Parris' Ministry Update

Dear Friends,

A few weeks to Christmas and so much to do! I’m sure you feel the slight panic that we sense at this time as we see 2003 coming to an end much faster than we realized. Where has the year gone? Yet, as we reflect on past events, we’re reminded that it has been a full year indeed.

In September, we celebrated 10 years of marriage—wow! What an exciting time it has been. We praise God as we recall his faithfulness to us in so many ways. When we left Dallas, it was hard to say goodbye to friends that we had grown to love, but now a few years later, the Lord has brought new people into our lives. Good friends are a gift from above.

We have been encouraged as we’ve seen the relationships deepen at St Peter’s Church. A few months ago, we enjoyed our annual Spit-Braai. We had over a 100 people attend this church picnic where we roasted 2 sheep over the fire—a wonderful day of fun together. Every time we have a social event, it’s amazing to see those who have recently been added to the family. Here’s one story of God’s grace:

Chantelle visited her GP who casually asked her how she was doing spiritually. She didn’t know how to answer, but because he was so compassionate, she agreed to visit his church. (Her doctor attends St Peter’s.) She didn’t know what to expect because she had never been to church in her life except for a few weddings. She was overwhelmed by the warmth of the people she met and the message of hope she heard about that first Sunday. Her two boys thoroughly enjoyed Sunday school and begged to come back. After a few months of attendance, she made an appointment to see Mark with all kinds of questions. During this time, she came to understand the grace of God and responded by placing her faith in Christ. Her life has completely turned around. She is hungry for God’s word and is meeting weekly with an older Christian woman who is mentoring her.

Ministering to street children is a long, frustrating process. We have to be firm with them because they are used to manipulating people. They are now at a point where they trust us, but we are not sure how many of them we can trust. Most of them use illegal drugs during the week, and so we’ll soon be administering random drug tests to know which ones are serious about changing. Please pray that we will have wisdom to know how to help these individuals long term.

We have continued to preach the word of God and taught people how to study the scriptures for themselves. There are a number of home group bible studies including one for working women and one for housewives. The ladies have recently completed 1 Peter and we have seen a number of them growing in their walk with the Lord. It’s been a tremendous year of growth as we’ve seen the congregation take the scriptures to heart. Cyndi has become a dynamic bible teacher and will tell you that God has matured her this year through this responsibility.

Mark has been preaching through the gospel of Luke and we’ve learned how important it is to hold on to things lightly. We need to have a kingdom focus and invest our resources into eternal things. Some of our elders have stepped down to take a break, and so we are in the process of selecting and training up more godly men. Please pray that we appoint the right people.

Austin, who is now four, recently had a birthday party. He and his peers spent the whole afternoon jumping and sliding down an inflatable castle. So much energy! Benjamin is testing the boundaries, but also knows how to flash a winning smile. What a cutie! We’re just a little biased maybe?

We’re off on a church camp, followed by a week of vacation at the beach and then we focus on the month of December with a number of special services and many gospel opportunities.

We greatly appreciate your prayers during this season that the harvest will be ripe for the picking.

Lots of Love,

Mark, Cyndi, Austin & Ben (Parris)

Prayer Needs:

1. Praise for children’s health
2. One-on-one discipleship
3. Strength for busy schedule in December
4. Relief for Mark’ s back injury
5. Patience and wisdom in training our boys