MARCH 2013 Letter - LIVING WELL

Michael O'Brien, Donna, Ed Edwards
Together Forever 2013

We had a great weekend hosting Michael O'Brien for our Together Forever event, Sunday morning worship service, and a time of sharing in our Bible study class. He has an incredible voice, a wonderful sense of humor, a devotion to his wife and his Lord, and a refreshing transparency. He encouraged our group of young married couples but also challenged them.  

Michael not only entertained us but he inspired us as he sang and shared. He was very open about the struggles that he has experienced in his own marriage, but he also shared with humility how Christ has changed him and saved his marriage. We are thankful that he has allowed the Lord to work in him but also that he is willing to share his struggles with others.

Our Mission Zambia 2013 team is almost finalized! We believe that we will have 18 people on the team. As Ed outlined in last month’s letter, we will only be working at Wisdom Community School on our mission trip this summer. We will focus on improving the physical facility and on doing a Bible Camp for the children. 

Part of the Bible Camp is to provide lunch for the children every day. We are going to have half the children attend camp in the morning and half will attend in the afternoon. We will feed one group before they leave and one group as they arrive. 

At the end of our week of Bible Camp, we will have a time with the parents/guardians of all the children to share what the kids did during the week. Later that evening, we will also show the Jesus film outside for the community. In a community where it gets dark at 6:30 pm and without electricity, a movie showing on the side of a building will draw lots of people! The movie will give us an opportunity to share the gospel with the whole community. 

We are responsible for raising the funds necessary to finance all of the construction projects, cost of the Bible Camp, and our own trip costs - a total of $18,000. [for more details about the mission]

We will announce the names of all of our team members very soon! We do know that 9 out of 10 of last years team are returning this year. Obviously, their hearts were deeply touched by the Lord for the children of Wisdom Community School. 

We read the book Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas several years ago. We consider it to be one of the best books on marriage. 

As we lead the Sacred Marriage class at our church, we are reminded of the great truths that Gary Thomas shares in the book. He poses the question, “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”

 Frances de Sales, a great Christian writer from the 17th century, wrote that marriage might be the toughest ministry a person could undertake. What if each of us saw marriage as a ministry to our spouse? Pray with us that the 15 couples in class will see marriage from a new perspective. 

We thank you for your many prayers and support! You are a valuable part of our ministry! We love and appreciate you and your support of what God is doing! 

Our love in Christ,

Donna and Ed Edwards
P.S. Please pray with us about our mission to Zambia and the $18,000 to finance the project.

AUGUST 2012 Letter - LIVING WELL

Our country is grieving over the latest shooting tragedy. Our hearts are heavy; many continue to seek the answer to the question “Why?” We don’t pretend to be able to understand what was going through the mind of the shooter as he planned and carried out such a horrific act.

Most of us cannot understand the depths of the depravity of a human being. We do not know the answer to the “why?” question, what we do know is that evil is very present in our world today! No amount of analysis or speculation will be able to explain the motive of this man.

Our government leaders and politicians have re-energized the national debate on firearms. Unfortunately, an endless amount of laws will not change the fact that millions of firearms are already owned by millions of Americans.

What are we to do?

Ultimately, the issue is the heart. Darrell Scott’s daughter was killed in the Columbine shooting. He testified in 1999 before the subcommittee on crime of the House Judiciary Committee. His testimony included these words, “The real villain lies within our OWN hearts. Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers….We do need a change of heart and an humble acknowledgment that this nation was founded on the principle of simple trust in God.”

You may be thinking, “My heart is okay; I would never go on a shooting rampage.” As Christians, we must look beyond ourselves. Through His Word, God says,
    “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
                                                                  (Romans 12:21)
    “Do not repay evil for evil or insult with insult,
         but [repay] with blessing,
         because to this you were called ….” (1 Peter 3:9a)

As we minister to the hurts of those around us, we open the door for our Lord to make changes in their hearts. Our attitudes and compassion offer the love of Christ to those we see. Each of us can be inspired by good and by God or inspired by bad and evil. We are all inspired by someone or something. We will have some writings on inspiration on our next blog post.

We are excited about developments at Wisdom Community School. We received enough donations to provide security bars for the doors and window. Those bars are being installed now. Someone donated lightweight backpacks for the children of the school. They are perfect for shipping and for the needs of the children. We have enough monthly financial commitments to engage a principal, one day per week. He will provide oversight and support for the teachers but also be the spiritual instructor for the students and the teachers. We have established some reliable contacts for drilling a well.

We are starting a three-lesson series called "The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of Marriages in the Bible: and what we can learn from them" in our Sunday morning Bible study class on August 5 at 11:00. [see more info] We are teaching a marriage class at our office on Monday nights this fall, September 10 - November 5, 7-8:30 pm (eight classes). [see more information here]

We are excited about our expanded roles in leadership at church. We are leading the development of a comprehensive marriage and family ministry. The team has 10 ambitious goals for the coming year. Our mission is to: engage, enlighten, encourage, equip, and enrich families with Biblical strategies and training. Some results include a class this fall for parenting teens and a marriage celebration event with recording artist, Michael O’Brien, on February 23. 2013. [for more info, call our office, 792-2586]

Thank you for your continued prayer and support of the ministry of Living Well.
Our love in Christ,
Donna and Ed Edwards