Tom and Miriam Becker

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Ministry Update

Holding the Ropes
Newsletter of the Beckers in Russia
May 22, 2011

Dear Friends and Family,

Some things in our ministry as field director family bring special joy, others bring unique sorrows. This Spring has brought both to us.

Just a couple days ago I returned from a quick trip to Ul'yanovsk, in central Russia. There I joined as three of our Russian church planting partner groups gathered to share their experience and to consider ways that they could combine forces, and resources, for more effective ministry. The fellowship was wonderful, and we came to the following agreements:

- Four students from closed countries to our south will return to their homeland to carry out a year of ministry practicum, supported by all four partners.

- A new church plant will be started in the city of Voronezh, with the worker coming from one of our partners and oversight from another.

- A worker from a southern country will join the St. Petersburg project among migrant workers from his homeland, where they have almost no gospel access. That worker will be bivocational, with partial support from three of the partners who were at the table.

- Churches from all of these groups will raise funds in Sunday School classes to support orphans in India, where our main partner church, the ECMU, has workers.

That's the sort of thing that keeps us going! And we often need that sort of encouragement. This has been a tough year, considering conflict within the ECMU, upheaval in our own lives, and seeing a number of our dear colleagues leave the field for personal and health reasons. In three months out of four this Spring, our staff was sad to receive news of another family going home. So in addition to rejoicing, we ask you to continue to pray:

This is going to be a summer of change in our family: Ross graduates June 4 and will immediately go to the U.S. to start this new stage of life, entering John Brown University in August. Anna switches from being the younger Becker at BFA to being the older, with Carrie joining her in the Fall. We are praying for a smooth adjustment for Carrie, and for the Lord to provide just the right dorm parents for her dorm (anybody interested?) Jamie will soon begin to crawl, which means that we will be very busy keeping up with our curious, active, fun-loving bundle of Joy. And Miriam and I will still be figuring out how to be parents to kids in three different countries at the same time as carrying out our ministry.

We continue to pray for repentance and unity in the ECMU. The time has come for us to step back and let things play out. While this decision greatly relieves the burden on Tom's shoulders, it is sad to see the conflict become even more entangled. We are also praying for the right solution to some rather complicated visa questions in two of our cities. Some of these questions have, unfortunately, resulted from the national church conflict.

Please pray for our friend Vadim and his family. We would love for them to share the deepest joy that we have... our relationship with Jesus. Vadim works in Moscow, even though his family lives in central Russia. He is here six weeks at a time, but we are burdened by the fact that at any time he could find a good job closer to home, and that would be the end of our contact. We hope to have a meal with him before his next trip home, in mid-June.

We are so grateful to the Lord for you. Thank you for many ways that you show us your love, for the encouragement that you offer, for your faithfulness in prayer. Thank you, as well, to those of you who give to the Great Commission Fund of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. That is what keeps us on the field and provides the majority of funding for our ministries. If you desire to participate, please mark your gift "For the support of Tom and Miriam Becker." This will allow us to thank you personally.

As the budget year is drawing to a close during what has been a particularly tight time financially for the C&MA, we would like to encourage you to consider extra support for the GCF, through the Great Commission Sunday Offering. GC Sunday offerings will be received until June 30. Thanks for considering this.

Finally, we so appreciate the encouragement and prayer and support that many of you gave to Ross for his Uganda trip. Attached is a word of thanks and report from him.

Serving with you,

Tom and Miriam Becker
Ross, Anna, Carrie, and Jamie Joy

Serving with the Christian and Missionary Alliance
PO Box 35000
Colorado Spring, CO 80935
cmalliance.org

You can learn more and contact us on:

The Web: cmainrussia.org
Skype: tom-mim
Facebook

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

To summarize the above:

- Please pray for our family during many changes over the summer.

- Ask the Lord for repentance and unity in the national church, and for clarity regarding visas in two of our cities.

- Please intercede for our friend Vadim and his family, that they would find Christ.

Russia

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