Hello from The Johnson’s. We wanted to send all of supporters and prayer partners an update over the past few months. God has been leading us on this missionary journey and it has been exciting to see that affirmed over and over again as He has blessed us during this process called deputation.
The first update has to do with the leadership of our team. On October 28th, 2010 I received an e-mail from Avant Leadership saying that Renee and I have been officially confirmed as the leaders for Avant Team Italy IV. All I can say is that God is so great, we were not looking for this as we came into the process of becoming missionaries; but now that we are, we will lead as best we can in the model of Jesus Christ. Michael will be attending Team Leader training at Avant’s campus in Kansas City in February or March of 2011. The entire team is scheduled to go through team training in March of 2011 if all goes according to plan. Michael, as team leader, is also to be included in a survey trip to the field with Avant leadership to locate and finalize the area that we will be ministering to, also scheduled for early spring of 2011! That is up to four weeks off that Michael will need from work and away from family; please be praying for this as it looks like a big financial obstacle right now!
We also took a trip to Chicago Illinois in October to do some team building and fund raising. We were able to stay with some of dearest friends and had a wonderful time with them. We took a trip into the city with most of our team, where we had a chance to spend the day together laughing, shopping, and touring Moody Bible College. We also had a chance to Skype with Emily, our team member in Virginia who was unable to make the trip. While there we also had one of our members say that she was not able to commit to going with us, so we now have an opening on our team. We are praying that God will fill this void quickly and that just the right person will feel called to venture forward with us. We know what a huge step of faith going through this process is and we are in prayer for a smooth process for our newest team member.
Finally, an update on the financial side of the mission. We have been blessed to have established about a dozen commitments for financial and prayer partnership. We are at approximately 20% of our total monthly need pledged. Several of our donors have not committed a firm number as they are praying for God’s leading in partnering with us. We also have our a request for a large matching donation, we are praying that when we hear back from all of these partners we will be at or over 50%! We ask that you would join in praying with us that God would make this happen! We will be sending out prayer cards with our Christmas cards in early December.
Lastly you can reach us by facebook, e-mail, paxromanaiv@blogspot.com or telephone if you have any questions or just want to catch up. We would also love to hear from you all if you have any prayer requests, as we are committed to praying for each and everyone who receives this letter. Thank you for your heart for the lost in Italy and seeing God’s fame being spread throughout all nations!
In Christ’s Peace,
Michael & Renee Johnson
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