A Rich & Full Ministry
Hello friends & family,
It seems like it’s been a long time since our last note to you, but that’s only because the Lord had been KIND to provide us a rich & full ministry of Gospel opportunities at every turn just since September, as well as a little time to go sledding & make a few snowmen. Read on!
A BIG & sincere thank you to those who contributed in prayer & giving through the holiday season where the Lord opened pathways for us to partner with our local fire department & other town officials to provide food & toys to 14 families in our immediate area. Because of the Spirit energizing your generosity, those families had MORE reason to THANK Him!
Our family’s also had the opportunity to get to know a young man in our town who’s helping us with shoveling and assisting Dave with a research project. In the picture below, he’s helping Dave identify wildlife tracks right behind the parsonage. It’s been a JOY to receive the blessing of getting to begin to know him & his family.
From Shannon’s Heart
It's hard to believe we've been ministering in Middleton for a year now! This first year we've learned a lot about the New England culture and way of speaking—not that we've picked up the accent by any means! You have to be a native to actually speak it. Outsiders can only imitate it, and it's never quite right. They do some funny things with their r's up here. You might hear "Welcome to N' Hampshah, capital city CON-k'd. We'ah due fah some wicked stoms ovah he-yah t'day." Houses don't have basements - you "go down-cellah". People have "idears" and snowbirds travel to "Florider" for the wintah. We're still learning new words. While it's nowhere near what foreign missionaries experience learning a new language and culture, it has definitely been an adjustment from midwestern living, and it's a blessing, ayuh! (That word at the end that’s really more of a sound means “yes.”)
Our ladies' Bible Study started back up last week, reading Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth's Seeking Him and discussing the process of personal revival. It's been a personally challenging and eternally rewarding time together. I think as each week passes we have each commented, in one way or another, that as much as we think we need God, we need Him even more. Oh for grace to trust Him more!
Our church LOVES worshipping through music and we are thankful that the music ministry is becoming more active again. One of the thing I have sorely missed is playing handbells. God provided access to a 3 octave set of hand chimes through one of the precious ladies at our church. Next month she and I are going to start teaching those interested (about 8 or so) how to read music and ring the chimes.
From John’s Heart
Hi! I really liked getting the chance to help plan out a trip this week that 15 people from our church are taking in March to the Sight and Sound Theater in Pennsylvania to see David. Also, I have been learning about How to build a computer and last week I finished building my FIRST computer! Mom and Dad said I could decide what to do with the computer and a couple in our church had a very old computer, so on Saturday I got to go to Dusty and Dee’s house for lunch and to set it up!
Julia & John were speaking the same language & she was a HUGE help. She invested about 30 minutes talking through the project & walking through the store with us helping John make great choices. At one point, we told her she was God’s answer to a specific prayer that we had prayed that we would find someone to help us. Her eyes got big & she told us that she’d had a rough work shift & that made her day. That opened the door to speak about spiritual things in a way that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
Finally, last week, Dave offered the below pastoral report at our church’s annual meeting that summarized 2021. The Lord has used your support to make all of what’s described below, so please read & rejoice with us. It’s a DEEP JOY for us to be able to lay up treasure in Heaven with you!!
2021 Annual Pastoral Report—Middleton Gospel Chapel
Brothers and sisters, it’s been a GOOD year. It’s hard not to sing the Lord’s praises and give Him all the credit for all He’s brought us to and through.
Proverbs 16:9 reminds us of the deep truth that while we make plans, which is a wise thing for us to do, it really is the Lord Himself Who determines what actually happens. That’s the Biblical reason for remembering this past season and saying aloud, “Look at what the Lord has done!”
The Scott family arrived here in Middleton just over a year ago, on December 2nd, 2020, and we couldn’t have arrived to a warmer reception. Thank you. A home was ready to move into, the refrigerator was full of food, and you, the congregation of Middleton Gospel Chapel, were full of kindness.
I first preached on the front steps of the church for 2020’s Christmas Eve service, remembering God’s goodness in sending His Son the first time, which reminds us that He’s preparing a place for us, then returning and ruling soon, which is our Hope in life.
Since then, we’ve been examining the first six chapters of Matthew’s inspired record of Jesus’ virgin birth, sinless life, powerful ministry, undeserved death, and miraculous resurrection in some depth, digging to see how they connect with the other 1,183 chapters of God’s Word to us.
Beyond the pulpit and our other offerings and services to God on Sunday mornings this past year, we’ve been studying the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ in our mid-week prayer gathering, a vibrant women’s study that has also served as an outreach has begun, and a fledging men’s ministry has sprouted, with plans to reach and grow in the coming year.
Too, a new website, which is a vital tool to reach our community, appeared and a colorful banner pointing everyone in town to it popped up. We worked at a racetrack together, we celebrated a wedding together, and we ministered to the hearts of the children the Lord brought to VBS together with some special friends from Michigan who the Lord sent to help.
With the congregation’s support and prayer, I was able to spend a full 9 weeks, the first quarter of the academic year, teaching Bible to about 15 middle school age souls on their way to eternity, and we were able to help provide food and toys to 13 families in our community who otherwise would have had a more difficult time remembering to be thankful or being able to cheerfully celebrate Christ’s birth.
Along the way and together we’ve helped move woodchip piles, share the Gospel with the men the Lord sent to repair the roof, make good connections with our town’s workers and educators, and literally hundreds of other mustard seed-sized things that aren’t so little in God’s Kingdom.
Shannon, John, and I are eager and look forward not only to the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13), but also to getting to continue walking with you through life and laboring for Christ with you, the saints of Middleton Gospel Chapel, as we dream about and work toward firepits and playgrounds, trips together to learn more about God’s Word, and other ways to reach out into the spiritual darkness to do the thing He left us here to do—be His witnesses, a group of people who point everyone around them to Jesus Christ, our Living Hope.
Friends & family, we love you. Jesus loves you MORE!
If the Lord’s leading you to lay up treasure in Heaven with us by your time & heart invested through prayer, we’re deeply grateful as we know the Lord collects & answers those prayers as Revelation 5 & 8 reveal. If the Lord’s leading you to support the mission to spread the Gospel in a 2 Thessalonians 3:1 way in this corner of New England, you can do so here:
https://give.villagemissions.org/donate/missionaries/missionary-detail/a-scott-dave-and-shannonLiving for Jesus,
Pastor Dave for Shannon & John Scott
Colossians 2:5-7
MiddletonGospelChapel.org
ScottFamilyJourney.org
VillageMissions.org