Well, after two weeks in San Diego getting caught up on things at home and at work at the Anglican Church of the Resurrection, I am off on my second major deputation excursion, this time to the Midwest. Thanks to amazing help from a member of my core support team who picked me up at 4:45 AM to take me to the airport, I made a great start and arrived in Indianapolis by mid afternoon. From there I picked up a rental car from MATS, a ministry that specializes in linking up people in ministry with inexpensive rates on vehicles, and proceeded to drive up to Chicago where I am staying with friends and meeting with ministry leaders through the weekend.
It has not been easy to make connections church leaders in Chicago, but the Lord has truly shown his faithful hand and begun providing some contacts for the mission, and I hope to visit a number of churches on Sunday and even Saturday of this week. You can check out my schedule to see what is on the agenda as things develop.
The next two weekends after this are already getting booked up as well, of which I am very excited. Saturday, November 13th I will be preaching and speaking about the mission at Trinity Anglican Church in Evansville, Indiana, and I hope to be able to visit with Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Webster Groves, Missouri the following morning. Then the following weekend on November 21st, I am scheduled to preach and help lead services at Christ the King Reformed Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio, a sentimental time for me to be sure since it was at that church that I first came to the Anglican tradition during my junior year of college.
There will be plenty of other churches to visit around these visits, and I hope to make contact with churches in Indianapolis, Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati, and Columbus, as well as with close friends and pastors in my hometown of Richmond, Indiana. Overall, it will be a jam-packed three weeks on the road, but I am comforted by the words of an old Fanny Crosby hymn:
All the way my Savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
Have a wonderful weekend and a blessed Lord's Day!