After a long dry
spell of looking and praying for part-time jobs we are happy to report
that we have seen some progress. Thank you for your prayers on our
behalf and though we still could use more work for our personal and home
expenses we are no longer running short each month. I interviewed for a
job at a local bakery as a delivery driver and was hired later that day
when
their other driver was arrested. I don’t think God sent the cops of
course but I was certain He had my application in at just the right
time. I now deliver fresh bread from a small specialty bakery to
restaurants and stores around Flagstaff and all the way down to Sedona. I
usually deliver 200 loaves or so a day, 3 days a week. It doesn’t pay a
lot but it is steady work. I drive about 100 miles a day and meet a lot
of people. I like the idea that I preach about the “Bread of Life” on
Sunday and then actually deliver bread “the Staff of Life” during the
week. I am praying that God will open up doors to share the Gospel with
my coworkers and the owners of the baker. As an additional benefit we
can have as much day old bread as we need at our home.
their other driver was arrested. I don’t think God sent the cops of
course but I was certain He had my application in at just the right
time. I now deliver fresh bread from a small specialty bakery to
restaurants and stores around Flagstaff and all the way down to Sedona. I
usually deliver 200 loaves or so a day, 3 days a week. It doesn’t pay a
lot but it is steady work. I drive about 100 miles a day and meet a lot
of people. I like the idea that I preach about the “Bread of Life” on
Sunday and then actually deliver bread “the Staff of Life” during the
week. I am praying that God will open up doors to share the Gospel with
my coworkers and the owners of the baker. As an additional benefit we
can have as much day old bread as we need at our home.
I have also recently become involved at the local men and women’s shelters in downtown
Flagstaff. The day old bread that I bring back from the stores was
being tossed into the dumpster. You can imagine how difficult that was
for someone who grew up poor and often ate what my Mom brought back from
her job as a food service worker in the hospital and school. After
checking with the owner of the bakery I received permission to take all
the day old bread to the local homeless shelters. The shelters in
Flagstaff are run under Christian guidelines which I observed when I had
contact with the manager during our time in Flagstaff back in 2008. I
now drop off 50 to 100 loaves of bread a week at the facilities. I am
hoping that we may have a larger role at the shelters as the Lord
provides the time and opportunity.
Flagstaff. The day old bread that I bring back from the stores was
being tossed into the dumpster. You can imagine how difficult that was
for someone who grew up poor and often ate what my Mom brought back from
her job as a food service worker in the hospital and school. After
checking with the owner of the bakery I received permission to take all
the day old bread to the local homeless shelters. The shelters in
Flagstaff are run under Christian guidelines which I observed when I had
contact with the manager during our time in Flagstaff back in 2008. I
now drop off 50 to 100 loaves of bread a week at the facilities. I am
hoping that we may have a larger role at the shelters as the Lord
provides the time and opportunity.
LeeOra
has also begun working in a local church nursery. She works on Tuesday
during the day and on Wednesday nights. They asked her to take Sundays
as well but of course she couldn’t. Again it is not much money but it is
an answer to prayer and every bit helps. We are very grateful to the
Lord for his provision and to you for your prayers. We are also
continuing our Bible Study with a young single mother once a week. We
moved the study to Saturday night to better accommodate schedules. It is
a joy to be teaching and we are excited about sharing the Word of God.
Pray that we will see God’s Word have its full affect in lives and
hearts. We are working our way through the Bible Boot Camp Study I wrote
several years ago.
Recently
in a discussion on our Independent Unaffiliated Baptist page on
Facebook we got into the nature of the church as universal, invisible
versus local and visible only. It amazes me that those who cling to
universal and invisible do not see it as a cancer to the strength of the
local church and as the Protestant idea from where is originated. This
discussion brought up the lecture "Ekklesia: The Church" by B. H.
Carroll in which he shows the word ekklesia in the NT, OT, Septuagint
and classic Greek can only mean a local and visible assembly. I went
looking for a digital copy and could not find it and wondered how many
independent Baptists today have even read the lecture. As a result I
scanned, proofed and digitized my copy and then added Carroll's
commentary on Matthew 16:18. I have published the book to Barnes and
Noble where it can be downloaded in epub format. It is very inexpensive
and if you should purchase it would be helping us in our work here in
Flagstaff.
The
most difficult part of starting a work from scratch for us has been the
absence of being in. I was born on Sunday and my Mom had me in church
the following Wednesday. I have never known what it is like to not be in
services three times a week. We miss it terribly. When we can we go to
other Baptist churches in the area but it is a mixed blessing. We love
being in church but feel awkward knowing that we can only visit and
sometimes when we tell the pastor that we are starting a church in the
area there seems a distance that suddenly grows. This is much more
pronounced in the “fellowship” independent Baptist churches than the
Southern Baptist churches which have been more welcoming, there are no
other unaffiliated independent Baptist in Flagstaff. Sundays used to be
the highlight of the week but they tend to discourage me now. Not due to
impatience or disappointment in the work, I just really miss being in
God’s House with God’s people. LeeOra and I have our studies and often
work on songs that we hope to use one day when we have a congregation
again but it is not the same. The words of the Psalmist, “I was glad
when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.” have
never meant more to us than now. We long for the day when that verse is
once again a weekly reality in our lives.
Your servants in Flagstaff, Az. Kris and LeeOra Minefee
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