Dear friend of IAA,
Here is a brief update of events since our men returned to training in January.
Emergency Response Training (ERT) is nearing the completion of their ten week session. In addition to their regular training on campus we concluded two weeks of diving in Florida followed by a one week deployment to Lake Swan camp, assisting their ministry with various work projects. It was a blessing to serve there and an encouragement to all.
At the end of this week we will finish the semester with our second deployment, working in the Beaumont, Texas area on homes and properties that were damaged in last fall’s hurricane and ensuing floods. We look forward to not only doing cleanup work but sharing the gospel and the love of Christ with those we minister to in that area.
Please be in prayer for our upcoming Basic Training Unit 59. We are anticipating about 27 men in the unit that will run from March 23rd to May 25th. Pray especially for our leadership team as they lead the men in their daily training exercises and spiritual development.
Recently, while serving on deployment I was reminded of how God uses so many to accomplish His purposes. Scripture speaks of a young boy with five loaves and two fishes and the feeding of 5,000. Initially our attention is drawn to the sacrifice of this young lad and his gift to the Lord. It certainly was a display of giving with results that went far beyond one’s wildest expectation, but did you ever consider the ones who perhaps caught the fish that made it possible for him to acquire them and share them with Christ? Furthermore a boat builder from the past was probably a part of the process that gave fisherman a tool needed to be gainfully employed to catch and pass on the fish that we used in this miracle. Consider also the loaves. Did the boy bake them himself or were they perhaps given to him by a loving mother – who quietly labored at home behind the scenes? Who provided the flour and ingredients? Was it another member of the family or perhaps someone in the marketplace, making a modest living selling goods and wares for others?
Do you see the point? Every one of us – whether on the front lines of ministry or working in the background play vital roles in seeing the work carried on. The fruit of our labor is the joy of seeing extraordinary men and women developed to see the kingdom of God expanded beyond our finite ways of thinking.
Each of you are a link in that chain, a part of the change process in the lives of others– whether it is in your gifts and prayers for this ministry or the behind the scenes work you do in your own church or “Jerusalem.” Thank you for partnering with us in so many aspects. May God richly bless you in the days ahead.
In Him,
