December 5, 2019 – UPDATED
Merry Christmas!
This season is a wonderful reminder of God’s goodness to us. 
From the very first Christmas, the occasion was marked in special ways. The wisemen brought gifts. The angels brought worship. Shepherds stopped everything and came to see the event.
The day was worthy of making note. The three kings gave their treasure of very valuable things. We all know gold is a great present. All those there in those early days offered their very best to the King.
Yet their gifts do not even compare with The Gift. The Father willingly gave his Son, his very precious Son. This Son would show us love, live perfectly, model surrender and sacrifice, and ultimately showed us the way. We also see this in I John 3:1 (NIV): “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” This is what he has generously shared with us.
So, as we come to Christmas, we remember how good God’s gift of his Son is for us and the world! The beautiful thing is that God continues to bestow on us gifts every day. He still out-gives us.
Here are a few of the gifts I’ve received from the Lord.
- New friendships with the men I serve with on our Navigators Church Leaders Team (Don, Cedric, and Dennis) for whom I am grateful.
- Reconnecting with Pastor Jerry and his team was so encouraging. They continue to make disciples and impact their world.
- I watched Randy and Kirk move to lead our Disciplemaking Cohort in Akron, the men in that group grow and challenge themselves to make disciples. I watched a new eager cohort start this fall.
- I am grateful for the wisdom God has helped us with as we restructure our disciplemaking processes. We want to see 100 trained to build disciplemaking cultures.
- It was great to see our national team leading life coaching take big steps ahead to equip and train even more.
- I am grateful the Lord has led The Navigators to the strategy of one million new disciplemakers by 2030. God is good!
Personally, watching my two older girls finish degrees and launch their careers makes me thankful. I am grateful for my wife, my partner in life and ministry. She encourages and loves the ladies she works with, modeling the hope we have in Jesus. Our youngest is graduating early and headed to grad school with a focus on her future. I am grateful for God’s guidance and leadership in my life. He does that every week through his Word. These all fill me with thankfulness.
As I serve with The Navigators, my role has always been to “Help the Church excel at the Great Commission.” It has been about building disciplemaking cultures that impact God’s people and the world they live in.
But now my role has grown to include national leadership. Now, instead of simply implementing disciplemaking with pastors and their congregations, I work to ensure those systems and processes are fully developed and resourced for our staff. I am honored to serve. I am learning a lot leading the Navigator Church Ministries staff.
Would you help me continue impacting the Church and The Navigators? I am grateful for your generosity to support this disciplemaking vision! As I look ahead to the new year, I am trusting the Lord to provide $5,500 (was 6,000 when mailed) in special gifts and $479 (was $980 when originally sent) in additional monthly support. Will you prayerfully consider a monthly gift of $100 dollars, or a special gift of $500-$1,000, or an amount as the Lord leads you?
Thank you so much for your generous support of this ministry. May the Lord renew your anticipation for his goodness.
Merry Christmas!
P.S. To partner with us, please make your check payable to The Navigators and send it with the enclosed card postmarked by December 31. You can also give online by going to https://www.navigators.org/staff/23817273/. Thank you! Donate