Dear Friends,
Hard to believe, but just over one year ago, I took the reins as President of Outpost-TCJHOP. In noticing the date passing by on the calendar, I found myself reflecting on this past year and praising God for His faithfulness to the ministry. The past year, like many before it, has been filled with ups and downs, changes and continuances, and times of excitement mixed with periods of calm peacefulness. Over the course of the year, God gave us two distinct pictures that we believe inform our current calling. I’d like to share those pictures—and how we understand them—with you.
In the first 6 months of my tenure, we were given a picture in the form of a tree we have in the office. This tree has been in Outpost offices for at least 2 decades, moving with us multiple times and providing much-needed greenery in so many spaces where we had few windows to the outdoors. This last move took a great toll on the tree. Moving any potted plant during the cold winter months is a dangerous proposition, and unfortunately, the stress of the move resulted in many dead branches. Every day seemed to involve cleaning up more dropped dead leaves from around the planter.
Even with so many leaves falling, though, we could see much green and growth in the lower branches. So, we did what must be done: we pruned. And we pruned significantly, taking off fully 1/3 of the height of the tree and approximately half of the branches. The tree looked so different! Truth be told, it looked very sad. However, over the next two months, the remaining branches began to flourish. More leaves came in, bright and green. New branches emerged, springing forth and budding with even more leaves. Now, there are no dead branches, only life.
The second picture came during a staff prayer time this summer. The picture was that of an arrow, flying rapidly through a wooded area. The arrow had been so well-aimed that it flew on and on, never hitting anything, but finding the straight and true path through all that might try to get in the way.
These two pictures together describe well who we are and what we are doing here at Outpost. Great changes occurred this past year, which resulted in us needing to assess what programs we could continue to offer. And so, we pruned back. For many months, CalebSpirit was the only support group able to meet. While staff continued to meet with people one-on-one, travel to speak at churches, and participate in ministry fairs, our overall ministry looked different. Then, new growth and projects presented themselves. We published a complete outline of our Foundations course, developed and published a toolkit for churches to start their own version of Elijah Company, and are now working with 2 churches who are ready to use the toolkit. Also, last spring a trusted volunteer came forward to lead the summer Joshua Fellowship (JF) course, and God has led him and another young man to continue facilitating JF this fall.
God is so good! He continues to give us new ideas and bring about new growth on this tree we call Outpost. Furthermore, each time an idea has been given, God has aimed the arrow of that idea so well that we are able to complete the project in short order and get on to doing the new ministry. What an exciting time to be in!
My prayer is that this ministry will continue to be responsive to God and His leading. I want us to be able to jump into our projects whole-heartedly while still holding them loosely. In all that we do, I acknowledge that the ministry belongs, not to me, but to God. Whatever God wants to do with us is where I want us to walk in this coming year. We want to be like Jesus, only doing what we see the Father doing (John 5:19), so that the people we interact with will honor God in all they do and experience the life abundant (John 10:10).
I invite you, once again, to partner with us to bring wholeness and healing to the hurting. Whether you can help through your prayers, your financial gifts, or your time serving, we are grateful to have each and every one of you caring for us and for those who come to us for help. We look forward to what God has in store for us in the next 12 months.
Yours in service,
