Friday, May 7, 2010

First Vision Mission Report "Looking Forward to Relaunch"

Looking Forward to Relaunch

Dear Pastors, Churches, Family and Friends,

I delayed this letter in order to give some final news about my upcoming heart valve replacement surgery. LeeOra and I have been without health insurance for several years and now starting out as church planting missionaries it will be a while, if ever, that we can afford it. After several meetings with the county health services agencies we were finally denied coverage since we had not lived in the county for 6 months. Of course that is hard to do when you are on deputation. However, the day after we were turned down I received a call from the hospital and they said the surgery was approved. It seems they were only waiting on the County’s yea or nay before proceeding on their own at least that is our understanding.

The surgery is expected to cost about $60 thousand dollars but we had already qualified for a discount program that would reduce the cost. When told of the discount I cautiously asked how much we would be expected to. It was a tremendous relief to hear the financial consultant tell me that the cost would be about 4 to 5 thousand dollars. Praise the Lord, Amen and Hallelujah! We have presently about $2500.00 set aside for the operation. This money has been graciously given by churches and individual even before we knew any of the details about the surgery. After speaking with my Pastor Larry Jones, we are putting out this letter with the predicted cost we know so far that you may pray or help with the cost as the Lord leads.

All money being sent as special offerings for the surgery should be sent to our church and will be put into a savings account to be used first and foremost for medical expenses. Should there be any money above the projected $5000.00 it will be used for costs associated with the surgery and recovery. Any remaining funds would be used to get us back on the road and ultimately into Flagstaff. We are very grateful for each church and person who has sent offerings even before we made any request. Your care and foresight has truly been a blessing and without you we would not be getting by as we are now.

We are also very grateful to Mountain View Baptist Church which took us on for support this month. Bro. Otis Medley is the pastor of this newly planted church and we are honored that we are one of their early supported missionaries. When we visited the church last year we were inspired by all that they had done in the purchase of land and the erection of a building in such a short time. God has truly blessed and they are now prepped and ready for the growth we are sure God is going to send their way.

Special thanks go out to Faith Baptist Chapel in Harris, Arkansas and Mosaic Baptist Church in Flower Mound, Texas for their gifts to help with our medical expenses during this time. We have also received gifts from individuals who have given in order to help us through this time of no love offerings since we can’t travel until surgery and recovery is completed. Addyston Street Baptist Church and Pastor David Pittman also doubled our monthly support to make up for the lack of deputation love offerings. Thank you to all who have given so much and so freely, we are so thankful.

It is beyond any “living by faith” I have experienced up to this point in my life to see how God provides just what is needed when it is needed. We are humbled and strengthened by God’s provision through his churches and his people. During this time of doubt and inactivity God has shown Himself at the forefront of our path and when we look behind to see where we have been we again see God as our rear guard. It is like living a Psalms and we are grateful to Him for the experience despite the illness which has become the day to day experience of our life for the time being.


In His service, even while waiting,

Kris and LeeOra Minefee

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kris, It has never failed to amaze me, just how timely the Lord is in supplying our every need just when we need it. He is awesome! How humbling it is when He comes through and we have to acknowledge our lack of faith in stressing over what "we" are going to do in a particular situation, when God has already sent His answer to our particular need. We can only praise Him for doing what He has promised always to do. (Phil. 4:19; Heb. 13:5)