Category Archives: Deputation
Vance Family Footnotes
- It’s been another blessed & busy week.
- We were able to be with Pastor Steve Powers and Oconee Baptist Church in Bishop, GA last Wednesday to present our ministry.
- He started the church that Chris Webb, a good friend of mine and former assistant pastor at our home church now pastors.
- Sunday Morning through Wednesday we were part of our mission board’s annual conference at Crossroads Baptist Church in Lawrenceville, GA.
- Morning and Evening services were such a blessing and encouragement to me!
- Thanks Crossroads Baptist Church and pastor Kuykendall for all you did for us. We were blown away by your hospitality!
- Monday morning Anabel had her follow-up appointment with the Pediatric Dermatologist who oversaw her care last month in beginning her treatment.
- She upped the dosage of Anabel’s medication according to her weight and will see her every month for now to keep monitoring her.
- Amira has been sick all week and was kind enough to share it with me.
- Two more churches let us know they took us on for monthly support this week!
- We praise the Lord for His provision and care of us.
Vance Family Footnotes
I’ll be starting a regular posting of where we’ve been and what’s going on with us as we raise support to go to Colombia. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this type of update.
∙ We enjoyed being fairly close to our home this past week after being on the road for quite a while
∙ I attended a conference Tuesday and Wednesday in Atlanta in Spanish geared toward evangelism. It encouraged me to see hundreds of Hispanic pastors and their members excited about reaching others for God’s glory.
∙ Last Wednesday I presented our ministry at Good News Baptist Church in Candler, NC with Pastor Steve Smith. Great meeting and great church!
∙ Sunday Morning I got to preach twice while at Trinity Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA for their missions month. What a fun time we had with these dear people (and they gave us several pints of strawberries… Amira’s favorite!). The last time I was at this church was on my 11th birthday when my parents were part of their missions conference. My, how time flies.
∙ Sunday evening we had the rare privilege to be at our home Spanish church (where I had pastored) and to interpret for my Dad as he ministered there through an evangelistic Chalk art presentation.
∙ Anabel had a follow-up appointment with her eye specialist who was the one to recommend the treatment for her tumor. She was very impressed on how Anabel has improved! We won’t go back there for another 6 months. Next week we’ll see the Pediatric Dermatologist that oversaw her treatment at Egleston Children’s Hospital.
∙ My trusty Macbook computer has officially died after 6 years of hard use. I thought it was just the hard drive, but I took it to a repair place and they said it is the logic board/magsafe board. Anyways, repairs will cost hundreds more than it is worth. Time to save up for another. Pray God provides for this need.
∙ I was able to witness to two young Mormon missionaries yesterday after helping them jump off their car battery. Matthew 5:43-48 and Proverbs 25:21-22 come to mind. Pray that these men will trust Christ as their Savior.
∙ We’ve had 3 new financial partners just added to our team. Praise the Lord!!
Thank you for all for keeping up to date with our family. It means so much to us and we are very grateful.
How can we pray for you? Let us know in a message or comment.
I’ll be on the radio today!
This week we are enjoying a missions conference at Grace baptist Church in Newport North Carolina. The Lord has done incredible things through this ministry, including starting and running the Fundamental Broadcasting Network. They have a strong station here and dozens others all around the world.
Pastor Clyde Eborn has given us a 5 minute spot to speak of our ministry to Colombia on FBN radio. It will air sometime today (April 20) and you can tune in to listen on their website: http://www.fbnradio.com/
Thanks for following our ministry. We love y’all!
Raising A Child On The Road (Video)
This is how Amira likes to travel!
A few years ago I had all the answers. If you asked, I could probably give some [pretty good] advice on being a great spouse, raising practically perfect children, preaching fantastic sermons, and whatever else you’d like to throw my way. I even had Bible verses for all that!
But the old saying I’ve heard said a thousand times now rings true in my life…
“The older I get, the less I know!”
Marriage, ministry, raising children and life in general takes hard work, tireless determination and God’s grace. It is easy to talk about and hard to do.
I remember countless times seeing THAT child at Walmart (you know who I’m talking about!) and thinking… “That will never happen with my kids.” You know, the boy who whines, screams and openly rebels against his parents. The girl who gets what she wants, when she wants, and how she wants it… or else. The kid that is nothing less than a brat.
Well, guess what… God has blessed me with a wife and a munchkin of my own! Suddenly, I realized things really aren’t as easy as I had supposed. Just this week we were at the store and in a moment which snuck up on me like a tiger on its prey, I was that parent with that kid.
And you know what? The more I am blessed to lead a family, the more I realize something… we desperately need God’s presence in each of our lives! You see, no matter how much discipline, structure, schedule and consistency we have in our parenting, it is human nature to rebel. We are born in iniquity and foolishness, and without God’s grace we will continue in that same rebellion until our last breath.
Aubrie and I hope to raise children that fear the Lord, respect his Word, and enjoy serving him. But above all else we want to see them individually submit themselves to God’s loving hand when they understand their need of his salvation. That is why we try our best to have family devotion time. This has been one of the hardest things to keep regular and consistent in while traveling on the road, but the need for us all to meditate on God’s Word and commune with him in prayer is paramount. They need the Word of God. I need the Word of God.
Raising a child while on the road has its challenges. We’re blessed that [as of right now] Amira loves to travel. Going “bye-bye” is one of her favorite things to do! Spending hours in the car going from one meeting to the next is still something fun for her. It’s hard to believe she’ll be two this month, and it’s hard to believe that in just over 2 months we’ll meet her baby sister (who is still unnamed, by the way). With the Lord’s help we hope to live by the principle found in Proverbs 22:6
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
How do you and your family do devotion time together? What advice do you have and what challenges do you face? Leave your answer in the comments… I’d love to hear from you!
Here’s a recent video of us reading through a chapter in proverbs together as a family. Amira likes to repeat the phrases sometimes, it really is cute. We love you guys! Thanks for following us and for your prayers.
Missionaries Burning Rubber
Saturday we will hop in our van and start one of our busiest stretches of deputation yet. We’ll be in at least 18 churches and 11 states during the month of February (that is an average of over 4 per week!), travelling around 4-5 thousand miles, preaching, presenting our burden for Colombia, meeting fellow believers, and hopefully establishing new partnerships that will get us even closer to reaching Colombia. Here is a map to give you an idea of the travelling we’ll be doing:
Thank you so much for your prayers. I’ll be honest, deputation has been one of the best times of our lives. We have enjoyed seeing our beautiful country, spending time with each other as a family, getting to preach all over the place, and seeing God do mighty things in our lives. I can honestly say, it has been awesome!
The Vance Family 