Good morning everyone!
If you’ve never experienced “The Good Life” in Nebraska, you’ve missed out! During our 9 days in the Sandhills, we spoke several times on the topic “What is the Good Life?”
Joining us for this update are many new friends in the Sandhills of Nebraska and Western Way Cowboy Church in Altamont, Kansas. Welcome everybody! Today I want to highlight the ministries and churches of some of our friends in both Nebraska and Kansas.
The Good Life Tour
For this trip, I joined Bill and Joyce Burrows, and good friends John and Suzy Gragg for a week of Be-the-Church training and activities in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Bill, Joyce, and I enjoyed having the Graggs along with us as they and Joyce Burrows served behind the scenes at each of our events.
Here I am with Bill, Joyce, John, and Suzy as the sun was setting at the end of our first day in Nebraska. With good friends, life is good!
To kick off the week, we went to Burwell Baptist Church on Sunday morning, October 2nd, to update the church on our recent Guatemala/Nicaragua mission projects, and for Bill and I to do a tag team message in their service on “The Good Life!”
Joel Wentworth, pastor of Burwell Baptist Church and also the coordinator for the Sandhills Church Network, invited us to come be a part of their annual Rural Christian Workers Conference.
That Sunday evening we were in Loup City for the annual Sandhills Church Network meeting. Then during the week we met with pastors and leaders to talk mission projects, speak at a youth event in Burwell with the combined youth groups of four churches, and see how we could help pastors and leaders in their churches. At the end of the week we were a part of the Rural Christian Workers Conference hosted by Joel Wentworth, the Sandhills Network, and Burwell Baptist Church.
Mike Johnson, pastor of Ridgeview Bible Church in Chadron, Nebraska, presents his first of three sessions for the Rural Christian Workers Conference.
After introducing Bill, Joel walks offstage with his shepherd’s staff, a tool that he is known to use if anyone gets too long winded in their presentation!
Joel’s wife, Linda(left), and Dana Plugge, the administrative assistant for Burwell Baptist, are ready to serve at one of the break times.
There were several groups that had tables for more information at the Rural Christian Workers Conference.
In our breakout session, I shared about how our ministry began and introduced Bill.
Here’s Bill teaching in our breakout session of the Rural Christian Workers Conference.
Bill taught at the Sandhills Church Network meeting at Grace Bible Church in Loup City, Nebraska.
One of the things that impresses us about Joel Wentworth and his ministry is the way God is using him to bring together leaders and pastors of other churches in Burwell and in the Sandhills region.
During this trip we got to see first hand how this is leading to a positive witness in the town and in the region. I wish you could have been with us at a prayer meeting Joel invited us to one morning at 6am where other pastors and leaders of other denominations gathered for their weekly time of prayer. We could see how that gathering was fostering more collaboration between the churches. The week we were there, Joel had Bill speak to 4 combined youth groups, and the gospel was presented in a winsome and relevant way to those young people.
The youth were divided into teams to have a “table surfing” contest!
Here Bill introduced the topic “Life or Death” to the kids.
Bill challenged the youth to trust God and experience life as He created us to live it.
The Drought in Nebraska
Besides the official meetings, we enjoyed a few hikes with Joel at the Calamus Lake area near Burwell. This year, because of the drought, the sandy banks were more pronounced and gave us a strange wonderful retreat that resembled an oceanside beach.
Left to right are Joel Wentworth, Bill, Suzy Gragg, and Joyce Burrows. Until seeing it for ourselves, we had no idea what Joel was talking about in mentioning the drought effect on lake Calamus.
The banks were at record lows when we were there.
On another day, Bill and Joel admired the tracks of a turtle that evidently had to work hard to get down to the water.
Visiting the Workplaces of Our Friends
We also made some visits to see several of our friends working in other occupations and livelihoods.
Good friend Rex Kelley of Ord, Nebraska, shows Suzy the cockpit of his plane he uses to spray crops. Incidentally, Rex and his wife, Debbie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary while we were there!
Suzy Gragg and Cory Johnson, a farmer near Burwell, posed for a picture right before Cory took Suzy out for a couple rounds of harvesting corn on his big rig.
The Good Life Tour Ends
To conclude the week in Nebraska, on Sunday, October 9th, we were at Ord Evangelical Free Church to do our last presentation for the week on The Good Life. Doug Olson and his wife Janna, have been in Ord for about 10 years now, but they were missionaries to Hungary for a few years before that. Doug, a native Nebraskan, and Janna have dedicated themselves and their family to reaching non-Christians near Ord in both friendship and witness.
Between Bill and I are our good friends, Janna and Doug Olson. Doug is pastor of the Ord Evangelical Free Church. Janna leads out as a coordinator and administrator for a local theater that does a variety of live performances. In addition, she makes some of the most amazing and delicious organic breads, which she sells at the local farmers market.
In our tag team presentation, I took a few moments to describe the worst, best day of my life! To conclude the message we described that regardless of our circumstances, we have a choice to enjoy Jesus or not. And only a life lived with Jesus in charge gives us the opportunity to truly live the “good” life.
A Great Night with Western Way Cowboy Church
A little over a week after being in Nebraska, Bill and I headed to Southeast Kansas to get better acquainted with pastor Les Green and the Western Way Cowboy Church of Altamont, Kansas. The church was started in 2011, and Les and his team have done an amazing job in reaching out to the region. I am amazed that even after dealing with Covid, the church has more than 200 people showing up each Sunday and more than 100 that show up on Thursday nights.
Bill and I were impressed by the joy and the energy they had as we joined them on a Thursday night gathering to talk about what we are doing in our mission work—especially with cowboys and our upcoming soccer projects. After the service, people hung around for a pot luck meal and further visiting. Bill and I couldn’t have felt more welcomed.
Les Green (blue shirt), pastor of Western Way Cowboy Church, leads worship with several musicians and singers on Thursday night, October 20th.
The next morning we had breakfast with Les and Debbie Green and a few other leaders. As a result, we have some plans brewing for future collaboration. Stay tuned for more as this unfolds!
10:02 PRAYER
(Pray Luke 10:2 each day at 10:02 am or pm that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest fields.)
Please pray for our friends like Joel, Linda, Doug, Janna, and Les and their rural churches. Pray that they continue to win people to Christ, disciple them, and raise them up to help bring in a harvest of others. Pray that we can work in harmony with several of them as we look at doing more partnering in both local and international projects.
ENGAGE
If you would be interested in Bill and me coming to your neck of the woods, let us know!
INVEST
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Love y’all!
Steve
PS…As you read this update, Nola and I just might be on a business trip to Hawaii! Amazingly, Nola’s work is sending her there for a week of presentations and answering questions about the software product they provide for the insurance commissioners in Hawaii. I’m going along so she isn’t lonely!
At a recent wedding reception of some friends, Nola and I were given some battery powered, flashing cowboy hats! Maybe we need to take these to Hawaii!