Winter 2018-19 Update

I write from my desk in Tennessee on a cool, sunny day in January.  It has been a blessing to be here at home throughout this winter after a busy and fruitful fall schedule with repeat visits to some of our most beloved churches, which feel like “second home.”  To be honest, being home is not necessarily the first or desired status when you are an evangelist as livelihood and the normal work ministry depends on being “out” somewhere.    

But our God always knows best.  I have been particularly thankful for this time to be with my family in these days of transition.  It is with very mixed emotions that we recognize that we could have a little more than five months with Carey before he might leave for the military.  Just this week he received a phone call and offer of full appointment to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.  We are now (along with thousands of other families across the United States) waiting word to hear if he receives an appointment to the Naval and Air Force Academies.  What an intense time these last several months have been with the long application process.  Now we wait.  In the meantime, Chaili has continued to grow and thrive in her work as a maternal/newborn nurse at one of the hospitals in downtown Nashville.  Working night shift is not for everyone, but she has excelled.  Indeed, it has been a precious time to be with one another and to walk as a family through these days.  There are those moments when I look at them and realize, “It will never be quite like this again.  Thank you, Lord, for these days.  In the meantime also, we are experiencing our best year yet of online teaching.  ​

Carey at Candidate Visit Weekend at United States Naval Academy

Our weekly online Bible classes through The Potter’s School have grown to an enrollment of 80 students this year in 19 countries around the world.  Far more important than the level of participation has been the fruitfulness of this.  The testimonies of students and parents from week to week witness to the work of Jesus Christ and the power of His Word in their lives.  It has been greatly encouraging to see and hear as these young people are getting into the Word in their own lives, and I believe it will yield lifelong fruit.  This is part of the main work I give myself to in these days at home (continuing to do classes when we are at a church somewhere) as I study the material and create the PowerPoint presentations for classes, not to mention the five weekly 90-minute class sessions themselves as well as grading work.  In addition to all this, I remain in extensive correspondence and communication with as many people as possible for the sake of encouragement and future planning.  Not the least blessing of these days is being able to continue in the study of John 17.  This month I will be concluding that study and moving on to the next “chapter” in life with a study in 2 Timothy chapter 2.  I have been deeply impacted by John 17 and am excited for what is ahead with 2 Timothy. 
 
​As we continue to look ahead, the spring revival schedule with begin soon, starting with our trip to Clearwater, FL in February.  We prayerfully hope to produce a new book on John 17 for this summer.  There are also some new teaching opportunities that may be on the horizon and which I can share more about as they become more firm.  We are also prayerfully looking at the possibility of Mark Strickland and I traveling to SE Asia for two weeks of pastoral training and teaching this summer.  Discussions are currently taking place with leaders there.  We would appreciate your prayer for all of these opportunities and whatever the Lord may have in mind. 
 
Most of all, I would appreciate your prayer for us, as we do for you, that we would know Jesus more deeply and fully in these days.  And as we watch the calendar in these upcoming months and listen for news of where God will direct Carey, it is good to know that Jesus “is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:17).”  He is our provision, our peace, and our “glue” in this transition and in every other.  All praise to Him, and we pray that you will know the same of Him in these days and in all of your transitions.
 
In Christ,
 
John Juneman