Dave and Donna .ca

Dear Friends;

We are writing you in the middle of a chain of events.  We know that you will want to hear how the Lord is continuing to lead us and open doors for us in FEBInternational and beyond.

Throughout our year in South Africa, Donna and I have been in discussion with our director Richard Flemming, about where we should establish our base.  We discussed many places including Lebanon, two sites in South Asia, and staying on in South Africa.  None of these options advanced FEBInternational or our Fellowship to any significant degree.  All of them had merit, but none of them in the end proved workable.

During this same period of time Donna and I began to understand how profoundly we missed the pastorate.  As well, we had a significant number of inquiries and opportunities to serve in other ministries and settings including several Churches in Canada   However, all of them required that we break with FEBInternational, which we were not prepared to do.  As we prayed all of this through, and discussed it with our director, we felt the Lord directing us to a hybrid ministry that would allow us to serve with FEBInternational and also pastor in some setting.  Richard’s comment to us at the time was that such a ministry could be a ‘win/win’ for us, the mission and a church.

As we continued to discuss this idea, a Search Committee of a Church in British Colombia approached us seemingly out of the blue about a staff position with them.  We explained to them, as we had to others, that we were committed to FEBInternational and were not prepared to leave the mission completely.  They asked to explore this further and requested that we outline what a mixing of ministry with them and the mission would look like.  We discussed this particular opportunity with our director and we came to the following terms: that FEBInternational required from us 3 months or ¼ of our time for overseas travel to coordinate membercare.  The Search Committee and Board of the inquiring Church responded positively and requested that we meet with them, which we were able to do in mid July.

The outcome of our meetings has been that the Search Committee and Board have recommended us to the Church and we will be preaching for a call to Central Baptist Church, Victoria, B. C. on August 28, 2005.

Should the Church extend a call to us, and should we accept that call, the outcome will be that we will relocate to Victoria in January 2006 to begin a hybrid position of Senior Pastor ¾ time and continue to coordinate membercare ¼ time with FEBInternational.

We see this hybrid ministry as a rich opportunity for being engaged in pastoral ministries locally and globally and feel a huge honor and responsibility to attempt to fill both roles for the benefit of the Church and the mission to God’s glory.

We will continue to need the prayer and financial support of Churches and individuals so that we can continue our work with FEBInternational as coordinators of membercare.

Our plans for the fall are unchanged.  We will be traveling to 6 countries in Europe, followed by Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines between September and December.  Our commitment to Coordinate Membercare for the missionaries in FEBInternational remains a central passion for both of us.  We will continue to need the prayer and financial support of churches and individuals for the balance of 2005.

Should we assume the senior pastoral position at Central in 2006, we would need to maintain 40% of our present financial support with FEBInternational.  This would cover the three months of overseas travel expenses and other costs related to our Membercare responsibilities with the mission.

We look forward to seeing many of you in BC during the next few weeks and we wanted all of you to know what has been happening in our lives to this point in time.  We anticipate that as you join us in prayer that the Lord will make His plans for us clear.

In his love and ours,
Dave and Donna Marttunen

Prayer and Praise:

1. Praise the Lord for the sale of our car and all our household items in South Africa
2. Give thanks for an excellent Missions conference in Muskoka, Ontario in early July, the future directions of our mission were clarified and further developed.
3. We have enjoyed a little over a week vacation with our ‘kids’ in Calgary.
4. Ask the Lord to make clear to us his will regarding ministry in Victoria B.C. at Central Baptist Church.
5. Pray that our reporting time to Churches and individuals would be effective.

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