Don't Miss it!

Our first quarterly newsletter will be sent out this week.  Make sure we have your mailing address so you can hear about how God has been working over the past several months. E-mail us at powleyjourney@abwe.cc

Our Burro is Moving!

We are praising the Lord for His continual provision and encouragement.  Even when our time table seems to slow down more than we would like, God's timetable is right on track.

Thanks to generous financial gifts from individuals and churches, we are now at 17% of our Outfit and Passage requirement (what gets us to Mexico) and at 22% of verbal commitments for our Monthly Financial requirement (what keeps us in Mexico).

We want to say "THANK YOU" to every single person who has committed to and is already partnering with us through finances, prayer, and/or team-building.  We appreciate your investment and look forward to what God is going to continue to do.  Check back to our progress page to see how God is continuing to provide.

Thanks GIVING!

Today we were able to help Gospel Light Baptist Church serve tasty meals to those in the community.

Serving Together: God has a plan

First of all, we want to thank every veteran who has so sacrificially served our country!  We truly appreciate and admire your service! Happy Veteran's Day!

Our family had the wonderful privilege to serve together at Gospel Light in our hometown this past Sunday. Ethan and Melanie both sang special music; Dave and Melanie shared how God is working in their lives; and Dave shared a message on the life of Joseph.  God had a specific plan for Joseph's life.  As Joseph told his brothers, they didn't send them to Egypt; God used them to send him there to preserve life (Genesis 45).

The people of Gospel Light were so hospitable and encouraging. We enjoyed sharing in the youth Sunday school class that morning, and Ethan loved participating in their "Pack a Shoebox" lunch for Operation Christmas Child after the service.  We look forward to partnering with them in ministry and serving together to further the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It was also neat to see great friends of ours with whom we served alongside at our home church. Both he and David said "they don't teach" but agreed to co-teach the middle school youth group at the time....Now, several years later, both are called to missions and preach whenever they have the opportunity to do so.  God certainly has a plan.  What is His plan for you?

Below are a few pics of our day with Gospel Light:

"Bye Week"

It may have been quiet on the blog lately, but it has not been quiet in the life of Powley Journey.
Dave and I have been teasing that we've had a "bye week" over the past week.  We may have slowed down meeting those who would like to know more about our ministry to Mexico, but we haven't slowed down in ministry. 

So what have we been up to?

• Carrying out our current ministry responsibilities:  holding our church's October Children/Student leadership meeting and spending time with our student group at Judgement House. We are getting ready for another night with our student ministry at Sisk Memorial Baptist Church with Rekindled of Word of Life Bible Institute.
• Diligently working on packets to send to churches to share our ministry and a video to show as we share Powley Journey.  Our next church ministry presentation is with Gospel Light Baptist in Rock Hill, SC on Sunday morning, November 8.
• Sharing our ministry presentation with our sending church where we serve.  We enjoyed being with them in that capacity this past Sunday and were once again blown away by their encouragement.  We are so thankful for them and how they love on us and show love to one another.  They also surprised our Pastor with a love gift and dinner following the service for Pastor Appreciation.  It was a great day to be at Westerly Hills!!

How can you pray?  Continue to pray for us as we minister, meet, and manage our everyday lives. 

• Pray as we minister to our students. 
• Pray as we meet with individuals who want to know how they can partner with Powley Journey. 
• Pray as we manage our everyday lives, ministry responsibilities, and Powley Journey in the midst of illness and an increased workload over the next few weeks.  There is power in prayer and we covet them very much. 

Powley Journey Appreciates Pastors

October is Pastor Appreciate Month.
We are truly appreciative of the pastors in our life.  You have molded us, taught us, encouraged us, and prayed with us.  Thank you for the time you've invested into those who God has brought into your path.  And, thank you to your families for the sacrifices they've made which many of us may never know.

Pastors face a great deal of pressures that we never fully understand.  What will you do to appreciate your pastor this month?

A Warm Welcome Home

We were so blessed to present Powley Journey at Melanie's home church, Calvary Baptist, this past Sunday.  Melanie grew up at this church, and both of us served together for 10 years in the audio/video and student ministries.  We greatly enjoyed being back with the students to teach Sunday School and also present in the morning worship service.  Both of us shared our testimonies, Melanie remembering the pastor and teachers she had at Calvary and Dave sharing how God is leading us to Mexico.  David also shared a few pictures from our time with Pastor and Mrs. Beard in Mexico in 2014 and a short challenge regarding our witness for Christ from the book of Daniel.  Melanie's cousin is now the pastor at Calvary and has been one of our greatest "cheerleaders" since the very beginning of this journey.  We cannot thank him enough for having us speak and share from our hearts.  We also thank the church for their warm welcome and look forward to our partnering with them in ministry. 

Journeying Along

In Philippians 4:17, Paul discusses how he doesn't seek the gift, but he seeks the work to be credited to their [the givers'] account.  And that is how we truly see this part of our journey: building partners in ministry who are just as much a part of the journey as the journey itself.  What was approached somewhat apprehensively has proven to be one of the sweetest times of fellowship, greatest times of encouragement, and continuous moments of confirmation by the One who has called us.  Our prayer, financial, and team-building partners are growing, and we are truly grateful for each one.

