Dearest friends and family,
Shalom! A couple of Sundays ago, as a part of our preparation for the Easter season, we had a time celebrating the Passover Seder meal at church. Murray, from a Messianic Jewish ministry, led us through the Seder, explaining each step and symbol as we shared the meal around tables ourselves. It was amazing to meditate on how Jesus Himself celebrated the Passover, and to see how each part of the meal points to His redemption for us! Hallelujah!
We were reminded about the great need to pray for the Jews around the world... and to pray for Muslims, too! As we see in the news, the Near East is shaking, and we need to pray fervently in these days! We keep hearing amazing firsthand reports of what God is doing there – reports that you don't hear about in the news – but there is still great persecution. Just this week in that region, a church leader was released. He had been arrested after baptizing new believers there, not knowing someone was using a cell phone to video the event – a video which was then shown on the national TV. He had been sentenced to death for his “crimes”, it is a great miracle that he was released. Thank you, Lord! Keep praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters.
What's going on in IT?
iConnect: Some of you may have heard of the “iConnect” (Blackbaud) project that the IT team at OM USA has been working on. After several years of work, the project had finally reached the “Go Live” milestone. There are still several portions of the system which need to be implemented, but there were enough pieces in place that most of the people in the office could begin using the new system.
For all of you who are familiar with implementing large projects like this, you know how things are always rocky at the beginning! However, the system is finally coming to life. It will be a while before people have used the new features enough to become comfortable with them (and for us to shake out the bugs), but we are up and running. Thank the Lord for bringing us to this point! We really hope that this system will be a powerful tool to help OM tell the story of what God is doing around the world, and to invite our partners and supporters to become a part of that story!
The Americas Server: While a few of the larger national offices in OM have been spending a great deal of time sweating over iConnect, the majority of the OM fields are still using the existing Petra system for personnel, finance, recruiting and a host of other IT functions. As an organization, we have found that, even though we have tried to make the Petra system as simple as possible to maintain, some of the smaller field offices still have a difficult time finding people with sufficient IT skills (or time) to keep the system running smoothly. As a result, some of the larger offices, such as USA, have set up “hosted” services for the smaller offices. In simple terms, we have a central computer in our office that the other offices can dial in to over the Internet. This way, these smaller offices have access to all their IT data and functions, and we in the US can take care of making sure the systems are properly maintained and running smoothly.
My newest responsibility is taking care of a dozen or so fields throughout South and Central America (hence, the name, the Americas Server). While this is a pretty significant amount of work, it also gives me a great opportunity to serve many smaller offices around the Americas, and to directly support their ministry through this hemisphere. It's another example of how we can use the latest whizzbang tools of the IT industry1 to see the Gospel spread to every corner of the earth!
Sue's News:
Sue has had changes in her life as well. She was asked to assume the Book Store Manager job at OM USA in January. There are 3 important subdivisions of this job. Let her explain:
The “Brick and mortar” store (physical store) – Sue now oversees the 9-5 bookstore that is open at OM USA with the assistance of several valuable volunteers. She enjoys ordering and receiving lots of new books! The bookstore has given her the opportunity for plenty of reading, too (almost always at home), since publishers and new authors keep giving her new titles to check out! With a lifelong love of reading and books, it is fun, fun, fun! (Did you know Sue won a reading contest in Second Grade and still has the prize–a book of course–to prove it?) Part of this job is also an outreach to the Tyrone community.
Secondly, the job means providing book tables upon request for local church missions conferences. With the help of volunteers, we have provided three so far this year. Sue has always been greatly blessed with the inspiration of missions conferences, thanks to the heritage of Grace Covenant Church in Rochester, NY. Now it is a blessing to share great books with many at these conferences. Sue reads as many of these books as possible to provide good recommendations for purchases. It is a wonderful privilege to follow Operation Mobilization's 50+ year tradition of using literature to share the Gospel.
Finally, the newest part of this ministry is the OM USA online bookstore. The online site is technically “working”, but we are still learning how to add new titles, make changes, correct prices, etc. Sue calls this her "monster in the closet"! She is learning how this all works, with a 250 page manual to study. Prayer, please! You can check on our progress yourself at https://store.omusa.org/.
As we look to the future, OM USA is continuing to expand its literature ministry. Sue receives daily requests for books by phone and email. With our own mail room (where Sue still helps out for a few hours each morning), we can ship orders to most parts of the world. We are able to receive discounts from most publishers, so we are able to offer books at a reasonable cost – often below the price of other on-line bookstores! Anyone may phone 800-899-0432 or send a request to sue.tryon@om.org to order most Christian books.
In addition to her work with the bookstore, Sue is still taking Spanish lessons every week at our local church. There is a significant Hispanic population in this area, and knowing even a little bit of Spanish can open many, many doors to meaningful ministry right here where we live.
OM Arts:
As I alluded to in our last letter, I am continuing to move toward more involvement in the ministry of OM Arts (http://www.arts.om.org/). The Lord has been moving us forward at a dizzying pace as I have had the opportunity to join a local Arts organization here in Fayetteville, and to purchase a second-hand kiln to start developing my own studio. I'm afraid our cars have seen the last of the inside of our garage. ;-) I have applied to join OM Arts team going to Hungary for this summer (http://www.arts.om.org/mission-trips/visual-art/hu1.html). One interesting piece about this trip is that it combines both art and working with teens in a different culture. Please pray as Sue and I seek the Lord's will for this trip, as well as several other opportunities (including a return trip to Moldova where the team there would love to have us follow up on the ministry which we began last year!). You wish sometimes that you could do everything, but the Lord has given us real bodies that can only be in one place at one time...
In Closing...
I was reading a prayer from another missionary that we support in Chile, and something he wrote really struck me. He was expressing his thanks for all the people – people like you – who stood behind his team in their ministry. I would also like to express our thanks to you in the same way for the many ways that you stand behind us as partners. Those who support us financially are obvious, but just as important are those who pray, and write letters and emails, or call on the phone. In our position here in the US office, we see very clearly the way this partnership impacts people all along the chain that God has created, from the home church to the mountains of Kyrgyzstan or the little villages of Vietnam. Standing here in the middle of that chain, we see very clearly how we could not do this without your obedience to God's call. Thank you for your faithfulness!
Prayer Time: Thanks be to God!
- For Sue's new responsibilities as the Bookstore Manager
- For real tangible progress on the Blackbaud/iConnect project.
- For opportunities for ministry this summer
Requests for prayer:
- Guidance and wisdom and perseverance for Chuck in both teen ministry and IT projects supporting OMers in the US and beyond
- Big breakthroughs in implementing the online bookstore.
- Wisdom,guidance, and strength in Sue's diverse job responsibilities
- Wisdom in planning and finances as we consider short-term missions opportunities for 2011
God bless you and your family as we see Gods's Glory unfolding in the wonders of spring. We praise the Lord for you!
In His Service,
Chuck and Sue Tryon
