenging us in the area of the heart. The last two mornings he focused on Mark 6:45–52, when Jesus walked on water.

Thursday he taught us lessons about God from that passage like:

• “God sees you in your trouble.” (verse 48)
• “God will come help us in HIS time!” (verse 48)

Friday he focused on what we can learn about ourselves:

• “When we obey God it is not always easy!” (verses 45–46)
• “We should not conclude that since things are hard, we are out of God’s will!”

Quotes from some sessions with Executive Board member Mike Sullivan on prayer:

• “You can’t pray past your view of God.”
• “At the end of the day it is God’s reality!”

While we were hearing all these wonderful truths the kids were having a great time doing a VBS style program. In the afternoon we had time to play at playgrounds, swim, visit with old and new friends and eat wonderful food. “I don’t want to leave our Missouri house!” said Micah, as we were leaving.

Coming Up

We have speaking engagements lined up in July, we hope to get more for August and also spend some time in NH with Michael’s family. We are also having a VBS with our home church this week!

More Information

In our last update, we mentioned our needs as regarding being in West Africa this fall. We have since learned that we don’t need 80%! It looks like a level of around 60–65% will be enough for us to leave with. Of course we would like to be at as high a level as possible, but it is encouraging to us to see the opportunity opening up even more!

So here are the facts:

• This means that we only need about $1000 more a month before we can go, instead of $2000.
• We have had a couple more people become part of our support team, putting us now over 40%!
• We need to have at least 50% before we can commit to buying tickets.

So what about the other 20–40%? Doesn’t the fact that we CAN go over with 60% mean that we have way overestimated what we need? Well, the 60% covers what we estimate we will need for immediate needs such as food, housing, schooling, taxes, tithing, and insurance. What is left out encompasses long-term or one-time (or at least “less-often”) expenses such as plane tickets, moving costs, vehicle cost, Bible printings, village assistance projects, and replacing equipment as it wears out. Although it is more possible for us to trust God to provide these needs as they come up, they are still important (and predictable) enough for us to include them in our support needs estimate.

One last quote for the week to leave you with: “It is not about what you don’t have, it’s about what you do have and what you do with it!”

Prayer Requests

• Praise for a wonderfully refreshing time in MO!
• Praise for more opportunities to share our ministry with others.
• Praise for God’s continued direction — He really seems to be bringing things together for being in Africa this fall
• Praise that even if times seem hard, God is in CONTROL!
• Pray for more speaking engagements and ministry partners.
• Pray for wisdom in what to pack, when to buy tickets, etc.
• Pray for political stability in West Africa.
• Pray that God would work in the hearts of many kids in Coral, MI during our Vacation Bible School.

Time for a Test

It’s been an interesting month for us, and we have been holding off on an update while we worked through some new information. At last we are ready to share!

We’ve been in further communication with our mission leadership in West Africa about our future ministry there, took a French Proficiency Test (yep, we need more study!), and received news that there is an opportunity for us to attend French Study in Senegal…this year…in October! An exciting development—we have been praying and planning toward being in West Africa by next January, and the chance to be there even sooner would be, quite frankly, a God-send.

Here’s the thing. We need to be at 80% (or above) of our recommended monthly support level before we can go. We are currently at 38–39% (about $1,800-$2,000 out of $5,200). We believe that if God wants us there in October to take advantage of this opportunity, He can provide! Even in the last month, we saw two people join us in support, with a couple more saying they were interested.

Here is the practical breakdown: in order to get another 40%, we need an additional $2,200/month in support. This means 11 supporters at $200 each or 22 supporters at $100 each or 88 supporters at $25 each or—well, you get the idea. Of course, it will be a combination of people and churches all committing to different amounts as they are able.

Please pray with us about this. If you know someone who has a desire to support missions, or if you would like to hear more, give us a call or an email! Even if you want clarification about the amounts we mentioned, or want to know how the money is used in our ministry, we would be happy to spend some time explaining.

School’s Out!

School is out for the summer, and our kids are happy to have a break. It was a good year, and we are thankful that they were able to go to a good Christian school just a block from our home. Emma is graduating from Kindergarten, and enjoys her newfound reading and bike-riding skills. Titus has finished second grade and is eager to jump into learning his States and Capitals over the summer.

Micah’s latest achievement is to hit the pavement with a two-wheeler (with training wheels) and pedal away! Isaac is walking all over the place—and taking great pride in discovering all the new things he can get into.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for wisdom as we examine this new possibility.
• We’d love to be in West Africa by October!

Holidays

The Christmas season is over. Our tree is finally down. New Year’s has come and gone. We enjoyed having a bit of a rest, seeing family, and visiting the World’s Largest Christmas Store. We stayed in Michigan this time around; and while we missed being able to see family in other states, it was nice not to have any long trips on the schedule!

2011

We are off to a great start in 2011! One of the first bits of news we had in the new year was that we have a new partner church! Praise the Lord for an increase in support and prayer. We continue to be encouraged by the way the Lord uses others in our lives.

We are continuing to focus on our Partnership Development—and trying to find even more ways to make contacts. Pray with us that the Lord would guide our efforts. If you know anyone who would be interested in hearing from us, let us know!

