A New Year

How quickly our Christmas holiday passes. Are you like me? I can’t believe how fast the Christmas season melts into January busyness. I love Christmas for a lot of reasons: we get to celebrate our Savior’s birth into this world, we get to spend a little extra time with family and friends, we get to show and tell them how we love them in special ways, we get to indulge in lots of Christmas music and holiday activities. All good stuff as far as I’m concerned. So I am always a little sad when I have to take down the decorations and put them away. I drag my feet a little and delay putting things away as long as I can. And ever so gradually, I adjust into the New Year, telling myself, “It’s ok to put Christmas away. Christmas will come again next year. A new year is a good thing…with God we always have a lot to look forward to.” Yet I don’t always welcome picking up the increased work schedule, a schedule I gladly set down the end of December. I forget that God is in my schedule, He is in my life, He has ordained this time for me. And so I need to make an attitude adjustment, and welcome the switch back to my busy ministry life.
It is God’s New Year for us: A year that will be filled with challenges and opportunities. Perhaps your challenge will be economic. Perhaps it will be health, or family issues. Perhaps it is work, like it is for me. Whatever it is, God has ordained the challenge and this year for you. And therefore, He is in it! God has blessed us all with His presence and many rich opportunities to be His ambassador in the New Year. And each new day He gives us new opportunities to be His ambassador no matter where we are and no matter what we are doing. “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Ps. 118:24) Make a decision to embrace this New Year, enjoy it and the many challenges and opportunities it brings us. Happy New Year!

'Tis The Season!

With the Christmas season upon us, GRM is up to a few good things!

Prayer Partner Appreciation Dessert

Tonight GRM will host a Christmas dessert gathering specifically for our prayer partners. Our ministry is heavily reliant upon the Lord's work through their prayers, and we desire to honor their contribution to our ministry!

Semester Completed

My seminary class, "Equipping Women to Embrace Their True Identity" just concluded, and here's what some of the students had to say:

"This class has been very encouraging & inspiring to appreciate my femininity on a new level. I now believe women are a sacred masterpiece that are unique and designed for special purposes; emotionally and spiritually."

"This class has impacted me significantly. During the course of the class, the Lord has healed certain areas in me needing repair! He's also helped me make some strides in honing my mission statement."

"This class was inspirational for me and gave me value and insight as to who I am as a woman in Christ."

"This is a good course for women's ministry. I learned how to help other women to embrace their true identity."

I'm thankful for all that the Lord did through this class to impact these women and those to whom they will minister in the future. We're discussing the possibility of offering this class outside of the Seminary setting during late Spring of 2009. Stay tuned for further details.

Romania 2009

Plans are formulating for our next trip to Romania in October of 2009! We will partner with I.N. Network again for a women's retreat, while Fred will train and minister to the pastors. We also plan to visit an orphanage. We will update you as plans become more concrete.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pslam 100:4, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!"
We have many reasons for thanksgiving and praise unto the Lord!

We thank Him for:

• A new full time ministry Assistant!
• An office space!
• His provision through our supporters for all of our international trips in 2008!
• Generous donations to fund our ministry!
• A team of prayer partners to support us and our ministry!
• Our health!
• His steadfast love, mercy and grace upon us!

Our list of thanksgiving could continue infinitely. We would like to thank all of you for your financial support, prayers, and general support of Greater Reach Ministries this year! We wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving!

***Be sure to check out our latest podcast on the web-site entitled, "Prayer and Our Husbands". www.greaterreach.com

We're All Together!

We're having an exciting week at Greater Reach! We're all together! Caye is visiting from Florida for the week, and the wheels are turning in our minds for future ministry plans.

Our newest Greater Reach employee, Alyssa Spitale, was included in this picture taken in mid-September at a dinner gathering. At that point, all three of us working together at Greater Reach wasn't even a thought. It's amazing what God can do in a month!

For more details on what's new with Caye, check out her blog at www.CayeSiller.blogspot.com.

Visit our website for the latest podcasts too: www.greaterreach.com.

Camel Ride in Egypt?

Kristin's husband, Pastor Fred, recently took a camel ride during his latest excursion to Cairo, Egypt. He brought our new Sr. Pastor, Jamie Rasmussen, to visit some of their ministry sites.

Seminary Class Update

We're at the mid-point of the semester and it's such a blessing to see what God is doing in the lives of the ladies in the class. Due to cultural and age differences, they are at such varied levels in their understanding of their identity in Christ. It's exciting to see them taking hold of these truths and making positive changes in their walk with God and others.

Here are a couple of comments that I received recently:

Louisa (a seminary doctoral student) - when asked, How do you like the class?

“Very much- I didn’t know that the burden I have carried, women all over have carried too. My culture (Hong Kong), Chinese, has put so much on women. Really, the whole world has hurt women deeply. I thought I was the only one. I can’t believe I have never learned this before.”

Berta (Director of Community Relations at Scottsdale Bible Church)

I wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying your class! I am learning a lot that I will be able to apply in my ministry.

New Events on the Calendar

Greetings Friends!

Just checking in to let you know that we've added a number of new speaking events to the GRM calendar for the coming months and 2009!

Visit our website for more information about where we'll be speaking.

Please be praying for each event and we hope to see you at one or more of them.