Ministry Update February 2018

Hello Folks,

2018 has started out with a bang! I want to take a moment to share some news of my ministry life, both globally through HiS PRINT and locally through The Gathering. Being the Director of The Gathering in Houston, under Executive Director Roger Wernette, has been a huge blessing and has allowed me to watch God orchestrate opportunities here in Houston, to reach people for Christ, as well as encourage Christians who are desiring a life that reflects Him. Being a part of both ministries has been rewarding and has kept me extremely busy. 

First of all PRAISE for funds that were raised to match a $50,000 gift given at the end of 2017 to The Gathering. As a result, we were able to complete the match and were blessed by each of you who generously gave to help us financially. In the next two months, The Gathering will be hosting two major events that are centered around leadership and outreach. 

• On March 8th we are partnering with Integrus Leadership to host a Leadership Summit that is offered as a free event for city business and ministry leaders. Participants will have the opportunity to spend the full day, learning about their leadership style, as well as learning about any constraints that may be holding them back from leading more strongly. 
• Then on April 24th, we will help host the annual Greater Houston Prayer Breakfast in downtown Houston. Our guest speaker will be NFL Hall of Fame, Seattle Seahawk wide receiver and former U.S. Congressman from Oklahoma, Steve Largent. The Greater Houston Prayer Breakfast has been held in Houston for the past 43 years with as many as 1,500 men and women joining us. 

We are extremely excited to help with both of these events, as well as maintain the weekly schedule of Bible Studies across the city and one on one discipleship with men in the work place that Roger and I both do. Very exciting to witness men coming to Christ, as well as growing in Christ and being a Christ follower beyond Sunday! 

Many things are also happening in HiS PRINT! The first is a great PRAISE as well. We have been blessed with a new warehouse to store all our equipment collections, thanks to the generosity of Jon Horner. Not only were we blessed with rent free, it is also only 6 miles from my home in Pearland. We have been praying for that since September, when we found out we were asked to leave our current home. On February 3rd, approximately 30 people (men, women and families) showed up for a work day at the new location to help the owner clean, organize and take back a warehouse that had completely overwhelmed him with stuff. After several trips to the scrap metal recycling center and filling a dumpster to the brim, we made a huge dent in cleaning and creating the opportunity for organization of what remained. The blessing we were receiving from the owner for his generosity was returned to him, in his thankfulness to remove the clutter that had made him almost unmoveable since Hurricane Harvey. We hope to move in by the end of March and begin a new chapter of HiS PRINT equipment collection, shipping and distribution of donated used sporting equipment! Please pray for Jon Horner and his business ventures in 2018 as well as being thankful for his generosity in helping us find a home! We often ask, "God are you sure you want us to stay in the shipping business?" He always answers with a loud YES, through a call from a high school that says they have some more equipment to be donated, a team from half way across the world requesting some help or a complete stranger, prior to this past weekend, who says, "Hey, do you need a home?" 

Secondly, our 5th shipping container is out on the water filled with another 13,500 pounds of sporting equipment. Crane Logistics came alongside us again this year and took much of the financial burden off of us and blessed us by cutting our costs by over half of what it had cost us in previous years. Join us in giving thanks for them and their continued support for our ministry in this way. The container is headed to our warehouse in Sisak, and from there will be sorted by team equipment orders we have received and distributed across the Balkans and Eastern Europe.

It has been such a blessing to witness God create opportunities for us to love the teams where they are through the giving of a football helmet or baseball glove and the continuing questions of, "Why would you spend all that time, effort, energy and money to help us?" When the why is asked, the why is shared and the why is Jesus! Please pray for safe and timely travel across the ocean and smooth transition through customs so that we will be able to distribute much of that equipment to the coaches who will be attending the clinics in March. 

Let's Do IT! For others!

Your Friend and Brother,

David