“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” Luke 2:4 NKJV Before writing this newsletter, I reviewed all the newsletters I have written this year. In January, I was very hopeful for a full and exciting year of ministry. In March, I announced that I was “…back to writing again.”   In May, all of that changed, and we announced that I was beginning chemotherapy treatment for cancer. The rest of the year has been dealing with everything that entails. Thank God, I was declared cancer free after only four of six scheduled treatments.  Now, I am in recovery mode, and will be for several more months. But wait! There’s more. Even though my physical ability to accomplish anything I had hoped to do this year was seriously diminished, I have still been able to take care of the necessary business of ministry, and to continue working with Bhalchandra Kamble, in India, and Chuwang Davou, in Nigeria. Until a few days before Thanksgiving, I was won...

Greetings from beautiful Redding!  We trust this letter finds you all well. Life continues to be life. Even as we still miss Toodie, we are on our way to Bakersfield to celebrate a marriage in the family. In many ways, this dance of sorrow and joy, is the very spice of life; and without it, life would be incredibly boring.   Romania Another of life’s surprises... we ran into Pastor Adi at this year’s Leaders Advance Conference hosted by Bethel Church. It was great to run into Adi. Of course, his first question was, “When are you coming back to Romania?” So, we are praying about a date... leaning towards late Summer or early Fall. We are opening this trip up to any of you who would like to do some cross cultural ministry. We would be gone two weeks and the cost of the trip including airfare and in country expenses will be $3,400.  Kenya Our new partnership with Gordon Onyango and Job Ogwangwa seems to be a fruitful one. Both of these young pastors have...

“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord...” Psalm 92.1 KJV G r eetings of joy and thanksgiving to you today. It is, indeed, a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and as we approach this Thanksgiving season, I have many things for which to to thanks the Lord. I am sure you do too. As you celebrate with family and friends may your Thanksgiving Day be abundantly blessed. BLESSING FROM INDIA Having lunch at Amrit Last month I was blessed, once again, to have a few days visit from Bhalchandra Kamble. Any time he comes to the US, he always makes sure he comes to visit me. And, we always have a wonderful time of fellowship, of discussing the growing work in India, and his increased vision for the work of the Lord there. He is, indeed, a man of integrity and vision, and God is giving increase to the local ministry, and to his national ministry, through his humble leadership. I thank God for Bhalchandra and all who are working with him for the advanceme...

Greetings from Redding... We hope this month's newsletter finds you doing well. As we sit and write this month, we are in the midst of a scramble to re-arrange life so Makr can head to Bakersfield. His 95 year old grandmother, Josephine Audap, is in the hospital and likely won't make it through the night. Toodie, as we call her, is an amazing woman who has faced the trials life has thrown her with grace, wisdom, and a quiet yet firm faith. While you will likely be reading this after she's already home, we do ask for your prayers for the family. KENYA “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9 We continue to receive regular reports from Kenya on how the Lord has been moving since Mark’s ministry time there. One woman who was prayed for while he was there has reported being delivered from tormenting dreams; another woman reported how impacted her son was by Mark’s teaching to the kids on John 15:9, and how he has been re...

Greetings from Redding W e hope this month’s newsletter finds you doing well. As we sit to write this month we are in the midst of a scramble to re-arrange life so Mark can head to Bakersfield. His 95 year old grandmother, Josephine Audap, is in the hospital and likely won’t make it through the night.Toodie, as we all call her, is an amazing woman who has faced the trials life has thrown her with grace, wisdom, and a quiet yet firm faith. While you will likely be reading this after she’s already home, we do ask for your prayers for the family. KENYA “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” John 15:9 We continue to receive regular reports from Kenya on how the Lord has been moving since Mark’s ministry time there. One woman who was prayed for while he was there has reported being delivered from tormenting dreams; another woman reported how impacted her son was by Mark’s teaching to the kids on John 15:9, and how he has been reciting the ver...

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised...” Luke 4:18 G reetings in Jesus’s wonderful name. I hope you are doing well in all your life’s endeavors. As I write this newsletter all of east coast Florida is watching hurricane Matthew in hopes that it bypasses us by going out into the Atlantic. On the other hand, we are praying for all those who will be so adversely affected by its devastating powers. May God be gracious to us all. WOFF MISSIONS CONVENTION Mary Ann Praying for Abdul Last month, my home church, Wings of Faith Fellowship, celebrated its 22nd Annual Missions Convention, the last Wednesday – Sunday of the month. Each night three or four missionaries were given five minutes to share their work with the congregation. I was scheduled for Friday ni...

Greetings from beautiful Redding! F all is here, and it’s coming was anything but subtle. Day before yesterday was in the mid 90’s, yesterday was in the 80’s, today low 70’s, tomorrow’s high predicted to be 63! Finally in Mark’s comfort zone. Kenya What a wonderful trip! In country 10 days, ministered 12 times in 4 churches and 2 leaders meetings. Whew! But oh, so worth it! These folks are so hungry for more: more Presence, more Kingdom, more LIFE! The enthusiasm for the teachings was incredible, the idea of doing church more like family really struck a chord. Leaders that knew something was missing, something different was needed, found some answers and ways to implement change. But all did not go as planned. There was an unsettling turn of events. Not everything (or everyone) is as it seems and that is the case with Mathew, the pastor with whom we had been working. But the good news is, God used what the enemy intended to thwart us against him and we’re now connected with ...

“I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1 (NKJV) Greetings, again, in the wonderful name of Jesus our Lord and Savior. He is so good and faithful to all of us who know Him, and I rejoice in His goodness and faithfulness to me. PRAISE REPORT! All of you who are friends with me on Facebook already know what I am about to say, but the rest of you need to know about it too.  On August 1, only a few days after I had put last month’s newsletter in the mail, I went to the cancer center not knowing if I would have to take another chemo therapy treatment or if I would hear those wonderful words “You are cancer free.”  Gladly, it was the later...   “You are cancer free…no more chemo!”   I cannot sufficiently express to you the joyous relief my spirit felt upon hearing those words. I was believing to hear those words “cancer free,” but was dreadfully bracing myself for another treatm...

Greetings from Northern California! Summer is passing and fall is fast approaching. Music to Mark’s ear. Soon the 100+ degree days will be done for a while. The change of seasons happens incredibly fast here, seemingly overnight. 105 one day, 85 the next. Can’t happen soon enough for Mark! KENYA And we’re off! Well, almost. By the time you read this, Mark will be just a few days from leaving on September 9. And yes, it’s time for the scramble, visa, in-country arrangements, prepping messages and prayer...lots of prayer! This trip is incredibly important and before we go any further, thank you! Thank you for your prayers, your support and your mind boggling generosity! Mark will hit the ground running. He arrives Saturday night, late, and preaches Sunday morning, early. And Sunday afternoon... and evening. He’ll be staying in Nairobi until Thursday then off to Nakuru. He’ll be ministering there until he leaves on Wednesday, September 21. Mathew has done a great job on th...

“I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1 (NKJV) G reetings again in the wonderful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is always a joy to visit with you via our newsletters, and this time is no exception. As always, I trust that all is well with you and yours, and that you are experiencing the abiding presence of our God in your life every day. Two months ago, I reported that LTI has begun helping Rev. Chuwang Davou, founder of Grace and Peace Foundation International headquartered in Jos, Nigeria, to fill the shelves of their library – the Rev. Cassidy Memorial Leadership Library -  with as many good resource materials for ministers as we possibly can. Many men and women are being trained and equipped for leadership ministry in the churches of Nigeria and other countries through Grace and Peace Foundation. The broad variety of Christian resource materials that are, and will be, in this libra...

