Greetings from beautiful Redding! A s you are reading this we are in the final days leading up to Claire’s marriage. We are very happy to be welcoming Joshua Smith into the family. He is a wonderful young man of God and we’re thrilled to count him among us.   As you can imagine, things are a bit hectic as we pull together the final details of the wedding and as family members begin to arrive in our lovely Redding. It is an exciting and blessed time, but as always life is not without it’s challenges. Mark was injured on the job and his shoulder is not healing as we had hoped. Currently, he is in physical therapy in hopes that surgery can be avoided. We ask for you to join your faith to ours in prayer that surgery is not necessary. KENYA   The September trip to Kenya is taking shape and we have a rather ambitious itinerary.  Gordon has scheduled conferences in Nakuru, Bondo, Kisii, Saiya, and Nyeri.  He is estimating more than 500 will attend these conferences...

Greetings from beautiful Redding! Well, if everything had gone according to plan, we would have been on a plane today headed to Mozamabique. Unfortunately, last week Julie’s back went out in a big way, and she spent the week on modified bed rest. Basically, spent most of her time making sure the sofa didn’t run away. We are disappointed by the delay, but not discouraged. There are some advantages, as it allows Mark more time to coordinate the trip to Mozambique with the trip to Kenya. We will now be shooting for a September date. In further preparations for Kenya and development of the curriculum for Romania, we have an opportunity through our local church to attend a ministry school planting gathering in mid April. The gathering is specifically focused on those who are currently leading or looking to plant ministry schools all over the world with the intention of being able to connect, share vision, and potentially partner together to advance the work.  In other news; man...

Greetings from beautiful Redding! What a wonderful time of the year! Mission trips are fast approaching; conferences are coming up; and, spring fishing is right around the corner. All of that adds up to a hopeful, busy time. It’s an annual lesson on living in the present while simultaneously looking to the future with expectation and hope. Speaking of lessons… Flexibility is the name of this one... We all claim to be flexible. We know it’s a desirable quality, but learning and living it can be trying. Nevertheless, that’s where we are. Sometimes the Father exercises His right to substitute something else for what we wanted. The good news is that His substitution is ALWAYS an upgrade! In this case, our plans have been pretty dramatically altered. Another ministry has invited us (Mark and Julie) to minister with them in Mozambique!  At last, after all of these years of keeping up the home front, Julie finally gets to go! The hosting ministry in Mozambique is paying for o...

Greetings from soggy Redding!  P raise God! The drought is finally, officially over in Northern California! Two years of above average rainfall did the trick. Rivers are running full, reservoirs are nearing capacity, and dry creek beds aren’t dry. What a demonstration of the extravagance of our Father!   KENYA God has done something wonderful. He has forged a place for Kenya and her people deep in our hearts. Kenya represents a paradox of sorts, a living illustration of the wheat and tares parable. Yes, there are frauds and charlatans, but there are also good, godly men and women like Gordon and Beatrice Onyango. In coming months we will be sharing their stories. Right now we want to give you a glimpse of their heart. Some of you know Gary and Delana Miracle. Gary introduced Mark to Gordon in August of last year. He felt Gordon might be able to help Mark out with some of logistics of the trip. Wow, was he ever right! Gordon stepped into the breach, arranged for a car,...

Greetings from beautiful Redding!  C hristmas is past (hope yours was great) and the New Year is upon us. What a year it has been! On the ministry front we’ve seen new doors open in Kenya, curriculum the School of Ministry nearly completed and a lot of folks saved, healed and set free. On a more personal note, we’ve lost loved ones, seen loved ones married and new loved ones born. God is showing His hand in the move to Redding, forging relationships that promise to have a tremendous effect on our lives and ministry. Romania We’re planning a late summer trip, probably mid August. Mark will be delivering the completed curriculum to Pastor Adi. If we can put a team together we’ll be doing some building in the “gypsy” camp at the dump. Between that and ministering in churches there will be lots to do for anyone that has felt the urge to take the Gospel to the nations. We need to raise $3400-3800 for this trip, depending on airfare. The cost for those joining us would be the s...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Greetings from Redding, This month we have a short but sweet update. We’ve had another $500 come in towards the Kenya trip. This leaves us with only $1,300 more to raise. As we have placed this trip before the Lord, we continue to know two things: 1. Mark is supposed to go; and, 2. The provision is going to look different this time. While not a wholly comfortable place for us, we trust the Lord. We trust His goodness. We trust His provision. We trust His timing. The command for the moment is to trust and rest. So, that is what we will do. We look forward to having more news to share next month. Yours for the kingdom, Mark & Julie Dyar

Hello Everyone!  We hope you are all doing well. This month, we want to pull the curtain back so to speak and share where we are as people as well as what’s going on for ministry; a conversation between friends. Is that all right? Awesome! Grab a cup of coffee and settle in. THE FAMILY  We continue to be astounded at how our children have taken us at our word and stepped out in faith in where they see God calling them. We’ve bred a whole new generation of risk takers and it’s awesome to watch God show up for your kids. Hannah, our oldest, continues to do well in medical school and will be taking her first set of board exams this summer. She tends to be more naturally inclined to nervousness and anxiety, which has been a struggle at exam time in the past. Over the last year or so, though, she’s made great strides and is approaching her board exams with confidence. Ellen is graduating from college in May and already has a year long contract in place. She will be trav...