Our first church ministry presentation is this Sunday morning, 09-27, at Melanie's home church, Calvary Baptist. We are so excited to share Powley Journey with them. Individual partnership development meetings are happening each week.  Continue to pray for wisdom, guidance, and direction for both us and those whom God has prepared to travel alongside us.  Journey On.....   The Powleys

Newsletter Signup

Our first newsletter will be sent out tomorrow.  If you haven't already signed up, click on the picture to be added to our list.

Our Prayer Cards are in!!  

Send us your address if you'd like to receive one to remember us during our journey. 

Never Forget

September 11, 2001 I was changing air filters on the roof of Relizon in Charlotte, NC and received a call from my father-in-law letting me know of the attack on America that day.  He wanted to know if any of my employees were in or near uptown.  Charlotte is the second largest financial hub in America and there was speculation that there may be attacks here.

Thankfully there were not any attacks on Charlotte, however the senseless attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and tragedy in Shanksville, Pennsylvania was something I will never forget.

I will never forget watching the news and hearing the stories of the heroic men and women who gave their lives while trying to save others.  Those first responders, firemen, police and other heroes that ran into the buildings while others were running out impacted my life.

Ethan is infatuated with community helpers as most boys his age are.  We make it a point every Christmas to take some kind of goodies to fireman, police, ER nurses and the like who give up their day for the purpose of helping others.  When we are driving and hear sirens going by I will often tell him “let's pray for those firefighters (or Police)”.  A simple prayer, asking the Lord to protect them in their job and allow them to help others.

Today marks the 14^th anniversary of the attack on America.  Never forget the innocent who lost their lives and the heroes who gave theirs.

          

       -David

Full Circle

Several years ago, God used a book that totally changed my worldview: Radical by David Platt. It shifted my focus from pursuing the American Dream to abandoning it.

"We desperately need to explore how much of our understanding of the Gospel is American 

and how much is Biblical...

Somewhere along the way we missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable."

This book set me on a path to see missions and ministry wherever God planted me.  Little did I know that five years later, God would be leading me in another part of the world to pursue His call to global missions.  And little did I know that one of the quotes from that specific book would be included in the magazine announcing our pursuit of God's call to missions from the agency where He led us.

~~Melanie

To read about the missionaries serving in our region of the world, click here: http://www.abwe.org/news/2015-new-missionaries-to-latin-america#.VemVpX3IZ8E

 To read the full Message magazine, click here: http://www.abwe.org/message-magazine/the-2015-candidate-issue

Literature Ordered!!

We are so excited to announce our literature (brochure, table display, and prayer cards) have been ordered!!  Melanie's brother diligently worked on designing these items, and we are very thankful for his time and expertise he has given to the Powley Journey in this way.  We can't wait to see them printed and begin using them during our ministry visits and presentations. We hope to share them with you soon!

Ethan's Birthday!!

We came to eat lunch with Ethan today for his birthday and were greeted by these fantastic glasses!

Joy in the Journey

One more night to go of Partnership Development Training!  We have been working by day and training by night :-) We have been grateful for our family and babysitter for taking such great care of Ethan and Emily in the evenings.

We have learned a great deal of information, but the best part of this training has been hearing how God has and is working in the lives of the other appointed missionaries in our class. We've heard stories of God's faithfulness, comfort, and encouragement.  It's been a JOY to be a part of this class.

Psalms 9: 1-3, "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.  I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High."

Don't forget to sign up for our newsletter to hear more about how God is working.  We hope to send out our first newsletter in September.

Journey Happenings

Back to School!
Ethan started 3rd grade and Emily began her toddler class this week. Melanie has also returned to campus and begins teaching next week.  We are praying for all of our students and teachers this year as you all shine His light where He has placed you.

Still in Training.
David and Melanie are half-way through partnership development training.  These classes are Monday-Thursday evenings through the end of next week.  We are learning so much and have been encouraged by the many stories we have heard in class of how God works in the lives of individuals.

Making Progress.
This past week, we have finalized the design of our literature with the help of Melanie's brother and hope to have everything printed in the next few weeks.  We were also able to schedule our first church ministry presentation and are excited to see where God continues to lead us.

Kingdom Come Training

We just finished our first session in Kingdom Come Training: Prayer and Financial Partner Development.

Church Plants

Here is a map of the different towns where Thomas Beard has started churches.

Minion help

Ethan's Minion Piñata from Mexico is lending a helping hand holding our servant towels.  We were given these towels at ABWE's Recognition Service of appointed  Missionaries on July 17.

Missions Enrichment Conference 2015

300+ Missionaries singing together.  It was an amazing experience!

LAC Class of 2015

Here is the LAC (Latin American/Caribbean) Appointees for the Candidate Class of 2015!

Candidate to Appointee

Here we are one hour before we were appointed as Missionaries to Mexico with ABWE!