“…and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” - Acts 1:8
As we move into a busy summer season of missions, I want to pass on to you some of the missions events taking place, along with some of the ways your missions dollars are impacting Indianapolis, Indiana, the United States, and the world.
- This week a team from LifePoint will return from a week-and-a-half long trip to the Czech Republic and Germany, where they ministered to Ukrainian refugees.
- On Sunday, June 19, eighteen people will leave from our LifePoint parking lot for a week of ministry at Laurel Mission in East Kentucky. A clothing drive and building projects will be the platform that these men and women utilize in the hopes of developing gospel-oriented relationships, with the goal of sharing the gospel that week, and providing avenues for the Laurel Mission staff to share the gospel in the future with their neighbors.
- Later this summer a group will travel to Columbia from LifePoint and One Mission Society on a one-week evangelism trip, and another team will spend two weeks in Burundi, West Africa working with orphans and widows. A trip is also currently being organized to go to Cameroon, Africa.
- The missions team approved last month...
- $20,000, which has been sent to Mission Aviation Fellowship and our missionaries to Lesotho, Africa (Jason and Joselyn Thiemann) to be utilized for much-needed repair parts for their airplanes, and to help with a landing strip near a new church plant.
- $10,000 gift to Abundant Life International Church (near UIndy) to assist with their ministry to the Indian population that has immigrated to Indianapolis. The church is led by pastor Jacub, an Indian Christian, and has a vibrant radio ministry as well. Two of our LifePoint families help with the ministry there.
- Housing has now been secured for our missionaries from Ukraine (the Skrypak family) near LifePoint Church for the foreseeable future. Pastor Sasha is here in the States for a visit, and will likely return to Ukraine in the near future.
- Smaller gifts were given to a few of our LifePoint students who will serve on summer missions projects both here in the States and abroad.
- All of these gifts are in addition to the approximately $27,000 each month that has been designated for local and international missions.
Each month your missions team meets to consider new opportunities and to oversee missions outreach through LifePoint Church. The team consists of: Pastor Jym (elder lead); Julianne Butler (missions team chair), Becky Gluff, Mike and Carol Amos, Mike and Carol Lawlis, Chloe Crockett, Greg and Dawn Meadows, Andrew Cravens, Natalie Friar, Guy Ruble, and Scott Jacobson. Please pray that God will grant this team wisdom and discernment as they oversee this vital work on behalf of the church family.
Finally, on Sunday evening, June 26th, Sasha and Olga Skrypak and family will present to those in attendance an update on the ministry taking place in Ukraine in the midst of this devastating war (which the American public are now hearing less and less about). This will be in place of our usual last Sunday evening gatherings. We will have a brief time of worship, followed by the Lord’s Supper, and then our time with the Skrypak family. If you are in town that evening, I encourage you to join us at 6:00 pm.
For those of you who are able to participate in our missions giving, God is utilizing those funds in wonderful ways to encourage, equip, support, and send missionaries and mission agencies both here and abroad. Thank you for your generosity! For those who do not have the financial means to do so, join with us, please, in praying as the apostle Paul has encouraged us to pray: “Finally brothers and sisters, pray [for us] that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored.” - 2 Thessalonians 3:1.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym