Current News ~ Current News ~ Current News
8/28/10 – Saturday - We have now made over 225 calls to churches and have one “maybe” meeting penciled in. We leave this morning for Garfield, New Jersey for the morning service then drive 3 ½ hours to Jersey Shore, PA. After the evening service we will drive the almost 4 hours back to Williamson, NY. We just dropped off our latest prayer letter in the mail. Keep an eye on your mailboxes for it. We will be sending the e-mail version out to people next Monday or Tuesday.
8/23/10 – Monday – We bought stamps today to mail out items to churches and prayer letter people. We have spent about $1,500 on stamps in the past three months.
8/20/10 – Friday – Day three of Sam calling churches. So far the 120+ calls this week had garnered no meetings. We pray that this is a sign the Lord will have us in the Bronx by the end of the year and that we won’t need any meetings for next year. Meanwhile Sam will continue to call churches.
8/18/10 – Wednesday – Please keep Sam in your prayers today as he is calling churches to schedule meetings for early 2011. Pray that we will be led to churches that will be able to support us financially. Please pray for the many churches that we have contacted that are struggling with their finances, have church issues, are having to cut missions budget and even pastor’s salary. It is a hard time for many churches right now. Please pray for Jen and Emily. This is week two of home school for both of them.
8/09/10 – Monday – Yesterday we were originally scheduled to be in Arlington Heights, IL. That meeting was postponed. Yesterday morning we visited one of our supporting churches in Wyoming, New York. For the evening we were at Bible Baptist of Williamson. Emily was able to go to VBS for the week at Bible Baptist and Sunday night was the closing program for the week.
8/05/10 – Thursday - These past few of weeks we have had one church take us on for $100 a month. We first presented the ministry of the Bronx at the church almost two years ago. We also had a family commit to support us for $100 and an individual for $50 a month. This brings our level of support to 78%.
7/17/10 – Saturday - We made is back “home” Wednesday about 12:30 in the morning. In nine days we slept in eight different beds. A couple of those days were vacation days. Tomorrow we are in Watkins Glen, New York. Little Eli is not feeling well tonight so Sam will be going to the meeting by himself. Pray that Eli will feel better soon.
7/06/10 – Tuesday – Our family is leaving to go and visit the Creation Science Museum for a couple days. Our daughter Emily is extremely into dinosaurs this past year. She has enjoyed reading some of Ken Ham’s books and seeing a couple of their DVDs. From there was head to Michigan and will be able to attend one of Jen’s family reunions. Next Sunday we have a meeting in Brooklyn, MI and Ithaca, MI. We will spend a few days after that in Ludington trying to tie up some loose ends there before heading back out to Williamson, NY. Our van’s brake warning light come on and Sam took it to a mechanic friend of ours. He said it should be alright until we get back. Please pray that it will be fine until we can get it fixed.
6/23/10 – Wednesday – Finally home for a couple days. We returned home Monday night from NC, MI & Ohio. It has been another busy week with much office work. We are trying to get an ad into a Baptist publication. We’ll let you know how that goes. We updated our e-mail & physical address list for our prayer letters (something we do every couple weeks). Sam’s printer finally broke after thousands of copies so after a trip to Wal-Mart this afternoon we are back in business. Jen will spend tomorrow afternoon packing for the weekend & Sam will load the van with everything. We have an all day meeting in Illinois. Our last oil change was 17 days ago and we are already over the 3,000 mile mark recommended for getting another.
6/15/10 – Tuesday – We are in Winston-Salem, NC right now at Church Planting School. We are covering many important topics such as: public worship, philosophy of ministry, finances, discipleship and much more. Classes start at 8:30am and end at 8pm. Pray we can take in and remember all of the information. Friday we drive back to Michigan to pick the kids up.
6/10/10 – Thursday – Please keep us in your prayers. We are getting packed for a 10 day trip. We leave Saturday morning to take the kids to Michigan. Pray for Eli (and us) as this will be the first time he has not had mommy to go to put him to sleep at night. We then leave Sunday morning (Jen & Sam) to drive to North Carolina for a week of BMM required training. We then drive back to Michigan to pick of our kids and then to Ohio for two meetings the following Sunday. Then it is back to New York for a couple days before heading to meetings in Illinois. Our prayer letter if late but you should have it in the mail or e-mail in the next three or four days. Thank you for your patience.
6/02/10 – Wednesday - We arrived home from our 11 day trip to Illinois Monday evening. This week we have been writing “Thank You” notes and other correspondence. We acquired another meeting this week. We also started a large update DVD project that we are working on. We gained one individual supporter this past week. It appears as if we have lost two families that supported us. One of our supporting churches increased their monthly gift. With the pluses and minuses we are at 74.3%.
5/25/10 – Tuesday- We had a great meeting Sunday at Cottage Hills Baptist Church in Cottage Hills, Illinois ~ Great pastor and great people. We are staying the week in Pana, Illinois at First Baptist Church. They have a very nice room in the basement for missionaries, etc. to use. It has been hot this week but that is the case all over. Our latest prayer letter is off to the printer and we pray to have it out to you in the next couple weeks.
5/19/10 – Wednesday – We are still trying to get caught up from being gone so much in April. The past two weeks we have stayed in missions houses at churches (which we are very grateful for). Each house had the electric go out, the first one while we were there and almost asleep and the second one was out when we arrived. We did have very good meetings the past few weeks. We even meet a couple people that used to live in the Bronx. These next two weeks we will be in Illinois for meetings followed by Ohio. Continue to pray for safe travels and the kids and us being in the van for so many miles.
5/07/10 – Friday – We are finally back in NY after being gone for 11 days. The funeral for Sam’s mom went very well. Keep our family in your prayers as this Sunday (Mother’s Day) we will be in Pennsylvania for an all day meeting. We appreciate all of the prayers and help everyone gave especially our home church – Calvary Baptist of Ludington, Michigan.
4/28/10 – Wednesday – It has been a rough week for our family. Sam’s mom passed away this past Sunday morning. We had just arrived in West Virginia at 1am Sunday morning. We received the call from our home pastor in Michigan around 8am. We cancelled our Sunday and Wednesday meetings. By 9am we were on the road and drove 13 ½ hours. The kids were especially affected after spending about 24 hours in the van over a 36 hour period. The viewing for Sam’s mom (Juanita) is Wednesday evening 6-8pm at Stephen’s Funeral Home in Scottville, MI. Thursday from Noon-1pm is a viewing followed by a 1pm funeral service at Calvary Baptist Church in Ludington, MI. Please keep the whole family in your prayers. We do rejoice in the fact that Juanita loved the Lord and was a faithful believer in Him. She is now taking up residence in heaven! II Corinthians 5:8 tells believers that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
4/23/10 – Friday – Our mini-van’s water pump broke on us today. We found a shop that can get it fixed by Saturday morning. This will put us a few hours behind the time we were supposed to leave to West Virginia. We are thankful that it didn’t break on the trip down. They said it will cost around $600 to fix. We are thankful for the extra financial gifts that have been sent in the past couple months, they will be able to cover most of this expense for us.
04/20/10 – Tuesday – We arrived back home around midnight Sunday from a 9 day trip to Michigan. We ended the trip with a great 4 day conference at York Baptist Church in Milan, Michigan. It ended Sunday afternoon which enabled us to drive the 8 ½ back to NY. After getting back home Sam was able to attend one day of the ESF Conference held in New Woodstock, NY. We are trying to get caught up this week on things from being in Michigan. We’ll leave for West Virginia later this week and be in Pennsylvania for a few days next week. While at the ESF Conference yesterday, a Pastor from a supporting church informed Sam that they had just voted to increase their monthly support from $75 to $100 – Praise the Lord!
