October 2025 Update

To our intercessors and supporters: Thank you.

Recently I counseled a young man struggling with agoraphobia. The rejection he had experienced was rooted in his childhood when his father abandoned him and his mother. During our first session he confessed that as he was reading Handbook to Happiness the Lord revealed that this young man was living out of an orphan identity. But, he is discovering the rest of the gospel with the security that the Wonderful Counselor provides.

Galatians 4:4-7 conveys our privileges as God’s children: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

We sang a song in our church choir that resonates with this message:

Who here among us has not been broken
Who here among us is without guilt or pain
So oft abandoned by our transgressions
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

Come ye unwanted and find affection
Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head
Come ye unworthy, you are my brother
If such a thing as grace exists
Then grace was made for lives like this

O blessed Father, look down upon us
We are Your children, we need Your love
We run before Your throne of mercy
And seek Your face to rise above

There are no strangers
There are no outcasts
There are no orphans of God
So many fallen, but hallelujah
There are no orphans of God

(By Joel Lindsey, Twila J. Labar)

Ministry activities

Mark and Carrie had a fruitful ministry weekend in Lakeland, FL (9/18-21), Linda and I attended the IFOC regional chaplaincy conference in NC (9/12,13), and Mark and I attended the AACC world conference in Nashville (9/24-27).

Promising developments

On September 29th we had a meeting at GFI with a leader of the Tennessee Southern Baptist Mission Board. It culminated in a tentative agreement for GFI to offer life coaching to pastors and assistance to develop lay counseling in churches! Prayers are appreciated for this plan to be Spirit-led and fruitful.

Birthdays

Mark and I give thanks for our birthdays this month (John 10/7, Mark 10/8) — only one day (plus 21 years!) apart. But we celebrate even more our births into God’s forever family. Thanks you for your fellowship in this family with your generous support. God bless you as you rely on God’s grace, because – “grace was made for lives like this.”

Yours in Christ,
John

 

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