Praise for a new Associate Pastor- Andrew and Clara Augustine will join our ministry team at New Hope Baptist Church on August 6th. We’ve been without pastoral help at NHBC since March of 2022 so we are ready! Our youth especially are excited about having a youth pastor again.
Praise for Biblical Counseling graduation- It’s always an amazing thing when a counselee “graduates” from our Biblical Counseling sessions. This means she is consistently doing her spiritual disciplines (reading scripture, praying, serving and church attendance) as well as consistently using the tools we’ve equipped her with. It doesn’t mean there might not be future struggles with anxiety, work issues, family issues, etc. But it does mean she knows more about how to deal with those things in a Biblical manner. This particular counselee had been working with Rachel since August. It’s always amazing to see what God does, and the changes that are made in those months we work with a counselee. Not every counselee will see Biblical Counseling to the finish line…. in fact, recently the teenager Rachel had been working with since November chose to discontinue. There are a number of reasons why a counselee may choose to discontinue, and it always weighs heavy on our hearts when it happens. We take great comfort that God will bring to completion the work He has started in their lives- we just might not get to be in the front seat to see it happen.
Praise for the School Year ending- Noah will be a Junior and Hannah will be a Freshman at the end of this week. Yikes! They have an incredibly busy summer. Both have signed up with Children Evangelism Fellowship to do Christian Youth in Action for 4 weeks this summer. They will begin training over the next couple of weeks and then proceed to teach 5-day Bible Clubs around Grant County (and surrounding areas.) Please be praying that they will grow spiritually through this program. Hannah especially mentioned in her application how she wants to have more confidence in sharing the Gospel with her friends- and hopes this will equip and encourage her to do so. If you’d like to receive their newsletters- please let me know!
They will also both be participating in the Summer Marching Band program with their High School.
Praise God for His Provision- the last time we emailed we mentioned some financial concerns. We are thankful that God provided in a BIG way to cover the first round of financial struggles we saw earlier this spring. This past week we are looking at replacing a transmission in one of our vehicles… so we are both thanking God for His faithful provision and praying for Him to provide even more. We know He will- we just don’t always know how.
Praise God for His People- the Church- one of the counselees Rachel has been working with is a single mom with three girls. Because of circumstances the oldest has been living with an Aunt in PA for a few years. In February, the two young girls were also sent to live with that same Aunt. Since then Mom has been doing Biblical Counseling with Rachel and God’s people have stepped up in a HUGE way. God provided a smaller cheaper apartment for her with some Church members. God provided the resources- through the gifts and service of His people- to make the repairs needed to make the apartment more liveable. God even provided free plumbing repair when the plumber heard what the church was doing to help this mom out! How great is that?? There is another church lady who will be working with Mom on creating a budget and then holding her accountable to it. We love it when the church loves others well! Please continue praying for this family- the Aunt in PA passed away unexpectantly last week. There are a lot of arrangements to be made for Mom to bring her girls back home to live with her. Pray that God will continue to provide for her- and that she will continue to grow in Christ-likeness and become the woman, mother, and employee God wants her to be.
Rachel took a group of ladies to Camp! Twin Lakes Bible Camp hosted a ladies retreat. This was the first time a couple of the ladies had ever been to camp.
Our family served at the Ignite Youth Car Wash Fundraiser. Youth are raising money to attend Twin Lakes Bible Camp this summer.
Curtis and Rachel Rhoadarmer
Indiana