4/08/10 – Thursday We were able to visit the Bronx for about a week. We helped distribute several thousand invitations to the neighborhood for Easter. We were able to cook breakfast for the early service which was only advertised for the regular church people. There is usually about 30 or so people that come to church. Easter Sunday saw a record high of around 100 people! We caught a glimpse of what the Lord can do in the Bronx. Jen worked with the kids in children’s church and Sam had a chance to help with some needs outside the church. There were several bright spots and highlights. We also learned some more things about the Bronx from the “dark side”. It is truly a den of iniquity and a stronghold of Satan. People need the Lord! Sam had an interesting discussion (and interview on film – yes on film) with Larry who is an atheist. More to come about this trip soon……..probably in our next prayer letter.
4/01/10 – Thursday – We are off to the Bronx this morning (7:15am). Looking forward to doing some outreach into the community and cooking Easter morning breakfast.
3/30/10 – Tuesday - This past weekend our two meetings went very well. We had a great time with Memorial Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio and with Bible Baptist in Newark, Ohio. We are getting packed and loaded to go to the Bronx for several days. We will be helping with evangelism outreach for Easter and in charge of cooking Easter morning breakfast at the church.
3/18/10 – Thursday – We have been able to schedule two more meetings today for this year. Last week also marked the end of Sam’s classes with Liberty University. In May he will be getting his diploma with a BA in Religion. Thank you for all your prayers.
03/14/10 – Sunday – Today we had an open slot for the morning service. Sam went to Bible Baptist of Williamson, NY (it is their mission house that we are living in). Jen and the kids stayed home because Emily has an ear infection and is not feeling good. Tonight our meeting is in North Tonawanda, NY (about 2 hours away). Sam will be going to that meeting by himself. Please pray that Emily feels better soon.
3/01/10 – Monday – It was a rough weekend for our family. On Saturday we drove about 6 hours to Tallahassee, Florida for our Sunday meeting. On the way there Sam was not feeling good. After dinner He was even sicker. He thought he might have a little food poisoning. After a night of little sleep and much time in the bathroom we had to cancel our meeting for Sunday morning and made the trip back to St. Petersburg. Emily was also sick and threw up a couple times after we got home. Please keep us in your prayers. This is the second week in a row that we have had to cancel meetings because of sickness!
2/27/10 – Saturday – We leave today for Tallahassee, Florida for a Sunday meeting. This past week we lost a scheduled meeting because a pastor had to cancel it. We are thankful that we were able to schedule four more meetings for this year.
2/20/10 – Saturday – Please pray for Jen to feel better. She has the flu or something. We were supposed to drive to Alabama today for a meeting tomorrow. We had to cancel it. The pastor said he will want to reschedule with us for later in the year.
2/15/10 – Monday – I spoke with Marty a couple of days ago. He said that they are averaging about 35-37 people each Sunday. Praise the Lord! Please pray that the new people will continue to come, people will be saved and grow in the knowledge of the Lord.
2/13/10 – Saturday – Emily is feeling much better. Eli is still cutting some teeth. Neither of the kids is sleeping very well. Emily is having a hard time being away from her familiar house, bedroom, toys, etc. Sam is still working on his last two classes for college – only four more weeks to go! We currently have 41 total meetings lined up for 2010. Our support is a little up in the air right now. BMM readjusted a couple supporters. We have an individual that is sending a pledge form in. We are somewhere around 70-73% as of now.
2/06/10 – Saturday – This week we took Emily to the doctor. Turns out she had an ear infection. Eli choose this week to cut some new teeth so he didn’t sleep well either.
1/28/10 – Thursday – We received word from a church today that just voted at their annual business meeting to support us for $100 a month! We are most excited to hear about this. We had another church a couple weeks ago that was able to increase their monthly gift some and a couple that supports us increased their monthly support as well. With all of this we have gone from about 70% to 73.37% in the past couple weeks. Please continue to pray that we will be at full support soon so we can join Marty & Val in the Bronx and start reaching the people there for Christ.
1/27/10 – Wednesday – This past Sunday morning (with our new opening) we attend Starkey Road Baptist Church here in St. Petersburg. We here a great message from the Pastor on the beatitudes. We rarely get to hear an actual message because we are the ones usually doing all the talking. The teacher in the Sunday School class Sam attended had him give a brief overview of our ministry. The Sunday night service in Bradenton, Florida went very well. They support the Genung family, one of the Bronx church builders.
