November Newsletter

Dear Friends,

This is Thanksgiving month. Though we thank God for each of you all of the time, we are especially conscious of your graciousness and faithfulness to us this month. We understand that the economic situation has touched us all. Your prayers, along with your financial support, keep us going. Thank you! We pray that your Thanksgiving Day may be filled with cries of "thank you" to our Lord. The economy has made things tight for us, as it has for you. Just after buying a home everything collapses. Well, we trust God will bring us through. Please keep us and our finances on your prayer list as we do yours. Our prayers are that we could all prosper to bless the kingdom of God. These last two months we have had the lowest support of our 5 years in missions. As many of you already know, that does teach you to trust Him.

Tom and Kathy Padley continue to serve faithfully with many others who have come alongside of them. We continue to relate to some of the young leaders from Brazil. Washington T. has asked me to mentor him, in Portuguese. Eduardo has contacted us for some counsel on some church issues and desperately wants us to bring a projector down. Washington S. writes that his family is doing well, but they need a miracle to get back into their home which they began to remodel a year ago.

We are setting up our travel plans for 2009. Sometime in Feb/Mar Joanne and I will go down to work with one or two conferences and follow-up on the work there. In the fall I will return for two other conferences and about 4 weeks of follow-up.

Garreth and Carla continue to serve in Dungannon. They are expecting, and Carla has had some sickness. They have many ministries going out from Morph, their center. Suicide is a big issue there, and they have been given opportunities to bring the truth of the gospel into many lives. You can subscribe to Garreth's blog at http://constantlymorphing.blogspot.com.

Rick hopes to get some face to face time with Garreth and Carla in Ireland during 2009.

Art and Sandee Hackett continue to work in the north supporting and encouraging young Christians while planting a church in their backyard, literally. They had a number of teams throughout the summer join them in ministry.

Mike and Becky Kuelker are carrying Christmas packages to various villages. Seems early but you have to do it when you can in their area. They can often be prevented from getting places because of weather. Their daughter and grandson visited for two weeks bringing the abuelos (grandparents) much joy.

Ekklesia (church planters James and Tiffanie Furgeson) has moved into a new facility. They continue to press out what God has called them to and are filled with young people anxious to know more of Jesus.

Turning Point (church planters Steve and Krista Rumschlag, Aaron and team) have seen some new visitors join them in their services. They will be following up with them and continuing to pray for the city of Findlay.

Christ Community Fellowship (church planters Greg and Catherine Weis) is also seeing some new people joining them. Because of the area they are located in, finances are a critical issue right now and they would treasure your prayers.

There are a number of individuals we are working with (mentoring, pastoring, and/or coaching) in various areas. Our heart is to see these and many other young people become the leaders we need in order to take the church into the next era.

Joanne and I were able to attend the ARC conference in St. Paul, MN several weeks ago. What a blessing to interact with leaders of that city. Ned Berube, president of the ARC, led the conference in an interactive conference employing six scenes of leadership from the movie, GETTYSBURG. It was very well done. We were also hosted by Paul and Adrienne Volk in their home. We had hosted them in Brazil several times. We were also able to catch up with some other young people who had been to Brazil while we were living there.

Joanne Writes

Before I could write anything, I had to check my calendar to make sure of that which I was reporting. Although traveling can be challenging with my health issues, the experience has always been seasoned with His incredible grace and love. Attending the Conference in St.Paul, MN was so much more than just going to another conference. First of all, as Rick pointed out, Ned did a superb job in challenging leaders in today's church - it was "an experience" that was deeply impacting for me. His use of the film, "Gettysburg", was incredibly moving and brought home his points with passion. I was truly grateful to take part in this and to meet so many other leaders from the area - not just ARC pastors.

Being hosted by Paul and Adrienne Volk was truly a gift, since we had the opportunity to get to know them more when we hosted them while living in Brasil. Of course, spending some extended time with Adrienne - a dear friend - was an added bonus. The heart they have for the Asian people was truly inspiring as we learned, and experienced first hand, their love of this people. Having more time with Ned's wife, Sue, was also an incredible blessing. She, too, is a dear and treasured friend. We both had expectations of more time than we actually had, but life had its way of "taking over".

Ned and Sue's 6 children had a surprise 60th birthday party for them the Saturday night after the conference. Needless to say, it was wall to wall people - and Ned and Sue have a large home! Their eldest daughter, Renee, also miscarried during all of the goings- on which left Sue out of commission since being mother and grandmother took priority. Renee is certainly one incredible young lady who spear-headed so much of the surprise, was totally involved in the celebration, and then went into the hospital the morning after. The time, however, that we spent with Ned and Sue, both socially and business-wise was indeed memorable. Meeting the folk in their church and re-connecting with their team of teenagers who stayed with us in Brazil, made the visit to their church an extra gift. Other than the fact that we froze the whole time we were there, because of the weather change, our time in MN was more than I could have imagined.

I was blessed for the week in-between to recover and prepare for the Women's Retreat in Mansfield. Ending up in the ER was a bit more than I bargained for, but my situations with the doctors caring for me, lack of insurance, and help from the Cleveland Clinic, made that place the "best option" when I got sick. By Friday, November 7th, I was able to travel to Mansfield and be the main speaker for their women's retreat. Friday night and Saturday were two days filled with much love and grace from Father God! The sisters were indeed precious gifts, and His Holy Spirit definitely did His part as He moved mightily in our midst. Many hands contributed to the time we shared, and I got to benefit from it all. Renewing old friendships made the time even more rich.

Stopping to visit Ray Nethery who just had a triple by-pass surgery ended the time with a very tender blessing. Ray looked quite well - he was on his two week mark - Eunice was her ever gracious self, and everyone was grateful for his good recovery. Just being with the folk from Grace Fellowship was life-giving and an added blessing from the Father.

May our God surprise you this Thanksgiving by blessing you above and beyond what you could ask or imagine in the area that you need the most. You are indeed dearly loved!

Richard & Joanne Widener
Alliance for Renewal Churches

Contact Information

Rick and Joanne Widener
4063 Porter Rd.
Westlake, OH 44145

Phones

Rick's Cell: 440-360-0602
Joanne's Cell: 440-360-0603
Home: 440-281-9217

Fax
603-907-7928

E-mail
Rick - ricklw@attglobal.net
Joanne - jojow47@attglobal.net

Support Information
If you would like to financially support our work
please send your check to the following address.
Include a note (not on the check) that it is for the Wideners

ARC
365 Straub Rd. East
Mansfield, OH 44903

Unless noted, the office will send you our newsletter and a return envelope every month thereafter.

If you prefer to only recieve the email newsletter please let us know and we will make that change for you.

Interesting

I haven't looked at this blog since I opened it. Today I noticed that it was titled NEVER ALONE! In January I don't think I understood what the title meant. At least I think I have a better understanding of it then ever before. I know that God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are ALWAYS with me. WOW!