Dear Friends,
G’day! Hope you are all doing well! I know it’s a little late but, Happy New Year! I hope you had a great holiday season celebrating with family and friends. Rachel and I enjoyed spending time with a family in NM and Kansas.
We hit the ground running this year with touring. We started off in Garden City, Kansas in the first week of January and now we have been on the road for almost two weeks. Currently we are in central Louisiana.
In Garden City, KS, we had a great time of worship with the folks at First Southern Baptist. We had the opportunity to encourage the worship leaders and the team on the Saturday and then lead worship for the church on Sunday. Its very humbling for me to be able to give advice and share the things that God has taught me with leaders from whom I’m sure I could learn a lot.
After making sure everything on the RV was in order and installing some new stabilizing components (thanks Shawn), Rachel and I hit the road on Jan 19th. Our first stop was at a Teen Challenge Center for women in Albuquerque, NM. This was such special way to kick off this tour. These ladies and the staff are so passionately in love with Jesus and so thankful for all He has done for them. To worship with these ladies was a real privilege and helped to set our hearts on God and what He has called us to do. The next day we awoke to 2-3 inches of snow. So after brushing the snow from our slide outs and praying we could make it out of there without slipping down the road we headed to Las Cruces.
Our contact in Las Cruces was a fellow musician (now a good mate) we met at the Reach Out Music Fest last year. His name is Wally Ramirez. (click here to check out his ministry, Reach.) Wally had organized for us to play at a couple of different churches in Las Cruces and the Teen Challenge Center in El Paso. One of the highlights for me was leading worship at Restoration Church on Sunday morning. This church was filled with people from all backgrounds and walks of life all seeking the same God, the only true restorer of life. At this service we also were able to witness 4 people giving their lives to God! One of them being Wally’s 7yr old son!
On Monday morning at Teen Challenge El Paso we had a lady walk in off the street with her father. This lady had reached breaking point and realized she needed help with the things that kept tying her down. So we pressed pause on what we had started and we all gathered around our sister and prayed. I asked later, “What does it take for someone to enter into the program here?” The answer was that they have to want to, a willing heart, and a desire to change. That’s the same for any of us who want to change from being self centered, just living for our own pleasure to living a life fully sold out to Christ and allowing Him to mold us into what He needs us to be. We have to want that change for it to happen.
Between El Paso and Louisiana we didn’t have anything planned until the Pastor from El Paso TC recommended we call a TC center in San Antonio and see if they would like us to stop by. I’m telling you God is a better tour manager than I! Last Wednesday, we spent a night encouraging and leading 45 men at TC San Antonio in worship. It is so powerful when men of God lift their voice in song before their maker and father! We were so blessed to be able to meet these men and to hear of the change that God has done and is doing in their lives. These are 45 men who are already being trained into leaders for God. From the very beginning God has called men to lead. But we have become apathetic and would rather just chase after temporary highs. So to see these men who have realized they’ve been made for so much more, surrender themselves to Christ encourages my heart so, so much!
This past weekend Rachel and I have been hosted by the good folks here in Deville, LA. On Saturday night we shared a night of music and a guest youth pastor shared a message with a group of over 100 people from the church and surrounding community. Then on Sunday morning we led worship for the morning service. I was really encouraged by the culture of prayer in this church. On Sunday we prayed for a lady who was in ICU with congestive heart failure. The next day we heard that the fluid had disappeared from around her heart and she was going to be released from ICU! God is faithful! James 5:16b “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working”. ESV
This weekend we are headed to Nashville. We will be there for a lot of February working on getting songs ready for a new album. Yes you read correctly! We are working towards recording a new album this year. Please pray for us in this that God will direct this process and that we will record the songs that are going to speak to people’s hearts. We will keep you updated on this as we go as well as letting you know of ways that you can help with this process.
As always thank you for your continued support of this ministry. If you would like to sow into the ministry financially you can click on the donate button below or send a check to Renovate Ministries at the address also located below.
If you want to keep up with us on social media and see photos of our travels be sure to like our pages on Facebook and Instagram.
Much love and blessings!
Jeremiah and Rachel.
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