New Day Christian Ministry Minister’s Retreat 2016

We are proud to announce our second annual Minister’s Retreat!!

Through the years of ministry we have come to realize the many pressures pastors and their families face from day to day in ministry and in their personal lives and the great importance there is to build up and edify one another in the faith. It is our desire to provide this unique opportunity for pastors and their families to come together to minister to one another and to be ministered to. We hope that we will see you, or your pastor, and your/their family for this very special ministry to these men and women of God.

This year’s retreat will held November 10-12

at Laurel Lake Baptist Camp in Laurel, Kentucky

Over the years the camp has provided great opportunities for folks of all ages to come

to a place where they can grow closer to God and one another. The director of the camp is a long time friend of David’s and has given us a very special rate.

The cost of this year’s retreat is $70 per person. This covers all expenses including lodging and meals. Children 2 and under are free. 

“So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing”
(1 Thessalonians 5:11)

We are hopeful that our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord will be willing to support this ministry to pastors with a special gift to offset the cost for them and their families wishing to attend. If you or the church you serve is willing to help support those who are attending, whatever you give is going to be greatly appreciate. 

Donations for this ministry to ministers can be given online or by mail:

(Click Here To Donate) 

Donations can also be sent to:
New Day Christian Ministry
PoBox 49610 West Carrollton OH 45449 

For mailed support please add minster’s retreat support in the memo of the check.

For all of the information and to register for this year’s retreat visit:

http://newdaycm.org/mensretreatemail2016.pdf

Or contact us at 937-307-0694 or david@newdaycm.org

All pastors must preregister to attend.

See you real soon!!! 

If you are needing assistance with registration cost please let us know as you have already read we are seeking support to help those in need and may be able to assist you. 

I would like to thank all of you who will share the word of this great opportunity to minister to those who minister and I look forward to seeing all of you who will be attending in November!

God Bless,

David Ingram

New Day Christian Ministry

Isa. 43:18-21

Forget the past; see God is doing a new thing! 

newdaycm.org 

Please help us share this information by sharing this posting with your friends and family and we do have bulletin inserts that can be printed and shared with your church here:

http://www.newdaycm.org/2016bulletin.pdf 

How to expect the unexpected

“Here I am, Lord, send me!” are the words that mark a Christian servant. David and I both said these words when we were just barely teenagers. We experienced a turning point in our walk with the Lord and knew that someday we would be missionaries. When that day came we of course had our expectations and preconceived notions about what we would do and what our lives would look like when we landed in Puerto Rico October 2004. In 2005 God led us to begin New Day Christian Ministry.  At first it was just one small church but now we have 46 churches around the world, 2 of them being in PR.

Although church planting is an important part of our ministry it is not the only thing on our plate. God has led us to do many things and meet many people along the way that might seem arbitrary and random to most people. Yet these encounters and activities have become an intercut part of our daily ministry. We have come to expect the unexpected when we wake up in the morning. We never know who we might meet at our local gas station or store, or what blessings may fall on us or what form of tragedy might happen.

This last month we have had an abundance of all 3. We have been abundantly blessed in different ways; we have met many people and been blessed by them and been able to be a blessing to them and their families; we have also experienced a mountain of heartache this month. I would like to briefly share a few examples of each:

When we returned from Kenya we hit the ground running with plans to begin our second PR church branch. We have been blessed with the opportunity to share a church building with Hormigueros Baptist Church. The last few weeks we have traveled there many times preparing the building.  This last Sunday was our first service. We have a lot of work ahead of us and we are very excited at the incredible blessing of starting another branch and being able to meet in a church building. We eagerly wait to see how God will grow this church.

As we have been preparing for this church start, we faced a significant transportation challenge. Because of the distance needed to travel back and forth for this church start we needed to make sure our vehicle was in working order. We took it in for an inspection at our local auto shop and upon receiving an estimate for repairs we were very disappointed. The estimate was over $1500 to repair the breaks and front suspension. When we shared this with our friend, who is a certified mechanic, he quickly offered to help us do any repairs if we bought the parts. We eagerly accepted and bought what we thought were the necessary parts recommended to us by the auto shop. However, when David and our friend began disassembling the van they quickly realized several things were missing and several things that supposedly needed replaced were in good condition. David went back a few times to the auto shop and returned parts and exchanged them for different ones. Our friend also showed us that metal was showing through on our front tires. After replacing the breaks, front suspension and two new tires we spent only $500. Praise the Lord for this incredible blessing. We are so thankful to our friend for his immense help!

