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Heading in…

December 15, 2020 by Joel Potter

So, guess what?! We got some great news the other night. 

When our six-month partnership and community development time finished in August, we knew that we probably wouldn’t reach the goal we set for 2020: to see an additional $2020 of monthly sustaining support committed. But, we were still SUPER encouraged with what God did on our behalf through you all, especially considering the insanely unexpected circumstances that we all faced this year. 

We just didn’t realize exactly how he had answered our prayer until we looked at our numbers for the whole year. 

Guys, the numbers are just numbers, but they represent for us the ability to continue serving full-time in this important ministry. At a quick glance, we are so happy to say that the numbers are going in the right direction! When it’s all averaged out (combining regular promised support with other one time gifts), here’s where we started the year: we were at 51% of what is recommended. Now, here’s where we are at as we finish out 2020: 64% of what is recommended! That’s a 13% increase and that is AMAZING!

Overall, we’re really encouraged by the blessing behind these numbers. We had new families join our community of sustaining supporters and we’ve had others who have increased their support amounts.

Now, because we need to be transparent, we’re still ending up this year at just 64% of what Ethnos360 asks us to raise, to do our ministry well, and take care of the needs of our family. And that’s why we’re going to keep working at this effort in 2021.

God is ALWAYS FAITHFUL. So we won’t say the cliché “God’s been faithful”. We realize that by saying that, it makes it sound like that if we don’t have a certain amount of support, then He’s not being true to His Word and character. What is right to say is that whether in abundance or need, we’ve learned how to be content in His faithfulness. 

We don’t want to depend on an amount or our finances to give us a sense of security as ministers of the gospel. We want to depend on God’s everlasting faithfulness. And his faithfulness is there no matter what level our support is at.

So rejoice with us in God’s everlasting faithfulness to all of his children. And rejoice with us that he chose to increase our support this year through his faithful servants, you all!  

We can’t wait to see how he provides in 2021!  

And now we will leave you with the words of one of our students, after finishing a class on the biblical interpretation process…

(note, they’re not a native English speaker and we’ve left the quote as written originally)

“Thank you very much for teaching this course in a simplified way. Your way of teaching is very clear and helped us to grasp this study methodology clearly. We are looking forward to apply these things in our daily study of God’s word and understand the God’s word accurately and communicate to others in clear way with accurate interpretation.

Thanks to all the “program” team. We thank and glorify God for all that we have been learning through this “program” training.“

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2020 Campaign, answered prayer, praise

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The Potters…

are missionaries helping every people group around the world have the chance to understand the gospel and have access to a thriving church. We are serving with the International Ministries Office as it assists Ethnos360 and its Global Partners.

joeldpotter

Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." Late last week, we shared a "Can we be candid..." update, this time about a BIG ministry change. Many of you read that and wrote your sweet prayers back to us. For some of you, email is not your thing and so we don't want you to miss out. So, there's a link to the full post on our blog in my profile link or you can read the brief overview of update if you just want the basics.

Shortly after we returned from our trip to Missouri in June we had some realizations that led us to conclude, with the counsel of others, that our time serving with the Equip Asia team was coming to an end. The Lord had already been putting desires on my (Joel’s) heart to pursue a role that would allow me to serve our wider global missions community in the area of media and communications and we knew that with Kate starting to hybrid homeschool, she was going to need much more support as a homeschooled student. We also realized that Bethany needed to pursue some side-jobs and employment to supplement our very tight financial state.

So, for now, I’ve had my new ministry role approved and am making strides at getting an audio and video studio setup here in Sanford as well as beginning to make many plans for upcoming projects both here and abroad. I’ll be able to use both the experience I gained working with the Communications team for 8 years as well as the newfound skills in videography and media production to serve many different teams in what we call the “Global Partners” family (all related to Ethnos360).

Bethany is also off to the races, so to speak, helping to homeschool Owen and Kate, working several small jobs on the side, all while keeping our incredibly busy household sane and well organized. It’s a different scene for sure after the last three years, but there are some blessings that come from it.

Again, there’s more detail at the post you can get to in my profile link. 
______
#thepottermission @ethnos360
After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not After learning of this book, I had to read it. Not reading a lot of books, I used every renewal cycle that the local library allowed (it is due tomorrow) to finish this one and boy am I glad I finished it. 

@andrewpetersonmusic wrote a book about trees (and SO much more) and moved me at a time when I needed moving and reminding of how the God who created me and knows me intimately, is carefully tending the garden of my own being. 

There were moments when I gasped as I read his words and his realizations which I found paralleled some of my own. 

Having been transplanted from Pennsylvania and it’s temperate woods to Central Florida and it’s weird mix of prairies and swamps at 11 years old, I identified with his interpretation of his childhood. 

Two huge realizations will remain with me. The first is that the God who admonishes me to “be slow to speak…” is entitled to the same right to be “slow to speak.” The second is these imagined words from Jesus to me: “I love you. Let me love you.”

I’ve always loved trees and only love them more now. In fact a week ago I took the chance to go visit some of trees that AP mentioned in the book; the somber remains of our truly ancient Bald Cypress, “the Senator”, that tree’s younger (but still 2,000 years old) sibling, “Lady Liberty”, and the youngest of the family, a clone of the original, the relative sapling, “Phoenix”. (Big Tree Park, near the Spring Hammock Preserve)

I commend this book highly and again, pass my thanks to Andrew Peterson for it. 
______
#andrewpeterson #thegodofthegarden
#plantmoretrees 
@bhpub 
______
The tree in this photo is the pride and joy of our backyard, a Chinese or lacebark Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)and was planted by us not long after we moved to this house and provides lush shade to the eastern side of our backyard and filters the early morning sunrise light beautifully!
After running for a long time, like since 2002, I After running for a long time, like since 2002, I finally found a partner to train with, someone who although they live states away, knows the value of partnership and how to push another person to do better. I’m pretty excited about what’s to come as he and I work towards a goal that will be a lifetime highlight when we achieve it. Until then, here’s some highlight runs of the last month. 
______
#runwithstrava #floridarunner @strava @altrarunning
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