Continued Preparations

As we work on raising support, we are also trying to continually prepare for our upcoming work in West Africa. Right now that includes French study through Rosetta Stone, reading about African culture, personal Bible study, prayer, etc.

One preparation that we recently accomplished was the sending in of our passport applications. God provided the money needed, and we were looking at visiting family in Canada, so we went for it. Getting acceptable pictures of all the kids was quite an interesting project—we took 94 pictures of Micah alone!

Prayer Requests

• Pray for health. We have been fighting the normal colds and flus.
• Pray for continued stability in West Africa.
• Pray for more people with whom to share our passion for missions!

The Alternator – A Story of God’s Control

The radio slowly faded into silence. I looked over at it in disgust and randomly pushed buttons with no success. We were halfway through our 3–4 hour trip on our way to a Missions Conference and I was the only one left awake in the car—and now I had nothing to keep me awake. I probably messed it up the other day, I thought. Oh well.

Then the the van almost stalled. I hit the gas and the engine struggled even more. As we lost speed, I noticed we were right at an exit. Thank You Lord, I thought. I pulled off the freeway, praying that we would make it to the gas station I could see in the distance.

As we lurched our way to the gas station, Nancy woke up and got up to speed on our current problems. We got the van to a parking spot and started checking the battery, hoping rather than thinking it was the source of the problem. Nearby was a Wal-Mart, and it just happened that the battery was from Wal-Mart and had a warrantee there. We also just happened to need to do some shopping there.

We disconnected the battery and got the kids from the van. As I headed to the back to get the battery checked, Nancy and the kids started a tour of the fun parts of the store (the toys, Christmas displays, etc.). I came back to let them know that it would be at least an hour and joined them in doing our shopping and wandering. Back in the TV section, Toy Story just happened to be on the displays, so Nancy and the kids stayed there.

I made a phone call to some mechanic friends, and they confirmed my own thinking that it was most likely the alternator. It was after 5PM by then, and the likelihood of finding a garage open was slim, to say the least. I went back to check on the battery, had it replaced for free, and found out where I could find a parts store.

The new battery was charged enough to start the car and get it to the auto parts store. The people there were very helpful; they came out to test the alternator for me, let me use the loaner tools, and helped me find what I needed. They even had the right alternator in stock—one left!

A few hours later (it was my first alternator job), I drove back to Wal-Mart to pick up Nancy and the kids. Oh, did I mention that this Wal-Mart just happened to have a MacDonalds in it? I found them there, coloring and waiting for me. The kids were doing really well, especially after having been there for four hours all together!

I grabbed a bite to eat, we all had a potty break, and then we got back on the road…

Don’t we have a great God? Things could have been so much worse – we could have been stranded on the side of the road, no place for the kids to hang out, having to buy a new battery, spending more time and money by staying at a hotel, missing out on a good chunk of the missions conference we were going to. It’s great to know that those things didn’t just happen—that we have a God who cares and is in control.

Missions Conferences

In related news, we had two great weekends of Missions Conferences! It is great to see people excited about what God is doing around the world; and we are always so encouraged by the hospitality and kindness we meet. And now we need to work off all the delicious food that was served!

Prayer Requests

• Pray for more partners!
• Pray for safety in travels!
• Keep our kids in your prayers, that we would raise them as God wants us to.
• Remember Guinea.

Busy Summer

So, maybe you have been wondering what happened to the Dores?  Well, we knew that this summer was going to be very busy and we were right! I’ll try to give you a quick rundown on some the adventures we’ve had.

At the end of April Michael and Nancy celebrated 8 years of marriage. We are a little shocked to think that this fall we will have known each other for a decade!

May started off with Nancy’s 28th birthday. We then had the pleasure of welcoming Isaac Elias Dore on May 12.  Michael’s family was able to visit for a few days after he was born and while they were here we saw Emma turn 4 and Titus finish Kindergarten and First Grade!

In June we got ready for our annual yard sale, headed up our churches VBS and Work week and packed for our trip to NH.

Somewhere in all the busy-ness of July we found time to have a quick birthday meal for Michael’s 28th birthday on July 2nd.  We headed to NH and we were able to spend a few weeks visiting family and seeing Michael’s sister Danielle become Mrs. Nathaniel Shrift!

Fall is Coming!

Now we are home, trying to catch up on life and get Titus and Emma ready to start school in a month! Pray for Nancy as she sees two of her ‘babies’ head off to school every morning.  We also planted a garden with Nancy’s mom this year, and are a little overwhelmed with the abundance of produce from the plants. We are thankful for the wonderful bounty, but busy trying to preserve it for the coming months.

Partnership Development

Throughout all the craziness of our summer, we are still focused on partnering with people and churches. Our burden for West Africa has not lessened, and we are more eager than ever to be headed over. However, we trust the Lord’s timing and are striving to be faithful to serve as we can here in Michigan.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in partnering with us in prayer or finances – or even who would just like to know more about our ministry, let us know!

Prayer Requests

• That the Lord would continue to provide.
• Wisdom as we raise our children.