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Family update, August 2019

8/19/2019

What a time of transition it has been and continues to be for our family. We continue to see God’s wonderful plans unfold for Chaili, and you will be seeing more of that over the coming year. In preparation for some of what is ahead, Chaili has accepted a new position as a labor and delivery nurse at a different hospital that will be closer to the area where she will most likely be living. These are exciting and encouraging times indeed as we see God’s hand. Most everyone who knows our family is aware that the most pressing transition for our family this year has been seeing Carey off to the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. For those not familiar with it, this is one of the five United States service academies, where cadets receive a four year education and then are commissioned as officers into the respective branches of military service. In May of 2023, Carey will graduate from USCGA and receive his commission as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. He hopes to be a pilot (Coast Guard C-130), but will have many, many options, and has already discovered a love for sailing and seamanship.

USCGC Eagle, Coast Guard flagship and training vessel for future Coast Guard officers. Carey spent one week on Eagle this summer

Carey Juneman reporting aboard USCGC Eagle

Carey will “owe” at least five years of service upon graduation (more if a pilot), but will most likely make a career of it. As a family, we have already fallen in love with the Coast Guard and the very close-knit community within it. We can now see God’s hand at work even more clearly. After applying for three of the academies and looking at multiple ROTC options, we can now see that this was the perfect place for Carey. One of the most challenging times of our life was dropping him off at the academy on reporting day on July 1. As of the moment of swearing in, he was now active duty military, to be treated as an adult.

On that day, the “swabs” (what they are called until the end of the summer) had their phones confiscated and we were only able to communicate with him through handwritten letters --- the old fashioned way! Trina and I wrote every day, and we were blessed to receive two lengthy letters from him. As of this past Friday, August 16, Carey successfully completed “Swab summer” and on Monday the 18th will be officially received along with his class into the core of cadets at USCGA. And so begins what is known as 4th class year, with classes beginning in about a week after a lot of administrative in-processing.

Carey has openly shared with us that this has been, by far, the most difficult thing he has ever done, and it is much harder than he even expected (which is saying something after all his prior military preparation). But we are extremely encouraged to hear that he is absolutely loving it and is thriving. That is no exaggeration. We were blessed to FaceTime with him on Friday evening when he got his phone back, and he seems great. How he has grown already! It is clear that he and the other cadets are already like military officers. I could go on forever, but we are so proud of Carey and all God has done in this time, and so incredibly grateful for this opportunity and provision for him. We are also grateful beyond words for the absolute outpouring of love, prayer, and support we have received from so many people during these days. We are now military parents. The road ahead is still long, and it is a brand new chapter and stage of life and being in the support role as parents. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we learn even more how to depend upon Jesus in this new stage of the journey. But the same Jesus who has provided all this time will be our abundant supply in all things now and ahead. Thank you all beyond words.

Running together in Christ,

John

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Summer camps, 2019

8/18/2019

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Summer 2019 was an exciting and busy camp schedule. It began in June with the summer camp for The Potter’s School, the Christian online school for whom I teach Bible Survey class to eighty students. To read more about this particular camp, go to our June update. The busier camp schedule began after my return from the Philippines (read our summary report on the Philippines trip here). Less than two days after returning from the Philippines, I had to push through some of the jet lag and adjustment to a 12-hour time difference as I had to depart to drive to Pennsylvania to begin seven days at the Peniel Holiness Camp. This was my first time to Peniel, and I preached nine times, sharing the preaching responsibilities with Dr. Chris Lohrstorfer of Wesley Biblical Seminary, whom I learned a great deal from. Part of what impacted me most about my time at Peniel was the incredible history of this camp, nearing 125 years of existence. One of my favorite things at the older holiness camps is to look at all the old posters for the campmeetings of years past. Peniel has these posted on the walls of the main worship tabernacle. I was awed (and Dr. Chris and I were almost giddy) to view these old posters and see how some of the greatest preachers of the holiness movement had preached at this camp. We saw some extremely significant responses to Jesus in this camp, and I was humbled to stand in the long line of those who have been privileged to share the Word at this storied camp.

9:30 AM Bible study on 1 Corinthians 12 at Camp Sychar

After preaching my final service at Peniel on Thursday night (the camp would continue through that following Sunday), I drove a couple of hours to the Cleveland, OH airport to pick up Trina as she had flown there from home to meet me. After our joyful reunion (it had been the better part of three weeks since we had been together except for the two short nights at home after the Philippines), we made our way toward Camp Sychar in Mt. Vernon, OH, arriving a little after midnight. Those who know us at Camp Sychar know that it has become a real home for us over the past nine years especially. My first time to speak at Sychar was in 1993 (hard to believe even now how they so accepted that 26 year old evangelist), and was there two other times in the 90’s during our first term in evangelism. In 2011, I was asked back again and have either attended or served as one of the workers every year except two since then. It truly has become like home --- one of our family’s four favorite places on earth. But it’s really the people more than the place. I was privileged this year to serve, for the second time, as the 9:30 AM Bible teacher. I have become very fond of this opportunity to share from the Word in a teaching setting, yet very informal manner. It was clear to me this year that it would be good to share the material from 1 Corinthians 12 on the gifts of the Spirit and the body of Christ. The response was overwhelming. We pre-printed and bound 125 copies of the notes for the study, and they were all gone with still a few days left in the camp.

