May/June Prayer Update
This is, D.V., our last general update from this side of the ocean for at least the rest of the year, and we have many reasons to give thanks to God as we look back over the year.
Transportation
Before we began traveling in early 2008, we prayed that God would supply us with a van for deputation.
We already had a 1994 Dodge Caravan that a family in our church had graciously given to us. But with 150,000 miles, we didn’t think it would be reliable enough for all our traveling. However, as each new trip approached without another vehicle becoming available, we continued to use the Caravan. We faithfully carried the title with us, so that if it ever broke down, we could just get rid of the van and rent a car to get home. We were told it would definitely not be worth fixing! (I remember when our hearts nearly stopped when the van died on us in El Paso, Texas. The joke turned out to be on us. It was only out of gas!) That van has taken us to southern Florida, northern Maine, Arizona, Minnesota, three Canadian provinces and many points in between. We have just returned from New York (our last major trip) and with 226,829 miles to its credit, the Caravan still hasn’t had any major mechanical issues! God, in an unexpected way, answered our prayer for a vehicle, and we give praise to Him. Support
We began 2009 with 29% of our support needs met. Having already visited 70 churches and with nearly a year of travels already behind us, we wondered how long the deputation trail would stretch out before us. Today, by God’s undeserved kindness, we have reached 70% of our goal and have plans to move to France next month. God has so overwhelmed us with kindness, we almost feel ashamed. Now we are praying that the remainder of our support will come in so that we do not have to leave our place of ministry in 2010 to continue traveling in the United States. We know that God is able, and we look forward to seeing how He will provide. We are in the exciting position of not knowing when, how or from where God’s provision will come. It does keep us rather keyed up every time we go to check our email or answer the phone!
Visas
One of the ways God has recently reminded us of the fragility of both us and our ministry is by causing a snag in our visa application process. I won’t give all the details (more are available on our blog), but we visited the French Consulate on April 14 with a high degree of confidence that we had all our ducks in a row and that it would only be a short amount of time (1 to 2 weeks, according to others’ recent experiences) before we held our visas in hand. It didn’t happen that way! After the Protestant Federation of France denied to issue us the invitation the consulate said we were required to have, we jumped through multiple hoops to secure two other invitations that we prayed would be accepted as replacements. We received a phone call last week from the representative of the consulate who chided us for not returning the required form. After kindly t
rying to explain to him our predicament, he told me that he would make an “exception” that “could not be repeated” and accept the replacement invitations we had sent in as sufficient. We were overjoyed at the news. However, more than a month after first requesting the visas, we still do not have them in hand, and we cannot purchase plane tickets until we do. Would you please pray that God would move the proper authorities to send us our needed visas? We rejoice in a God who sovereignly controls nations (and their consulates!) according to His will. We will try to keep you posted with news of our visas and move on our blog as it unfolds. We hope to fly to France on June 24. Please pray for the much-needed wisdom about how/what/when to pack. It is difficult to leave the country not knowing if this is a permanent move or just a six-month deployment. The task of going through nine years of accumulated … uh … “treasures” is daunting. We just discovered yesterday that my nice gas grill was stolen while we were away on our last trip. After indulging in thoughts of finding and grilling whoever stole it, I was able to rejoice that my life doesn’t consist in the accumulation of things I possess, and in the fact that there is now one less thing we have to figure out what to do with before we leave!
May God be with you all,
Tim for the family
Itinerary
May 3 (am) — Albany, NY
May 3 (pm) — Mohawk, NY
May 6 — Queensbury, NY
May 10 — Jamesville, NY
May 13 — Weare, NH
May 17 — Cohoes, NY
May 23 — Wedding of Ruth’s sister in Raleigh, NC
May 24 (pm) — Burlington, NC
June 14 — Apex, NC
June 21 — Sendoff service at CPBC in Spartanburg, SC
June 24 — Planned departure for France!
Prayer Update: January/February 2009
Though Tim is normally the scribe for our family, this time he asked if I would write this special “Year-in-Review” update letter and give you some insight into what the Lord has been doing in the life of our family during our first year of deputation.
