FAMILY UPDATE
Greetings from the McCartys!
I trust this update finds you and your family well. 2017 has been already been a year of lows and highs for us. We are grateful for God’s faithfulness as He leads us through!
Tracy continues her valuable work at Born2Be TEC. They relocated recently to Winterhaven Ranch in Aubrey, and it has worked out very well. Already Born2Be hosted the 2017 North Texas Area Special Olympics Equestrian competition at the new location! It went very smoothly and all participants and volunteers (including the entire McCarty tribe) had a great time!
The Chidesters have had a wonderful 2017 as well. We are so proud of Cody, as he has been promoted to a new position in his work - some added responsibilities and challenges, which he is ready to take on! Dakota is down to her last year of Physical Therapy school at TWU Dallas. As you can imagine, she is just about “stick a fork in me” DONE with school. But she will be in the field doing her clinical experiences again soon, and that will help. They have continued to learn the balances of life and are doing great!
Trinity is almost a Junior - and she says she is neither ready nor desiring to be in the 11th grade. :-) She will adjust, I am certain. This past month, Trin was inducted into the National Honor Society! We are very proud! She also made it to the TAPPS State Tennis competition in Waco, TX playing doubles for Denton Calvary! Again, 2017 has been good to us!
Remington has fully healed from her most recent broken arm - so we anticipate another ER trip any day now. I keep receiving reports from school that she prefers to play with the boys because they play rougher than the girls. She loves life and lives out her calling to make everything fun! She and Trinity will be acting in the coming school rendition of “Wizard of Oz” in a few weeks.
Sierra has also had a good year. She recently won High Point for Walk/Trot at the Denton County Livestock Association Youth Fair Horse Show - which came with a belt buckle that is the size of a small serving platter and weighs as much as she does! We literally had to get her a new belt to support the buckle’s mass! She is a sweet kiddo and cannot imagine our family without her.
Lyric has learned a new trick, which I had to share: She unstacks the woodpile and distributes the logs around the yard. Such a good dog!
MINISTRY UPDATE
Pleasant Surprises!
It continues to astound me how the Lord has opened opportunities for expansion, and how He has enabled us to establish spiritual roots once we are in a new area! On my last 3-week journey overseas, I discovered that we have recently launched in the nation of Namibia! This was a welcome surprise, since our goal is for each nation to become self-sustaining, self-multiplying, and self-governing. We WANT our teams to be demonstrating ownership over the whole multiplication process. Additionally, our desire is that each new location of expansion would be established strongly with qualified and well-equipped pastors and leaders who have proven faithfulness by being doers of the word and not merely hearers. Every Generation MULTIPLYING to the 4th Generation, at every level: Leaders, Disciples, Cell Churches, and Church Planting Movements.
Growing “Deep and Wide”!
You may remember the children’s song that goes “Deep and wide! Deep and wide! There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide!” Admit it, some of you had a hard time not doing the hand motions right then.
“Deep and Wide” growth is exactly what we are aiming for, and this has truly been the case through Reuben Mwambola (below), our National Director of Rwanda! When Reuben began working with Strategic Impact, he was living in Burundi (a nearby nation which has been ravaged by civil infighting and chaos) where he began the SI process of making and maturing multiplying disciples, equipping leaders to multiply cell churches and other leaders, and launching the beginnings of a movement of cell-church planting. After seeing how God used the training to multiply the kingdom, Reuben used his connections across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] to launch and establish SI in 2 cities in the DRC. He did such a great job in Burundi, that even when he and his wife had to flee the country (He is Tanzanian, she is Rwandan) due to increasing danger and conflict within Burundi, the work continued to flourish and grow under the direct oversight of the men trained. Now in Rwanda, the homeland of Reuben’s wife, he has started the work in a 3rd nation. This is 4th Generation Multiplication and beyond! Myself to Sainet Phiri to Israel Wandamba to Azikiwe Lutufyo to Reuben Mwambola to Dr. John Kupendwa in DRC and Bishop Niko in Burundi to those pastors and leaders they multiplied into within their communities. Each generation making disciples, prayerfully identifying and equipping leaders to plant cell churches, and repeat the whole thing someplace new.
This is how God has helped us to grow “Deep and Wide”! Going “deep” at each location through honest brotherly love and relationship which leads to effective training and localized Multiplication. Then going “wide” as those who are equipped and have proven faithful take the entire process and establish it in the next community, village, city, province, or even nation! This is how in 2016 alone, the teams in Burundi, DRC, and Rwanda equipped 2898 new leaders, led 4418 new believers to faith in Christ, and planted 382 new cell churches. They are truly owning the call to reach their nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Please keep us and our teams in your prayers as we seek to embody the Great Commandment through the fulfillment of the Great Commission!
The McCartys