July Ministry Update

Summer RUF

Summer RUF has been going great! This Summer we have been doing a study of the Lord’s Prayer. Our group in Summer is significantly smaller than during the semester, but this has led to a sweet time of Study, Discussion, and Fellowship. Summer RUF consists of a meal provided by the host family (hosts include various members from Grace Presbyterian as well as people who partner with RUF at TTU through prayer and financial support) followed by a Bible Study. If you live in Cookeville and would be interested in hosting and getting a firsthand look at the ministry, please reach out!

Ministry, School, and Reading

I have had the opportunity to visit and preach and/or speak about the ministry of RUF at a number of churches this Summer. I will be preaching at First Presbyterian Church of Crossville on 7/9 and at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Tullahoma on 7/23. Please be praying that the Lord would bless my preaching on these dates and that I would faithfully proclaim His Word.

Seminary is going well! I am currently taking courses on Hebrew and Poets (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, and Lamentations). Please pray that the Lord would use these courses to grow me closer to Him, help me to better understand His Word, and to help me better communicate His Word to those to whom I minister.

I have also been able to do quite a bit of personal reading this Summer. My favorites have included The Power and the Glory: John Ross and the Evangelisation of Manchuria and Korea by John Stuart Ross, Forgive by Tim Keller, and Personality and Worldview by JH Bavinck. The Power and the Glory is a wonderful biography of the Scottish Missionary John Ross who was instrumental in the spread of the Gospel in Manchuria (Northeast China) and in Korea. It is wonderfully written and incredibly insightful into the history and methods of his mission. I bought Forgive at SuCo mainly because I knew that there was a chance it’d be the last book written by Tim Keller. It wasn’t until I began reading that I realized how wrong and shallow my understanding of forgiveness actually was. Keller does a fascinating job in helping one understand the biblical understanding of forgiveness and why it matters both personally and culturally. I 10/10 recommend this book to anyone! Bavinck’s Personality and Worldview was a more difficult read than the others, but it was certainly worth it. In this book, JH Bavinck (a 20th Century Dutch psychologist, theologian, and missiologist— not to be confused with his uncle Herman Bavinck) traces out how the Gospel provides an all encapsulating worldview which does not negate or ignore the reality of personality. I will be reading this book again this Fall with one of our students, and I am very excited to see how the Lord uses this time in our lives.

Life Update

This has been a great Summer for my family. Scarlett was able to do a one week dance camp and just last week got to go to VBS at our church. Kinsley has begun a once-a-week “Mommy and Me” dance program which has been rough, but ultimately, I think she is enjoying it. We also got to celebrate both Kinsley (2) and Scarlett’s (4) birthdays this Summer. Lottie is continuing to grow and develop and is by far our most “smiley” baby. Charli has recently taken an interest in homeopathics, and it has been great to learn all about this lesser-known (in the US) practice of medicine and to see her find something that she enjoys learning about and doing. We have also had the privilege to witness the marriages of 4 of our students this Summer.

Support Update

In terms of support, we have extremely exciting news! I have been approved for a Partners Matching Grant. This means that every new or raised donation will be matched up to $10,000. This is a huge blessing! As many of you know, finances have been difficult for RUF at TTU this year. This grant will double the impact of our new gifts and allow us to overcome the deficit of which we have been stuck for sometime now.

By new gifts, this refers to anything new or above and beyond regular giving. Thus, if you would like to take part in this unique opportunity to double your impact with RUF at TTU, there are a few things you can do.

1. Begin supporting the ministry of RUF by donating monthly (If you do this, your pledge amount for the remainder of the year will be doubled; thus, if you pledge $50 monthly starting in July, that will be $300 that is matched)

2. Give a One-Time donation

3. Increase your current monthly donation to RUF (For example, if you have been giving $25 a month for some years, but you realize that you can now increase your giving to $35 a month, the additional $10 will be doubled for the remainder of the year for a total of $60)

The Lord has been extremely gracious in providing for the ministry of RUF at TTU. In my last newsletter, I included a graphic which showed an outline of what monthly support was needed to be raised. I am going to include it below, but as you will notice, some of the “people” are now gold. This means that we have seen new donors come on for these amounts. I share this with you because it shows that we still need more in order to get our account to a healthy place, but also, it shows how faithful the Lord has been in providing new people who desire to partner with this ministry. Thank you all so much for your support! We could not do this without you!