2008 in Review
It truly is hard to believe that an entire year has passed since we left our post at Cleveland Park Bible Church of Spartanburg and hit the
road. I have reflected many times recently on how often it seemed the world was advancing and changing all around us during those first seven years of our married life while we sat stationary in our little house in Taylors, wondering what the world looked like outside of South Carolina. And, boy, have we gotten a crash course! Since we began traveling in January of last year, we have covered 33,311 miles of highway in 25 different states while ministering in a grand total of 70 churches so far. We are very grateful to the many churches and individuals who have opened their doors, prophets’ chambers and pocket books to help us along the way during 2008. The Lord has used you to sustain and encourage us in our beginning efforts to take the hope of the Gospel to France.Family Life
Naturally, as the wife and mother of this missionary family, my greatest fear when beginning our fast-paced year of travel was how we would be able to function as a family and consistently train our children with such a varied “routine”. Though our changing circumstances have at times produced many new challenges in regard to our family, I can confidently state that God has also given additional grace (and many merciful and patient hosts!) to meet those challenges.
Last June, we began homeschooling Micaiah in K-5 through the use of BJU’s HomeSat DVDs. We’ve been very grateful for the excellent resource these DVDs have proven to be, and while we have had to be flexible, the daily class work has actually provided a good outlet for the kids’ time and energy as we have many days in prophets’ chambers and hosts’ homes in between our church-day meetings. Micaiah was a little overwhelmed when he realized that learning to read takes longer than a single class period, but the whole process has been a great tool for building endurance and character (in both him and his parents!). It has been so much fun to see him making progress.
Miriam, who will be turning 4 in February, often watches Micaiah’s school DVDs with him and is picking up some things here and there as well. She will get to spend yet another birthday in snowy New England, as we will be returning there for meetings next month. Her pleasant disposition and affectionate tenderness are a bright spot to us wherever we are. We long for your continued prayers for our family, that as a couple we would learn more and more how to defer to one another in love, that as parents we would be consistent and increasingly more Biblical in our child-rearing, and that our children would continue to grow in their understanding of and desire for spiritual things. Tim frequently reminds our children as we travel, that while we are going around to other churches telling you all about our desire to make disciples in France, we must first be diligent in making genuine disciples of them.
Support and Future Plans
We are happy to report that we now have eight churches and 10 families who have committed to supporting us on a regular basis, bringing our present support level to 35%. In addition, there are several others who have informed us that they are prayerfully considering what their role should be in our ministry for the coming year. Please pray with us that God would direct in each of these instances, and that He would give us the provision we need to be able to go to France in June of this year. We believe we ought to have at least 50% of our ultimate support goal in order to make that 6-month trip. We are even now beginning to wade through the various documents and applications we must complete in preparation for a trip to the French consulate in mid-March to apply for our visas.
Jesus Christ, Our Greatest Treasure
As I reflect on the spiritual lessons we have learned during this year of travel, the one that stands out to me the most is from Romans 8:28-29. Many times now I have sat in a church service and heard Tim explain the process those verses describe: how God is giving glory to His Son Jesus Christ by making all of us to be His imitators, and how our efforts to imitate Him through the circumstances He arranges say to the world around us that Jesus Christ must really be a special treasure if so many Christians (a.k.a. “little Christs”) want so badly to be like Him! During these months of unsettled dwelling, being a constant guest, having those same introductory conversations with so many different people, longing for my own kitchen and dresser drawers instead of a suitcase, I have been learning that all of those things are secondary. That, while the ultimate goal of our travels is to get to France and sometimes it seems we are taking a circuitous route, even these days of a pilgrim existence are days that God has designed specifically for our family as an opportunity for us to learn to be like Him and to testify through those efforts that He is our greatest treasure. Would you pray that we would continue to grow in this perspective? And may He be your greatest treasure, too.
In Him,
Ruth for the family
___________________
Itinerary
January 4 — Brevard, NC
January 11 (am) — Ramseur, NC
January 11 (pm) — Conover, NC
January 18 (am) — Midlothian, VA
January 18 (pm) — Richmond, VA
January 25 — Asheville, NC
February 1-4 — West Chester, PA
February 8 — Grand Rapids ,OH
February 11 — Palmer, MA
February 15 — Concord, NH
February 19 — Manchester, NH
February 22 (am)— Colchester, CT
February 22 (pm)— Merrimack, NH
February 25 — Dublin, NH
November/December Prayer Update
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
It is a joy to be able to send out another update in the anticipation that many will be reminded to pray for us. It is difficult, however, to absorb the fact that this is our November/December update!