1/22/10 – Friday – The Pastor that we had a meeting with for this Sunday morning (2 days from now) called today to inform us that he decided not to have us this Sunday. He gave a reason but you don’t want to hear it. We drove 26 hours from NY to arrive early for this meeting and have spent $200 extra in rent. While this is a discouragement we will try to see the hand of God in it. This gives us yet another unfilled opening. We plan to attend a local Baptist Church for the morning service and then proceed to our evening location. Please pray that we will have no more meetings cancelled while we are in Florida.
1/20/10 – Wednesday – Greetings from Georgia. Tomorrow we will arrive in St. Petersburg, Florida were we will be stationed for the next seven weeks of deputation meetings. It was a long day of driving (14 hours) and the kids pretty much had had it with being in the van when we arrived at the hotel. We still have another 5 hour drive tomorrow. Please continue to pray for safety and that these meetings will go well and raise some financial support.
1/06/10 – Wednesday – A new year is here! We have been hit with well over 14 inches of snow these past few days. We are reading ourselves for the seven seek trip to Florida. We received word from a NY pastor today that their church is going to support us. We are now at 70.54%. Please continue to pray for our safety in our travels. Last Sunday we drove over to Buffalo in pretty severe weather but the Lord saw us safely through. We had the chance to go and update one of our supporting churches that we were at about a year ago.
12/24/09 – Thursday – Last are now back in NY. We arrived home last night. We had our mail held while we were gone. It was fun to open all of our Christmas cards at one time. There is not much snow in NY, just enough to have a white Christmas. This Sunday we are in Belmont, NY for the whole day.
12/13/09 – Sunday – We are in Michigan. We had a “Ministry Open House” at our sending church in Ludington, Michigan on December 5th. It did not go nearly as well as we were praying it would. But, we leave the results in the Lord’s hands. We have had the chance to visit some family. We gave an update at our sending church last Sunday. Today we visited another supporting church in Hesperia, Michigan – Hesperia Baptist Church. It had been a little over two years since we were been there last. Please keep them in your prayers as they are looking for a pastor.
12/02/09 – Wednesday – It has been a very busy couple of weeks. We are preparing to head back to Michigan this Friday morning. We are going to have a “Ministry Open House” at our home church. We have invited past co-workers, family and friends that know we are missionaries but they have never had the chance to see our presentation before. Please pray that many will be able to make it. Our next prayer letter should be coming out in a couple weeks. Sam is finishing a couple more classes. He is currently taking Church History and Theological Issues.
11/17/09 – Tuesday – This past Sunday we had the chance to be at Breesport Baptist Church in Breesport, NY to share the Bronx ministry for the first time. Sunday evening we made our way over to a supporting church at First Baptist of Maine, NY. We were able to give an update on the happenings of the Bronx and what we have been doing. It was a great evening of getting re-acquainted with our friends there at First Baptist.
11/10/09 – Tuesday – So far for 2010 we have 27 meetings scheduled. The first half of the year is getting close to being fully booked. We still have many openings from June until the end of the year.
11/04/09 – Wednesday – The Bronx Church has its temporary permit! Many people have heard about this and it is great news. However, some have the impression that Marty & Val will be moving the church in there today and start holding services. This is not the case. The permit was issued about 14 days ago. It is only good for a total of 60 days. In order to get into the new church insurance has to be secured. Marty had filed the paper work several months ago but because of the delays the insurance company wants it all filled out again. Once insurance is secured the church can move into the new building. There also has to be a fire inspection. If the church is using the new building and does not pass the fire inspection then they will be kicked out. It is also possible that the final Certificate of Occupancy will be denied. Much pray is still needed. This is far from a done deal. In asking the question of “when?” we were told it may be another 2-6 weeks until able to move into the new church.