Greetings from Beautiful Northern California! What in the world? Stuff blooms in February? 65, 70 degrees in the winter? That’s just not right! February is cold, single digit lows, snow, wind; not sunny, beautiful, shorts and T-shirt weather. Mark’s already thinking about getting ready for spring steelhead. That’s not supposed to happen before the end of March. Ahh, well, guess we can bear it. Seriously, this is great. No snow to shovel, daylight before 9:00 AM and after 3:00 PM, no studs, no ice... a person could get used to this. KENYA This is a good news/bad news thing. Good news is the trip is still on, bad news is we have to postpone. March just isn’t going to work. For one thing, the money just hasn’t come in. For another, Mark has to be here when we move into the manager’s unit. We’ve been offered the on-site manager’s position and it seems like a perfect fit. Good compensation and plenty of freedom to keep doing missions full time. Mark has already let the folks in Keny...

Greetings from Northern California! Our first winter here has been a revelation. There actually are places where winter is still winter but not arctic cold. Pretty cool, even if Mark misses the snow. By the way, pun intended. Seriously, life here in Redding is good. Folks are friendly, really friendly. It’s not unusual to have a stranger strike up a conversation, anything from the weather to our pup to church. Church is a big deal around here. Everybody has an opinion but most at least appreciate the visitors that the churches draw here and all that’s been done for the community. Pretty cool to see churches have such a positive impact on a community. KENYA Plans for the trip in March are in full swing. We’re going to extend by a week to allow more time in Mathews new church plant and add another church to the itinerary. This is a critical trip. Revival is breaking out in Nakuru and the folks there need to learn how to properly steward what God has entrusted them with. We also ...

Happy Holidays from Redding! We hope you are having a great holiday season; we certainly are with all three girls home for the first time in three years. It’s going to be a lot of fun spending part of the holidays with Mark’s family and even more fun watching the girls interact as full-fledged adults. Kenya Plans for the Kenya trip are moving forward.  Mark will be leaving March 17th for about ten days of ministry time in Kenya. Pastor Matthew has recently planted a church in a village near Nakuru and we’re adding some time at that church to our itinerary. This trip promises to be particularly fruitful with a lot of time devoted to evangelism and discipleship. There are at least three churches on the schedule as well as street evangelism in Nakuru.  lease pray that the heart of the Father will be revealed in more depth to the Kenyan people, that the revival that He has started will continue and intensify, and that plans for a school of ministry in Nakuru can be brought ...

Greetings from Beautiful Redding... Wow, hard to believe the holidays are upon us already. We trust you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did. We had a great time with family and friends, folks we haven’t celerated the holiday with for a long time. Now it’s time to get ready for Christmas. This will be a special one for us, we’ll have all 3 girls home for the first time in 4 years. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Father! KENYA The drought in Nakuru is finally over! It’s been a hard pull for Pastor Mathew and the orphans. But the crisis has passed and drinking water is now available close to home. Mathew recently reported that revival is still going on in his church and the impoverished neighborhood where he is located. He points to Mark’s time there as the beginning! That is truly an answer to prayer! And that shapes the goals of the March trip. We now have 3 specific goals: 1. Fuel the revival fire by revealing more of the Fathers heart, His character and the identity that H...

Greetings from beautiful, cool, Redding! Well, that was different. Summer to fall in about two days. Literally. In the 90’s one day, a couple of days later it’s in the 70’s and staying there. Whew, what a relief... at least for Mark. Julie enjoys the heat. Perfect! Julie gets 4 or 5 months of weather she enjoys, Mark gets a few months of reasonable cold. That works! Sometimes God gives us encouragement in, shall we say, unexpected ways. We (Mark and Julie) have been attending a mid-week class at church. Really good stuff, stretching and encouraging. But last week we met a lady from Romania. From Cluj Napoca. And she knows Pastor Adi. The lengths He will go to that we might be encouraged are astounding! ROMANIA The curriculum is coming together. Mark should be done with it in January or February. Creating this course has truly been a labor of love and a learning experience. Time spent thinking and meditating on the character of God: who He made us to be; what the work of the Ki...

Hello Everyone! We hope this month’s newsletter finds you doing well. We are settling into life here in Redding, getting to know our new church family, build new relationships and community. Redding is almost startlingly friendly and feels very much like home. ROMANIA Mark is continuing to make head way on the curriculum for the school of ministry. The third phase of the curriculum is focused on deeper theological study of the Word and practical application through outreach and working in the local church. The challenge at this stage is developing material that contains the depth and breadth of basic theology while being concise enough to teach in an accelerated program such as this. We are excited, though, to see how the Lord helps us put it all together. Mark ministering in Cluj The outreach portion of this phase in some ways is less challenging as this is the type of ministry Mark cut his teeth on. However, that doesn’t mean it is without its own unique set of circumst...

Greetings from Smoky Redding! We are fortunate in that we have only had to deal with the smoke. However, the fires across the Pacific Northwest are causing untold destruction and we need rain. Your prayers for lightning-free rain are greatly appreciated. On a personal note, we found an apartment! We’ve been in a short-term sublease for the summer while we looked for a permanent spot to land. The Lord has been so good to us and provided a place that has been completely renovated. All we have to do is unpack! We are so very thankful for His provision and we again have a place to call home. ROMANIA Mark had a truly wonderful trip to Romania. It was quick trip; however, a lot was accomplished on two fronts while he was there: On the ministry school front, Mark met with Adi Cristzea, the local pastor we are working with, to discuss the progress of the school. During their time together, Mark and Pastor Adi were able to flesh out more of the details for the school. Staffing is a...