{"id":1611,"date":"2012-10-30T20:02:29","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T20:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/?p=1611"},"modified":"2012-10-30T20:02:29","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T20:02:29","slug":"rejoice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/2012\/10\/30\/rejoice\/","title":{"rendered":"Rejoice!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today Joel and I took sometime to reflect on all that God is at work doing. \u00a0There are doors opening all around us and we are SO EXCITED by the opportunities surrounding us. \u00a0God didn&#8217;t wait for our language study to be done to start our ministry. \u00a0He was already at work making ministry happen all around us. \u00a0God is doing amazing things here in Africa and we are just honored to be here and watch it before our eyes. \u00a0So rejoice with us as you hear some of the things that God is at work doing.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A new team of pastors and African leaders has formed to meet monthly, specifically to talk about how to spread the word of God in Senegal. \u00a0Joel has been blessed to be able to participate in these monthly meetings and is excited to see what will come from them.<\/li>\n<li>In\u00a0February\u00a0or March a small group of West Africans are going to be trained by our mission to be missionaries to the villages around who have never heard. \u00a0Joel will probably do a small part of the teaching, but is mostly just so encouraged to watch this program come together in a way that only God could make happen.<\/li>\n<li>Joel has started meeting weekly with two new believers from our church. \u00a0New believers here face a lot of persecution from their families, but\u00a0despite\u00a0this persecution these believers are hungry to learn.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0A new church was planted just recently in a nearby village. \u00a0One of the pastors of that church is part of our local church here and we are so excited to encourage and work alongside him and this baby church.<\/li>\n<li>Our church here has a man who works specifically with new believers and\u00a0evangelism\u00a0 \u00a0He often houses new believers who are kicked out of their families and feeds them. \u00a0Members of our church shared how we need to be ready as the body of Christ to house more believers when God brings them our way. \u00a0We were\u00a0convicted\u00a0of this as we looked for a house. \u00a0God has provided two housing options that would allow us to open our doors to assist the church in this ministry if the need arose. \u00a0We are still working out the negotiations (and don&#8217;t worry pictures will follow when we pick which house), but we have no doubt that God is at work in this.<\/li>\n<li>We continue to build more and more contacts in our neighborhood with many people who we hope to one day share God&#8217;s truth with.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1613\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1613\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6258.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1613 \" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6258.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6258.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6258-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1613\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">God is at work here all around us and we are so Excited!  The church here might be small, but its light is going out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1615\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1615\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6266.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1615 \" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6266.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6266.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6266-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1615\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Often we get bogged down by the struggles of daily life and language learning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1616\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1616\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6268.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1616 \" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6268.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6268.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6268-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1616\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">but when I sit back and reflect on what God is doing, I can&#039;t help but dance with Joy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1614\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1614\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6260.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1614  \" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6260.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6260.jpg 800w, https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/files\/2012\/10\/DSC_6260-300x199.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1614\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">So dance with us because our God is an AMAZING God!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today Joel and I took sometime to reflect on all that God is at work doing. \u00a0There are doors opening all around us and we are SO EXCITED by the opportunities surrounding us. \u00a0God didn&#8217;t wait for our language study to be done to start our ministry. \u00a0He was already at work making ministry happen [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":830,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2545],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-updates-and-news","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/830"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-mcmartin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}