Jesus really spoke and moved in these times, especially in my own heart. We were able to spend time with cherished friends and family, deepening even further in relationship and a bond in Christ. We were privileged to be under the music ministry of our dear friend Tab Beechler for the fifth consecutive summer (in various camps). We left Sychar again with, if possible, an even greater appreciation for the relationships God has gifted us with there, and what it means for eternity. I even was privileged to help raise money during the missions fair by volunteering with my dear friend, Dave Kochheiser, for an exhibition of our abilities in the bouncy house before an enthusiastic audience.
Thanks, Dave!

Along with President Matt Brookes and Dave Kochheiser, preparing to enter the bouncy house

After our ten days at Sychar, Trina and I were able to be home for three days before heading up to Minnesota to the camp for the Prairie Lakes District Church of the Nazarene, a gathering of Nazarene churches from Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. What an amazing place and event this was over the course of the four days! And did I mention that I really like having Trina with me on these events? We were so very warmly greeted by the people, and by an old friend, district pastor (superintendent) Steve Hoffman and his wife, Jeanna. What amazing and humble servants of God they are! I was moved time and time again by Steve’s spiritual leadership and example in the camp. And the response of the people to the truth was extremely significant. There seemed to be a very special and powerful moving of the Holy Spirit in these services --- a time when His presence and touch on us all was extremely evident. One of the highlights was on Friday evening and the opportunity to speak through a Spanish interpreter to a joint service with English and Hispanic congregations. We were also blessed to have some time with our dear brother, Sam Burch, as he is in Minnesota for this part of the year. What a refreshing and encouraging time we had together. Trina and I found ourselves so refreshed by this time and counted it as such a gift to have been at this camp with these people.

Friday night bi-lingual service at Prairie Lakes District campmeeting

We arrived home from Minnesota with some time now to begin to prepare for our fall travel schedule and the beginning of my TPS classes next week, followed by a class with Trevecca Nazarene University beginning the week after that. God is good. Though we are physically weary from the summer, our hearts are refreshed by the truth of His Word and the presence of Jesus among His people. We would not rather be anywhere else!

Running together in Christ,

John

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Philippines, July 2019

8/18/2019

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I have always heard about the Philippines. My friend and ministry partner, Mark Strickland, has often spoken of his fondness for the Philippines as his favorite country in SE Asia. I had never imagined myself as traveling to SE Asia to teach or preach. But the providence of God had been at work in ways I could not have imagined. A couple of years ago, Trina had read that an old friend of mine, Dr. David Ackerman, had become the education coordinator for the Philippines and Micronesia for the Church of the Nazarene. David and I (as well as Mark Strickland) had attended Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City at the exact same time between 1989 and 1992. David and Rhonda had come from Idaho while Trina and I had come from Illinois. I had come to know him through several classes we had taken together, always amazed with his level of intellect. We became even more acquainted and the friendship developed more as David and Rhonda began attending the same small Nazarene church that Trina and I were attending in Independence, MO.

We all began working in the youth ministry there together. After graduation, David continued on in pursuit of his Ph.D. degree and eventually began in teaching ministry in the Philippines along with some terms as a pastor back in the U.S. Now, as Trina had read, he had come back to the Philippines as education coordinator. Trina began to be impressed that I needed to reach out to David to see if there was ever a need for teachers to come from the U.S. to help out in the ministry in the Philippines. The timing seemed exactly right, and David’s response was very positive. We began corresponding and planning over a period of months, which culminated with me getting to be on the ground in the Philippines from July 5-15. Mark Strickland was also able

At Metro Manila First Church of the Nazarene along with David, Rhonda, and Shan Ackerman

Sunday AM altar response at New Hope Church

to come at this time, which provided something of a homecoming for him as he had spent a semester studying there during seminary. It seemed God’s wisdom to multiply our efforts while there, and so David coordinated for us to minister in different parts of the Philippines over the course of this week and a half. Mark went to some of most remote areas in the eastern part of the Philippines, near Leyte Gulf, teaching pastors in some of the most rural areas and also preaching in these churches. He was affectionately nicknamed “MacArthur,” because they said, “you must return and come again!” Mark also had enormous response his second week of ministry teaching and preaching a revival at the Visayan Nazarene Bible College on the island of Cebu.

While Mark was ministering on these islands, I was mostly in two locations. For two days I was at Philippine Nazarene College in the high country of Baguio City. There we received amazing response from the Bible college students and faculty and area pastors who came in for a day of special seminars on evangelism. My other days were invested with the pastors and churches of Metro Manila, the capital city and one of the most densely populated cities in the world. There are 80 Nazarene churches in this district of Metro Manila, and my time was spent in pastoral training and preaching in several of the Metro Manila churches. This was not only a time of incredible harvest and response to the truth of God’s Word, but also a time of significant sowing of seeds for the possibility of ongoing relationship.

Chapel service at Philippine Nazarene College

Pastor training with Metro Manila District

The District Superintendent of the Metro Manila District, whose church I preached at on a Sunday morning, wants to make plans for me to come next year for a city-wide revival with all 80 Nazarene churches in Manila. He would like to use this same trip to conduct a PALCON (Pastors and Leadership Conference) for more training of pastors while I am there. I have to confess that my trip to the Philippines was the most physically demanding international trip I have ever made, and I am only weeks later beginning to recover. But I was so encouraged by what God did, and remain open for these further possibilities of running alongside of these people.

I have a deep love for them. I am grateful for all the prayer and support of people for this trip. Thank you for running together with me and the Christians in the Philippines for this time.

Running together in Christ,

John

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