A year in summary.
This past year has been marked by both challenge and triumph, many downs and many ups. Like every year, it seems to have flown by so fast! How is it that 2024 is already here? As I reflect back, I think about how much change a year can bring. Things don’t always go as planned. I think 2023 is a very good illustration of that for me.
We dove into 2023 with extraordinary trials. I wasn’t sure our church was going to make it through the difficulties we were facing. We had to part ways with a staff member, go through significant leadership changes, and work through a time of many disgruntled members. But here we are, a year later, still plugging along! We aren’t where we want to be yet, but we are a lot further along from where we have been. Our finances are in much better shape, our unity is better than ever, and our fellowship is close-knit. If God can do such a work in a year that began in chaos, what can He do in a year beginning with unity? Perhaps 2024 will be our year of exponential growth. Let’s pray together that it is!
While navigating a church, I made it a point to continue weekly in outdoor street evangelism, mostly at the University of Florida. Being out on the streets is my calling. I never want to get away from it. My team has engaged countless students this year, discussing spiritual matters right in the middle of a secular college campus. It never ceases to amaze me how many students are willing to talk about spiritual things right on the sidewalk. Conversations often last 30 minutes to an hour or more! Some students are very open, others want to argue. Either way, gospel seeds are planted and only God knows the fruitfulness that will come from these encounters. Some students hear the gospel for the very first time! Even in the Bible belt, there are young men and women who have never heard the gospel, and countless more that have an incorrect understanding of it. Many students ask genuine questions. Many are searching for truth. I’m glad to be out there and look forward to more good times in the year to come.
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The Chaffee’s
We are as surprised as you may be that we are expecting an addition to the Chaffee family! Baby number 7 is due in June (that’ll be five June birthdays in our family). I’m overjoyed, of course. It’s going to be a challenge to have another child around, but God has always provided. The girls are desperately hoping that it will be a girl, but my suspicion is that it will be another boy. We’ll know for sure in a few weeks. Whether the child is a boy or a girl, he/she will be loved deeply. God continues to expand our love. We never seem to run short on love for all our children. They truly are a never ending source of joy.
Please pray for us in this new year. Pray for God to grow His church. Pray for conversions and baptisms. Pray for revival! That’s what I am praying for. I want revival in the church and on the streets. God has shown me something very important over the past year. He has shown me how utterly helpless I am without Him. However, He has also shown me that He can work through anyone He wants to, despite their abilities or lack thereof. Therefore I am confident that God can do a great work if we ask Him to, using whomever He wishes.
Thank you for your support over the years. It means a great deal. I pray a blessing upon you and your family. May God richly bless you in every way and increase you so that you may abound to every good work. Amen!
Hal Chaffee Ministries 