While we were preparing for our new church and also fixing the van we received word that a friend was in the ICU. Seven years ago when we started NDCM we needed a post office box. Harry, a postal worker for over 20 years, helped us open one. Through the years we shared stories of our families and different mile stones in our lives. When we became pregnant we excitedly shared pictures and when Hannah was born we brought her in to meet Harry and the rest of our postal friends. Every time we went away on mission trips to Kenya or on furlough to the States he not only personally took care of our mail but he served us and our ministry in a unique and important way. Three weeks ago he was admitted into the ICU for double pneumonia and a few days later died of a heart attack. David was honored to be asked by the family to perform a service and conduct the spreading of his ashes. 

Not more than a day after Harry’s service we received a text from one of David’s closest friends in the States that his mother-in-law had been rushed to the hospital with a brain aneurysm. Sadly she passed away the next morning. We had enjoyed several family get-togethers with his in-laws and had hoped to get to know her better. With so much tragedy in such a short time we were hopeful that the worst had passed. Unfortunately this was not to be.

As many of our friends know almost a year ago our close friend here in PR, Javier, was killed. Five years ago we met Javier at a gas station. David was speaking English and that intrigued Javier enough to approach us and talk for a few minutes. We exchanged contact info and went our separate ways. Five minutes after separating he calls and asks for prayer for some of his friends. This encounter led to meeting his family members, sharing holidays/birthdays and many visits to each others’ homes. On June 4, 2011 upon arriving at his house to show him our new puppy we learned that just a few short minutes before he had been shot and killed. His brother was an eye witness and identified the shooter which led to an arrest. The unexpectedness of his death and having him so violently taken from this earth and the closeness we had with him has left a void in our lives here in PR. This whole year we have been in and out of court, every time reliving the tragedy and pain. This past week a verdict of not guilty was issued and our expectations for a legally just ending was cruelly taken away from us by a corrupt judicial system.  

Literally on the same day that this verdict was given we left the court house to go and be with our friend Nelson and his family for the viewing of his brother. Five years ago through a mutual friend we met this young Deaf man, Nelson. He began attending our church along with his hearing sister’s. We also began to get to know his other family members. We have gotten to know his family through the years. Nelson is the only Deaf member in his family. He has grown so much in the Lord that he is now the Deaf leader for our Juana Diaz branch. One week ago to this day Nelsons older brother was shot and killed. Family members flew in, arrangements were made and David and I stayed with Nelson to be his voice during the viewing and funeral. It was so heartbreaking to interpret for Nelson at the gravesite as he said words of love to his deceased brother and fellow family members.

In the midst of this tragedy, like those before, our families have come together. We have formed new friendships and older friendships have been strengthened.

When a Christian says, “Here I am, Lord, send me” there is no way to prepare someone for the unexpected life of servant hood. Ministry comes in all shapes and sizes and we must be ready in season and out of season. I have found that in order to be ready to pour out the love of God to those I surround myself with, I must first have my cup filled with the things of the Lord.

Being a missionary comes with many preconceived ideas of a scheduled and neat life of church on the weekends and leading people to salvation in Christ. If that were the case I am almost positive there would be many more missionaries out in the field. Christ didn’t call his disciples to a neat and scheduled life of preaching. He called them to GO and MAKE disciples. That task of “going” and “making” are no way neat and scheduled. In order to “go” and “make” it requires surrendering all, not just possessions, but your own expectations, ideas, pride, comfort and having a balanced budget every month! It requires getting ones hands shoulder deep in the work of the ministry; sometimes you are blessed beyond belief by God unexpectedly in different ways by different people, sometimes God leads you into someone’s life unexpectedly and you never know why until an opportunity (or maybe many opportunities) presents itself for you to be a blessing or be blessed.

“Here I am, Lord, send me” doesn’t come with a rule book or a schedule book. These words must come from a place that is ready everyday for the unexpected activity of serving others in unimaginable way’s. 

