Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go….For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.     Joshua 1: 6-8; 9b (NIV)

There was a gnawing in the pit of my stomach as I read the email. Our son Richie had forwarded an email he had received from the University of Chicago. They had already accepted him but now they were accepting him to the summer program. He would be leaving within a week. My eyes filled with tears as the reality of this next transition hit me hard.

It had been difficult with our daughter Aida but now we were accustomed to her living in Charlottesville and slowly becoming a young adult. Now my middle child would be leaving our nest and the house will be oh so quiet. I know we still have Joshua and we will adjust to this new reality but there is a sweetness to the sound of driving on Interstate 8 from San Diego listening to all three kids speak and give each other a hard time.

To add to the intensity of this transition is the fact that Joshua just finished his last year of elementary School. He seems to be shooting up right before my eyes. My baby is becoming an adolescent and though I rejoice in all of these new beginnings, part of me is sad and scared.

I can’t imagine how Joshua (the leader of the Israelites) felt when he had to take on the role of the highly respected and iconic Moses. There is a reason why the scripture repeats more than once to be strong and very courageous. He must have been terrified; I know that I would have been. He has been given the mandate to lead his people on to conquer the Promised Land. People were expecting much of him. Yet of all the wonderful words of counsel that he could get; God tells him to remember two things, hold on to the Law and be strong and courageous.

I can imagine Joshua thinking ‘I am about to start this whole new part of my life and these people are depending upon me’, Is that it God? I don’t get a magic staff or some other symbol of authority. In Jesus time the Law was summarized by this phrase; Love the Lord your God with the totality of all you are and love your neighbor as yourself. God is telling Joshua to hold on to the Law, to depend on it, to not stray to the right or to the left. Just two things: he must depend on the Lord and be strong and courageous. Now to me this sounds a little contradictory. How do you depend totally on God and at the same time be strong and courageous. Isn’t that depending on yourself? Why didn’t God just say depend on me to give you courage and strength?

You know, maybe Joshua is a little like many people who have positions of leadership. We have gifts and talents. Moses recognized those gifts and talents in Joshua and encouraged him to develop those leadership skills. There would be many challenges facing Joshua in the years to come and as he held on to the Law and depended totally on God, he learned that the strength and courage that he needed was coming from that relationship.

Most of us think that we can do it ourselves if we try hard enough. It is difficult for us to depend on God, to love him with all we’ve got, with all of our gifts and talents and to let God use those gifts and talents for his glory. It is not easy to let God be in control but God tells Joshua and he tells us, hold on to the Law and be very strong and courageous for if we do so, God will be with us wherever we go and we shall be successful. (Maybe the next newsletter should speak about what it means to be successful.)

Now I know that our challenge is meager compared to what Joshua was facing, but I too am fearful and have to let the kids go and grow. I too have questions about what our life will look like as the years go on. As we look at the challenges of conquering the Empty Nest, as our children develop their gifts and talents and spread their wings to fly to new adventures; our life will be different, may we listen to God speaking to us in a silent home, may we hear God’s call to depend totally on him, to be strong and courageous and to continue to be faithful to what God is calling us to do and to be. For surely God will be with us wherever we go and will give us success.

So what’s next for the Barnes

We are coming to the end of our year of home assignment, to a year of many transitions, much travel and still many questions about the future. We look forward to returning to Mexico and to the challenges that await us as we minister with the Convencion Baustista Dios con Nosotros. We have made a list of new goals and now we present them to God. As I said above, sometimes we feel so self sufficient and act like we don’t need God leading us as we conquer the challenges before us.

One of the biggest challenges we have is to meet our financial goal. We have been writing emails, making phone calls and asking different churches and individuals to become financial partners in our ministry to Mexico. I can assure you that reaching out to people is very difficult to do. We really do need to be strong and courageous as some will say no but will continue to support us with their prayers. We really need to believe that many of you want to participate in the challenges and ministry that await us in Mexico.

These are some of the goals that we are setting for ourselves:

1.     To speak at every church in the convention challenging them to identify leaders of both genders to be trained in outreach and new church planting.

2.     To develop an electronic newsletter for New Church Planters.

3.     To develop a Women in Ministry Support Group.

4.     To develop regional partners in ministry groups so that church planters can support each other.

5.     To continue to teach at the seminary developing an emphasis on new church planting.

6.     To be open to God’s Spirit and leadership for new opportunities, new relationships and to discover the new thing that God is already doing in Mexico.

7.     Personally, I Mercy would like to further my education and am applying to a DMIN program focusing on “the Beloved Community”.

8.     Rick wants to develop a program that focuses on chaplaincy, and spiritual care in the Mexican context.

9.     We both want to continue to be supportive of our children as they study in Virginia, Chicago and Junior High School and work at enjoying this part of our lives as a couple.

We share these goals so that you can pray for us and so you can consider prayerfully whether God is calling you to become a financial partner in ministry. Our financial goal is to increase our network of supporters by 20. We need twenty NEW partners who will commit to our support with $50.00 a month. If $50 seems like a lot, speak with a group of people from your network of believers who will come together to help become a financial unit for our support. This is very doable. Please pray for this goal.

   1. You can support our ministry by giving at your local church.  Write the check out to World Mission Offering and on the memo section write "ongoing support for the Barnes".

   2. You can give directly to our ministry by calling International Ministries at 1 800 222-3872 and ask to speak with someone from the finance department at IM.  They can process your checks or you can do a direct deposit with your debit card. 

   3. You can send your check directly to International Ministries at:

            International Ministries

P.O. Box 851

Valley Forge, PA. 19482-0851

Remember to write “ongoing support Barnes” on the memo line.

 

     4. You can give online at www.internationalministries.org/give  On the left, click on Missionaries.  You'll see our name on the right and a box where you can enter your gift.

On a recent trip to West Virginia, Rev. Max Hill introduced the offering time after my presentation. He said not to give until it hurt but to give until it felt good. Please give until it feels good, be strong and courageous for the Lord our God will surely be with all of us. God bless you all!

Mercy and Rick