Answered Prayer, and Clear Direction

In last month’s Update we asked you to join us in prayer for God’s guidance and clarity regarding the possibility of a missions internship. Well, God hears and answers the prayers of His people, though often not in the ways we expect!

Thank you for praying with us because after a trip to New Hampshire to meet with Larry Clouse, a pastor on the board of directors for our mission agency, we have the clear direction we have been praying for. Rather than spend the remainder of this year in an internship on his staff, we are going to follow his counsel to begin full-time deputation and get to the field. This was not at all what we expected to hear, although we found it very encouraging.

We heard it said recently that you can tell something is the work of God because you do not have to pull it, it pulls you. We can certainly identify with that statement. This past year has been exhilarating as we simply follow God while He graciously and powerfully leads us in the direction He wants us to go. We have been so blessed to watch Him open doors and make things happen.

Of course there have been times of discouragement and times of waiting. But there were lessons for us to learn there. To wait on the Lord, is not always easy. But those are the times He wants us to trust and rest in Him. And those times in the Valley of Wait have paled in comparison to the rest of the journey.

So where will this journey take us next?

Lord willing, we will join our team in departing for Vanuatu in August. The team is planning what is essentially an extended survey trip before spending a year with Equip, Wycliffe’s language institute in Australia (www.equip.edu.au).

Having been accepted into Equip’s study program, the team will receive training in linguistics, translation, and literacy. This training is indispensable and will go hand in hand with the chronological Bible teaching planned for the Ni-Vanuatu.

While in Vanuatu for this survey period prior to the training in Australia we would live in the capital of Port Vila as we begin our study of language and culture. Also during this time, trips will be made to explore the possible areas of ministry as the Lord leads us to the particular people group He is calling us to. We feel this time in Vanuatu would be an incredibly valuable head start on the full-time ministry.

Pray with us for the Lord’s will to be done. We trust Him completely. He knows best.

There are many financial hurdles to overcome, but with God all things are possible. We are trusting Him to provide the funds for airfare, tuition, etc., and the monthly support needed for basic living expenses in His time and in His way.

The LORD promises in His word to provide for all our needs. Please be in prayer with us for provision.

February in Washington...

...was filled with meetings; lunches, dinners, coffees, desserts (there goes the diet), and Sunday mornings with former home churches. What a blessing to see old faces we haven’t seen in years, and many new faces as well.

Thank for praying with us for this time. It was a refreshing time of reconnection with our families as well as an encouraging time of open doors for sharing the ministry with many of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We look forward to seeing how God will use this time as He works in the hearts of His people to draw together our fellow laborers.

Lord willing, we will be returning to Washington for the month of April for more deputation ministry before we head off to Michigan for the month of May.

What does March hold? We are using this month to close up shop in Montana. We will be putting any household goods we might take to Vanuatu either in a storage unit or container as we reduce our ‘carry-alongs’ to what will fit into the trunk of a Honda Civic. Please pray with us for the quick and profitable sale of our crane truck and 130 acres of land in southeast Montana.

These last months in the states will consist of long hours of hard work on deputation ministry as we trust the Lord to provide. In order to walk by faith it is necessary to take the first step. Please continue to persist in prayer with us for many open doors to share our vision for ministry and for God to work in a mighty way to provide financial and prayer partners to be a part of Team Vanuatu.

“When Are You Going to Vanuatu?”,

seems to be a very common question these days. The fact of the matter is, only God knows. We won’t get there a moment sooner, or a moment later than He determines. It is very comforting to know God is in control of every detail. Of course, we are anxious to get to the field but we also know it would be foolish to go under-prepared. Therefore it has been our prayer that the Lord would guide us in the preparations that would be necessary for the work in Vanuatu to succeed for His glory. Along those lines, it appears as though the Lord may be opening some doors in the way of a missions internship. If this is indeed what the Lord has in store for us it would mean some big changes, the least of which is leaving our home in Montana. Needless to say, we would be grateful for you to join us in prayer for God's guidance and clarity. This is not yet for certain, but we are willing to follow wherever the Lord would lead. We are also praying about a possibility for in-depth linguistics and translation training. Once again, please pray with us for God’s clear leading. We know that when we trust Him with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding, and when in all our ways we acknowledge Him, He will direct our path.

On the Road

For quite some time we have been anticipating a trip to our home state of Washington to spend time with family and connect with supporters. With the possible upcoming changes, rather than have to put the trip off altogether, we thought it would be best to move it up a bit. So we're off! We will be in Washington for most of the month of February. Pray with us for the Lord to bless this time we have with our families and also that He will provide many opportunities for us to share the mission to Vanuatu as we continue towards our goal of 100% support.

How are we doing on support?

As many of you know, 100% of our regular support needs must be met in order to be allowed to depart for the field. Biblical Ministries Worldwide is a faith based organization, fully relying on God to supply for the needs of His missionaries. It has been a blessing to see God work through His people, supplying support from the most unlikely places! We are trusting Him to supply in His time.

In addition the financial support we have a goal of 500 committed prayer partners who will battle with us in prayer, for our family and this ministry, on a regular basis. If you would like to be a part of this prayer team email us and let us know!

The Lord will provide!

If having prayerfully sought the Lord’s will you would like to partner with us financially ~

1. Send check or money order payable to Biblical Ministries Worldwide (for tax purposes).

2. On a separate sheet of paper write: “Missionary Name: Jim & Tania Kenner”, “one-time gift” or “regular monthly support”

3. Mail to: Biblical Ministries Worldwide, 1595 Herrington Road, Lawrenceville, GA 30043-5616

4. Or ~ Contact us for information on how to set up automated giving.

A Blessed New Year!

We are settling into the new year. How about you? How many times have you mis-dated your checks so far? ;)

Jim is transitioning into the new job relatively smoothly, thanks be to God. Please continue to pray.

In December when I updated our blog I failed to mention that for now we will be doing our updates bi-monthly. If you just can't wait, and would like to know what we're up to, send us an email. We would love to hear from you. Many of you will be hearing from us soon anyway as we begin to make travel plans. We are very excited to have opportunities to share the ministry to Vanuatu with the Lord's people.

Please be praying with us that He would move in people's hearts to be open to hearing about the ministry, and that our brothers and sisters in Christ would prayerfully seek His will about joining with us in the work that He has prepared.

For His Glory~
The Kenners
Jim, Tania, Grace and Joshua