WHAT DO MOUNTAINS SAY?If sound waves could be captured and turned into cash, the back seat of our Dodge Caravan would be a gold mine on wheels. While questions exude almost incessantly from the two car seats behind us, every once in a while there is a comment that leaves me wondering whether it was merely the product of a mindless endeavor to fill the void or the genuine outflow of some diligent cerebral activity. Take, for example, this question: What do mountains say? Should you chide the child for being ridiculous or praise him or her for being unusually perceptive and insightful? Before you give your verdict, consider the context: we are driving on one of the top five scenic routes in the United States up from the beautiful red mountains of Sedona, AZ, through the 8,000-foot-high Ponderosa Pine forest and on to the breath-stopping vistas of the Grand Canyon. Regardless of how the question was intended, it immediately brought to my mind the words of Psalm 19. It is a travesty to think that every year millions of people come to gawk at this beautiful scenery, and yet stop their ears as it thunders forth the glory of God.
ON A COVERT VACATION?
Some may wonder if this whole “pre-field ministry” is nothing but a smokescreen to cover for a clandestine, long-term vacation. Well, let me just say, some of it is out-and-out vacationing, pure and simple! Through the generosity of a friend, we were given three free nights in Sedona, AZ (two hours south of the Grand Canyon), that were just fabulous. Our travels have brought their own set of perks (a.k.a. blessings) and challenges (a.k.a. trials). I won’t venture to produce a list for either category, though I will say that Ruth and I often marvel at what a unique (even odd) stage of life we are in. The kids? They think it’s normal to have people take you out to eat in restaurants, sleep in new beds, spend hours in the van and ask, What do mountains say? as they’re scanning the beautiful landscape of northern Arizona.
THE ROAD BEHIND AND AHEAD
We are more than 5,000 miles into our present 8-week-long trip and finally at its most western point—which means we have a long way to go to get
home! By the time it is over, we will have been in 17 churches in Florida, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. God has blessed us with good meetings and many new friends. We are especially grateful to the four new individuals/families who have committed to partnering with us, bringing our promised support to 28% of our target. We have been blessed by my Uncle Bacilio and Aunt Eunice Alfaro who have graciously allowed us to use their home as a base in the Phoenix area. We hope to return home to Spartanburg by the end of November. Plans are still in place for us to travel to France next June to replace my parents in Bordeaux through the end of 2009. We still need more support than we have at present to be able to make this short-term trip, and we would love to reach 100% of our goal before then in order to remain in France in 2010. Obviously, this is a major prayer request. Other prayer requests include the health of our van (which has held up well so far) and especially our own growth in grace during this time of transition. While we all pray, prepare and plan for the future, none of us knows where the road ahead will lead. We can, however, relax in an all-wise, good, and powerful God who has promised to make our paths straight. May God help us all to resist self-reliance and anxiety and to trust wholeheartedly in Him.In Christ,
Tim, Ruth, Micaiah & Miriam
ITINERARY
November 2 (am) - Phoenix, AZ
November 2 (pm) - Avondale, AZ
November 9 - Gilbert, AZ
November 12 - Queen Creek, AZ
November 16 - Tucson, AZ
November 19 - Albuquerque, NM
November 30 - Cary, NC
December 14 - Greenville, SC
September/October Prayer Update
Where have we been in the last two months? Well, to tell you the truth, that’s a question I couldn’t answer off the top of my head. I had to look back at our calendar to remind myself of all the places we’ve gone. After you have been traveling for a while, all your separate experiences begin to amalgamate into one mosaic memory. Not that the individual pieces are all forgotten, but my memory doesn’t retain them on a chronological grid. A look back at our calendar has reminded me that in July and August we had meetings in Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Ohio again,
and North Carolina. Some highlights were the extra preaching opportunities I was given by several churches, including the opportunity to do a mini-series on the book of Jonah in Madison, Ohio; a biographical sketch of missionary William Carey in Rockford, Illinois; and a full day of preaching just last week in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Don’t forget that you can view pictures and frequent updates of our travels under “Bixby News” at www.HopeforFrance.org.UPCOMING TRAVELS
Before you receive our next update letter, we are should have had meetings in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina again, Florida, Texas and—yes—Arizona. Please pray that God will prevent
our Dodge Caravan (with more than 194,000 miles already on its record) from entering an unannounced early retirement. With our hopes set on leaving for France in less than a year, we don’t want to invest in another vehicle. On the other hand, neither do we want to break down on a deserted highway halfway across Texas! We are confident that God has sovereign control even over transportation concerns.A DEPARTURE DATE
We do have some exciting news to share! My parents would like to come home on furlough next year and have asked us to come and replace them in their ministry in Bordeaux, France, during that time. Our plans are to go in mid-June 2009 and stay at least through the end of the year. If we have reached our support goal by the time we leave, we will simply remain on in France. (Boy, wouldn’t that be exciting!) If not, we may have to return for a few months in 2010 to finish raising the needed funds. Since we were already planning to kick off our French ministry in Bordeaux, this new opportunity comes not as a delay, but as an acceleration of our plans. It will allow us to get re-immersed into French ministry (I’ll be doing all the preaching in
French), to study and improve our French skills in the university, and to begin preparations for our own future church plant. Needless to say, we are excited to have a departure date in sight.Please pray that God will guide us as we begin to navigate the complicated visa system. We will soon have to choose between the short-term fix of applying for a student visa (good for one year) or the more permanent (and more difficult to obtain) long-term visitor’s visa. The determining factor will probably be how much support has been committed by the time we have to apply for our visas. Please pray that God will either bring in all of our permanent support in time for the June departure, or give us partners who would be willing to support us as short-term missionaries for the six months we hope to spend in France next year.
THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
Adoniram Judson once said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” As we (along with you) look to the future with hearts full of aspirations and uncertainties, may we always remember that our lives are guided by the all-wise, all-powerful, and all-good God. We wouldn’t want it any other way.
In Christ,
Tim for the family
ITINERARY
September 3 — Greenville, SC
September 7 (am) — Reading, PA
September 7 (pm) — Berwick, PA
September 10 — Pepperell, MA
September 14-15 — Darlington, MD
September 24 — Greenville, SC
September 28 — Lady Lake, FL
October 1 — Winter Garden, FL
October 3-5 — Panama City, FL
October 12 — Houston, TX
October 15 — Rockwall, TX
October 19 — Katy, TX
October 22 — Tucson, AZ
October 26 (am) — Sahuarita, AZ
October 26 (pm) — Scottsdale, AZ
October 31 — Buckeye, AZ
July/August Update Letter
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
Let me begin by giving public praise and thanks to God for the love and grace that He faithfully showers on His children. We are happy to be able to report back to you in safety and good health, very conscious of God’s care and protection over us. I last wrote to you from Massachusetts. After that time, we were able to visit several more churches in New England. Some of the special “extras” of the trip included a visit with a cousin in Vermont and a “jaunt” up into Québec where we were able to spend two days with church planter Jean Rousseau and family. I was able use my French both on the streets while we did some literature distribution and in the mid-week service where I got to preach in French for the first time in more than two years. It was an exciting experience for us to be able to be immersed into a French-speaking culture for a couple of days and heightened our own anticipation of arriving soon in France. Since returning to South Carolina our mileage has significantly decreased with only two weekends in North Carolina and the other services closer to home. It has been refreshing to once again minister to and with the people of our home church during this last month in Spartanburg. I was able to fill the pulpit on two different Sundays while our pastor was out of town, and our entire family helped with a large-scale community outreach that took place on June 14.
Ordination
On Saturday, June 7, the 10 men who formed my ordination council gathered to evaluate my call and preparation for the Gospel ministry. The three-hour questioning was a humbling experience for me, yet also confirming when they unanimously voted to recommend that my church ordain me to the Gospel ministry. The official ordination took place on the following day. I am grateful for all the friends and family who joined us for the occasion and for my brother Bob who brought an excellent message especially suited to the occasion.
Wedding
Last Saturday I was honored to be the officiating minister and preacher at the wedding of Amy Sutter and Josh Jensen. I was Amy’s pastor for nearly five years, and Josh is the son of our mission director and wife, Ken and Joan Jensen. The joy of seeing such a godly, mature couple united, along with our long-term friendship with Amy and our fondness for the Jensens made the occasion a special one for us in which we counted it an honor to take part.
Partners in Ministry
Since I last wrote, we have had three churches and one family begin partnering with us on a financial level. We are so grateful to God for providing through these friends. Not only has the Lord provided us with financial partners in these friends, but we are also grateful for the lifelong friendships and prayer warriors we have found in our travels. We have now reached about 17% of our estimated needs for living and ministering in France. Please pray that God will continue to burden and enable more churches and individuals to partner with us in this way.
Thank you so much for your prayers, interest and support. This missionary endeavor to France is truly a group effort, and we are thankful for all those who have joined us.
