As I begin this report letter, ENW is in the middle of a Family Conference by Zoom in the Philippines. Pastor Vanni Solores, in the greater Legaspi region on southern Luzon, is our host. He has been such a blessing, working diligently to prepare and promote the training to many of his church and pastor friends. Besides his church family, there have been at least fifteen other families and/or individuals join us from various places around the Philippines. ENW is very grateful for brother Vanni’s leadership for the cause of equipping the wonderful Filipino people.

The third week in August, ENW was privileged to participate by video in a conference in India. Dr. Billy Judson is the host and organizer of this conference – Good News 360 Church Leaders Conference. The teaching was translated into English, Telugu, and Hindi. Billy was anticipating scores of pastors to benefit from the various sessions offered. ENW hopes to partner with him in the future for more training opportunities.

September is certainly a full month of travel and ministry. The second week Chris and I will be at our sending church in Somerset, Pa. participating in an ordination service for two of our elders. It will be a great day to officially set these two men aside for gospel ministry. Both have traveled with ENW, served our church for years, and have proven themselves desirous, qualified, and gifted for ministry.

The third week in September will take ENW to my childhood church for a day of training for a pastoral search. It has been a challenge and blessing to prepare for this opportunity. I’m anticipating a wonderful day of teaching and fellowship around what God says about the kind of shepherd needed for the church and how to go about searching for him.

By the way, if your church is searching for a shepherd, I’d be more than happy to come for a day of training. One of the sad realities is that churches often don’t know who to search for, how to go through the process, or have never had to do so.

The last week in September ENW will be in a Bible Conference for one of our supporting churches in Virginia Beach. Pastor Gordon Ellsworth and his team have worked diligently to prepare for this five-day conference. The theme is “How to Study the Bible.” The study is designed with the discipleship model of training in mind (being with your disciple and doing the study together rather than simply lecturing to someone about how to do it). It is a hands-on demonstration of working through a book, using resources, tools, creating and answering specific questions, and applying certain processes to show how these various Bible Study aids can be used to think and work through a passage personally. This series has been a significant challenge as well as a blessing to prepare. If your church could benefit from this emphasis, please don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss the possibility of leading your church family in this perspective of studying the bible.

Travel has been somewhat limited because of Covid 19. However, we plan to leave for the Ivory Coast at the end of November. If you would like to help with the cost of this tour, please send your designated gift to ENW Travel, P.O. Box 1015, Somerset, PA 15501. $2500 is the average amount required to make one of our international trips. Maybe you or your church would like to underwrite the entire cost of one of ENW’s tours. Your contribution will be marked as such and used for that purpose. That would be a blessing and take a little pressure off as well. Thank you for any part you might have in this financial expense.

Please pray for our dear pastors and their families in Myanmar. Since the Chinese military has taken control, life has been lived in a terrorized state much of the time. There have been murders very close to our contacts in Myanmar. Our sending church is doing what we can to help supply basic food for several of the pastors we are training as well as some of the families involved in our church plant. A good quality bag of rice costs about $35.00 and can last a family about a month. If you’d like to contribute to that need, you can earmark your gift and send it to the same address above. One of the obstacles we’ve had to overcome just to get the money to them is the fact that the Western Union in Myanmar has been out of order most of the time since the military takeover. We are sending any money received through Western Union when the window of opportunity is open.

On a personal note, Chris and I both have survived the delta variant of Covid. It kept us pinned down for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, we are past it and doing well; praise the Lord.

It often sounds trite, but believe me, it is anything but that when I say “Thank You” to each of you who continues to support and pray for the ministry of ENW. By the grace of God, we will remain faithful to our purpose to train the next generation of shepherds. Our desire is to steward your prayers and financial contributions well and represent Christ with integrity.