Ministry leaders, what is the busiest time of year for you? What do you do to get refreshed and refilled?

 

Summer time is the busiest time of year in our everyday missionary life. So although I’m currently working on a lot of great content for blog posts, none of them are ready to post. They all need a bit more research and tweaking. In the meantime, here is an update of what we’ve been up to this summer.

For those of you in church leadership or with a crazy, busy schedule like us, don’t forget to take time for yourself and get refreshed and refilled. At the end of the post, see how we made sure to do just that. And for those of you who regularly lift us up in prayer–THANK YOU.

 

My favorite verse concerning serving to the max is:

 

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.                                                 –Luke 6:38

 

Our Ministry is Growing (Photo Coming Soon)

Our daughter, Jessica, son-in-law, Matt, and three grandsons moved to Bulgaria in June to join us in our work. We are so blessed to have them working alongside of us. We can’t wait to see what God will do in and through them.

 

Couples Ministry (Photo Coming Soon)

Barbecue for the couples from Blagavest Church, Sofia at our place. It was a wonderful time of fellowship.

 

VBS (Photo Coming Soon)

Vacation Bible School for the children from the church in Troyan. The kids learned how to trust God through Esther’s amazing story.

 

Teen Week (Photo Coming Soon)

Our theme for the teens was Defending the Faith. We hope our time together with the teens helped prepare them for life in the real world. They all said they loved it and hope we do this type of event more often.

 

Men’s Breakfast (Photo Coming Soon)

We hosted our first men’s breakfast. The men loved the American type breakfast. Matt shared the message. Jessica and I hid around the corner and listened in. He did a great job.

 

On-Going Discipleship

Regular discipleship continues throughout the summer, wherever I can squeeze it in. This summer I’ve been working with three women. Sorry no photo for this one.

 

Family Time (Photo Coming Soon)

Since we are so far away from our immediate family (well, not from Jessica now since they live in Bulgaria) Keith and I decided when we moved to Bulgaria to give as Christmas and birthday presents a family vacation every other year. So this year, Lindsey, Justin and Wesley joined us all in Bulgaria for one week. From there we all drove to the mission’s conference in Austria. What an adventure that was. One boarder crossing took us 4 hours. It was crazy.

 

Mission’s Conference (Photo Coming Soon)

Refreshment and re-filling at the Calvary Chapel Mission’s Conference in Austria. If you read this post near the time I posted it, please pray for us to be refreshed by the Lord. We are at the conference until August 19th. Then it’s a two day drive back to Bulgaria. We pray for shorter boarder crossings.

 

For ministry leaders make sure to find a way to get refilled whether it’s through a conference like we attended, or a special day event, or simply jump in the car and head to the mountains or the beach and spend some alone time with the Lord.

 

How About You?

What has your summer been like? How do you find time for ministry, family and refreshing amidst it all?

 

I’m looking forward to hearing from you. Blessings.

 

P.S. Sorry about the lack of photos. I can’t figure out how to resize the photos on my phone. When I’m back in Bulgaria I’ll add them.