Hello, hello, hello! We are happy to have this opportunity to share with you once again. Kenya Update: As mentioned in the last newsletter, Mark is finalizing details for the Kenya trip. He will be leaving September 9th and returning September 22nd. In seeking the heart of the Father for this group, it has become clear the focus of this trip is to be two-fold. First, laying out some basic principles for stewarding the move of God they are already experiencing. Secondly, His heart for them is that they would embrace their real identity as sons and daughters and ones called and anointed to be ministers of the Gospel.  If we see the various types of relationships described in the Bible as a progression; slave to sin, slave to righteousness, bond servant, friend, brother, sons & daughters, bride; what we are seeing in Kenya is a group of people who, in practice, are caught between the slave to sin and slave to righteousness paradigms. These are people of divine purpose...

“And He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry...” Ephesians 4:11, 12a (NKJV) Greetings again in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ who upholds the world and all that is therein by the power of His word. What a mighty God we serve. I am so glad I belong to Him, and I am sure you feel the same way. Once again, my writing focuses on the work in India led by Bhalchandra Kamble. This time, I am reporting on another gift that was given to the work there by one of our wonderful Pastor friends and his church, Pastor Wes Courtney, Revival Tabernacle in Walker, Louisiana. This congregation provided the funds for them to purchase a new desktop computer and additional programs required to meet the needs of all their ministry programs. They had been crippling along with an out dated desktop that could not support any of the better, newer programs ...

Greetings from hot, hot, hot Redding! We trust you are all doing well. We have great news to report. The final amount needed for the Kenya trip has come in and we are finalizing plans. We are narrowing down dates but August 23rd through September 12th looks like the time frame for Mark to be in country. He will be speaking in three churches while he is there, ministering at the orphanage, doing street ministry in the slums, and meeting with individual pastors. Mark will also begin discussions with them regarding establishing a ministry school. As we mentioned in the last newsletter, the Kenyans we are working with are hungry. They have a desire to see more of God and host His presence with excellence. We are very excited and honored to be part of the process with them. We believe the Lord is giving us some strategies to be more efficient and effective in mentoring them. The goal, the vision is for the whole of Kenya to come into her place in the Kingdom. We are convinced the ans...

“And He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry...” Ephesians 4:11, 12a (NKJV) Greetings.  This is the day that the Lord has made. It is a good day, and I am rejoicing in it.  JOS, NIGERIA - BUILDING A LIBRARY   This month I am highlighting the ministry of Rev. Chuwang Davou in Jos, Nigeria. He and his wife attended our very first Pastors and Ministers Conference in Jos in 1989, and with very few exceptions they have continued every year to this date. They will always be a part of these great conferences. I first introduced him to you in my October 2014 newsletter. This was soon after I learned that God had put it in his heart to follow in our footsteps and conduct these same leadership teaching conferences in nine other nations in Africa. In my September 2015 newsletter I reported that these conferences have now reached into se...

Greetings from Redding, We hope this month finds you doing well. We’ve had a great May with two of our girls home, and as the saying goes “the world keeps spinning.” We continue to be in a season of waiting and resting. It’s an interesting space to be in; the tension between surrender and not giving up. Of course the scripture “having done all you know to do, stand…” comes to mind. But in this particular battle, instead of putting on armor to withstand an evil day; it’s more like the Lord is stripping off pieces of armor we’ve put up in our mind. Pieces with names like expectation, self-reliance, experience, and weariness. It’s a time of simply seeking Him because He’s worth seeking. Allowing ourselves to be loved by Him simply because it pleases Him, trusting the rest will fall into place as it should. KENYA We have good news to report! Airfare has dropped considerably, which means we now only need $500 to meet the trip budget. We had been thinking it would September before M...

“…the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2 Greetings in Jesus’ wonderful name. I am rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord and I hope you are as well. As promised, this month I am reporting on recent events in the ministry of Bhalchandra Kamble, in India. There are many wonderful things happening in his ministry. I want to focus on only two that show the before and after of him working with the new laptop computer and projector my home church, Wings of Faith Fellowship and LTI were able to provide him for his work in conducting pastors and other church leaders seminars for the growing church in India. Yes, I did say, “the growing church in India.” God is moving by His Spirit all over the earth these days. Even in India. Hallelujah. RAISED TO THE NEXT LEVEL We met Bhalchandra in 1987 when we began ministering in India. He was about 21 years old, and became very activ...