Hello Friends,
I hope and pray this finds you doing well!
We have found the last several months to be very eventful. 2009 proved to be a very productive time of ministry. We saw right at 400 profess faith in Christ, one of whom was a young man who was a Buddhist, 18 people surrendered their life to full-time vocational ministry, 5 young men were personally mentored, dozens of marriages were strengthened, hundreds of teens were challenged and encouraged through events in PA (TeenQuest Snow & Summer Camps where we had the opportunity to minister) as well as in VA where the opportunity was presented for our ministry to write and present a conference to a few hundred teens on relationships entitled “Heart, Mind, & Body: 100% Pure” (we are now offering this to anyone else wanting to do the same conference), and again we had the opportunity to speak at Thomas Road Baptist Church for Pastor Jonathan Falwell at the Wild Fire Men’s Conference.
2009 also proved to be a very difficult time for our family. In June of last year as you know, after returning from vacation with my her Mom, Mary, Nikki’s Dad, Ken became ill. The doctors thought it was his gall bladder but discovered a few days later it was pancreatic cancer. In less than a month and a half, Nikki’s Dad, a pastor in NC went to be with Jesus on July 10, the day after our 10th wedding anniversary.
2010 has started off just as busy and just as crazy it seems. We have already had the chance to minister in three churches here in VA and two snow camps for TeenQuest in PA where we have seen over 40 people trust Christ through all these opportunities. But it has also had some bumps already. Just six months after the death of her Dad, Nikki’s Mom has been told she has a “mass” that is attached to one of her kidney’s (she goes February 22 for a biopsy and we would appreciate your prayers for Nikki, her sisters Christi Embler and Katie Hankins, and her Mom, Mary Hankins during this time).
Praise God!!!
Nikki and I wanted to write to you and share all that God has been doing in our lives and ministry and say thank you for loving us, partnering with us, praying for us, and financially supporting us. Without you we could not do what we do! Because of you, your love, partnership, prayers and financial gifts many lives have been touched, challenged, and changed for all eternity. That is because of you. Thank you!
I also wanted to share with you a need we have. We are in need of a new ministry computer. One reason is my briefcase recently ripped while walking through the parking lot on my way to meet one of the young men I meet weekly to mentor, dropped to the ground and hit hard and cracked my computer. However, this is not the only reason I need to replace it. This computer is several years old and no longer able to serve the needs of our ministry. My webmaster had recently instructed me that he would like for me to get a new computer in order to be able to do some of the things that I believe God is leading me to do. We believe God is wanting us to begin offering mentoring to pastors and men on a larger scale by way of video and/or video chatting through the internet. Our computer is unable to do this. The programs that my webmaster wants me to use are standard and a MacBook Pro and that is what we are attempting and wanting to purchase. However, we cannot do that at this time, but need to.
We would like to ask you to: #1 Join us in praying for this need, #2 Pray specifically that God would provide this need we have without us having to go into debt so we are good stewards of the resources God gives us, and #3 Consider giving a gift to our ministry above what you normally give which would specifically be for the purchase of this MacBook Pro ministry computer. Let us know. Thank you!
God has been doing amazing things with our ministry and again, we thank you for all your love, prayers, and support.
I look forward to hearing from you soon!
In Christ Alone,
Matt Wilkins
Prov. 20:7
Mailing address: 111 Northwynd Cirlce #1
Lynchburg, VA 24502