10/27/09 – Tuesday – This past weekend we had a three day Mission Conference in New Berlin, NY at First Baptist Church with Pastor Carpenter. It was a very good three days. We were able to fellowship with Steve & Jane Rutledge – BMM Missionaries to the Jews in NYC and the Erways – Missionaries with ABWE to Kenya. Sunday night we were at a small rescue church work in Chenango Forks, NY – Triangle Baptist Church. We had a good time getting to know the pastors and church people there. It was a good weekend overall. We were glad to be back home late Sunday night and be able to sleep in our own beds. This week is extremely busy with much on the to do list. Thank you for your continued prayers.
10/17/09 – Saturday – Due to illness in our family (we all have had it this week) we are not able to go to Maryland for our scheduled meeting.
10/16/09 – Friday – Our family was hit with the flu or something this week. We are mostly over it now. We leave tomorrow morning for a Sunday AM service in Maryland. After the service we’ll drive back to NY. Pray for safety and no more sickness.
10/10/09 – Saturday - Sam has spent several days the last two weeks calling churches to try to schedule meetings for next year. There have been many churches that told us they were not having missionaries in because they had no money available. Several churches told us that they cut the money they were giving their missionaries. One church told us that the pastor and staff took a pay cut. We have had several churches tell us that they are willing to have us come but they can’t support anyone. We are holding off on taking these meetings for now. With all the calling these past two weeks we have had only three new added meetings. It looks like we will be all over the map next year. This past couple weeks Sam has called the following states: Florida, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Kansas & Pennsylvania. Out of the hundreds of calls made only one church actually said they had money and were going to support a couple missionaries.
10/06/09 – Tuesday – The new church building in the Bronx is still waiting for the final “OK” from NYC. It appears as if there will be a couple more months of waiting and paperwork for Marty in the Bronx. We are scheduling meetings for 2010. It appears as if we will be spread over a greater distance and more states this coming year (if we are still on deputation). It has been nice to be located in one spot for a while as we were in Michigan and more recently in New York. We are getting a hold of many churches that would have us come but are saying on the phone that they cannot support any new missionaries. We are starting to call new states for meetings. Please be in prayer with us on this.
9/29/09 – Tuesday – We are back home from the Bronx trip of this past week. It was good to be back there again. Darrell and Kevin from the Baptist Bulletin came to do an interview with us and the Silverbergs on the Bronx church plant. Look for the article in an upcoming issue. Emily got to ride the subway for the first time. She also saw some other interesting things for the first time. Thankfully she is not old enough to know what some things really are. As you know, not all things are really what they appear to be (and neither are some people)! More to come in our next prayer letter.
9/17/09 – Thursday - Greeting to our faithful prayer partners. We are currently in the middle of “launch Seminar” in Cleveland, OH. It has been a week full of learning, preparing for the field and getting to know the other missionaries that are here as well. Our days have gone as such: get up around 6am, leave for the BMM headquarters around 7am, have breakfast along the way. Classes start at 8am. Our last class finishes at 5pm then we all have dinner together. Tomorrow wraps up the week then we drive back to Michigan to pick Emily up and turn around and drive back to Cleveland to stay over Friday night before driving to New Jersey on Saturday.
9/11/09 – Friday – We are almost done packing. Tomorrow we head to Michigan to drop Emily off with family for the week. Then we go to Cleveland, OH for a week of training called “Launch Seminar”. Please pray for safety in travels (we plan to go about 2,000 miles the next 2 weeks). Pray for good rest and health.
9/10/09 – Thursday – It has been another busy few weeks. Aug. 22nd we drove for 10 ½ hours to New Hampshire for an all day meeting on Sunday. Monday we drove through a total of six states (17 hours in the van). We stopped in the Bronx for a couple of hours to get some new photos and walked around the neighborhood for about 1 ½ hours. The following week we were in Pennsylvania. I (Sam) went to the meeting alone because Jen & Emily were not feeling well. This past weekend we were in Pennsylvania again. We drove almost 5,000 miles last month. We are getting ready for a long trip the next couple weeks. We’ll tell more about that soon.