Four Years in New Hampshire
Hi friends,
Three days ago marked the 4 year anniversary of our family's arrival in New Hampshire. In some ways, that seems like last month & in others, well, we've read in God's Word that our lives are relatively short. We get 70 years & 80 if we're strong (Psalm 90). Our days are as fleeting as a vapor (James 4) or a blade of grass (Psalm 103). We're FEELING that. We don't feel strong most days, but the Lord's grace really IS new every morning & His undeserved compassion has never failed us (Lamentations 3). Amen?!
Stephen Witmer is a pastor of a small church here in New England about 8- miles south of us & is the author of A Big Gospel in Small Places: Why Ministry in Forgotten Communities Matters. He wrote this in his newsletter this week:
"...the six states of New England are consistently ranked among the least-churched in the United States. There’s tremendous spiritual need here. And New England is composed largely of small towns. Millions of New Englanders live outside the cities, in the tiny communities of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, & Maine. If these places are to be reached with the Gospel, Christ’s followers must live in them, embodying & sharing the Gospel."
Thank you for sending us to live here. We simply could not be here declaring the Gospel loudly, boldly, & at every opportunity.
Just yesterday, we received a call from a brother in Maine who knows a lady in Connecticut that he was able to lead to the Lord. He's got a very full schedule, though, & wants us to connect us with her so we can help her find a Biblical church & help disciple her. Wow. If we'd not befriended this man from Maine through a neighbor we know in New Hampshire, we'd not have that opportunity.
And that was just yesterday. We have so many of God's stories of salvation, discipling opportunities, & just His GOODNESS on full display that we could literally send you a full update every week. Don't worry. We won't.
But we DO want to send enough through the year every year so you can rejoice with us, pray with & for us, & as a dear missionary friend has taught me, so those of you who pray & give so we can live here can lay up treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6) with us, just as if you were here, as you hold the ropes of our supply line, just like 1 Samuel 30:24 describes.
Here's some great news:
Two years ago we were 70-something% funded in December.
Last year, we were 80-something% funded at this time of year.
This year, we're only 6% short of having every need completely met - that's 94%!
If the Lord's leading you to join & help us by giving here at year's end, we're $4,535 short right now, which translates to a monthly deficit of just under $378.
If you'd like to read more about our ministry, you can find that information, including these newsletters all the way back to our launch in 2019, at ScottFamilyJourney.org
Too, if you'd like to see our most recent family picture &/or give online, there's a button in the top, right corner of ScottFamilyJourney.org where you can give, as a single year-end gift or to sign on to give whatever the Lord leads you to give toward that $378 monthly amount. We rejoice & pray over the small gifts just as much as the larger ones as we know it's the Lord Who's really providing exactly what He wants to through you in His perfect time & way. We trust the Lord will repay those He chooses to work & provide through. Amen?!
Finally, from the Scott family to you & yours, Merry Christmas! We want you to know we are able to love you & those here in New England because He first loved us (1 John 4:19) & that He loves you & us MORE than we can possibly imagine, as the final two verses of Ephesians 3 reveals so, so powerfully:
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."
Dave, Shannon, & John Scott
Living for Him with you,
Pastor Dave for Shannon & John Scott
Colossians 2:5-7
MiddletonGospelChapel.org
ScottFamilyJourney.org
VillageMissions.org