Grateful in His service,
Tim for the family
Itinerary
July 6 — Hampton, GA
July 13 — Madison, OH
July 16— Belpre, OH
July 20 — Columbus, OH
July 23 — Greenup, IL
July 27 — Rockford, IL
August 3 — Glenford, OH
August 31 — Pikeville, NC
May/June Prayer Update
When I sat down to write our last prayer update, I was sitting in
The Ubiquitous Question
When we visit any church, the two most frequently asked questions are, “When do you hope to leave for
Invitation
We are presently halfway through a 49-day trip up to
We especially want to thank the many who have prayed for us and encouraged us by showing interest in and enthusiasm for our mission of Proclaiming the Hope of the Gospel in France. We have been repeatedly overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of God’s people to us.
Gratefully yours,
Tim for the family
March/April Prayer Update
Dear Friends and Ministry Partners,
I’m sitting here in Stoughton, Massachusetts, looking at snow outside the window and reflecting on all we have seen and experienced in the last two months. Since last writing we have traveled through 13 states, covered more than 4,500 miles and presented our ministry in 14 churches. We’ve enjoyed sunny, 83-degree days in Florida and a 10-inch snow storm in Maine with a wind chill of below 0. It is somewhat of an irony that we will move to France knowing a whole lot more of the United States than we would have ever known had we chosen never to move away. Traveling is also a special delight to a guy who as a child (and yes, I admit, even now) loved to pour over maps and daydream about traveling to far away places.
South to Florida
We were blessed to begin our travels accompanied by our future co-workers, Michael and Liz Cole. After services in Georgia and northern Florida, our travels together culminated in a very special missions conference in Naples, Florida. The friends we made are too numerous to list, but perhaps you can get an idea of the pleasures we all experienced by what Micaiah said when he realized that we were on the last leg of our journey home: “But I want to go to other churches and play with more children.” After a short visit at home and a weekend in North Carolina, we packed our bags again for this five-week trek through New England.
North to Maine
So far, our winter New England trip has given us
new friends in New Hampshire and Maine. The weather has been an extreme contrast to Florida, but we’ve experienced the same warm fellowship. Miriam celebrated her third birthday in the cold country, and Micaiah would play in the snow until he were blue in the face if only we’d let him. Ruth and I have been inspired by faithful individuals, families and churches seeking first God’s Kingdom in their own local contexts.
Thinking globally
While we are all physically limited to our present context, the Gospel is at work saving souls and changing lives all around the world. For the last five years my context has been mostly limited to Spartanburg, South Carolina. I’ve been blessed, challenged and gratified by what God was doing there. But recently I’ve experienced first-hand God’s working in cities across Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Maine. I find it both encouraging and humbling to remind myself that my God-assigned row in the vineyard is but one small portion of what God is doing in the earth. Speaking to saints in North America about God’s work in Europe has, I hope, been used by God to enlarge people’s vision and burden for the global scope of God’s redemptive plan in Christ. While we must all act locally, foreign missions provides a way for God’s people to celebrate and participate in God’s work globally.
Please Pray
Please continue to pray for safety in our travels, that God would fill our schedule for 2008 and that He would provide our support in a way that would magnify His provision. Pray that God will help us to minister and to be ministered to along the journey. Pray also that God would help me complete my doctrinal statement for my upcoming ordination scheduled for June.
Gratefully yours in the service of our Lord,
Tim for the family
____________________________________________
Itinerary
March 2 — Newton, MA (AM);
Salem, NH (PM)
March 5 — Hampden, ME
March 9— Manomet, MA (AM);
Westport, MA (PM)
March 12 — Brockton, MA
March 16 — Fitchburg, MA
March 19 — Berwick, PA
April 2-6—Raleigh, NC
April 9—Clearwater, FL
April 16—Ledyard, CT
April 20—Grafton, MA
April 23-27—Burlington, MA
April 27—Warwick, RI (PM)
January/February Prayer Update
With gratitude and love ,
Tim, Ruth, Micaiah & Miriam
TRBixby@HopeforFrance.org
Jan. 13 — Hiram, GA
Jan. 16 — Spring Hill, FL
Jan. 18-20— Naples, FL
Jan. 27 — Bradenton, FL
Feb. 3 — Alamance, NC
Feb. 17 — Rochester, NH (AM); Dover, NH (PM)
Feb. 24 — Scarborough, ME
