Today is Maundy Thursday: an odd day, perhaps to send out a missionary update to you, our supporters and loved ones. But our own prayers for all of you are arriving with this prayer update, as we prepare together, far and wide, to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection. In that spirit of celebration, I am also writing to invite you to join with us in a special campaign throughout the Easter season leading up to Pentecost, as we explore new ways to collaborate all of us in the mission and calling that the Lord has placed upon our family (scroll down to learn more!).
But first, the News
I can summarize our news fairly quickly. We have been doing well since Mary Beth’s latest update, and we are slowly making progress raising the financial support necessary for us to serve at Tyndale Theological Seminary in the Netherlands. In these winter months our schedule has kept us a bit closer to home, visiting with churches in the states of Georgia and Tennessee. This has been good for our children and Mary Beth’s homeschooling efforts with them, although as the weather warms we are looking forward to traveling a bit further afield around the southern parts of the United States. In April and May we will be heading north for a few weeks to Ohio and Indiana before returning to Toronto for Wycliffe College’s convocation, at which time my PhD will be conferred in person. We are really looking forward to visiting with old friends and familiar churches in Canada, and to cultivating new partnerships in the Midwest along the way. Our return to the U.S. will then take us down to the Florida panhandle and then … who knows? We are actively seeking families and churches who would love to partner with us in theological formation for the global-church leaders. Do you have any suggestions about where we should go next?
In regard to other activities, I was privileged to give a paper on baptism and Richard Hooker (1554–1600) at the Anglican Way Conference back in February: something of a last minute invitation to Savannah that resulted in an excellent time of conversation and fellowship with new and emerging leaders from around the country. With the demands of raising support, I have not been able to do that much more academic writing. I have, however, been approaching publishers about getting my dissertation into print, and I am happy to share that some of my paper proposals for the annual AAR/SBL conference in Denver later this year were accepted, so there is still a nice (though not overwhelming) assortment of academic tasks on my plate even before taking up the teaching position in the Netherlands.
In that regard, we are still in touch with colleagues on the faculty there at Tyndale, and while there is still hope that we may have raised the support needed to arrive on the faculty before Fall 2026, it is clear that there is at least one course in the Winter 2027 term that I am being asked to consider teaching. Becoming aware of this concrete need has elevated our sense of urgency over the last few weeks, and we are praying that the Lord will open the doors and clear the path for us to meet our budget and finally initiate our relocation to Europe so that we can reach the world.
Our Easter–Pentecost Campaign
This leads me to the big news that I would like to share with you this Holy Week. Mary Beth and I have felt the Lord leading us to undertake an email campaign throughout the seven weeks of Easter, plus the week of Pentecost, as a way of uniting our diverse team of prayer and financial supporters, and to celebrate Jesus’s saving work by focusing on the life-changing ways in which he calls us to minister in his name. If you are on our emailing list for prayer updates (and if you are not, make sure to sign up here!), every week you will receive a brief message with a thought to ponder, a video to watch, or a challenge to complete, all of which will serve to link Christ’s life, his calling on our family, and his invitation to you to discover new ways to share in this mission.
Pledged Support (%)
We have several goals in undertaking this campaign. First, we want to connect better with you as our senders and be an encouragement to you in this celebratory season. Second, we want to spread exciting information about our story and passion, Tyndale’s students and faculty, and how the Lord is using missionaries like us to equip missionaries around the world. And third, we are praying that the Lord will use these emails and their challenges to help us raise the next 25% of the pledges we need to meet our budget, taking us by the end of May to nearly 85% of what we need to serve on the mission field again.
So, what are we asking from you this week – Holy Week – as we get ready for our Easter–Pentecost campaign? First, we ask you to keep your eyes open for these emails! We will be using a more conventional email campaign tool, so look in your “Promotions” folder (or even “Spam” folder) for the first week or two to make sure you are getting them. Second, we ask you to keep your hearts open to the Lord’s leading as you read and engage with these emails. And third, please be open to following through on the challenges we’ll be giving! Some may be as simple as replying one word to us, some might involve forwarding the email to a friend, and some might push you even further. In any case, please consider praying with us that this campaign will help us connect better with all of you, and that we will be much closer to meeting our financial need by Pentecost (May 24).
To sum up: you will be hearing from us again soon! Until then, thank you so much for your prayers and financial support for our family. May the Lord richly bless your Holy Week and give you a joyous Easter with all your loved ones!