Check out Sheri Towery and Karly Drake’s 2010 mission report.

Check out Misty Frost’s Mission Arlington 2010 mission report.

Divorce shatters our world of predictability…gone is routine, a relationship, and that which is familiar. Forest Park’s Divorce Recovery Workshops provide the healing it takes to cope with what has happened by learning how to regain self-esteem, establish trust once again, and learn new relationship building skills.

Will you pray for the folks that are registered for the September/October Divorce Recovery Workshop? Invite anyone anyone you know that has been through a divorce (no matter how long ago), is currently going through a divorce, or contemplating divorce to attend the workshop. Please pray specifically that they will find the healing, comfort, and love that only God can offer in such a painful time.

Check out Matthew Dumm’s Brazil 2010 mission report.

Thanks for all your help to make this year’s Back to School Clothing Giveaway at the Joplin Campus a huge success! We helped over 1,400 people from over 370 families. Over 70 people received a free haircut. The Gideons gave out 765 New Testaments. Over 500 backpacks were given away with the majority of them containing school supplies. We had a ton of volunteers that helped throughout the week and today.

God has done it again!  For the seventh consecutive year, we have baptized more than 100 precious people in the “church year” (runs September 1, through August 31). Only two other churches in our state convention share this blessing with us!

Do you realize what a big deal that is? These are people with souls, people with an eternal destiny, people who matter to God so much He sent His Son to die an excruciating death for them; and God used YOU, your prayers, your giving, your ministries to touch them. Here is what one of them wrote to me:

I wasn’t raised in a church. My family was “Christian,” but their faith was not very sturdy. But in this last year I have started my own relationship with Christ. I’ve found the power of praying and giving up every joy and worry to Christ, and my life has truly changed for the better. Thank you for guiding me to HIM!

We had an amazing Vacation Bible School. Our mission teams are seeing people come to Christ all over the world. All three of our campuses have different stories of God working in powerful ways among us.

I know that the economy is struggling, but I also know that we can’t out-give God. He has been amazingly faithful during these challenging times. At Forest Park we worship, we grow, we serve. Giving is one way to do all three. It is an act of worship. It stretches our faith which makes our faith grow. And it funds ministries which spread the gospel and serve the needy.

Great days are coming! Thanks for your prayers, your service, and your investments in eternity.

I love you so much!

Whatever the phrase, “the dog-days of summer” means, it appears we are in the middle of them. Wow! Hasn’t it been warm! But, God truly is good, as He has provided the rains just when we needed them. Despite the heat, the moisture has been there. He always knows just what we need. Many times, before we know.

Those of you that have made a commitment to give to “Generations” are so encouraging to others as you remain faithful in your giving. You continue to be a blessing with your support of the campaign that began over 1½ years ago. Yes, we are over halfway through the original three-year commitment of “Generations.” Much has already been accomplished with the “Generations” funds, and yet there are still areas to be fulfilled.

During the campaign we, as a church, pledged to give $2,306,933 over the next three years.  Currently $1,245,367 or 54% has been given toward our “Generations” priorities.   

Ahead of us still are the remaining priorities the church established leading up to the “Generations” campaign. Next up, is the construction of the new worship facility for Forest Park Carthage Campus. Preliminary site work has already been completed. Further construction will continue as soon as sufficient “Generations” funds become available. Those funds are being accumulated now.

God is continuing to use your faithfulness to further His work locally, as well as around the world; since ten-percent of the funds go to support various mission endeavors. Thank you for letting God lead you to be a part of His wonderful plan. We pray that God’s promise in Luke 6:38 will be accomplished in your lives, as you continue to give.

Wow, it’s hard to believe that our last full day in Haiti is over. It was a difficult day, but ended great. One of the men that was operated on yesterday had some bad swelling and had trouble with recovery. All day we were concerned that he would have to be opened back up. Thankfully, as the day wore on, he seemed to improve so they didn’t have to go back in.

This morning, a young man came in with a very swollen leg. The doctors believed it was a cyst and proceeded to operate in order to drain the cyst. During the procedure they discovered the cyst was full of blood and the bone appeared to be deteriorated. The doctors believed it was cancer and sent him to Port-au-Prince. He will probably lose his leg.

This afternoon, a lady came in with what appeared to be breast cancer. The prognosis for her was not good, and we couldn’t do much to help her.

This evening we went to the lake with the team from California for a baptism. Not only were two of their team members baptized, but Lori Reed from our team was baptized. She had been baptized before, but felt like God wanted her to be baptized again as she was recommitting her life to Jesus.

Tonight the conference at HCM continued. We are pretty confident that they are a little more charismatic than we are. Some of our team went to the worship service and did their best to keep up with Haitians as they worshiped, but it was not easy.

All week we have been reminded of how difficult life can be and how incredibly faithful God is. We are all thankful to have had the opportunity to come to Haiti.

Thursday in Haiti started off a little rough. The medical team did a surgery before breakfast this morning, because there are so many needs. After breakfast, a five year-old boy came in with a bad hernia, so the team had to scramble and rearrange the surgery list. Immediately following this, they discovered that one of the men from yesterday’s surgery was bleeding, so they had to perform an exploratory surgery to find out what was happening. Fortunately they found where the blood was coming from and were able to get it corrected. The little boy’s surgery went well too.

Jan, Jim and Jennifer went into Port-au-Prince with the group from California. They were able to see some of the destruction and get a better feel for just how bad the earthquake was. They said even though it was difficult to see everything, they had a great time, because most of the trip was spent singing praise music.

HCM is hosting a conference for about 50 churches. There are a lot of people here for the conference and we were able to witness some of their worship service this evening.

What started off as a difficult day turned in to a great day of ministry. It’s hard to believe tomorrow is our last full day here in Haiti.

Wednesday in Haiti was long and hard. Our medical team continued to run the clinic while performing nine surgeries. The surgeries started around 8:30 am and finished around 9:30 pm. They did hernia repairs, a hysterectomy, a cyst removal, and an abscess removal. Dr. Cotton said he has never sweated as much during surgeries as he did today. Some of our non-medical team even got to watch some of the surgeries.

Our medical team also witnessed a very sad situation as a lady came in with inflammatory breast cancer and probably had less than a month to live. The medicine that we had was not adequate to provide the relief from the pain she was in, so we gave her the best we had. After the team talked with her about her situation, the lady replied by saying that she would be reunited with her family that died during the earthquake.

Our non-medical team returned to Port-au-Prince and continued painting. We also left some clothes and money for the church to use as they minister to their community.

Even though today was long and hard, everyone is in good spirits and excited about what tomorrow will bring. We were all reminded of God’s goodness in the midst of the chaos.