Divine Encounters

Have you ever met someone either in passing or because of a mutual place in time and came away thinking, “Wow, meeting this person was definitely not a coincidence. I wonder if we’ll bump into each other again…?”

In the last 2 weeks we have had 3 of these divine encounters. Let me share with you a little bit about each one of these encounters:


1.) Car trouble seems to follow us around like a dark rain cloud! After having our car in the garage for 2 days we were ready for a “stress-relief” kinda day and were excited!  It was this day after leaving a local playground with Hannah and a friends’ daughter that we received a flat tire, (insert *sigh* here). We were on a winding road and tried to find a safe place to pull over before more than just our flat tire became damaged. We pulled into private property where we were promptly met by a gentleman. He told us where to park our van and began to assess the damage. He jumped right in and ran to get his own tools to help us. Between him and David I felt like I was inside a pit crew area! Come to find out we had pulled into a Christian addict rehab haven and he was one of the managers. He was very kind, out-going and gracious. We exchanged contact info and I believe this won’t be the last time we encounter him this side of Heaven.


2.) In between car trouble drama we managed to do some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. It was 3pm, we had been forced to post-pone lunch due to waiting on our van to finish inspection. With a 4 year old in toe we accepted the fact of needing to eat out and decided to eat at the Wal-Mart deli. Hannah picked out a place to sit next to a mom and a little boy. We sat down and Hannah looked over and said, “Look mommy what a cute little boy!” Now normally when such remarks are made we either get weird/blank looks for speaking English or we simply get ignored. This time though, the mom exploded with laughter and the “little boy” (who is not so little, he’s 7) grinned shyly. We exchanged pleasantries and Hannah began praying for our food. When we finished the mom said, “Wow not only do you speak English but you’re Christians too!” We began talking and found out she attends the English church that we used to volunteer at when we first moved to PR over 7 years ago! Needless to say we hit it off wonderfully; even the kids were getting along and playing. Our lunch break lasted almost 3 hrs. We exchanged phone #’s and promised to get together for a play date. We did get together at a park (the same one where got the flat tire) and it rained almost the entire time =( . We spent the time getting to know them better and our first impressions of her were confirmed; a giving, gracious, servant-like sister of Christ who we look forward to getting to know her and her family better.


3.) The last one I am going to mention is a young Deaf boy I met 2 weeks ago through some friends who have an Awana program at their house church for the kids every Wednesday night. I was invited to come and try to work with him since he had no one to adequately interpret for him. I was eager to meet him and help in anyway. We started working on his assigned verses and I quickly realized, like with most Deaf, he got hung up on trying to read every single word and by the time he was done reading a sentence he had forgotten what it says and had missed the meaning. So I asked him if he would like it if we learned the verses in sign language instead of him simply repeating words. I signed it to him and asked him questions concerning the relevancy of the verses. By the time we were done he was excited to find out the meaning behind these words and letters he was being asked to memorize.  By the end of the night he seemed pretty proud about having a person following him around and acting like his personal assistant! I am excited to see how much of an impact our new relationship will have on shaping his beliefs about the Bible, God and his personal relationships.

I believe that these 3 divine encounters were not an accident. Some people might call them “chance” encounters but here’s what the Bible says about these types of encounters:

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' " (Mat 25:35-40)

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."(Heb 13:2)

These 3 stories are not the first time we have had these types of encounters. Most of our friendships that have developed here in PR have been through these types of divine encounters. Another example is when David, who is known for his friendly and outgoing personality, introduced himself to some ladies at Wal-Mart simply because they were speaking English! That introduction got us an invitation to their family's Memorial Day cookout where we met their daughter and son-in-law. That introduction later led to us moving onto their ministry camp property to live for a little over a year. It was these very people that introduced me to the young Deaf boy I told you about above. We now get together weekly and Hannah plays with their 3 children. They have become great friends and have been a blessing to us countless times in countless ways. We have been friends for a little over 6 years now!


There are many more stories like this that I could share but by this time I am sure you get the point =)

I am excited to see where these 3 encounters will lead to. I pray that we all will be able to be a blessing to each other as we experience life off the beaten path!