Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

PRAYER REQUESTS: 1. Continued recovery of our health from COVID 2. For Anders as he gets ready to attend college in January 3. For wisdom as we raise a bunch of kids 4. For wisdom as we lead Gospel Focus Ministries. I (Tim) need to make some strategic decisions coming up 5. For all our kids personal faith in Christ to be theirs, and theirs alone 6. For wisdom on whether or not to run my Outard Apologetics School this upcmong fall again (lots go into that decision) PRAISE REPORTS: 1. Recovery from COVID and good health. Simply put...we are alive and recovering. So many have not been as fortunate 2. So many friends and family who helped us out during COVID 3. A new vehicle! 4. We will be able to continue to rent our office downtown with the new owner! Though yearly will be a rent increase, we trust the Lord will provide 5. Continued growth and impact of Gospel Focus Ministries in our city 6. YWAM Salem has begun infrastructe projects on our big capital campaign which we have been working on for years 7. Continued seeds being planted for the gospel in our city, and many salvations

Anders Graduation, COVID, Pumpkin Patches, and a New Vehicle

In September, the guys at the local EAA chapter that Anders has been a part of through him a graduation party. It was a great time and so great to hear the amazing things these old duffers said about Anders. In January, Anders will head to Eugene to start his 2 year trade school to become a certified aviation mechanic. He will commute from home, which makes me happy because that means I still have someone to do Sarah's endless list of house projects.

Fall time we managed to keep the tradition alive of going to a local pumpkin patch. As you all know, 3 weeks ago, I came down with COVID which then spread to the rest of the family. Sarah and I both had to go to the ER, and it has been almost 3 weeks and we are starting to feel better. It has been a very difficult time for us all, but by the mercy of God it looks like we are improving. We were so grteful for so many people who reached out with prayer, meals, and general support and encourgement during our time with COVID. Needless to say, we are ready to "see the world" again after being so careful the past year and a half.

A week before I came down with COVID, we purchased our new vehicle. We were blown away at the provision the Lord brought in from so many of you, and we would never in a million years think we would be able to purchase a new vehicle. As crazy as it seems, used cars cost more than new ones here in Oregon rite now, and we were able to take advantage of that. Thank you all so much who contributed to this huge need after the accident that totalled our van. Man, just writing this makes me realize how crazy an end to our summer has been!

How We Grow Our Team and Develop Mentors in Evangelism

Above is a picture of two of our local volunteers Larry and Randy. One is a retired bus driver for the city, the other is a retired Anastesiologist. I've had a lot of people ask me how our minstry works being a YWAM ministry that essentially operates seperately from the YWAM Campus we have here in Salem. The answer is quite simple...I try to center our ministry on developing local people into effective evangelists so that we can reach as many as we can in our city. Gospel Focus is very much focused on our city, though so many YWAM'ers come through an move on to other nations and areas. So, I'd like to super briefly explain how local people here become "staff volunteers" of Gospel Focus. Step one...they do our 10 week Face to Face evangelism internship. During this time, we identify if they seem to be the type of person we would like to see continue on with the minstry. Step two...after thier internship they do a 8 series training called SHARPEN, in which they learn the nuts and bolts of the ministry, why we do what we do, how we do it, etc. Step three...after sharpen, they then enter a 2-3 week shgadowing phase where they shadow our mentors, observe, take notes, and learn how we mentor peopel in evangelism. Step 4...they then enter a 4 week role reversal mentoring program where they are the mentors, and we become the mentee. After these four stages, the person then takes a Gospel Focus Exam at the end, which helps us to understand if they have gotten all the things we desried for them to get and comprehend in the initial 4 stages. After the test, they are then an official "Staff Volunteer" with Gospel Focus. Theis usual means for the average person that they can committ to one or two afternoons or mornings a week to help us out. The process seems to be working great!

DTS Students Leave...and a New Group Arrives

Above is a list of questions that our current DTS students hope to have answered during their 11 weeks doing evangelism with us on Monday afternoons. As you can see, there are a wide variety of questions that we can to help address weekly with the students. As our summer DTS is overseas on outreach, a new fall school has started and we continue to take them out every Monday afternooon to grow in their ebvangelism.

Graduating Interns

In August we graduated another amazing group of interns who completed our 10 week evangelism internship. What I love about this group it is is such a mix of people at all different stages of life, on different paths in life. From a local guy who is going to continue to work with us, to a guy going to Morocco, to a young lady who is now serving full time in Sweden with YWAM, all of them have learned how to be more effective and intentional as witnesses for Christ through our internship. This was a real fun group. I have already herd from many of them in how they are using the things they learned thorugh our internship in their daily lives. This internship continues to be an amazing resource for the churches in our city. We currently have 6 more interns doing the internship. It will be great to see them all gradute soon as well. One thing I am so excited for is the growth of our local team. We are multiplying evangelsists in our city one day at a time, and it is such a blessing to see it happen. God is so faithful!

UFO Festival

The yearly UFO Festival Outreach was amazing. Though a bit smaller scale due to COVID stuff, our team had a fantastic time. We were a group of about 15, many of who are our interns doing our evangelism internship. We saw one young couple pray to receive Christ at the festival, and had a multitude of amazing gospel conversations. In an interesting turn of events, the vendor rite next to us was actually a plam reader and tarrot card reader. Talk about spiritual warfare. We got to share the gospel with the lady, who sadly enough went to a local church and said she was a "Christian" who chooses to use other methods to help people know about Jesus. I was able to confront the false worldview in love, shared the gospel with her, and the remainder of the day our team prayed for her. Amazingly enough, she was busy reading palms the entire day. So sad to see how poeple blend ungodly things in the name of a false version of Christianity.

Prayer Requests

Pray for wisdom as Gospel Focus continues to grow. We have a lot of new plans, ideas, dreams, etc but need wisdom on timing, scheduling, and honestly, how much to take on. Pray for the health of Sarah and baby. Due date is August 26th! Pray for a safe delivery, and healthy little baby girl. Pray for a summer of peace and tranquility and that wildfires in this area would not be bad. Pray for our children, as they are all in different stages of life, have different needs, etc. Pray for the roots of faith in Christ to go deep in their hearts and minds. Pray for balance of life. Big family, busy ministry, lots of needs!:) Thank you for being partners with our family in minstry, for your faithful prayers and support!