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We Made It!

June 3, 2022 by Joel Potter

Our First Graduating Class

If you have kept up with updates in our ministry group on Facebook, The Potter Mission, you would have heard that we just, a few weeks ago, had a virtual Commencement Service for our first class of graduating students! It was sweet to see that take place knowing the backstories of the students and the up and down and side-to-side road that the Lord shepherded them on through the two years. 

There were 17 total students who completed the two-year program and a number of them graduated with honors, which says so much considering the massive obstacles they faced. On top of ALL of them being non-native English speakers, they also faced the full effects of the pandemic (some of them had the virus seriously during their studies), a national leadership and societal instability, national economic pain, outright persecution against organized Christianity, and finally, one got married, there were two babies born and some gave care to dying parents. This graduation was a miracle for sure!

We’re hoping to host a “watch party” with any of our local Florida friends later this summer so that you can see and hear from them. There were worship songs in their heart languages and student speakers. Again, SO COOL!

Who and What is Next?

Behind these graduates are another 37 students who have one more year to go. One cool thing is that there are several students who started with this group that just graduated but experienced hardship that led them to step out but rather than quit outright, they joined the next group and, Lord willing will complete the program next June! These students have an even more intense second year coming with many practical courses including 32 hours of course work to help them approach learning about another people group’s culture.

And, guess what? It’s time to enroll our THIRD group. That’s what Bethany’s deep into right now. There are also 37 believers in the same countries and at least one new one, who have begun the application process and are eager to start classes later in July.

Intensives?

It’s always been a desire in our program to be able to spend some in-person time with our students and while we had a few attempted tries that were postponed because of COVID, we finally were able to go forward with having three one-week long intensive courses. This looks like some of our key student advisors and course teachers traveling to the student’s locations and spending a week with three particular groups of students both getting sweet facetime and relationship building with them while also focusing intensely on a few topics that we only introduced in the regular courses.

This time will be a major “shot in the arm” for both the students and the faculty. We SO wish we could have joined these trips!


Did you catch our previous post? If not, please check it out. We need to grow our partnership community and would love fo you to pray with us for that. Check out the post here.https://blogs.ethnos360.org/joel-potter/2022/06/03/we-still-need-help/

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Equipping, missions, online training

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Trackbacks

  1. We Still Need Help | says:
    June 3, 2022 at 8:12 pm

    […] Just so you know, this part of the update is about our finances. If that’s not something you want to get into, please don’t skip the rest of the email, just move to the next post about our recent graduates! […]

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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